Knots Landing

Knots Landing was a CBS network prime time soap opera series and spin-off of "Dallas" that was created by David Jacobs.

The show premiered on December 27, 1979 and ended on May 13, 1993, airing for 14 seasons & 344 episodes. By the time it had ended, the series had become one of the longest-running primetime dramas on U.S. television (after "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza").

Show Background

Season 1

In the first episode of the series, newly remarried Gary (Ted Shackelford) and Valene Ewing (Joan Van Ark) move to Knots Landing, California in a cul-de-sac known as Seaview Circle. They meet their neighbors, Sid Fairgate (Don Murray), the owner of Knots Landing Motors, a used car dealership and his wife Karen (Michele Lee), the parents of three children: Diana (Claudia Lonow), Eric (Steve Shaw) & Michael (Patrick Petersen).

Also living on the cul-de-sac is corporate lawyer Richard Avery (John Pleshette) and his real estate agent wife Laura (Constance McCashin), who have a young son, Jason. Other neighbors include the young couple Kenny Ward (James Houghton), a record producer and his wife Ginger (Kim Lankford), a kindergarten teacher.

Early in the series, Gary becomes a salesman at Knots Landing Motors, and deals with visits from his wealthy brothers from Dallas, Bobby (guest star Patrick Duffy) and J. R. Ewing (guest star Larry Hagman). Gary and Valene get a visit from their teenage daughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton) although she decides to return to Dallas and from Valene's estranged mother, Lilimae (Julie Harris).

Sid and Karen deal with problems surrounding Sid's oldest daughter, Annie (Karen Allen), Richard and Laura deal with the circumstances surrounding Laura's rape, and Kenny and Ginger's marriage hits the rocks when Kenny starts an affair with a young singer named Sylvie (Louise Vallance).

In the first-season finale, Gary relapses into alcoholism, endangering his marriage.

Season 2

At the beginning of the show's second season, Sid's manipulative younger sister, Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills), a recent divorcée and the mother of two children, Olivia (Tonya Crowe) and Brian (Bobby Jacoby, later Brian Austin Green), move to Knots Landing.

Abby begins working for her brother at Knots Landing Motors and immediately takes an interest in Richard, beginning a rather open affair with him and she makes sure that Valene discovers Gary having an affair with Judy Trent (guest star Jane Elliot), the wife of a man he befriended while in Alcoholics Anonymous.

In the meantime, Laura starts an affair with her boss, Scooter Warren (Allan Miller) and Abby soon dumps Richard when her ex-husband, Jeff (Barry Jenner) threatens to take her children from her. While separated from Kenny, Ginger starts a romance with the father of one of her students, although she and Kenny eventually reconcile.

Near the end of the season, Jeff succeeds in taking Olivia & Brian away from Abby, leaving her frantic. When Sid discovered some car parts that Gary and Abby had purchased were actually stolen, his brakes were tampered with to keep him from testifying in court. As a result, in the season finale, Sid's car plunges off a cliff, leaving him in critical condition in the hospital.

Season 3

At the start of the third season, Karen signs for Sid to have a life-threatening surgery, which results in his death. After Sid's death, Karen becomes the head of Knots Landing Motors, subsequently firing Abby (although she was soon rehired). Meanwhile, Abby and Gary start an affair and Ginger gives birth to a daughter named Erin Molly and makes Karen her godmother.

Karen's brother, Joe Cooper (Stephen Macht), takes a job at USC as a bookkeeper and briefly stays with the Fairgate family before living town. Valene's mother, Lilimae, moves in with Gary and Valene, which results in Valene and Lilimae gradually strengthening their estranged relationship.

Laura plans to leave Richard and marry Scooter, but after learning that she is pregnant, she decides to reconcile with Richard and end her affair with Scooter. However, Richard's career takes a turn for the worse and once he loses his job, he suffers a nervous breakdown & holds Laura hostage in their home. Laura subsequently sends Richard to a mental institution.

After Karen passes up the opportunity to fund a methanol-powered vehicle project, Gary and Abby devote the majority of their time to making the deal without Karen's help.

In the third-season finale, Valene (having been humiliated by Gary and Abby's affair) leaves Seaview Circle in tears.

Season 4

In season four, Valene returns to the cul-de-sac and throws Gary out of her house, leaving him free to move in with Abby. He soon inherits millions left to him in her father's will. Investing money in several ways, Gary takes an interest in a beautiful younger singer named Ciji Dunne (Lisa Hartman).

Valene begins writing a book, titled Capricorn Crude, an exposé on her and Gary's life with his wealthy oil family in Texas. With the charges dropped against Sid Fairgate's killers, Karen seeks the help of federal prosecutor Mack MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson), whom she starts dating and eventually marries mid-season.

Valene's publicist, Chip Roberts (Michael Sabatino) moves in with Valene & Lilimae, and trouble starts when he dates Diana and Ciji (who was also romantically linked to Gary and Kenny) at the same time.

At the end of the season, Richard leaves Knots Landing, finally realizing his marriage to Laura was over and believing that Laura and Ciji were engaging in a lesbian romance (although, in reality, they were no more than friends).

In the fourth finale, Ciji's dead body is discovered on the shore of a beach and there are many suspects including Gary, Chip and Richard.

Season 5

In season five, Gary has been arrested for Ciji's murder and Lilimae learns that Chip is really a wanted criminal whose real name is Tony Fenice. Chip runs away with Diana and is later found guilty of killing Ciji, resulting in the charges against Gary being dropped.

Meanwhile, Sid and Abby's uncle died, leaving Abby and (by default) Karen land inheritance at Lotus Point, California. Without Karen's knowledge, Abby schemed to build a resort on the land while cutting Karen out of her plans.

Abby then forms a company called Apolune, a secret subsidiary of Gary's corporation, and she convinces Gary to marry her so she can share his inheritance he got from his father's death. Valene begins a relationship with journalist Ben Gibson (Douglas Sheehan), but after a one-night stand with Gary, she learns she is pregnant with twins. Valene decides not to tell Gary that he is the father, as he was now married to Abby and as she had fallen in love with Ben.

However, Ben could not accept that Valene was pregnant with another man's children and he and Valene broke up. Abby hires a Ciji look-alike, Cathy Geary (also Lisa Hartman), to keep Gary distracted so he would not learn about her crooked business practices. The events surrounding Diana running away with Chip stresses Karen to point where she becomes addicted to prescription pain pills.

Politician Greg Sumner (William Devane), an old college friend of Mack's who was running for U.S. Senator, received the endorsements of Mack and Karen, as well as Abby, who wanted to buy herself a senator. Greg hired Mack to lead his Senate Crime Commission investigating the sinister Wolfbridge Group, but when Abby convinced Greg to get her an illegal land variance to build on Lotus Point, Greg pinned it on Mack, thus ending their friendship.

After Karen's recovery from her drug addiction, she and Diana recovered their relationship, after Diana returned to Knots Landing after Chip's sudden death. Wolfbridge forced Abby into making them her partners in the developments at Lotus Point.

When Mack discovered that Apolune owned all the land in Lotus Point, except Karen and Abby's inheritances, he thought Apolune was a division of Wolfbridge. Laura confessed that Apolune was Abby's company and Gary decided to divorce Abby.

When Mack faked Gary's death to get Wolfbridge, Karen left him, believing that his obsession with Wolfbridge had cost them their marriage.

In the fifth-season finale, Mack tried to trick Mark St. Claire (guest star Joseph Chapman), the head of the Wolfbridge Group, into trying to shoot Gary, but St. Claire's assassin hit Karen instead. Meanwhile, Abby was kidnapped by the Wolfbridge Group when they realized they had failed.

Season 6

Greg kills Mark St. Claire, who was holding Abby hostage on a boat. After being shot, Karen refuses to have risky surgery, fearing that she would die in the process, although she soon recovers.

Meanwhile, Gary and Abby reconcile and the couple, along with Karen, agreed to become partners in Lotus Point. Lilimae's secret son and Valene's half-brother, Joshua Rush (Alec Baldwin), whom Lilimae abandoned as an infant, arrives in Knots Landing and moves in with Lilimae and Valene.

Joshua, a televangelist, soon begins a romance with Cathy, who has moved into the cul-de-sac with Laura and her children. Abby starts running a television station, World Pacific Cable, that Ben becomes a journalist for after Gary purchased it. Abby was stunned to learn that Gary was the father of Valene's twins, and Abby tells Scott Easton (Jack Bannon), an influential lobbyist with shady connections, about her problem.

As a favor to Abby, Scott arranges to have Valene's babies kidnapped at birth, though without Abby's approval, who becomes furious at his actions. Valene is told the babies were stillborn although she insists she saw them alive, and thereby lives Knots Landing for Tennessee, where she assumes the identity of Verna Ellers (a character from one of her books) and works as a waitress. Karen and Mack reconcile, and Karen eventually gets the operation she needed in order to make a full recovery.

Gary befriends the aging millionaire Paul Galveston (Howard Duff), and Galveston offers Gary the opportunity to develop Empire Valley, a large piece of real estate. Galveston soon dies, and he leaves his millions to Greg, who is proven to have been his son.

Assuming he had been left Empire Valley, Greg resigns from the Senate, but is shocked to learn that the land had been left to Gary. Greg's devious mother, Ruth (guest star Ava Gardner), comes to visit her son after Galveston's death. Ruth becomes close to Abby (since they have similar interests), but loathes Laura, who, by this time has started a relationship with Greg.

Around this same time, Joshua and Cathy grow closer, and the two soon marry. Valene (still believing she is "Verna") becomes engaged to a man in Tennessee, but Gary finally finds her and brings her back to Knots Landing where she rekindles her romance with Ben, but still believing her babies to be alive.

Karen and Ben discovered that Valene's doctor had paid off a nurse to assist in the kidnapping of Valene's children. Mack thereby tracked down Valene's babies, who had been adopted illegally.

Abby confided in Greg that she inadvertently caused the kidnapping of Valene's babies, but she wanted to get them back. With Ruth's help, Abby was able to get address to the home where Valene's babies had been living.

In the sixth-season finale, Abby goes to Valene and tells her that she knows where her babies are, and the two go to the home of Sheila (Robin Ginsburg) and Harry Fisher (Joe Regalbuto). Sheila disbelieves their claims that the babies were adopted illegally, and Harry takes off with one of the twins.

Season 7

Early in season seven, after a frantic battle to expose the illegal black market adoption, Valene's children are returned to her, whom she names Betsy and Bobby. Valene and Ben agree to raise the children as theirs, and the two soon marry.

Abby successfully covers her tracks in the matter by simply telling Gary that she had received a phone call for a "Mrs. Ewing" telling her where the babies where the babies could be found.

Gary receives news of his brother Bobby's death and returns to Dallas for the funeral (Bobby Ewing's death was later explained as being a "dream" on Dallas at the start of its tenth season in 1986, although this was never acknowledged on Knots Landing as Bobby was never mentioned again).

Empire Valley went awry when Gary learned that Galveston Industries and its partners were secretly building an underground espionage operation there. Gary subsequently blows Empire Valley up. Peter Hollister (Hunt Block) goes to work for Greg and with the help of Sylvia Lean (guest star Ruth Roman) acting as his mother, Peter convinces Greg that he is also Paul Galveston's son, therefore making he and Greg half brothers.

Jill Bennett (Teri Austin), Peter's sister, becomes Mack's new colleague, although Jill and Peter keep their relationship a secret as an effort to get revenge on the Galveston family for having wrong their family years before.

Abby soon discovers that Sylvia is not Peter's mother and that Peter is not Galveston's son, therefore blackmailing Peter into paying her to keep their secret safe. In the meantime, Joshua becomes increasingly controlling and abusive towards Cathy and in a moment of rage, Joshua falls of the roof of building, thus killing himself.

Lilimae and Cathy spend the remainder of the season mourning over his death, although Cathy soon starts an affair with Ben, who becomes her manager for her budding singing career.

However, at the end of the season, Cathy leaves town, having ended her romance with Ben, and Abby becomes aware that her daughter Olivia has developed a drug problem. Also, a young woman, Paige Matheson (Nicollette Sheridan) comes to Knots Landing and explains to Mac that she is his illegitimate daughter.

In the season finale, Karen disappears and is being held hostage by a man in his basement.

Season 8

Karen's kidnapper was revealed to be Phil Harbert (guest star Louis Giambalvo), an old friend of Greg and Mack's from law school, who had become bitter towards Mack, having blamed him for causing the death of his wife. Karen later escapes, and Phil is later killed after being hit by a car.

Ben returns to Valene, promising to make their marriage work. However, this promise was compromised when he was contacted by Jean Hackney (Wendy Fulton), who had tried to trick Ben into doing a mission for an underground organization to kill Greg.

When Valene's babies were threatened, Ben reluctantly agrees to assist Jean. With Mack's help, Ben foiled the plan, although Jean's insistence on following him required Ben to leave the country and Valene at the end of the season.

Although Valene had helped in the situation stopping Greg's murder, an angry Laura, whom Valene had failed to tell what was going on, blamed her for the incident and ended their friendship.

Laura tells Greg that she is pregnant, but he is not enthusiastic about it, and she refuses to have an abortion. In the meantime, Paige reveals that she faked her death in order to escape the control of her wealthy grandparents, although Karen doubts the story, believing her to be an impostor. Also, Paige had developed a romantic relationship with Michael, Karen's son, but she soon tires of him and starts romancing Peter.

Abby's daughter Olivia's drug addiction has worsened, eventually leading to the injuring of Lilimae in a car accident and Abby resorts to desperate measures to get her clean. When her drug dealer beat up her younger brother Brian, Olivia finally admitted to her addiction and decided to get clean.

Olivia then becomes friends with Peter and starts crushing on him although he is interested in Paige. Peter, having become state senator with Greg's support, goes to the extreme to hide the fact that Jill is his sister, who has started an affair with Gary. When Jill and Peter have an argument, Jill falls from a cliff and Peter flees the scene to avoid any link to Jill or the accident, although he does report what happened.

Later, Paige's mother, Anne Matheson (Michelle Phillips), whom Paige had said was dead, appears and tries to rekindle her love affair with Mack. When Mack refuses her advances, she turns her attention to Greg, who also turns her down, and she therefore leaves town.

At the end of the season, Abby finds Olivia standing over Peter's dead body. With both assuming the other had killed Peter, Abby frantically buries his body under the soil at Lotus Point where cement is to be poured the following day.

Some weeks later, believing she had successfully hid Peter's body, Abby is informed by Karen that there was a crack found in the cement and that it would have to be tore up and redone.

Season 9

When Peter's body was discovered, Olivia is prosecuted for his murder, although Abby steps in to take the blame for her daughter. However, it is soon discovered that Paige accidentally caused Peter's death, although no charges are made against her.

After a talk with Karen, a depressed Laura decides to make up with Valene. Laura then told Greg that she was dying of brain tumor, but he refuses to accept it. Laura soon left Knots Landing to die elsewhere, thus leaving Greg with their infant child, a daughter named Meg. Overcome with grief and feeling unable to raise the child himself, Greg asks Karen and Mack to adopt Meg which they agree to.

Meanwhile, Lilimae leaves town after starting a new romance, and Abby rekindles her love affair with her old flame, Charles Scott (Michael York).

Abby and Charles briefly marry, but when Abby discovers his ulterior motives about developing a Lotus Point Marina, she ends the marriage. Frank (Larry Riley) and Pat Williams (Lynne Moody) and their daughter Julie (Kent Masters-King) move into Laura's old house on the cul-de-sac. Karen and Mack were initially suspicious of them, but became their friends upon learning they were in the Witness Protection Program.

With business at Lotus Point reaching a low, Karen, Abby, and Gary agree to expand the marina to accommodate the business of Manny Vasquez (John Aprea). Paige starts working for Greg, and soon finds herself attracted to him. Paige and Michael went on an archaeological dig in Mexico.

When it was learned that Manny was selling illegal drugs through Lotus Point, Karen, Abby, and Gary try to stop him, but to no avail. Manny tells them that he will hold Paige and Michael hostage in Mexico until they allow him to continue his dealings through Lotus Point.

Gary takes an increased interest in Valene's twins, his biological children, much to the annoyance of Jill, who has moved in with Gary. Jill made an elaborate plan where she edited audio recordings of Ben's voice to make Valene think he was trying to contact her. In an effort to make Valene appear unstable, Jill steals the tapes, leaving Valene with no proof of Ben trying to contact her.

In the ninth-season finale, Jill goes to Valene's home and at gunpoint, she forces Valene to swallow sleeping pills, hoping it will appear that Valene has committed suicide. The following morning, Valene is found motionless on her bedroom floor.

Season 10

Frank finds Valene unconscious and telephones for an ambulance. Valene survives the incident and says that Jill had tried to kill her, although Jill has provided herself with an alibi, although Valene's testimony is later proven true.

With doubt on her innocence, Jill was left friendless and she thereby tied herself up and locked herself in the trunk of Gary's car, hoping to frame Gary for kidnapping her. When Jill dies in the trunk, Gary is convicted her murder, although Mack has the charges dropped when it is learned Jill had deliberately locked herself in the trunk.

A con artist tried to extort money from Frank and Pat by threatening to reveal their whereabouts to the people that had threatened Pat's life years earlier. Mack halted the con artist, and used dental records from a deceased family to make him believe that the Sollars (the Williamses original surname) were dead. Paige and Michael were eventually able to get out of Mexico, and Manny Vasquez's nephew, Harold Dyer (Paul Carafotes), kills his uncle when he tried to kill Mack.

Paige seduced Greg and the two became a couple, although their relationship soon ended when Greg decided to run for mayor of Los Angeles. Realizing Paige would not make a good political wife, Greg instead marries Abby, although Paige keeps her job with Greg's company. Greg tried to regain custody of his daughter Meg from Mack and Karen, but he lost the case.

Later, Mack goes through a mid-life crisis and quits his job, and thereby starts his own law practice. Following a health and safety report, the Lotus Point land has to be sold. However, it was soon revealed that Abby had falsified the report after she discovered that there was oil underneath Lotus Point and created a company to conceal who was buying the resort from her partners.

Paige exposed that the whole thing had been initiated by Abby and her cohort Ted Melcher (Robert Desiderio) which infuriated Karen, who was determined to send Abby to jail for fraud. Abby narrowly avoided being imprisoned and agreed to donate Lotus Point to city as a public park.

Abby then leaves Greg and Knots Landing, accepting a Trade Envoy job in Japan (a job that Greg himself wanted after losing the run for mayor). Meawnhile, Paige finds herself caught between Greg and Ted Melcher, one of whom is a murderer.

Season 11

Valene and Gary become separately involved with another divorced couple, Danny (Sam Behrens) and Amanda Waleska (Penny Peyser). Gary learns that Danny had beaten and raped Amanda, but when he tells Valene she refuses to believe him and she ends up marrying Danny. However, when she realizes the truth, Valene tries to kick him out of her house.

When Danny becomes violent, Valene takes her twins and moves in with Gary. The two rekindle their romance and eventually make plans to remarry. While drunk, Danny hits Pat Williams with his car, and she is left on life support in the hospital.

When told that Pat is permanently brain dead, Frank decides to have her life support turned off. Olivia marries Harold, but they run into financial troubles when Abby cuts Olivia off financially. The couple soon make the decision to leave Knots Landing and move to Miami.

Eric's wife Linda Fairgate (Lar Park-Lincoln) moves in with Karen & Mack and starts an affair with Eric's younger brother, Michael.

Linda then divorces Eric and finds employment with the Sumner Group, where she becomes a rival of Paige's. Greg's daughter, Mary Frances (Stacy Galina) visits him after a six-year estrangement and is shot dead in her father's office, making Greg believe that he had been the intended target. Greg himself had been shot by Mary Frances' activist boyfriend, Robert Scarrow (John David Bland), although he survives. Robert blames Greg for manufacturing poisonous chemicals that cause liver cancer and he also admits to being the one that killed Mary Frances.

Now broke, Paige's mother Anne returns to Knots Landing, in an attempt to cheat Paige out of an inheritance that her grandfather left her. Anne steals Paige's identity in an effort to obtain her daughter's money, although the plan soon goes awry.

Paige soon falls in love with Tom Ryan (Joseph Gian), a crooked cop, and the two plan to marry, but Tom leaves Paige at the altar after Greg blackmailed him. Karen starts presenting a television talk show, but she becomes the target of an obsessive fan by the name of Jeff Cameron (Chris Lemmon), one of the show's producers.

Season 12

Jeff starts a plot to murder Karen, but he is eventually caught and imprisoned. With Greg's health on a downward spiral, his half-sister Claudia Whittaker (Kathleen Noone) comes to town along with her daughter Kate (also Stacy Galina), who bears a striking resemblance to Greg's dead daughter Mary Frances.

When she realizes she is not in Greg's will, Claudia arranges for him to get a liver so he will live. Kate meets Steve Brewer (Lance Guest), a man claiming to be her brother. Steve, who had been put up for adoption by Claudia, was the product of an affair between Claudia and Paul Galveston (her mother's dead husband, and Greg's biological father).

Kate and Steve become good friends, but Claudia, who wants Steve gone, has him framed by placing a gun in his car. Since Steve was already a felon, the gun violated his parole and he was later gunned down trying to run away from the police.

Mack befriends a high schooler named Jason Lochner (Thomas Wilson Brown), who was living with an abusive father. Jason later moves in with Mack and Karen, and dates Julie Williams. Frank, Julie's father, passes his lawyer bar exam and goes to work as an attorney with Mack's independent practice.

Danny continues harassing Valene, and he soon assaults Gary with a baseball bat. After forcing Gary to drink alcohol, Danny puts him a car a sends it over a cliff, hoping to make his death appear accidental. However, the airbag saves Gary's life, but Danny is found dead in the Williamses' swimming pool.

In the investigation surrounding Danny's death, almost everyone is a suspect, although it was soon discovered that his death was accidental. Valene falls from a horse and suffers from psychiatric problems, but she soon recovers and she and Gary get married for the third time.

Anne meets the scheming Italian Nick Schillace (Lorenzo Caccialanza), with whom she romances and embarks on a series of illegal schemes in an effort to obtain wealth. Their plans backfire when Nick suddenly leaves town, leaving Anne homeless.

Paige and Linda continue to despise one another, a mutual disliking that is further fueled when Linda has an affair with Greg.

At the end of the season, Jason is injured in a car crash witnessed by Karen and Valene, although he survives.

Season 13

Kate blames Claudia for Steve's death and removes her mother from her life, but they soon reconcile when Claudia attempts suicide. After some months of living on the streets, Anne meets the shady Benny Appleman (Stuart Pankin) and the two try to scheme their way into getting money.

Anne later agrees to pose nude for a magazine and also becomes the host of a late-night advice show, which becomes a success. Linda, Eric's ex-wife, is murdered by Brian Johnston (Philip Brown), who holds the MacKenzie hostage.

Jason soon leaves Knots Landing for Sweden and shortly thereafter, Julie decides to move away as well. Frank has a brief relationship with schoolteacher Debbie Porter (Halle Berry) before he too leaves town.

Gary invested in a project that turned energy from the ocean's tides into usable electric energy. The man behind the operation, Joseph Barringer (Mark Soper), becomes Kate's boyfriend. Meawnhile, Paige joins Gary and her new boyfriend Pierce (Bruce Greenwood) in a partnership.

A former flame of Pierce's, Victoria Broyelard (Marcia Cross), informs Paige that Pierce had killed his previous girlfriend, but Paige does not believe her. Paige is later shot by Pierce (who was aiming for Greg, whom he hated), temporarily paralyzing her. Pierce thereby kidnaps Paige, and holds her hostage on his yacht. Mack and Greg rescue her after she and Pierce fall into the water. Pierce's body is never found, and it was presumed he drowned.

Alex Barth (Boyd Kestner), the nephew of the Galveston housekeeper, blackmails Claudia for refusing to allow her ailing to receive treatment, thus leading to her death. Claudia, too, takes a disliking to Joseph and she arranges for him to get another job, thus ending his romance with Kate. Gary, who had been left bankrupt after losing his money to Tidal Energy, moves back to Seaview Circle with Valene.

Mary Robeson (Maree Cheatham) arrives in Knots Landing and tells Valene she is Meg's grandmother and that she is Laura's biological mother. Valene does not believe her, and while researching Mary in Florida, Valene is kidnapped. Later, while Paige gets into her car, she is horrified to see the presumably dead Pierce looking at her in the mirror.

Season 14

While trying to find Valene, Gary sees the car she was in explode. Greg decides to retire from the Sumner Group, and he leaves one-third of the company to Claudia, one-third to Paige, and one-third to Mack and Karen in a trust for Meg.

Anne's revealing she is pregnant leads to Greg marrying her, but it soon learned Anne was suffering from hysterical pregnancy. In the meantime, Anne's old beau Nick returns and the two rekindle their affair and their old conniving ways. Mack seeks $1 million to get Mary Robeson to stop the custody battle over Meg.

Claudia gives Mack $500,000 from the Sumner Group, and gives the other half to Nick to start a restaurant. Paige demanded an audit, but Claudia cannot get the money from Nick back because he already spent it.

Karen did not believe Mack would be able to stop Mary Robeson's efforts to win custody of Meg, and she soon leaves him, moving to New York with her daughter, Diana. Meanwhile, a shady organization run by Daniel Treadwell (Daniel Gerroll) and Gary starts a relationship with Kate.

In the series finale, Karen returns to Mack, and the presumed dead Valene returns, revealing she had faked her death to hide from Treadwell's people, who had threatened to harm her for coming across secretive information.

Treadwell's mysterious partner is revealed to be Abby, who has been orchestrating the takeover of the Sumner Group all along. However, Greg stops Abby by threatening to reveal her dirty dealings while she was in Japan. As Treadwell prepares to kill Nick, who was working for him, Treadwell himself was killed by Vanessa Hunt (Felicity Waterman).

Anne offers to divorce Greg so he can resume his relationship with her daughter Paige, whom he loves. Claudia decides to leave Knots Landing for Monaco, and at the airport, she runs into Anne and Nick, who are also leaving town.

In the final scenes, back at Seaview Circle, Karen, Mack, Valene, and Gary prepare a barbecue as a new couple begin moving into Frank Williams' old home.

Meanwhile, Abby arrives at the gathering and reveals that she has purchased her old house in Seaview Circle. Valene simply smiles and welcomes Abby back before she and Gary go home. In the final shot, Abby is left face-to-face with Karen, to whom she asks, "Just like old times, isn't it?"

Cast

• James Houghton as Kenny Ward
• Kim Lankford as Ginger Ward
• Michele Lee as Karen Fairgate MacKenzie
• Constance McCashin as Laura Avery Sumner
• Don Murray as Sid Fairgate
• John Pleshette as Richard Avery
• Ted Shackelford as Gary Ewing
• Joan Van Ark as Valene "Val" Ewing
• Julie Harris as Lilimae Clements
• Claudia Lonow as Diana Fairgate
• Patrick Petersen as Michael Fairgate
• Donna Mills as Abby Cunningham Ewing Sumner
• Tonya Crowe as Olivia Cunningham
• Kevin Dobson as Mack MacKenzie
• Lisa Hartman as Ciji Dunne/Cathy Geary
• Douglas Sheehan as Ben Gibson
• William Devane as Greg Sumner
• Alec Baldwin as Joshua Rush
• Teri Austin as Jill Bennett
• Nicollette Sheridan as Paige Matheson
• Michelle Phillips as Anne Matheson
• Larry Riley as Frank Williams
• Stacy Galina as Kate Whittaker/Mary-Frances Sumner #2
• Kathleen Noone as Claudia Whittaker

Ratings

Season	Premiere	Finale	Episodes	Timeslot	Rank	Rating	Households
1979–80	December 27, 1979	March 27, 1980	13	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episodes 1-4, 6-13) Friday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episode 5)	#29	20.0	15.3
1980–81	November 20, 1980	March 26, 1981	18	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episodes 1-16, 18) Thursday at 9:00-10:00 pm (Episode 17)	#28	19.0	15.2
1981–82	November 12, 1981	May 6, 1982	22	Thursday at 9:00-10:00 pm (Episodes 1-15) Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episodes 16-22)	#43	15.3	(N/A)
1982–83	September 30, 1982	March 10, 1983	22	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episodes 1-5, 7-22) Friday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episode 6)	#20	18.6	15.5
1983–84	September 29, 1983	March 29, 1984	25	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm	#11	20.8	17.4
1984–85	October 4, 1984	May 16, 1985	30		#9	20.0	17.4
1985–86	September 19, 1985	May 18, 1986	30		#17	16.7	16.8
1986–87	September 18, 1986	May 7, 1987	30	Thursday at 9:00-10:00 pm (Episodes 1, 3-10) Thursday at 10:00 pm (Episodes 2, 11-30)	#26	16.8	14.7
1987–88	September 24, 1987	May 12, 1988	29	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm	#31	15.8	(N/A)
1988–89	October 27, 1988	May 18, 1989	28	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episodes 1-26, 28) Thursday at 9:00-10:00 pm (Episode 27)	#28	16.1	14.6
1989–90	September 28, 1989	May 11, 1990	29	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm	#34	14.3	(N/A)
1990–91	September 13, 1990	May 16, 1991	27	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episodes 1-25, 27) Thursday at 9:00-10:00 pm (Episode 26)	#35	13.6	(N/A)
1991–92	September 12, 1991	April 9, 1992	22	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm	#47	12.3	(N/A)
1992–93	October 29, 1992	May 13, 1993	19	Thursday at 10:00-11:00 pm (Episodes 1-17, 19) Thursday at 9:00-10:00 pm (Episode 18)	#42	11.5	(N/A)

Video

Knot's Landing Intro