Embark on a deep-dive into the tumultuous universe of "Knott's Landing," where we untangle the complex web spun off from "Dallas." We'll trace the footsteps of Gary Ewing and his ex-wife Valene, settling into their new SoCal neighborhood that teems with hidden dramas and clandestine secrets. This episode peels back the curtain to reveal behind-the-scenes surprises that will captivate both "Knott's Landing" veterans and newcomers, with an emphasis on the robust ensemble that brings this community to life.
Witness the evolution of Gary Ewing, the heart and soul of "Knott's Landing," as he navigates the rocky terrain of personal growth amidst a soap opera landscape. We dissect the nuanced relationships of the cul-de-sac, especially Laura's resilience and Richard's dark genius, painting a portrait of a close-knit community grappling with the everyday challenges of love, betrayal, and the quest for acknowledgment. Tune in to hear our predictions for Kenny and Sylvie's future, and how a casting pivot—Ted Shackelford stepping in as Gary—altered the show's destiny.
Finally, we strip back the layers of television history to reveal the intertwined inception of "Dallas" and its spinoff. Be prepared for a compelling discussion that flips the script on which of these cultural phenomena can truly claim the title of 'originator.' Closing out the episode, we take a playful jab at some of soap opera's most beloved clichés, all while looking ahead to the dramatic unraveling of storylines in 'Dallas,' 'Dynasty,' and 'Falcon Crest.' Remember to leave the drama to us, and let's keep our real lives free of soap opera twists!
Embark on a deep-dive into the tumultuous universe of "Knott's Landing," where we untangle the complex web spun off from "Dallas." We'll trace the footsteps of Gary Ewing and his ex-wife Valene, settling into their new SoCal neighborhood that teems with hidden dramas and clandestine secrets. This episode peels back the curtain to reveal behind-the-scenes surprises that will captivate both "Knott's Landing" veterans and newcomers, with an emphasis on the robust ensemble that brings this community to life.
Witness the evolution of Gary Ewing, the heart and soul of "Knott's Landing," as he navigates the rocky terrain of personal growth amidst a soap opera landscape. We dissect the nuanced relationships of the cul-de-sac, especially Laura's resilience and Richard's dark genius, painting a portrait of a close-knit community grappling with the everyday challenges of love, betrayal, and the quest for acknowledgment. Tune in to hear our predictions for Kenny and Sylvie's future, and how a casting pivot—Ted Shackelford stepping in as Gary—altered the show's destiny.
Finally, we strip back the layers of television history to reveal the intertwined inception of "Dallas" and its spinoff. Be prepared for a compelling discussion that flips the script on which of these cultural phenomena can truly claim the title of 'originator.' Closing out the episode, we take a playful jab at some of soap opera's most beloved clichés, all while looking ahead to the dramatic unraveling of storylines in 'Dallas,' 'Dynasty,' and 'Falcon Crest.' Remember to leave the drama to us, and let's keep our real lives free of soap opera twists!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome back to a bonus episode of Little Bit of Lore, where we explore one of the soviest, suddiest primetime spinoffs of all time. It's the Not Slaining Review. Let's figure out what it takes to make a successful spinoff. Plus, I have some behind-the-scenes tea, which all you OGs probably know. But if you're a newbie or a novice baby, I'm about to blow your mind. Whether you're new, newbie or a novice baby, I'm about to blow your mind. Whether you're new to this or true to this, sit back and enjoy. Tell the kids it's time to play outside or out of sight, to obey. No questions, suggestions or concerns. For the next like 20 minutes, we won't make it too long today. Everyone else in Earshot. Be cool, be quiet or be kicked out, because we have got to get to the bottom of prequels, sequels and spinoffs. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is Soap Lord. Welcome back, soap Queens. Hope your day has shaped me up well because I'm so ready to jump into this and put season one of the little spinoff it could to bed. Knott's Landing has been a fun ride for me, but let's jump into some particulars. For those of you who are new, it's an excellent episode to join us on today. Quick little recap of season one Knott's Landing. Knott's Landing aired in 1979 as a companion piece for an already semi-popular Dallas.
Speaker 1:Gary Ewing is a middle son of Ellie and Jock Ewing out of Dallas. Now he's had a turbulent last 17 years or so. Life hadn't been great to him because he hadn't been great to life. He spent that time meandering across the country, gambling, drinking, working his way through any hopes of a stable future or fruitful future. All those dreams are slowly dwindling away but it seems like he's on the up and up when we meet Gary on that episode of Dallas season one. Now Gary's ex-wife, valene, has been kind of going through it herself for the past 17 years. She's been looking over her shoulders, trying to sneak back into Texas. This entire time she's trying to get to her baby girl Lucy. But his family Gary's family that is had to run her off. So she's been stacking her coin and trying to make her way back to her baby girl, lucy, who is now 17,. 18 years old. She and Gary, as happenstance would have it, reunite on season one of Dallas. Now Valene is sneaking around meeting their daughter while Gary bumps into his baby brother Bobby in Vegas and convinces them to come on home. Now, by the end of the episodes I think Gary's on two episodes he is pissed off and ready to just walk out on the family one more again. So he's walking down the driveway where Valene runs out and she chases him and they have a quick little exchange.
Speaker 1:Not much is thought of it Unbeknownst to me, you and the rest of the audience and the cast. They have this year long very, very quiet, very private affair where they get to know each other all over again to make sure this thing is going to last, before they bring any children into it, ie the child they already have. On season two, miss Ellie has this like week long melancholic time of reflection and she decides that you know what A Texas Ewing kind of sucks. They're toxic with a capital T and maybe, just maybe, she and Billy Goat Gruff Jock, maybe they didn't do so well by Gary. Maybe they were a little too hard on him, maybe they were a little, you know, too soft on him, who knows? Either way, he screwed up. She's taking a little bit of responsibility as a consolation prize and a peace offering after Valene and Gary marry secretly well, not so secretly. After they marry, ellie buys Gary and Valene his on-again, off-again bride a cozy, fully furnished, fully paid for, most importantly, home near the beach and SoCal. They're going to live in a cute little town, cute little cul-de-sac in Knott's Landing. After the initial episode we are swept up into this close-knit community, this tight-knit friendship, where flawed people live their lives together. They band together as a community to fight off dirtbags on dirt bikes. They go toe-to-toe with each other, sometimes over the educational content of their kids' school. They share secrets and sorrows and eventually help one of their own battle an addiction, all while keeping their lives afloat.
Speaker 1:Immediately I did kind of feel like Nuts Landing is more of a drama than a soap opera, but I know what it's going to be again. It's hard to come into this 40 years after the fact well, this one's more than 40 years, a few more than 40 years after the fact with a clear conscience and just kind of accepting it for what it is. But it was reminiscent to me of Yellow Rose, where the storylines know they were talking about almost any and everything, a lot of hard hitting topics I didn't think they discussed on TV in 1978, or at least the later part of the 1970s, and they did a really good job of it. Most of the drama of the show, though, happens behind closed doors, and I wanted to make sure I got all that out, get my opinions out, before I start looking up anything. Most of the drama happens behind doors.
Speaker 1:There's nothing really salacious going on between the four couples that would intertwine them any other way outside of the home, with the small exception of Kenny, who did sleep with Sid's oldest daughter, but she doesn't even live there. Nobody's going to talk about that. I'm pretty sure nobody's going to bring that up. Lucy popped up. She was, you know, trying to get some things started, but nothing happened. Almost doesn't count.
Speaker 1:And then you got Richard Avery, who hooked up with Sid's ex-wife. So there's a little bit of drama there, where I thought maybe Karen would treat him a little bit differently, but she hasn't. Everybody seems to mind their own business, and they're in full support of one spouse or the other. It is very possible that Karen and most of the women don't really care for Richard, but they care for Laura. So you know, he's kind of put up with. Kenny is a little bit of an anomaly, because he's not really there enough, but he still seems to be in the mix, but I think it's because he's just married to Ginger. But he still seems to be in the mix. But I think it's because he's just married to Ginger but based on kind of the hard-hitting topics from abortion to spousal mental abuse, really he doesn't physically hit her.
Speaker 1:Uh, gary, being a big giant crybaby of a man who's, you know, needs to be a raging alcoholic, I hate that. This is a safe space, right? Full disclosure, I think it goes without saying. But let me be clear. There are things that happen on TV that if they happened in real life obviously I'd be concerned. On television this is for entertainment purposes and I'm going to enjoy it.
Speaker 1:I enjoyed Drunk Gary. It made so much more sense to me that this raging alcohol. I could see why we would want to follow him. Because if I'm looking at this from the outside in and I'm looking at Gary, bobby or JR, obviously JR is the one. He's a star. Bobby could be interesting because he holds so many secrets and whatnot, but he doesn't really seem to move on, so he's a little bit of a dud. Uh, carrie, I just I I didn't know what to think.
Speaker 1:I was kind of glad after the first or second episode that they were focusing on other couples. That was my concern. Coming into this I thought, oh crap, I don't really want to sit in Valene and almost called him Doug was his name Gary's house and watch him pout every time she makes a move. He's a little bit mentally abusive to her, if I think about it. Maybe not mentally abusive, he's just incredibly insecure and she seems to be his security blanket. He has not figured out how to navigate his own emotions just yet, so it's coming off kind of douchey. But in the bottom of the bottle, acting chops Hello Ginger with the acting chops, hello Karen can act. Everybody is a good actor on the show.
Speaker 1:That's why I fully enjoyed it and I don't mind the drama. I don't mind the drama. So much of this behind closed doors. I think that's what I'm kind of coming to the conclusion of. I thought maybe something would happen between the neighbors to make it a little more soapy. But the longer I watch shows like these, the less I feel the need to push that narrative like let the show play out as it will, we're going to have some storylines, we're just gasping and clutching pearls. But is it on the level of Dynasty? No, dallas, no, it's reminiscent of Falcon Crest. Remember Falcon Crest season one, where after every episode the story was always tied in a nice neat little bow. I actually don't mind that so much. I think it's a good formula, especially that first season, because I mean, maybe maybe they don't know, maybe they don't know if the audience is receptive to it as is, but either way I'm not mad of it. I expected it to be a little bit more boring than it was, but I was never bored, not on a single episode.
Speaker 1:The couples get along really well. They aren't sleeping with each other. Another point is not only do the couples get along, they get along really really well, like they're all up in each other's houses and business dinner with one couple or the other every other night, and they don't really have a common enemy, which is a little bit unusual. For a soap opera. There's usually a villain that pops up at some point. As best I could see it, everybody's a little bit of a villain at one point or another, except, yeah, to one spouse or the other. One of them is a little bit of a villain. The only other kind of outside enemies I can remember were the Kmart special, the dudes on the dirt bikes. I loved Kmart. I thought it was awesome. I'm not judging them for that, but they were not intimidating at all. These are full grown men who clearly clock in and out of a job Like they're not dressed, like they lived off the street. They're definitely not a biker gang. You cannot be a biker gang. Flip-flops can't be a biker gang on a dirt bike. But other than that, they didn't really have a lot of common enemies besides JR and the dirt bags on dirt bikes. Back to the spinnies, I suppose.
Speaker 1:Except this show was supposed to revolve around. It's a spin-off of Dallas, so it was revolving around the Ewings and their new neighbors. And to my utter shock and surprise which is the same word it didn't matter. One of the best parts of this show is that Gary the dud turns out to be Gary the car selling stud. Apparently he's pretty good with business when his family isn't around.
Speaker 1:And Valene, the Vidalia onion queen oh, full disclosure didn't really care, care. I didn't learn her name for two years. It was not important to me. I did not think she'd stick around. They really did seem like super duper bit players to me.
Speaker 1:Valene is very, very interesting. I love how she's got that quiet stream. She deals with a lot, but she puts, she stands up for herself more than I noticed before. I guess on Dallas her focus was trying to get to her daughter. The only person she needed to stand up to was JR. Gary was absolutely an afterthought to me by this point and on this show it's good to see her kind of fitting in. She's making a name for herself within the neighborhood, exploring her interests, getting her education. I hope they keep building that up because she's way too smart, way too interesting of a character to just kind of let her fall by the wayside.
Speaker 1:Everybody can be pretty. Everybody's pretty on TV. The last thing we need at this point is just another pretty face. Let's give her something to do. She's scrappy, that's the thing. She's scrappy in the best possible way. Val managed to not only reunite with her daughter. With no help she was able to reunite and cultivate like this safe, healthy, happy relationship that in turn earned her a house and a husband at the end of it. That still remains to be seen if she actually has a good husband. I don't know, he's still a Ewing. She basically told JR to his face that she wants all the smoke with him.
Speaker 1:Took it upon herself to get her GED Survived a toxic raising by a Loretta Lynn wannabe. Her mother could never. I'm keeping my eye on her. I expect the mom to come crawling back at some point. But her scrappy nature is a perfect complement to the toughest nails, karen, who seems to be fearless and outspoken in the best possible way. They are definitely the stronger of the two women. Not that you need to be, you know what I mean, you don't need to be. But you can see that Karen's sort of living out her high school dreams by kind of pouring herself into her community and her friends. She serves as a backbone for a lot of these women, the support system. She's able to kind of reel her husband in. She's able to rally people. She's kind of the point of contact. I really really like that about Karen, because OG Karen could have been made into a modern Karen. But there's a difference. Modern Karens want to control everything. Og Karen wants to show you your power and the power of a community. It's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1:Laura and Ginger became more and more interesting to me as time went by. Ginger probably a little less than Laura because she didn't really have a lot of steam coming into the show. But by the episode where all four women were kind of confessing their past and you got to see how their relationship with their parents shaped who they are immediately. I was intrigued by Ginger, their past and you got to see how their relationship with their parents shaped who they are Immediately. I was intrigued by Ginger. It's like okay, she's this young teacher with this husband who's always traveling. They may or may not be into something that she doesn't seem to be 100% comfortable with, but she's got this secret that she's been sitting on she can't even tell anybody about. By the time we get to the floral fixation episode, which is so weird weird it was interesting to see that she still kept it from Kenny like this is information that she either feels he wouldn't be comfortable with or maybe people in general aren't comfortable with. She only felt comfortable bringing it up because of the stalker and all that issue. So on this final episode where she was finally able to put her husband in his place like I'm not in a place that can fiddle to you or to your little side pieces anymore. It was very refreshing to see those acting chops A and just B.
Speaker 1:The strength from the character was very good. Laura is. Oh, she's very interesting to me because I do think a lot of times she's really bright, she's really smart, she's really tough. In certain ways she is strong when she needs to be strong, but it only seems to work if she's being strong for her husband. There's something about their relationship that she either feels obliged to stay in it and make sure that he is supported and he, just like she, really, really really needs his approval, or if maybe she's really grateful for him not really holding her past against her. He may not hold that part against her, but as far as I can tell on the show he doesn't seem to think she's very bright. He doesn't seem to think she's very worthy of him. But then they have these moments where they're kind of laughing it off, and so it's an interesting dynamic. I'm always even if they're in the background or they're on the fringe or they're in the periphery of the show, I'm always looking at them to see what they're doing.
Speaker 1:And Dynasty, now Slanny, does not disappoint. They always show a little bit of toxic behavior from them. All the men are just kind of with the exception of Richard, being kind of sneaky, snaky, insecure guy who happens to be you know, he's another one. He's super bright, he's got a lot going for him, but he just seems to make the wrong decisions. He doesn't really care about his wife and he bangs Sid's ex-wife. Sid doesn't seem to want to. It's like he faces a little bit of reality. For the most part, he's content to just kind of go through every day, and any issue that arises is just it's no big deal, you kiss my wife in the mouth. I don't care. That could just be him being secure in their relationship though, too, because, if this season has proved nothing else, sid and Karen seem to be more of the stars. Gary pulled it in for he and Valene on the last couple of episodes, but Sid and Karen are that couple who just I mean it's like they're the parents to the rest of the group. That's what it feels like, even though they're not that much older. Karen doesn't seem that much older. Sid doesn't seem significantly older to them to me, even more so than Richard. He just seems like the dad. Gary doesn't really say a lot, you know, most of the time he's at work he doesn't say much, and Kenny's definitely gone. So I hope that they bring them into the story a little bit more this second season, although I'm kind of thinking Kenny may be out the door. I don't know how long they're gonna hold off with that Sylvie thing. You know she's pregnant. You know she is. She's already got a plan, already know she is.
Speaker 1:Before we jump into the what I believe to be the rules and regulations of a successful and very soapy spinoff, I thought I need to do a little bit more research. I haven't really done any on Knott's Landing and I wanted to go and see, at the very least, how the show was received. If it's a Dallas spinoff, you know Dallas is building momentum at this time, but this is in 1979. So it would have been after those five episodes that Gary would have been fresh in everybody's mind. Gary would also look a whole hell of a lot different than he did on season one. So I thought let me go and just look and see what the ratings were, see how people received this new spinoff and this new casting of Gary. I'm sure they weren't attached. I'm positive they probably all but forgotten about these people. So I'm assuming it would have aired after season two, when Baleen and Heath showed up, just like steven on dynasty, the producers pulled a new face.
Speaker 1:Who this. So gary the dead was originally played by david akroyd. I flipped out at first when I first read it. I read it too fast and I thought it said dan akroyd. I just watched that frozen almost at gi joe ghostbusters on Saturday and it was pretty okay. It was okay. But I just I can't imagine Dan Aykroyd in that role. This would be a totally, totally different show and then we probably would never have gotten the Ghostbusters. So I'm glad that worked out.
Speaker 1:David Aykroyd I don't think they're related. He's tall, dark and handsome and his face, just it. Just. I kept up thinking where do I know him from? Where have I seen him from? And it finally hit me he's a cross between Willem Dafoe they got those severe, sharp cheekbones and the actor Scott Glenn. Scott Glenn, if you don't know, in my mind he will forever be that guy who was beating on Sissy in Urban Cowboy. Remember when Bud and Sissy broke up. Then she goes dancing at the juke joint or the pool hall or whatever it is and she dances with the cowboy in all black and he grabs the back of her neck. He's just never smiling the whole thing.
Speaker 1:That was my first impression of Gary Ewing. Looks like one of them, jenners could easily be Brandon or Brody, but he definitely was giving off that vibe of like wife beater that's a dude that was beating on Sissy. I have seen Scott Glenn in several, many, many movies since then, but he will always be the dude who beat on Sissy. Just because I saw it so young, I think it just made a deep impression on me. Anyway, looks like a Jenner tall, dark and handsome. All of a sudden, season two, he's tall, tall, dark and handsome. All of a sudden, season two, he's tall, blonde and handsome ish, but still got that same brooding face. That's the thing. The actor david akroyd and scott glenn have that kind of dark hair, dark eyed, intense thing. They're never smiling everything they say, they're kind of growling out. Even Even on Dynasty David Aykroyd is still giving that vibe Like he's a little too intense, but he's smiling a little more and he's a little more buff. On that one. He's not as lean as old Gary Ewing.
Speaker 1:So word on the soap opera streets was that David Aykroyd was about to do Little Women, about to do the play or the movie Little Women, so he wasn't available for the 14 or 15 shows that were going to be needed for the spinoff Knott's Landing. Let him tell it in an interview. Oh my gosh, I wish I could link it. I might link it here in the show notes, but there's an interview with David Aykroyd and this reporter and you can tell she's kind of got a little crush on him. She's a little sweet on him. He's leaning forward and she asked him about the whole ted shackles or thing and how did he feel about not playing gary ewing for not leaning? And he says that when he got the role initially for dallas he had a really, really good time. Nobody knew dallas was going to be this amazing, you know, awesome, awesome show. So it was just kind of lighthearted. Everybody on the set was having a really good time with each other. No harm, no foul. He later received script for Nod's Landing and he read it and he's like I didn't really like it.
Speaker 1:They had changed some things about Gary. I wasn't super pumped about it so I decided not to take it. Plus, I had, you know, know, I had another offer at the time. So she's like oh, that's crazy, that's interesting. So how do you feel about Ted? And he's like Ted's doing an awesome job. I actually know Ted. We used to be on a soap opera together back in New York. I'm assuming I'm gonna mess it up. It's either one life to live or I think it's one life to live. Yeah, I'm drawing a brain for you. So he knew him. He's like yeah, we ran those things. I'm really glad he's having, he's doing, he's killing it, he is so good. But yeah, I just didn't.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to do the spinoff because you know, if they're gonna do a spinoff on Dallas, I just didn't like some of the things that they change and she leaves in and she says well, you know that Dallas is actually the spinoff. And both me and David were like what she's like yeah, yeah, you didn't know Dallas is actually a spinoff. They have Knott's Landing in mind first. But they wrote, they had to go ahead and write Dallas. Then they spun it back and I'm like shut your mouth wide open. I know you lying really, so I had to start digging a little deeper. Turns out she's 100% correct.
Speaker 1:So nasa landing turns out to be the brainchild of this guy named michael fillerman and david jacobs. They were inspired by the swedish series called scenes from the marriage. I recognize that name right away because they're around covid. There was a show on hbo Max called. It was the exact same title and it had Chastain. Was her name Chastain? She was in the help. She looks a lot like Howard yeah, it's her and this really handsome guy whose name escapes me at the moment.
Speaker 1:But it was really an intense show and apparently there was a show in Sweden early to mid 70s that was very similar. It was either a miniseries or a show and they were like it was super, super popular. These producers heard about it and wanted to have an American series that was very similar. So they get in the lab and they start writing up everything and the original thought would be that Karen and Sid would be like the longest married couple, so they're the oldest couple. The Averys would be the ones with marital difficulties kind of an unhealthy relationship, and Gary and Valene would show up as the recently reunited couple. So they kind of covered four different sections of love and marriage and I'm like, okay, wow, wow. So I owe Gary another apology. Gary the Doug was the crux of this whole thing, it seems like, or he was at least in the mix.
Speaker 1:So they pitched the show to cbs but the network was like well, can we make it a little shiny, a little flashier. That's kind of boring. Can we do a little bit more with this? Make the couples rich, make it a more serialized version too. So you know not, don't tie it up with a nice little bow after every episode. Make it a bit more selfie, for lack of a better term.
Speaker 1:Jacobs and fillerman stood their ground. They're like no, no, no, we don't want to change it like that. So they went back to the lab and instead this part is where it gets a little bit murkier to me. So cbs wanted something flashier, more dramatic and a show with a solid through line. So fillerman and jacob went back to the drawing board.
Speaker 1:After looking at at all the characters, they saw an opening. They're like okay, gary and Valene are running away from his rich family. He's estranged from them. He moved to the West Coast to get away from them. Why don't we do a show about his family? So they started writing and next thing, you know, they come up with Dallas, pitched it to CBS. They absolutely loved it.
Speaker 1:Now I don't know where I saw this. I saw that there was a book in the late 60s or 70s about Dallas, or maybe I'm mixing up some of my facts. I'll have to go back and look. But I kind of thought that Dallas was this obscure book and they you know, there was a man in Dallas who had all these different families, kind of scandalous and they just put all that information together and created the show, which could still be the truth. But, like I said, this part is a little bit murky. It didn't matter. At the end of the day Knott's Landing was supposed to air first. I am shooketh. Once Dallas aired and it was a huge success, it opened the door for Knott's Landing. So the question remains who is the real spinoff here? Either way, gary's, either way.
Speaker 1:Gary ewing is a cornerstone for two of the most popular shows of the 80s, of all times. Two iconic shows revolved around this character. Now, had you told me this early on, I would have never, ever believed you, and had I not seen the finale, I'm so glad I snuggled upon this today and not any earlier, because, way, this is a soap opera. When it becomes a soap opera, yeah, you can pull relatives from anywhere. That's the best part you always have, like this influx of new characters, as long as people have families, I would have never thought he would be worthy of a spinoff.
Speaker 1:It makes so much more sense that if you omit Dallas and you just know this kid is skittish, running away from his rich family, that's kind of tormented him and his wife all these years. They moved to this quiet cul-de-sac it makes everything else make sense. Gary's behavior should have already made sense, but I was basing my opinion on him, off of his actual behavior. Think about this If you didn't, you didn't actually know that he abandoned Lucy. You didn't know that Lucy was kind of screwed up in the head because she didn't really have any parents. Only person who really, really, really cares is this brand new aunt that she has. If you don't have that in the back of your mind, then you can look at Gary with fresh eyes. Totally get it. This makes so much sense.
Speaker 1:But I was shocked. Me and David Ackroyd were absolutely shocked. He'll be like 85 at the end of this month. Lord willing, if the creek don't rise, he's getting up there. But he thought that Ted Shackelford did a really good job. I started watching an interview with him. But this news reporter too, she had a big crush and she was oh, I love your show, I love your show, I love your show. But I haven't watched it since the last time I watched it, badlene had some twins and I'm like shut up, shut up, shut up. First time since doing this podcast that I got like a spoiler and I had to turn it off immediately.
Speaker 1:It's a little bit difficult to do deep vibes, but I read up to the point where they're talking about the first season and I don't really push it any further than that. Well, that's not true. Today. I did push it a little bit further. They mentioned Donna Mills, who I guess she's coming on in the second season. Donna Mills is going to join the show and I recognize her name from. I might've known it before, but I watched that Diva Christmas or the soap opera for the 80s, diva's Christmas. She was all up and through that Wasn't very clear on what show she was in, but she was there with the rest of the ladies, nicolette Sheridan, looking 10 years old still. She's amazing. All right, going forward, I just want to have a little more fun with this.
Speaker 1:What do I think makes a good spinoff? First and foremost, you're going to need a little bit of elbow room between the first series and the second series. We don't have that luxury on this particular spinoff, but it works because now we know it's more of a prequel and damn it do I hate. I'm gonna get on my soapbox for the next 30 seconds. Do you guys feel like the prequel is a cop-out? That's my question of the day. Text me in the show notes it It'll go to me.
Speaker 1:Do you think a prequel is a cop-out? I always find when you go back and you start writing a prequel to an already very, very successful franchise, it kind of irritates me. I think it's cheap writing. There's always going to be characters that we can go off. I'm thinking specifically of the Sopranos right now and Star Wars Not much. Specifically of the Sopranos right now and Star Wars, not much. I'm gonna be honest, I haven't. Probably the Star Wars films have seen me. I've definitely slept through them, have not watched them all, but I remember when that annoying kid came out in the late 90s with his little big head, right before Hayden Christensen took over, it was just.
Speaker 1:I was thinking to myself why do you need to run it back? That's a spin forward. It's not even a spin off. It's okay for a prequel to happen, so long as it tells a totally different story. I do not like when they build up a background where the character didn't really act out within the franchise, like you can't have this movie and then, 20 years later, you're like, oh yeah, by the way, that's why he ate apples all the time, because he used her. No, no, no, I don't like it, it's not my thing.
Speaker 1:In a show like this, you're going to need a crossover cameo, you're going to need people from the original show to pop up. But only hear me out only within the first couple of seasons, because you don't need to constantly be reminded that this is a spinoff and that these shows are connected. If the spinoff is good on its own, it should be a standalone show. It doesn't actually need that support from the original show. A lot of the reasons they make spinoffs because they want to keep the momentum going and they know that people love this, this one particular character. It's usually how it works in a sitcom at least, you would base the spinoff on one particular character who was popular within the show, and that's brilliant because you already have a built-in audience. People are already fully invested, they already know who that is, so they're going to watch. It makes a lot of sense. So within the first couple of seasons, you should have people from the original show, slip in and out of the new one.
Speaker 1:With that being said, the breakout character needs another breakout character. You gotta have somebody for the original character or the skinny to play up off of. They gotta have a wonderful supporting cast. In this case, non-slanding, 100%. Everybody on the show is solid. Kenny might be a little bit weak, but I think it's just. He doesn't get the airtime that everyone else does.
Speaker 1:The setting is really important as well. In the case of a show like Knott's Landing, the entire town is a setting, but they do concentrate within the cul-de-sac and within each person's home. Within each person's home. That also makes a lot of sense to me now why the drama was always in the house. Because they weren't writing it to be a soap opera. It was. It was more of a dramatic series, if I'm understanding that right, which is why behind closed doors that's where all the drama is and then outside, when they're together, everybody's having a good time, makes a whole lot more sense like.
Speaker 1:But going forward, we're going to need a little more jigger-jigger. We're going to need some cliffhangers. You got to end at least half of the episodes with a big question mark. You got to have these people sweating bullets. Nobody is really fretting over anything so far, with the exception of Richard and his money woes, but that has already been resolved. That's another thing. We we're gonna stop resolving issues in a dramatic series.
Speaker 1:You gotta leave people hanging, you gotta you gotta drop little breadcrumbs and keep us coming back for more. You gotta have a villain. That's just list period, right period. You're on a soap opera. There has to be a villain.
Speaker 1:So far, if I'm pointing one out, it would be gary ewing. I gotta say he's a crappy husband. For the most part he's getting better. Uh, he's a raging alcoholic, which is fantastic for television, but he's also cowardly when it comes to the provision, providing and protecting of his women, his women folks, them ewing women gotta be scrappy on their own, because gary ain't cutting it. If I'm pointing out villains, kenny is just a hoe, hoes alone, hoe around. He can't help himself. That is like is he hurting anybody but himself? Not really his wife a little bit, but she knows what it is. Again, somebody break this down for me. Is she okay with it? Was she okay with it or she's not? I'm gonna let it go. Let season two bring those answers to me.
Speaker 1:But you definitely need a villain. There's nobody on here that you really love to hate. You want to hate Richard, but he's kind of lovable. He's kind of lovable. He made me laugh out loud on that last episode where Gary puts him in a headlock and he's like I will sue your ass. I loved it, let's see.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's got to be a big reveal or this big mystery or some big misunderstanding. Ie, somebody's got to have a baby, somebody's got to have another spouse. Actually, they've already done that. Wait a minute, nassalini. They've already revealed that, but they were just so self-aware they took all the soapiness out of it. I don't know. I don't know how they're going to kick it up, but I would think you need a villain. And if they're going to make it more serialized, there has to be a problem within. Somebody's about to lose their house, somebody gets sick, got to be something like that to tie everything together.
Speaker 1:Not that they brought it up here yet, but I'd like to point out, with the exception of Steven, there has not been a not-so-dead-dead character just yet. We all thought Steven was blown to bits and pieces in the South Sea. Turns out he was fine. He was having surgery. He was having his face reconstructed and about four or five inches added to his leg, but I can't think of anybody.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, the jury's still out on julia on falcon crest. I'm betting money because we saw the trap door. We never found a body, never once. She could be blown to bits and pieces over the rocky mountains. I doubt it. I doubt it. I don't know whose ashes they found, but if there's a spring house, I don't give a damn what the cops said said. If she could have rolled out which I think she rolled out I don't think Julia's dead. I'm just putting it out there now.
Speaker 1:All right, guys, that's enough of a Dodge Jack, and thank you for joining me on my shooketh recap. All in all, wonderful show. I cannot wait to finish Walking Season 2. We got to get back to our regularly scheduled program. It is time, for I think it's episode four of dallas dynasty and falcon press, and all of them have you on the edge of my seat. So in the meantime, in the meantime, your friends close, your enemies closer, your remote closest. Don't call me a spinoff. If I was your original idea, shout out to to the OGs the spin back, spinoff, spinning all around. Whatever you want to call it, stay hydrated, moisturized. Mind your own business and keep all of your drama on TV. © transcript Emily Beynon.