Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 21, 1992                   TAG: 9203210417
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HE BELIEVES THERE'S WORK, LIFE AFTER `KNOTS LANDING'

The series is on a break during the NCAA basketball tournament and is due back April 2. It will complete the season with the April 9 telecast. CBS has not announced if the show, which began two days after Christmas in 1979, will be renewed.

True, "Knots Landing" has had stiff competition on Thursdays, notably NBC's "Hill Street Blues" and then "L.A. Law."

"We did finally beat `Hill Street' toward the end," Shackelford said. "I think we could have beat `L.A. Law' if the show hadn't gone downhill. It's hard to pin down what happened. The story lines were a little strange."

This season "Knots" got bumped for the World Series, then the Olympics, but the series nevertheless offered attempts at suicide, extortion, murder, hostage-taking, revenge, stalking, obsession and new affairs. In addition, two female characters got their own radio talk-shows. But Gary Ewing's Tidal Energy project fell apart, and he lost his ranch and had to work for the new owner.

Shackelford didn't care much for the scripts this season, and as one of only three actors who were there at the beginning, he should know. After all, "Knots," which premiered as a spin-off from "Dallas," has always been his series.

The early stories pivoted around his character, Gary Ewing, middle son of the fabulously rich Jock and Ellie. Both of Gary's brothers, J.R. and Bobby, occasionally turned up in town, and Gary and his wife, Valene (Joan Van Ark), periodically visited the Ewing ranch, Southfork, to see their daughter, Lucy.

Gary was the powerful Ewing family's black sheep, who moved to California to get away from the pressure of being a Ewing. At first he sold classic cars; eventually he established Gary Ewing Enterprises and became a developer.

As the years went by, Gary, a recovering alcoholic, deserted his wife, cheated on her, was divorced, married Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills), was divorced, fathered twins by Val (they were kidnapped from the hospital and sold in a black-market scheme) and remarried her.

During that 13 years, a lot has happened to Ted Shackelford as well. He, too, was divorced and married again, to his former publicist, Annette Wolfe of the Wolfe Kasteller public relations agency.

They were married in Denmark, her native country. "I would eventually like to have a home there," he said.

Over its 13 seasons, Shackelford, 45, said he has enjoyed working on "Knots Landing," unlike many actors who tire of the grind that comes with an hour-long weekly series. Life has been a lot more comfortable, he said, than it was in the '70s, when he worked on a soap opera in New York.

"I love having a place to go in the morning," he said. "I love having a job. I adore the money they pay me, although every now and then I do get a little weary of the character.

"Still, if it ran another 10 years, I'd be glad to do it. You're employed for a long time, and, yes, you can be strongly identified with the character. It's a two-edged sword. But ours were not larger-than-life characters, and [if `Knots' is killed] I think I will work again."