At the time, May 13, 1993 appeared to be the end of a very long road for "Knots Landing."
The series signed off with a two-hour finale that wrapped up all the loose ends left dangling after 14 seasons on the air.Yes, indeed, 14 seasons of what CBS called "the longest-running contemporary drama in television history." Only 11 shows in the history of television ran longer than "Knots."
(And one of those wasn't "Dallas," the show "Knots Landing" was spun off from. "Dallas" expired in 1991 after 13 seasons.)
And there was a very good reason for the longevity of "Knots Landing" - it was the best of the the super soaps, which included "Dallas," "Dynasty" and "Falcon Crest."
Just compare the reruns of "Knots" that air weekdays at 9 a.m. on TNT to any of today's prime-time soaps. "Melrose Place" and "Beverly Hills, 90210" are shallow, ridiculous pieces of junk in comparison.
"Knots Landing" never got the respect it deserved. For most of its run (the 13th season being a notable exception), it was enthralling and intricately plotted yet somehow believable stuff. And making a show that was full of as many bizarre plot twists as "Knots" seem believable was an amazing feat in itself.
But, believe it or not, the "Knots Landing" saga isn't over yet. CBS has announced a four-hour "Knots" miniseries, which will air sometime during the upcoming television season.
There's no word on when it will be broadcast, but expect to see it during either the November or February sweeps.
According to CBS, Knots Landing, that fictional Southern California community, "is still churning as the conniving and competitive inhabitants of television's most famous cul-de-sac get together to catch up on old times. Ahead, however, lies an unexpected and extraordinary turn of events."
Although executive producers David Jacobs (who also created both "Knots" and "Dallas") and Michael Filerman will be back, there's no word on which of the cast members will also be returning. However, most of them haven't been terribly busy in the last couple of years.
William Devane is starring in the upcoming ABC prime-time serial "The Monroes," but his participation in the "Knots" miniseries seems vital. His character (Greg Sumner) was pivotal.
Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing) has been starring in the syndicated sci-fi series "Space Patrol."
But others, like Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing), Michele Lee (Karen McKenzie), Kevin Dobson (Mack McKenzie) and Nicollette Sheridan (Paige Matheson) have been making a living doing made-for-TV movies for the past couple of years.
As has Donna Mills. And you may recall that her character, Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner, left the series in 1989 but returned in that final episode and moved back on the same cul-de-sac with the Ewings and the McKenzies.
Watching Mills in action as Abby again would be worth the four hours all by itself.
TABLOID TIES: Did you happen to catch the bit on KTVX-Ch. 4's 10 p.m. newscast last week when, during an entertainment spot called The Biz, a local reporter interviewed Deborah Norville?
Norville, of course, is now the host of "Inside Edition," which airs right after News 4 Utah.
And "Inside Edition," of course, is a sometimes sleazy, always sensationalistic tabloid show of the sort that most reputable journalists decry.
Now, if the folks at Ch. 4 want us to tie their newscast more closely to "Inside Edition" . . . we'll just have to draw our own conclusions.
But what we really don't need is another station in town that does blatantly self-promotional interviews. We have KSTU-Ch. 13 for that.
(Is there anyone on "Melrose Place" or "Beverly Hills, 90210" who hasn't been interviewed on Fox's 9 o'clock newscast?)
TREKKING TO CABLE: In 1998 - after almost three decades in syndication - episodes of the original "Star Trek" will no longer be seen on television stations around the country.
As a matter of fact, Capt. Kirk and his crew won't be seen on broadcast television at all.
The Sci-Fi Channel has acquired the rights to all 79 original episodes and will begin airing them in September 1998. According to the folks at Sci-Fi, those rights are exclusive - meaning the Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekhov will be seen only by those cable subscribers whose systems carry their channel.
Of course, at the moment that lets out most of us cable subscribers in Utah. We'll just have to hope that TCI lives up to its oft-delayed promise to get its fiber optic system up and running so that it can include channels like Sci-Fi.
BRIEF RETURNS: Four shows that Fox has dropped from its prime-time schedule in the fall will be returning for a few weeks this summer.
- "Dream On," the made-for-HBO sitcom that has aired some reruns on Fox, will air back-to-back episodes Mondays at 8 and 8:30 p.m. beginning June 19.
- "Tales from the Crypt," another show that originally aired on HBO, will air new-to-Fox episodes Fridays at 7 p.m., followed by Fox reruns at 7:30 p.m., beginning June 23.
- "The George Carlin Show" will be seen Sundays at 8:30 p.m. beginning July 2. Two previously unseen episodes of this canceled series are scheduled for July 9 and 16.
- And the fine sci-fi series "Sliders" will be seen Sundays at 6 p.m. beginning June 25.
Unfortunately, all the "Sliders" will be reruns - and, because the show has been canceled, we'll probably never know how the cliffhanger in the final episode will be resolved.
Jeers to Fox on that one.
CUTTING THROUGH IT: Ratings, like statistics, can be made to say almost anything.
That's something NBC publicists continued to prove with their latest look at the battle between Jay Leno and David Letterman. The Peacock minions proudly proclaim that Leno's "Tonight Show" had its "closest-ever sweep finish versus `Late Show with David Letterman' " and that "London can't save Dave from lowest sweep ever."
What they don't want you to know is that Leno's ratings aren't soaring while Letterman's are falling.
Yes, Leno was only .3 rating points behind Letterman in households. Yes, that's the closest he's ever been during a sweeps month.
And, yes, Letterman was down 1.1 rating points in homes, .5 points in total viewers, .6 points in adults 18-49 and .8 points in adults 25-54 compared to May 1994.
But, once again, Letterman's losses are not coming because of Leno's gains.
Leno held even in total viewers and adults 18-49 and lost a tenth of a rating point in households and among adults 25-54. Rather than surging, Leno's ratings declined a bit.
And the fact remains that Letterman is still ahead of Leno despite a weaker station lineup and the fact that he's seen in the post-late-news time slot in only 90 percent of the country, compared to virtually 100 percent for Leno. Not an inconsiderable feat.
Letterman's decline is attributable to many factors, not the least of which are the boost the bombing in Oklahoma City gave to ABC's "Nightline" and the collapse of CBS in prime time.
But the next time you hear some entertainment reporter (who took his information straight from the mouth of some publicist) telling you Leno is coming on like gangbusters, don't you believe it.
CUTTING THROUGH MORE OF IT: The late-night ratings comparing "Nightline" to the "Late Show" and "The Tonight Show" are also somewhat deceptive.
For example, during the week ending May 28, the overall ratings of all three shows showed "Nightline" with a 4.9, the "Late Show" with a 4.8 and "The Tonight Show" with a 4.4.
So does that mean "Nightline" was No. 1? Well, not really.
Those numbers compare a half-hour apple to a couple of hourlong oranges. They're an average of the households that are tuned in to each program over its full length.
And, in the case of late-night shows, the number of viewers watching drops off dramatically after the first half hour.
For example, if you take a look at the ratings from the first-half hour of all three shows in the markets where all three air at the same time, CBS's "Late Show" was first with a 5.2. Both ABC's "Nightline" and NBC's "Tonight Show" average 5.0.
And even that doesn't tell the whole story. Household ratings don't really mean much, because advertising is sold on the basis of how many viewers each show attracts among various demographics - principally viewers ages 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.
Among 18-34-year-olds, the "Late Show" was 55 percent ahead of "Tonight" and 94 percent ahead of "Nightline." Among viewers 18-49, the "Late Show" led "Tonight" by 35 percent and "Nightline" by 41 percent.
And among those 25-54, the "Late Show" attracted 29 percent more viewers than "Tonight" and 19 percent more than "Nightline."
Not to mention the fact that when it comes down to the bottom line - and all of network television comes down to the bottom line - both CBS and NBC can sell twice as many ads during their hourlong talk shows as ABC can sell during its half-hour news show.
So did "Nightline" finish first in the late-night ratings during that week?
Sort of. But not really.
QUOTABLE: David Letterman on "The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder":
"When it goes well, it's great. It's endless fun, as you well know. The exhilaration you get from participating, from kind of overseeing a job well done by the 40 or 50 people who put together the endless details of a nightly show.
"When that goes well, it's like anybody's job - there's nothing more satisfying, nothing more exhilarating, and it's the best fun you can have."