hanging by a moment here
posted at 5:03 pm by brandon in 'cause there ain't no thang like a chicken wing”I loved [season] finales as a kid. Knots Landing had the best finales. So I really put my heart and soul into [mine] and try to make them special because I know that’s what I want to see as a viewer.”
— The Following creator Kevin Williamson, speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the climactic final installment of his cat-and-mouse drama’s intense first season, which airs tonight on Fox. (The above quote doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, except that I’ve had Knots on the brain lately — perhaps you can blame the conversation I just recorded for Brandon’s Buzz Radio with its legendary star Joan Van Ark, which I’ll be posting directly — and, seeing as how that show never really got the respect it so richly deserved during its original run throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, I always get a peculiar thrill out of spotting any of today’s brilliant showrunners daring to reference Knots as an inspiration for their own work. After all, their more muted, character-driven cliffhangers were often overshadowed — at least in terms of cultural interest and impact — by the flashier season-ending antics displayed by Dallas and Dynasty back in the day, but I for one strongly doubt I’ll ever see another finale as compelling as Knots‘ 1987 outing — the infamous “crack in the cement” event, which TV Guide‘s ace critic Matt Roush just this morning named as one of the 60 greatest closing episodes in television history — or its 1988 effort, a taut and terrifying two-person teleplay starring the dynamite Teri Austin as a completely deranged hellcat hell-bent on murdering her romantic rival — the aforementioned Ms. Van Ark — and making it look like suicide. Good luck trying to top either of those episodes, Kevin, and thanks for bringing back some fun memories, kind sir.)
