S4 EP4 Knots Landing- Svengali : The" Val’s Live TV Glow-Up" Episode

A $600 dress, a head scarf, and a live studio audience don’t usually add up to grace under pressure—but Val turns a potential tabloid moment into a masterclass on authorship and identity. We walk you through the tension and the triumph: how a nervous novelist navigates the Mike Douglas stage, dodges the Ewing gossip trap, and reframes her book as a study of what makes people tick. The result isn’t scandal; it’s clarity. And it lands with the crowd, with Mike, and—unexpectedly—with Gary, while Abby simmers at the edge of the frame. Around that bright centerpiece, the neighborhood churns. Richard white-knuckles his restaurant launch, proving that perfectionism is just fear wearing a chef’s coat; one transposed phone number nearly unravels him until a timely $15,000 lifeline restores oxygen. Karen, steady as steel, draws a line at lending a vacuum to Abby, then gets humbled by a flipped check that complicates her theory of Sid’s past. Her banter with Mac crackles—equal parts flirty and firm—as she weighs whether to hunt the men behind Sid’s death without turning grief into a crusade. Meanwhile, Kenny sneaks a recording session that lets CG’s voice take flight, a reminder that craft still cuts through hype when the red light blinks. There’s a new variable, too: Chip Roberts. He’s all charm and borrowed titles, more messenger than publicist, yet somehow always in the right room. Where Val builds meaning, Chip manufactures momentum, and the tension between integrity and image-making gives the hour its bite. By the time a young fan asks Val for an autograph backstage, the theme snaps into focus: ambition is fragile until you define it for yourself. Want more layered character studies, media theatrics, and seaside scheming? Follow the show, share this with a friend who loves classic TV deep dives, and leave a quick review to tell us your favorite moment.

Transcript

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Welcome to Welcome and welcome back to the morning if we've got a place for D now before the out eat on the Google on the house test and we need a classroom and so on. Hello boys. I hope your day is awesome. Hope you're feeling good about yourself. I'm feeling pretty good today. We're back on the West Coast with some Nancy Landing goodness. I've already seen this episode, but because of the double dose of dynasty, I now get to watch the next episode. I'm super duper pumped about it. So go ahead and pour yourself up something bubbly and bright. We're gonna do a double dose of Notts Landing. Season 4, episode 4 is up first. Spingali. A couple things before we get too deep into this episode of Knott's Landing. I was I forgot to mention this on the last episode of Dallas. That scene where Sue Ellen is sitting at the table. Once again, she's sitting at a dinner table with her paramour and his family, which in this case is only his father and a whole gaggle of house servants. These people keep 10, 15 people on staff. I get it if you live in like the White House or something, but on a ranch, I would imagine most people need to be outside. Probably one or two ladies inside the house, I would think. It's gotta be just for the it's gotta be for show. Anyway, so Ellen is sitting there and she wants to go into town in San Angelo to watch a movie or just ride around listening to music like teenagers when the daddy, who's a little bit too comfortable with their sex life, in my personal opinion, says, Oh no, we go to bed early here. We wake up in the sun. We, we, we, who is we, first off. Do you know the most heart-wrenching part of that whole scene for me was Sue Ellen had to turn down dessert. Now I'm personally a savory person myself, but this woman confesses she hadn't had a slice of cake since the early 60s. She's shy so okay. Hear me out, hear me out, hear me out. I know it's a different time. Nobody had a waist or hips or big dunk in in 1981, or apparently, at least not on TV. But the the work this woman is putting in to be gorgeous, to be desirable, to be uh whatever she thinks she's supposed to be in order to keep a man like JR, and it means next to nothing. You are depriving yourself of a good future, of a loving relationship, of your own home. This is all the things she would be depriving herself of if she stays at South Forker. Sounds like at the Southern Cross, too. You're giving up all that, and baby, you don't even have a little bit of dessert on the side? No wonder she drinks herself into oblivion. What else is she to do? A girl needs a piece of cake from time to time. That's neither here nor there. We gotta talk about this here episode. Valine is put on the spot and she shows up better than I could have ever expected. I expected this to be a complete catastrophe, but it turns out it wasn't. I suppose the lesson this entire episode is trying to teach, or uh the theme rather, is that you work hard to get the things you want, or the you work hard to do the thing you know you should do. In the case of Richard and Valen, Valen has written a book. Turns out she's a good writer, she's pursuing that, but then she's getting hit with all these weird angles she wasn't expecting. Richard is a good lawyer, turns out he's a good cook as well. He's trying to push this dream, push out this restaurant, but he's running into these little snapoos. Insecurity is at the forefront of their problems, but then you got Karen. Karen is very confident. Karen doesn't need a job to define her. Karen knows exactly who she is, but damn it, sometimes that's too much. You gotta know when to turn it off, you gotta know when to turn it up, and you gotta know when to walk all the way away. At the top of this episode, Vidalia is all dressed, ready for her morning run, while Lily Mae is sitting at the kitchen table chugging orange juice, looking at the TV guide. Dadgum it, I've messed those days. They weren't long, but I can distinctly remember getting the Sunday paper. And the Sunday paper had like an actual booklet in it that had the TV guide, and you know your girl had it memorized. I knew exactly what was coming on all day, every day. So Lily Mae's looking in the paper. Valen comes bibity bopity-booing, about to go out. Lily Mae said, now correct me if I'm wrong. Aren't you supposed to be on the Mike Douglas show in four days? Vidalia says, Yes, I am. Lily May said, Well, I'm reading these people's names if so-and-so, so-and-so, and Jaja Gabor. I don't even see you on here. Vidalia says, Well, I ain't exactly famous, mama. I'm I'm a housewife from Knott's Landing. Don't nobody know me like that. Lily May goes, Oh, why that's ridiculous. They need to put your name on here. It is very obvious that Lily May is not, she's not only excited for her daughter, but you know she's thinking, if I can just get my mixtape in somebody's hand on that show, it's gonna be over for all of you hosts. She's ready for her spotlight, too. I mean, she's like, why not kill two birds with one stone? I did have to go back and look up what Singali meant. I in my mind, I was thinking it's like a puppeteer, like a mastermind, official definition, person who exercises control or mesmeric influence on another, especially for a sinister purpose. So a wizard of sort. I guess it's a puppet master. They just happen to they gotta mesmerize you first, if I'm understanding this correctly. Immediately I thought, oh my god, Lily May is gonna sabotage this woman's whole ass appearance. She's gonna slip in, she's gonna jump on stage with that ukulele piano or whatever it is she has and ruin the whole shebang. Not the case, but I'm not too far off. Full disclosure: the only person whose name I knew that Lily Mae read, I knew who JaJah Gabor was. For those of us who grew up in the 90s, we all heard it on Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, when one of Sue Ellen, not our Sue Ellen from Dallas, but Sue Ellen from the Babysitter's Dead film, Miss Christina Applegate, her brother buys his girlfriend this big quote unquote jaw ring. And I have never not called a giant diamond or flashy piece of jewelry a jaw piece of jewelry since that moment. But Mike Douglas is a totally different story. I didn't, I know his name only because I've seen the movie The Nutty Professor dozens and dozens of times. And if you know, you know, let's just say the grandmother in that film had a very special feeling when it came to Mr. Mike Douglas. So I was really excited to see what this man looked like. It's clear that Val is still very nervous about this. This book has exploded in a way she never saw coming, and she knows what the questions are going to be. Is this really Ewing T? After all, your last name's Ewing. The next scene is enough to just make me want to slap this girl. Diana and what's feather mustache name? That's not Eric, that's Michael. Right? Michael? Eric. Yeah. Feather duster. I'm sorry. I like middle middle child Eric. I really like him. He and his sister are downstairs pulling the vacuum cleaner out of the closet. Karen says, All right, that's what I like to see. A little initiative about time y'all start earning your keep around here. Start with the bedrooms. Eric don't want any smoke. He already knows this is probably not gonna go well. He's like, well, no, listen, Mom, that's not what you think. Diana says, I'm taking this over to Abby's. Abby lent out her vacuum cleaner, so she wants to borrow yours. Karen says, over my not not no, she don't. Men in hell want ice water. They're not getting that either. Diana huffs a little. I hate, oh, I hate this scene because I sort of agree with her. Karen tells her, listen, when you she pulls the mom line we've all heard a million times. Do you have vacuum cleaner money? Tell you what, when you start paying bills and when you start buying vacuum cleaners, you can pass them out to whomever you want. Put my stuff back in the closet. I have to agree with her on this. I'm all about being neighborly, especially if it's family. But also, I'm more apt to give you sugar, oil, eggs, olives, a t-shirt, something. You know what I mean? Something like that. When we get to appliances, baby, you need to invest in your own appliance. Especially, Abby. I'm sorry, if you could buy an apartment for your new man, you can buy a vacuum cleaner. You're not gonna borrow my stuff because if you lent yours out and you never seen it, that leads me to believe I'm never gonna see mine. Stop spending all your time in bed with this man and go get a vacuum. Both of y'all, get a vacuum and get a job. The conversation quickly steers away from the vacuum cleaner, and Diana says, Mother, are you really this petty? To which Karen replies, I am. Yes, indeed. You're gonna really be this petty mom. I'm going to really be this petty, Diana. Karen goes on to say, as a matter of fact, I'm a little offended that you're not being a little more petty. Val is a very good friend of mine. Diana says, Well, she's a very good friend of mine. Why do I need to choose sides? I kind of feel where Diana's coming from, and I hate that I agree with her on this because Abby is her aunt. And at the end of the day, Abby hadn't really done anything to her. Now, Karen, that being your sister-in-law, I know she's family, but she's not family like that. Especially if you've never liked her, especially if she screwed you over in your business. The kids are gonna overlook this. Personally, as long as she's not rude to the kids, she's not she's never done anything to them. I don't see why they couldn't have a relationship with her, even if I don't like you. As long as you're good to my kids, we're cool. But Diana's little slipping mouth says, Mom, here's the thing. I love me some Vidalia, and I love me some Abby. Val and Gary's relationship was already in trouble. If it wasn't gonna be Abby, it was gonna be somebody else. I searched the logic in my mind, I searched my heart, and I can't disagree with that statement. I cannot disagree. If their marriage was super duper solid, then no, this would not have been a problem. But also, there was a heavy hand of seduction, there was a bit of sabotage. There were seeds planted that weren't necessarily there, but I can't deny what Diana's saying. It was never, that was never a solid thing. It was never, ever, ever gonna be. Well, I don't know ever. I don't know how they're gonna end up. But from where from where I have started to watch till now, I yeah, I agree. If it wasn't gonna be Abby, it might not have been another woman, it might have been a business venture, it might have been wanting to have more kids or something like that. It would have been something. This time it just happens to be the person you hate. But also, I respect Karen. She's like, listen, I feel how I feel I can't stand her, so I'm gonna continue not to stand her, and she's gonna continue to not use my vacuum cleaner. Diana wants to know, well, why aren't you why don't you have the same energy for Gary? She says, I don't have to because I had power and authority over his job, and I cut that. I cut that short. He is now jobless because of me. He can go sell what is that, weed a haul or whatever. I would like to circle back to Karen's point. When you get your money, you can pass out things as you see fit. This girl has a little bit too much Saz for my days. Is Diana not gonna go to college like ever? I thought she was super bright. She's I don't I don't like her being around the house all the time. That haircut is growing on me a little bit. She has the face shape. I'll give her that. Diana's actually a beautiful girl. Her face shape carries a haircut. I hate it, but I don't hate it in this scene. She still needs to get somewhere and get somewhere. I made a mistake. I thought Val was going running because she's in a jogging outfit, and it doesn't seem like people casually dress in jogging clothes in the 80s. They actually did what they were dressed for. I don't know that to be true, but that's what I'd like to think. I'm sure it was just comfortable. But she was actually going to the dry cleaners and she didn't have a sack to carry anything in. She's walking up to the door, someone else is coming out. She's being a gentlewoman, opens the door, and if it ain't that heifer Abby, who smirks at her, like, hmm, I got your man. Then I looked in Abby's bag, and of course, it's Gary's suits. Why does he need his suits starched and pressed? Where is he going? In the bit players for this episode, we have Kenny. Kenny is a music producer. I thought he'd gotten some sort of promotion, so I was very surprised when he gets to the studio trying to push uh uh out to the general public. He feels like all she needs is one really good session. She's never really recorded. We just gotta get her on wax. She's gonna be huge. Well, y'all remember Andy. Andy was a guy who was helping out Ginger with her music career. Andy says that he's the boss now. Promotions happen. Andy says no. All Kenny did is show Andy, CG's headshot. I'm assuming he played a little music. Andy says no. So Kenny spends a bit of this episode going behind Andy's back, talking to some of the session musicians, asking if they could help out with this girl. They it would be like a two-hour session. And at first they're all like, no, we're tired. We've been working all day. But then he starts to say, Well, remember when I helped you out that one time and then I helped you out, and you they all is like, okay, yeah, you're a good guy. We're gonna hook you up this one time. She better be good, she better be on time, and we better be out of here in two hours. Well, CG comes and she sang her heart out. She kills it. I don't even remember what she sings. She does so well that the session musicians are like, Yeah, this girl has it. Okay. Her song was so long, like they played so much of it. I started to believe that CG was a real musician and she was being featured on this show. Turns out she's an actress. And let me be very clear, I did not look her up. I know she's an actress, not named CG, because I went back to the opening credits and I noticed that they said CG played by Lisa somebody or another. I'm afraid, because we're only on episode four of season four, to look into it anymore because I'm afraid it'll spill the tea on what's gonna happen with CG. I don't believe you bring a young, talented woman into a music studio, introduce her to both Gary and Kenny, and nothing's gonna happen. So, as a precautionary way of doing this podcast, I have to steer clear of certain items. I'm going to be very loud and very wrong because I can't do the research I want, but that's okay. It's fine. It's fine. I like to think this is what people were thinking in 1982. Anyway, CG is a hit. CG can sing. She sang so good that she just wants to go back and fix a couple of parts. The musicians are down because she is so talented. And I wonder where Ginger is. I don't see her hating from the cut on this episode, but I'd be a little bit pissed. I thought I was gonna be a singer, Kenny. I I'm I'm spending a lot of time with baby two names. I love this so much. I'm watching it back. I saw the RV again. I forgot to look for it this season. It was it's a big shot of it too this time. Let's get to Richard. He's freaking out over every single detail of his restaurant, whether it's the fact that they brought Forrest Green instead of Kelly Green. The newspaper transposed one of the numbers, so now the phone number to the restaurant is wrong. The date is right, the food got delivered. He is, he's God. I gotta say, he seems like he'd be a nightmare to live with during something like this. And what I'm seeing, I don't love immediately. Laura is she's being helpful. I guess she's on maternity leave, she's there with the baby who is adorable. He wants her to help, but he doesn't want her to help. He's one of those people who sort of thinks out loud. And if you offer a suggestion or solution, he's like, No, I'll just do it myself. So I suppose he's just venting because this is a lot of pressure. This is a brand new endeavor. The more I say it out loud, the more I understand you're you're gonna feel a little bit crazy. When they go to his restaurant a little bit later on, I felt so overstimulated. There's so much going on, but considering it used to be a complete gutted hole in the wall, looks like he might be doing all right. Karen comes over one morning as he's going off about all the things that are going wrong. She squeezes the baby, she talks to Laura a little bit, and then she shows up later on with a check for 15,000 dollars to help him out with the money. Now it's not clear to me if they got a loan or where all this money is coming from. It seems like he might have been tapping out his entire savings to put it into this restaurant, so the pressure's out. I get it. It's okay to act a tea total fool. Doesn't seem like he's hired any other chefs, though, so I'm wondering how that's gonna play out. This, god, I hope it doesn't, but I think this might be the La Mirage of season four, where people are going to start congregating for no reason. It it's definitely gotta be a bigger part of the story, considering Richard is coming off of a nervous breakdown. He is still visiting his shrink three times a week, but high strung is an understatement. So, right about this time, our Sengali enters the chat. In this case, it's a kid named Chip Roberts who is representing the PR company that Valen is represented by. He pulls up in like a 68 buttercream yellow Ford Mustang, one of my favorite body styles of the Ford Mustang. Not crazy about the yellow, but I understand it's 1982. This kid is very good looking and it's driving me nuts who he looks like. He's like a cross between a young Willem Defoe and Billy Crudup, who is so gorgeous to me. He looks like a younger version of them, but there is another gentleman, dark-haired guy, um, blue eyes, little I don't know if he plays a weirdo all the time, but he's definitely been in films. Cannot think of his name. But if you know him, you know him if you don't, you don't. He looks like Billy Crudup and Willie Defoe, Willem Defoe. So he shows up super eager with Lily Mays at the house. He's looking for Val and he's ready, he's basically there to prep her for the Mike Douglas show. He's there to make sure everything runs smoothly, Valley. We're gonna make sure you have the best look. I want you to feel comfortable, I want you to pick the best photographs. Well, he's a personal friend of Mike Douglas, so it's obvious that he wants the best for Val. This is a win-win situation for everyone. Only it's not. Because Chip is, as they would say, selling wolf tickets. He don't know Mike Douglas. Matter of fact, he's not actually a publicist. All he was supposed to do is drop off those daggone pictures and turn back around. But what does he do? He starts buttering up Lily Mel. Oh, you're so pretty, your daughter's so pretty. Whoop, woof, woom. Valen, you're so bright from the first moment I read that book. First page, I knew you were knew who you were. You got a deep depth of love for your characters, and you're so wise and ill, and nah nah nah. He is buttering up real good. And I suppose a real publicist lady, her spidey sense starts tingling because he was supposed. To be back in 15 minutes. It's been hours. She calls Valene's house. Valine passes the phone to Chip. She tells him a nod so many words get your narrow behind back to this office now, or you don't get paid for today. After she hangs up, he just sort of puts his um finger over them. I don't know what they call him. Back in the day when he used to hang up a phone, those two little prongs, puts his hands over the prong, and he continues to have this imaginary conversation about his plans. Yeah, Val and I are all in agreement about what she should look like. No, it's gonna be tasteful, it's gonna be perfect. Ha ha ha. Yes, yes, I can't wait. Absolutely. This is gonna be a smash for all of us. He's having an imaginary conversation, and Lily Mae and Vidalia are none the wiser. So by the time Chip gets back to the office, it's very clear the Miss Lady is not happy. Chip stops by one of the secretaries' desks and he's like, How's the weather in there? And she's like, Boiling, homie, no cooler insight. Like, you better just clinch and go in there. Soon as he goes in, boss lady lets everyone in the audience know, Chip, your title is Messenger. You better not be lying to anybody, telling them you're anything but a messenger. I hired you two months ago and you've been nothing but trouble. I've ignored the complaints against you, I've ignored a lot of things. I hired you against my better judgment, but I swear, you keep playing in my face, you keep lying to people, I'm gonna end you. She goes to take a phone call and he goes, he is completely unbothered by the speech, by the way. She might as well have been counting to 10. He was completely unmoved, dead behind the eyes the whole time she's talking. Once she's done going off, he sits his little narrow behind on her desk and says, you know, she was ready to dump you, right? I'm the one who convinced her to stay with this PR team. She doesn't even want one. So what I know now, Chip is very messy. Chip has been on screen all of two and a half minutes. He's lied no less than 15 times. Do we have our first serious douchebag on Knot's Landing? I'm I'm thinking, well, no, because Richard was a douchebag, Kenny was a douchebag, Gary's a douchebag. Um, Earl was a douchebag. Okay, not our first, not our fifth. We we got a new one, ladies and gentlemen. Well, be good or be good at it. Young Chip is very, very good at it. He convinces boss lady that Valen has an entire second book already written. Chapter one is fire, she just needs special attention. And he promised the boss lady is going to make sure that Valdalia has all the special attention she needs. Now, something in this woman's spidey dense must be a little bit off, or it's a lot bet on. I don't really know. For some reason, she was ready to fire him. Now she's like, you know what, little boy? Fine. I want you to do what you need to do. Permission to groom. Make sure she's a superstar, and I'm watching you every step of the way, you little shh. Jim gives daytime villain. The more I look at him, I actually went back because the first time I just kind of casually watched him. The more I look at him, he is he's giving me Stefano. One person who does not know how to sell a wolf ticket is baby Michael. Michael's not a baby. Michael is growing up quick. They better send him off to boarding school or something. He's about to be seven, eight inches taller here, pretty quick. He is no longer a little, he's still a little boy, obviously. He's probably got to be around 12. He's looking different, he's sounding different. I swear he's at least two inches taller than the last time we saw him anyway. Uh, Michael's in the wrong place at the wrong time, i.e., his home, when his mom's sitting on the couch, she hears Mac drive up in the wagoner. She starts running upstairs and she says, Michael, Michael, tell whoever it is at the door that I'm not here. I'm very, very busy. She runs upstairs. He goes to get the door. It's Mac. Hey, what's up? Hey, how you doing? Where's your mom? She's not here. Oh, I saw her car in the driveway. Is she next door? No, she's upstairs. And he's like, Oh, damn, I'm not supposed to say that. Well, Mac begins to shout that he had paid a little trip to Knott's Landing Motors today, and he was very surprised to see that Weirdo Wayne still works there. Baby Michael, young Michael says, Well, I'll tell her when she comes downstairs. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't I don't know how to do this. Mac and Karen have a conversation by not having a conversation about why she shouldn't trifle with Weird Wayne. Karen thinks she needs to trifle with Weird Wayne because Mac has been absolutely no help. Tell her she's off a rocker and that they'll talk about this later. How about dinner tomorrow? She says, no. What time do I pick you up? Seven. I love their relationship. I love this. I love the banter. I love the back and forth. I love that neither one of them are afraid of each other. I'm into it. Poor baby Michael. It's like, damn, I just, man, I just wanted. Oh man. How did I get in this? All the kid wanted to do was eat a donut in peace. Mac is not wrong. Karen is not really paying attention. She doesn't know she's sort of being tailed this entire time. She goes over to Abby's house to confront her about this receipt that she found to this parts company. She feels like it's residue left over from that scam Gary was running. But Abby quickly says, Well, did you flip it over? Did you actually investigate? Are those or are those not my brother's initials on the back? Sid knew all about this. Could you please stop trying to turn me into some tax criminal? Karen is quite embarrassed. Like, dang, I can't believe I didn't flip this check over. So the West Lake Auto Parts or whatever was the mafiosos type's front. But to Abby's point, she signed a lot of checks. Cancel checks were approved or not approved by Sid. So there's a lot of things he saw that maybe he just didn't put two and two together. She encourages Karen to keep looking. You just might find something else she didn't know about Sid. This could just be Abby talking, but the thing that stands out to me is well, two things stand out. Number one, it is so embarrassing when you really think you've got somebody dead to rights, and they're like, Did you read the whole sentence? Did you flip? Did you do the basic? And you realize, actually, no, I didn't. I kind of built this whole story up without doing very much research. Um, hey y'all, I just came over to see your apartment. I heard you needed a vacuum girl. I just came to see y'all. You can't even say face because she hates them. But the other thing that stands out to me is Gary once again being useless. Now I know I have a I have a huge grudge against him, but is it just me or does he not really know? He's not very useful outside of work. There's very little Gary does or knows. Even in work, you don't know. Ask her, Gary. What do you know, Gary? What do you keep track of, Gary? Ugh, I don't even want to talk about him. Moving on. We have got to get to Vidalia and her nighttime television debut. So, Chip has been given to go ahead to groom this woman into superstardom. After all, her PR company knows that this book is salacious, it is dirty, and it happens to be well written. The more publicity it gets, the more the book sales go up, the more the book sales go up, the more Valen is going to be booked and busy. The more she's booked and busy, the better off they are. So, Chip interprets this as go and collect a ton of wardrobe, present it to Valen, and make sure she doesn't look like Kmart Chris Jenner on national television. He brings over different outfits for her to try on. She's trying on clothes. Lily May is having the time of her life putting on everything. She's got on this Bill Cosby slash circus tent slash windbreaker type outfit. Chip is telling her how flashy looks. Lie number 216. Only to have Vidalia come downstairs in a in a relatively cute dress. Cute, but what gets me is it looks exactly like something she wears all the time anyway. She could have personally gone to her closet and picked that out. He tells her she looks amazing, these shoes look great on you. And don't worry about it, girl. Pick out whatever you want, and it's gonna come out of your very first publishing check. Oh, I have to pay for this? He's like, of course you get to pay for this. You see what he does there? Uh-huh. Well, the outfit that she's wearing, the dress that is, cost six hundred dollars in 1982. Inflation is usually about four times that so it's about 2200-ish dollars. Yeah, well about that,$2,015. Plus the hundred dollar shoes, about$400. Yeah. A whole lot of money for a dress to be on national TV. But you know what? That's a drop in the bucket for a bubbling author. Actually, it'd be$336. Either way, Val's not used this kind of money, and it's just adding to her anxiety. Chip says, Don't worry about it. You're gonna be perfect, you're gonna be stunning. I got you. So before that, the day, I guess it's the day before. I could be mixing this up. It could be the day before or it's the morning before she's supposed to be on the program. Chip sneaks her on to the set. It is quite clear to the audience that he is sneaking her on. He don't really know Mike Douglas, plus, we know now that he sells a lot of wolf tickets. He's always lying about something. But I can't say the kid's not good at his job. Getting to the good part, she makes it onto the stage without incident. She is on the program, even if she's not headlining it. We do get to see Ja Zah Gabor and her Ja Zah Gabor. I know she had a rack like that. They made me look, okay. She was not wearing any jewelry, though. It's like who put Ja Ja in this nightgown? But I guess it was cute on the day of anyway. I don't know if the other people in the scene are famous or not, but I know Mike Douglas is there. So everybody knows that Valen is going to be on television that night. Even her ex- or soon-to-be ex-husband Gary. Now, Gary and Abby are up, of course, postcoitus, laid up on the couch bed, watching TV. Well, no, they're just chilling. Abby decides she wants to see Valen on the show. Gary says he doesn't. Abby continues to turn on the television. Now, I I I breezed over the whole Karen situation. Karen is going back and forth with herself on whether or not she should pursue going after Sid's killers. At the same time that she gives Richard this uh this check, he encourages her to go ahead and do what she needs to do. He basically says, I'm a coward, I would run away, but I know you're not. I know you're gonna do this, so I'm not even gonna play in your face and tell you not to do what you need to do. Is pursuing this, I can't really remember what she was doing, but she was supposed to have dinner with Mac at seven. Mac shows up to Richard's restaurant to cuss out Richard because he feels like Richard is encouraging her to run around chasing after these very dangerous men. Richard doesn't even get pissed off because he's got a$15,000 check in his wallet from his very good friend who believes in him.$15,000 in 1982 turns out to be roughly about$50,000. I'm not saying that's the only reason he's cool, calm, and collected. Maybe he's just not intimidated by Mac. Plus, he's got a plan. So Richard ends up coercing, convincing Karen to stop by the restaurant. She pretends not to know that Mac is there, even though his wagoners outside. They sit down, have a delightful French dinner made by an American man fresh out of an insane asylum, and they watch Val on TV. So, Mr. Douglas, who I guess he's good looking, but okay. I don't know if he was a baddie or not. Somebody please let me know. This is a good time to mention that if you enjoy the show, please let your girl know. Love to hear it, and I love hearing from you. Check the show notes if you're listening to this on your mobile device, and you will see a link that says send us a text. You can send me a text. I will always acknowledge it. I can't text you back, but I will answer you on air. Or you can reach out the new old-fashioned way at soaplore podcast at gmail.com. That's S-O-A-P-L-O-R-E, P-O-D-C-A-S T at Gmail.com. Let me know, was Mike Douglas huge? Is he bigger than Johnny Carson? He seemed to be very warm. He he reminded me of I hate to say a more serious Mori Povich, but a more serious Mori Povovich. He didn't give typical nighttime TV vibes. You know, most nighttime talk show hosts are comedians. I liked him. I liked him right away. Val, well, what what made you write this? How does a how does a housewife write a full-on novel like this? She is so charming. Well, I just tried to spell all the words right. Ha ha ha ha. Audience is eating it up. Now Lily Bay is a little bit too comfortable backstage. She's hugging all on Ja Jah, she's talking to everybody. I'm not gonna say she's too comfortable. She is comfortable, she is a star, she knows it, even if the world doesn't. Mike Douglas gets to the hard question and asks Valen, now, is this a thinly veiled, I forget the French word he uses, attempt at talking about the Ewings? She goes on that whole spiel she's been using from the very beginning. She outright says, I would never write anything to cause any trouble, and I certainly wouldn't want to upset anybody. Mike's like, but you are you are the ewings from Texas. She said, Yes, we are from Texas. My husband is, but we moved to LA a couple years ago. Mike says, Well, what does your husband think of this? This would have been her opportunity to sell them up the river. And if I'm as I'm thinking about it now, that might have been Abby's intention. Let me let me continue to plant this seed. Yes, your marriage is already in trouble, but let me continue to plant this seed of this woman. It is not for you. She's gonna go against you, but Valen doesn't. She handles this very eloquently. She says, My husband is from Texas, and I don't know what he thinks of the book now, but I know that he was very, very supportive of me when I was writing the book. And Lily Mae's backstage, like, oh my god, and so was I, so was I. Valerie, sure enough, on cue says, and so was my mother. You may have heard of her, Lily Mae. Lily Mae, oh my god. I made it, baby. I made it. She's so hyped that she said her name. You may have heard of my current heard of Lily Mae, but she did have that residency in Vegas. Val is finally able to answer the question as to why she wrote the book. Not just because it was a project for school, not just because she needed something to do. Now, earlier in the episode, Lily Mae says to Val that she wrote the book because she needed a distraction because her and Gary weren't doing so good. And if she hadn't had that book to pour herself into, she would have seen what was right in front of her. Valine's like, I can't believe your country just said that to me. Well, you were around Gary all day, mama. How come you didn't see it? She goes, Well, he's not my husband. If he was my husband, I would have seen it, but he's not my husband. And you didn't see it because you were too busy in this book. I need to correct this because it the I don't feel like the intention is really captured unless I do. She does not disparage the Ewings in any way. She admits, yes, we are from Texas. No, we don't miss it at all. My husband's actually from Texas, and I don't, I really don't think he misses Texas. Quite happy here in LA. Uh the Ewings may have their lives, but nothing they do is is very secretive. That's in response to Mike Douglas asking her if it's a Romany Clay. I'm probably saying that incorrectly. She goes, Well, I don't know, I don't speak French, but no, this is not a thinly veiled story about the Ewings. So he he's charmed by her. She's on her P's and Q's. She is country dumbing them, or she was, she country dumbed him. And now he's like, Oh, okay, this chick is really smart. Let me come at her correctly. So he says, In all honesty, though, wasn't there a little bit of real life creeping into your plot? And she says, Well, yes, absolutely. There was a little bit of real life creeping into the plot because I put a little bit of myself into each one of those characters. I would never write anything to upset anybody, and I'm certainly not here to start any trouble, but this is me pouring myself into each one of those people. Fantastic. She delivers that famous line that she's been saying this entire time. I created them from my imagination. I thought about everything, but she's able to articulate it more in this moment because she has her aha moment. I also forgot to mention that she, if Valie ain't gonna do nothing else, she's gonna throw an extra accessory, she's gonna do something to the top of her head. I don't know why she can't just let bygones be bygones. She has added a matching scarf to this$600 dress. I'm not in love with it. And you know, but you know, Val can't just put it wear it as a headband. She looks like a fortune teller from the chin up because it is a little bit of skew, she got a little bit of bang hanging down. Girl, that's Val. I'm just gonna have to accept that at this point. Val is gonna do something wild and crazy from the forehead up every single time. She wants the book to stand by itself, it is not a piece of gossip. If anyone else were saying this, I wouldn't believe that. But I really do think this is her way of expressing emotions she couldn't express. Now, does she have a lot to draw from? She absolutely does. I'm of the opinion people who work in the public see all kinds of people. If you're smart, you sort of become a student of humanity. So, yes, people are going to be touched by this. Yes, it's attached to a famous name, but ultimately she wants to be known for her writing skills versus the uh trash, quote unquote, that people think she's airing out when it comes to the ewing or the dirty laundry, I guess, airing out. And maybe she must be some sort of fortune teller or whatever, because she becomes well, she's not a Swingali because there's no malice behind it. As she's expressing how much she doesn't want to hurt people, there's enough riff-raff and trash in the world. I wouldn't write no mess. That's not even how I do. The audience is lapping it up. Mike Douglas is putty in her hand. And dare I say it, Gary Ewing in his draws is quite impressed with his ex-wife. He already told Abby, oh, she looks pretty. She does look pretty. You can see Abby growing more and more irritated as the interview goes on because she fully, I don't know what she expected. I really don't know what she expected. Maybe she thought Valerine would be truthful. Maybe she thought Valen would say me and Gary are no longer together, but she doesn't. She keeps it very classy and she's interviewing so well that you can't help but be drawn to her and not upset with her. And Gary clearly isn't. So Abby simply reaches over with her tippy toe and clicks the TV off and gets back to business. She's like, I guess I gotta bang him one more time. I thought he was gonna be upset, but can't have him thinking about his hot ex wife anymore. Now, can I? Meanwhile, Val's on TV realizing why she really put pen to pad. She wrote the book because she wanted to explore what. What makes people tick? I love that. Not everyone can process what they think. Not everyone has the chance to say the things that they want to say or do the things that they want to do. But if you can express that through writing, you can create a whole world. You can challenge yourself, put yourself in many different situations and let the story move the characters along, letting you move through these emotions and figure out what you would do in this situation or what you wouldn't do or why somebody would do the things they do. This is fascinating. It is absolutely oh, I'm having an aha moment. It is why I love stories myself. There is nothing more fascinating on earth than a human being and to to know what makes them tick. She's not wrong. What makes people tick? Anyway, Mike is absolutely moved. The audience is putty in her hand. Chip is smiling like a Cheshire cat in the wings. Lily Mae is cutting up, having the time of her life. We're her new homegirl, Ja Jagabor, in the green room. Loveliness all around. When Val leaves, a young girl comes up to her and says, Miss Ewing, can I please have your autograph? I heard what you said in there, and I want to be a writer too. You have truly inspired me. I love it. Not to get all filled, you know what health. You know I'm an emotional person by this point. There is nothing more beautiful than taking control of your life. It's not always easy. It doesn't feel like it's worth it sometimes, the ups and downs. But to be able to inspire somebody by being yourself, by tapping into something you didn't know you could do by embracing your natural talents, God, what a gift. And now she's inspired some other people. I'm so proud of Valen's progress. Man, of all the characters on all the shows, I think I am most proud of her moving through the riff-raff she's moved through. She ain't perfect. God knows her taste in in hair is atrocious. And it's it's very powerful to watch this mouse of a woman blossom into what she's blossoming into. I love it. Love to see it. I also love Lily May's country hate. When when Val is trying on the clothes that she has to pay for, I made a mistake there too. The shoes are$200, not$100. So relative about$600. Lily May is basically hyping her up, tell her, girl, you need to look good because you know who's gonna see you on TV. Out of the 10 million people watching, you know who's gonna be watching too. Yeah, girl. He saw her, he knows what's up. I wonder though, now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if Val told anybody that Gary said he wanted to work things out. I doubt it. It doesn't seem like she was. I don't know. She doesn't seem like the type to mention that unless it starts to bug her later on. Maybe it will on the next episode, which I get to watch right now. So I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this up. Thank you so much for joining me today. Remember, you can send me a text via the show notes, click on the link, or you can send me an email at so poor podcast at gmail.com. That's s-o-a-p-l-o-r-e p-o-d-c-s-t at gmail.com. In the meantime, in between time, you gotta spend a little something to make a little something. Don't be afraid to put on$1,000 worth of clothing to stunt on your ex on national TV if you get the chance. If not, go on TikTok or something. Stay hydrated, stay moisturized, mind your own business, and keep all of your drama on TV.