Knots Landing
The Unraveling
TV Flash files “The Unraveling” as hour 176 of 344 in the TV Flash guide — Knots Landing (1979–1993) on CBS, season 8, episode 16, aired 1987-01-01, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S08E16: listed hour 176 of 344 in the Knots Landing guide, hour 16 of 30 in season 8. It aired 1987-01-01 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Truth Will Out” (S08E15). Next is “No Miracle Worker” (S08E17).
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Unraveling sit in the Knots Landing guide?
S08E16 is listed hour 176 of 344 — hour 16 of 30 in season 8, season 8 episode 16.
When did Knots Landing S08E16 air?
The Unraveling aired 1987-01-01 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need Dallas first?
Helpful for the Ewing branch — this is the spin-off on Gary and Valene — but Knots Landing becomes its own 14-season suburban serial. You can enter the cul-de-sac without the oil.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The thinking fan's prime-time soap — longer on character than Dynasty glitter, still fully addictive. Dallas's suburban cousin, fourteen seasons of cul-de-sac knives, and Donna Mills's Abby as elite television mischief. Proved soap could thrive without oil-baron scale. Quiet streets, loud secrets; it outlasted many louder soaps.
A California cul-de-sac turned out to be more dangerous than an oil field — that is the structural claim, not a carpet item. CBS's *Knots Landing* (1979–1993) spun Gary and Valene Ewing out of *Dallas* into fourteen seasons of suburban affairs, crimes, and Donna Mills's Abby as high-glamour villainy. Ted Shackelford, Joan Van Ark, Michele Lee, Kevin Dobson, company playing the long game. David Jacobs's spin-off: character over stunt cliffhangers, though knives still came out. The blotter wants Dynasty glitter.…
Filed against
- Ted Shackelford as Gary Ewing
Ted Shackelford settled Knots Landing as Gary Ewing — Dallas's suburban cousin, fourteen seasons of cul-de-sac knives, the thinking fan's prime-time soap still fully addictive. Character over glitter, oil-baron scale refused. TV Flash…
- Joan Van Ark as Valene Ewing
Joan Van Ark spent fourteen seasons as Valene Ewing on Knots Landing — Dallas’s suburban cousin, cul-de-sac knives, and the thinking fan’s prime-time soap. Longer on character than Dynasty glitter, still fully addictive. TV Flash files…
- Michele Lee as Karen Fairgate MacKenzie
Michele Lee’s Karen Fairgate MacKenzie held Knots Landing’s cul-de-sac for fourteen seasons — Dallas’s suburban cousin, 1980s thinking-fan soap, character over Dynasty glitter, Donna Mills’s Abby as elite mischief. TV Flash files her as…
- Donna Mills as Abby Cunningham
Donna Mills turned Abby Cunningham into Knots Landing's elite mischief — cul-de-sac knives, blonde calculation, and suburban soap that outlasted the oil-baron cousins. Dallas shipped the glamour; Mills kept the neighborhood dangerous. TV…
- Kevin Dobson as Mack MacKenzie
Kevin Dobson’s Det. Bobby Crocker rode shotgun through Kojak’s lollipop Manhattan, then took the suburban-knife work of Knots Landing. Telly Savalas’s growl needed a partner; Dallas’s cul-de-sac cousin needed a man who could do soap…