Knots Landing – The original Desperate Housewives

Knots Landing

Harry Smith talks to Michelle Lee, Joan Van Ark and Kevin Dobson about their time on Knots Landing, what they called the original Desperate Housewives.

Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that was screened from December 27 1979 to May 13 1993 on CBS.

Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle.

Initially intended to be a “scenes from a marriage” type drama series, storylines also included rape, murder, kidnapping, assassinations, drug smuggling, corporate intrigue and criminal investigations.

By the time of its conclusion, Knots Landing had become one of the longest-running primetime dramas on U.S. television after Gunsmoke, and tied second place with Bonanza (although Bonanza had made far more episodes).