Product Description

The second longest running drama in TV history and cultural phenomenon that defined nighttime drama is finally coming to DVD! Dubbed "The Original Desperate Housewives" (William Heck, USAToday), Knots Landing depicts the lives and loves of five suburban families, who live in this always interesting upper-middle class southern California cul-de-sac.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Interviews

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9095 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2006-03-28
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: .70 pounds
• Running time: 694 minutes

Amazon.com
Knots Landing was a Dallas spinoff that spent its first season in marked contrast to the latter series' tales of power-grabbing, greed, corruption, conspiracies, and fraternal rivalries. Where Dallas concerned travails of an ultra-rich and influential Texas family, and its many enemies0--all great fantasy stuff--Knots Landing initially evolved as a drama set among Southern California's suburban middle class. Built around the character Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford), a recovering alcoholic and brother of Dallas' scheming J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), Knots Landing is set on a cul-de-sac in a seemingly peaceful neighborhood of modest houses. Gary, one might recall from several episodes of Dallas, is the black sheep of the Ewing clan. His marriage to the mousy Val (Joan Van Ark) was sabotaged by J.R., and their troubled teenage daughter came to live with J.R. and his parents on their expansive ranch.

Knots Landing begins with Gary and Val making a fresh start on the West Coast. If their second try at marriage works, they reckon, their daughter can come live with them in a stable environment. Gary, who wants nothing to do with the Ewing oil business, takes a job selling classic cars for his new neighbor, Sid Fairgate (Don Murray). But he reluctantly becomes embroiled, along with Val, in several local issues, the most complicated being J.R.'s plans to drill for oil just off the shore of Gary's adopted community. (Hagman, as a guest star, brings a lot of fun to that episode with his affable villainy.) It doesn't take long, however, for other major characters in Knots Landing to emerge as fascinating people in their own right, with no relationship to Ewing history except friendship with Gary and Val. In fact, Sid and his wife Karen (Michele Lee) are, arguably, the strongest characters in the first season, a couple with such strong underpinnings that their arguments inevitably result in a tighter union. Lee's performance, overall, is the best on the show, and several episodes (that look nothing like a primetime soap opera) are clearly written to spotlight her talent.

Gary's other neighbors include self-centered attorney Richard Avery (John Pleshette) and his beleaguered spouse, Laura (Constance McCashin); plus the youthful if little-seen Kenny (James Houghton) and Ginger (Kim Lankford) Ward. The stories in Knots Landing: The Complete First Season generally concern ordinary and familiar things: fear of crime, unexpected pregnancies, raising kids, dating, education, marital discord. Sure, many of the same conflicts occur on Dallas, but the fun in watching that show is recognizing that the super-wealthy and powerful struggle with the same problems the rest of us do. In Knots Landing, conflicts are more earthbound. That won't always be the case on this show: over subsequent seasons and with the addition of more characters and the loss of others, the drama will tilt in another direction. The Complete First Season establishes a solid foundation, however, and there's a lot of merit to it. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

A Must Have for TV on DVD Collectors
Before getting this DVD set, I had not seen one episode of "Knots Landing." I'm 21, didn't have any interest in the series but started watching the show it spinned-off from, "Dallas", on DVD and decided to give this a try. Well, I was not disappointed at all. This was, as they hype on the back, the "original desperate housewives." If "Dallas" was about the Ewing men, "Knots Landing" was about the women living in the cul-du-sac in Knots Landing, California, and their men.

Perhaps what made this series so appealing was the women. Yeah, we had seen Joan Van Ark's character on "Dallas" a few times but even on this show she comes off as rather weak and bland. Michelle Lee comes in and owns the show from the first scene she appeared in. It was as if she had been playing the role for years. Her acting is on spot, her expression and feelings made her character and the show something entirely different from "Dallas." Also, Constance McCashin who plays Laura Avery was a surprisingly strong character who really progressed in this short first season; she goes from being a typical at-home housewife to suddenly getting her hand in her household affairs.

"Dallas" is great but it seemed to be for the men. It was about aggressiveness in business, the Ewing brothers feuding, and the women sort of took a back seat. "Knots Landing" was about the entire community. It was nice seeing the families and cast always together, interacting, helping each other out. If one of them had a problem, it became everyone's problem. The show started off great, taking on big issues that common, everyday people seemed to face; pregnancy, education issues, rape, alcoholism, and so on.

It was easy to get into this series. While it felt it took "Dallas" a little while to hit its stride, "Knots Landing" seems to know where it's going from day one. Quality wise, it was a nice transfer to DVD. The show itself is not dated at all. I'd say if you're into shows like "Desperate Housewives" or other primetime soaps and dramas, you'll like this. It has a nice balance of comedy and serious issues. The box is slim, which is nice. I did feel as if the discs were a little strange. The "Dallas" seasons use double-sided discs but these are all one sided. The last two discs have two episodes on them each, which seems like a waste of disc space. Yet, the last disc does have a snipet from the "Knots Landing" reunion that aired on CBS not too long ago. It features Joan Van Ark and Ted Shackelford talking about Gary and Val's relationship throughout the entirety of the show. Be warned, it does spoil some plots of the later seasons.

Rarely do I feel anything is perfect, and while this may have some flaws, the episodes, the acting, the actors and everything about this series completely trumps that and puts this in the rare category of a must have (at least on my lists). Definately check this out; there's a reason this show lasted 14 seasons.

Finally ! Knots Landing on DVD !
Finally The Classic Dallas spin off and The original Desperate Housewives(and 100 times better)is too be released on DVD. The 13 Episode First Season will debut on DVD on March 28 2006.First of all this Classic Tv Show Which was a Original Spin off of Dallas which included Gary & Val Ewing.The show like Dallas was one of The Greatest Tv Shows of the 80's and our time and Knots Landing being one of The Longest Primetime Drama's (14 Seasons , which has been beat by The NBC Series Law & Order)It will be so great to own Knots Landing on DVD lets just hope they release them faster then The Dallas DVD's.
THE PACKAGING WILL CONSIST OF
The 13 Originaly Aired Episodes in a 5 SINGLE SIDED DVD Boxset!
At least The packaging will be better then Dallas !
Epsidoe Guide For Season 1
#1 Pilot
#2 Comunity Spirit
#3 Let Me Count The Ways
#4 The Lie
#5 Will The Circle be unbroken
#6 Home is For Healing
#7 Land of The Free
#8 Civil Wives
#9 Constent Companian
#10 Small Surprises
#11 Courageous Convictions
#12 Bottom of The Bottle Part One
#13 Bottom of The Bottle Part Two

One of my all time favorites
There were a lot of Soaps in the 80's but Knot's was one of the best because although it did have some outlandish stories from time to time it was more grounded in reality than the others as most of it took place in a Cul de sac. A great cast and some wonderful writing kept this show going and going and going for more than ten years. More than Dallas or Dynasty.
The shows first couple of seasons are more about the every day things going on in people's lives and after that they get into story arcs and bigger than life stuff. What keeps Knot's so good though is the characters and their interaction with each other.
This show is a winner. Much better than that Desperate Housewives show. I miss the show and the characters who, as weird as it may seem, became almost like family over the years.