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 Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2023 7:23 pm Post subject: Dallas and Knots Landing creator David Jacobs dead at 84 |
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https://tvline.com/news/david-jacobs-dead-dallas-knots-landing-creator-writer-obituary-1235032117/
| Quote: | Dallas and Knots Landing Creator David Jacobs Dead at 84
TV writer David Jacobs, who created the classic primetime soap Dallas as well as its long-running spinoff Knots Landing, has died at the age of 84.
Jacobs died on Sunday of complications from a series of infections, his son Aaron told The Hollywood Reporter. He had battled Alzheimer’s over the years as well.
Jacobs was a writer on the ABC drama Family when he wrote an outline for a series about a wealthy Texas family that controlled a vast oil empire. That outline became the CBS drama Dallas, which began as a five-part miniseries in 1978. The miniseries was so popular that CBS turned it into a regular series, with Larry Hagman starring as villainous oil man J.R. Ewing and Patrick Duffy as younger brother Bobby. It became a cultural phenomenon and blockbuster hit, topping the Nielsen ratings for three seasons and landing in the Top 10 for four more.
Dallas famously left viewers on a cliffhanger in the Season 3 finale, with J.R. Ewing being shot by an unseen gunman and leaving fans to speculate all summer long: “Who shot J.R.?” (The culprit was later revealed to be J.R.’s mistress and sister-in-law Kristin.) Dallas went on to run for a total of 14 seasons on CBS, returning for a number of TV movies and then again in 2012 for a three-season revival on TNT.
Jacobs worked as an executive story consultant on Dallas‘ first two seasons before moving over to spinoff Knots Landing, which he also created, in 1979. Centered on four married couples living in a fictional Los Angeles suburb — a premise Jacobs first pitched when developing Dallas — Knots Landing starred Ted Shackelford as black sheep Ewing brother Gary and Joan Van Ark as his wife Valene. Knots became a Top 10 hit as well, running for 14 seasons and adding cast members like Donna Mills, William Devane, Alec Baldwin and Nicolette Sheridan over the years.
During his time on Knots Landing, Jacobs co-created the CBS Western Paradise, which ran from 1988 to 1991. He also served as an executive producer on the ’90s ABC dramas Homefront and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. |
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