the best villain?

abby! in my opinion any ways!

[TMCONNER]

Jill was one of my favorite Villians.

Jill was the best villian that Knots Landing ever had. She is also the only one to ever appear in the show's opening. Abby wouldn't really be considered a villian in the true sense of the word.

[Daniel Avery]

If you will recall, Jill was not originally brought in to be an over-the-top villain. That's the beauty of Knots; they can change the motivation of characters *believably* and make us love them one minute, hate them the next. Jill was a minor irritant when she was going after Mack (you KNEW she would not get him) and then she was the good guy in the Peter/Jill revenge plot against Sumner. It was only after she got insecure about Gary's lingering feelings for Val that she really went off the deep end.

Abby was much the same. She started out as a flighty younger sister of Sid's, and after he died, she had no moral compass. She had no reason to behave, as it were, because Sid was no longer around to disapprove. Still, despite the despicable things she did, you saw she was a good mother and deep down she did love Gary beyond his money.

The best example of the changing villain has to be Linda Fairgate. When she was introduced, she was a holier-than-thou daughter-in-law whose main purpose in the plot was to horrify Karen and be the butt of a few jokes. When they brought her back, she slowly went the villain route (note that every time her hair goes a shade blonder, she becomes even bitchier) and became nothing like that girl we saw Eric bring home to meet mom.

My vote for Best Villain? The CBS network for cancelling the show. :-)
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[Karen has met Linda and Jody]
Karen: "Open the oven, blow out the pilot, turn on the gas."
Mack: "So it's your first impression. So what? It doesn't mean you have to kill yourself."
Karen: "Me?! I'm not talking about *me*. Call those two women in here, then we'll run out and toss in the match!"
----episode 198

[Jessie]

Abby was my favourite villian.

[Ewings]

Abby was my favourite villian, as for the best villian I would say Jean Hackney

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Power is nothing without control

[cooki]

Alec Balwin(Joshua) appeared in the credits, his acting was superb enough for me wanting to kill him!
Abby was my favorite villian to hate to love!

[Ewings]

Jean Hackney, Abby and Joshua in Knots Landing, but the best villian is JR Ewing.

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Power is nothing without control

[Peter Hollister]

Jill Bennett was definately the best villain. Her transformation into a full blown psychopath was the most believable. By the time Jill had started to become crazy, we had a very detailed understanding of who she was and where she had come from. We knew that her parents and committed suicide when she was very young and that her only brother had forgotten her and then been murdered. All she had left after that was Gary. Then Gary starts blowing her off to be with Val and the twins. It is easy to understand why this would push someone over the edge. In addition, her plan to murder Val and get away with it was worthy of a great Sherlock Holmes crime novel. It was one of the show's greatest storylines.

Danny Waleska was more of a cookie cutter villain. He was introduced as a very sweet, charming, romantic man who was almost perfect in every way. The writers obviously wanted to have him turn into a villain. Otherwise, the storyline would have been more lame than "Sally's Friend". Danny also seemed a lot like one of those typical abusive lovers that you would find on an ABC After school special/Movie of the Week. Still, it was interesting to see his interaction with the neighbors and his threat to the Gary-Val romance and the well being of their twins. I'd have to say that he was the second best villain. His story was not as compelling as Jill's though. We never did understand where he had come from or why he was psychotic.

[Sumner]

Jill gets my vote as best villain. Her descent into madness was orchestrated gradually and very convincingly. Her parents' deaths, her brother's gruesome demise, Gary's inability to commit--the writers threw quite a bit at her. I loved how she confronted Paige at Laura's funeral and ended up slamming her in the back with Peter's urn. Very brilliant foreshadowing there--just a taste of what she was later capable of. The scene where she questioned Bobby about Gary and Val was also a gem. Teri Austin deserves credit for making her so memorable.

A major weakness in later seasons was the ubiquity of psychotic characters. The show edged out Machiavellian characters such as Abby, Peter Hollister, and Linda Fairgate in favor of the quick-fix, all-purpose lunatic. As soon as one was apprehended or killed off, another one popped up--i.e., Danny, Karen's producer, Brian Johnston, Pierce Lawton, Mary Robeson. Since most of these characters were not as well-nuanced as Jill and earlier villains, the show lost much credibility.