Why did they get rid of Julie Harris?

Julie Harris' departure from Knots was far greater a loss to the show than Constance McCashin. Constance never had any decent storylines in her last couple of season. If one of the female leads had to be pruned then she was the obvious candidate. I know that Julie Harris was hardly a 'major' character, but it was very important to have an older character in the cast. It balanced things a lot better and her scenes with Val were wonderful. I wish they'd never let her go!

[James A]

I agree they should never have let Julie Harris go. At the same time i think that Constance McCashin should never have been let go, she may not have had a major story in the last few seasons but she was still, i feel good in the show.
They should have killed Val she just desereved shooting.
Anyway i think it was because of budget problems but i may be wrong.

[Daniel Avery]

Well, I don't think anyone in the corporate offices could have justified getting rid of Joan Van Ark, since "Gary and Val" was a part of the national vocabulary at that time.
The practical part of me sees why they pruned out JH and CM, but that doesn't mean I liked it. Lilimae was not only Val's sounding board (the 'talk-to' that every lead character has to have) but the best comic relief the series ever had. Harris had a thriving career on the stage before Knots and picked right up where she left off after leaving the series. She was certainly not hurting for work despite her age. Our loss was Broadway's gain, I guess. Perhaps her notoriety in acting circles made her an expensive cast member to keep on staff. At any rate, when given a chance, she could do incredible things with wacky little Lilimae, and I wished she could have come back for the ending season to care for her grandchildren.
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Abby: I've always known that beneath that batty, little old lady exterior there beats the heart of a killer!"
---episode 81

[Frank Williams]

I dont agree about Val being shot. NO WAY! She was one of the main characters on the show. To go thru all that mess with J.R., Gary, Abby and others and then be shot to death just 3 years after getting those babies back, I think Val deserved some better days.

-----------------------------------
Karen: Val, Abby just bought a house in Malibu. Isn't that wonderful?

Gary: Congratulations. You always did like it out there.

Valene: We're going to miss you Abby.

Abby :You don't mean that?

Valene: No I don't.

TJ3

[Bobby_Ewing]

I heard that Julie and Constance had to be 'let go' because of budget cuts.

http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

A great man once said, "Winter never fails to turn into Spring, and though we're so different, you and I, when we're together, even the cold of December feels like the middle of May"

[Frank Williams]

That is what I heard too.

TJ3

[Jock Og]

I wouldn't agree with Val being killed off. I liked Julie Harris as Lilimae and was disappointed that she was written out of the show.

It would have been great if she had appeared towards the end of the KL run.

[Andy Ewing]

I DON'T AGREE ABOUT LILLIMAE BEING THE FUNNIEST CHARACTER. I THINK LAURA WAS THE FUNNINEST BECAUSE SHE WASN'T A COMICAL CHARACTER SHE HAD A SARCASTIC SENSE OF HUMOUR AND REALLY BROUGHT OUT SOMETHING IN GREG THAT OTHER CHARACTERS DID NOT .LILLIMAE TO ME WAS A GOOD COMICAL CHARACTER BUT NOT REALLY IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS LAURA . BUTHEY THATS JUST MY OPINION !
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>GREGhttp://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gifTOO LAURA WHO HAS LOCKED HERSELF IN THE BATHROOM) I'M NOT GOING TO BREAK THE DOOR DOWN IT WOULD BE TOO THEATRICAL.

LAURA: NOT TO MENTION SILLY AS IT'S NOT LOCKED.

[Dylan Horowitz]

I hated Lillimae. When she first came I thought she would be a bit of lite relief but the show would have been perfectly fine without her. Same goes for Joshua. Two of the worst characters IMHO ever.

Dylan Horowitz

[Jock Og]

Not a fan of Lilimae then Dylan!

[Dylan Horowitz]

She had her chance but then she had that awful awful twit Joshua follow her into the show and then alas me and lil parted company.

Dylan Horowitz

[Joshua Slow]

I beg to differ with you there, Dylan. I thought Alec Baldwin as Joshua was superb: He was believable as an innocent, soul-searching lad and later as a psychotic, self-serving televangelist. He was even later nominated for a Tony for his performance as Stanley on Broadway in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. And speaking of Tonys, Julie Harris (Lilimae) won FIVE of them, one for her portrayal of American poet Emily Dickinson. (She must be doing SOMETHING right!) I thought some of those Lilimae-Joshua scenes were awesome, especially the one where she yells him off the rooftop! I LOVED it!

Goodbye, Laura and Lilimae!
Budget cuts caused cast reduction: In addition to Harris and Constance McCashin being written out, so were, at the end of Season 8, Hunt Block (Peter Hollister) and Douglas Sheehan (Ben Gibson). (If you ask me, Ben should have been written out a season sooner: His stories in Season 8 were SO bad!) I could see why they wanted to write Laura out: They basically had exhausted story possibilities for her and wanted to give Greg Sumner to Paige Matheson to spice things up on KNOTS with a May-December romance. I wish they hadn't waited till Season 10, though, to have them start sleeping together. Season 9 got SO boring!!

As for Val being shot, well goodness, don't you know that Jill TRIED to do her in at the end of the year?!? Val's such an integral part of KNOTS that I couldn't see her going. The Gary-Val romance was a continuing thread throughout the show. Val did get a little boring after awhile, though (teaching that waitress to read, for example). I think she peaked in Seasons 6 and 7.

By the way, Julie Harris recently suffered a mild stroke but she is reported to be okay.

[This message was edited by Joshua Slow on 06-30-01 at 05:59 AM.]

[This message was edited by Joshua Slow on 06-30-01 at 06:02 AM.]

[owenwarland]

Was I the only one who couldn't stand Lillimae? My God, she was nosy, rude, disrespectful, outright sarcastic, selfrighteous and had to have her hand in everything in Val's life!!! My God, she never gave Ben a chance, only liked Gary when it was convenient for her, and couldn't sing!

I hate this character, and hoped for a long time when I was young that her character would disappear!

[gravy47]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by owenwarland:
Was I the only one who couldn't stand Lillimae? My God, she was nosy, rude, disrespectful, outright sarcastic, selfrighteous and had to have her hand in everything in Val's life!!! My God, she never gave Ben a chance, only liked Gary when it was convenient for her, and couldn't sing!

I hate this character, and hoped for a long time when I was young that her character would disappear! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>No ....I didn't like her , either....
Get ready to be pummeld, Owen....LOL

The last time I brought this up.....They damn near crucified me....LMAO http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[juppiter]

Lillimae reached her peak in the Chip storyline, specifically "One Kind of Justice." I didn't really mind when she left, after all Val has Karen as resident sounding board. And while the Laura character reached her peak even earlier, I always felt that there was more places to go. Lillimae had done as much as she could, Constance McCashin's Laura was a far greater loss.

[James from London]

Lilimae was lovely and touching and funny! she added a whole other dimension to KL and helped it transcend its soap opera origins. I recently watched "Denials", the Season 5 episode that follows the one in which Chip impales himself on that pitchfork. Lilimae's reaction to the death of this man that she both loved and tried to kill is so moving, so complex, and the speech Julie Harris delivers over his open casket is extraordinary.

[SnarkyOracle!]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gravy47:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by owenwarland:
Was I the only one who couldn't stand Lillimae? My God, she was nosy, rude, disrespectful, outright sarcastic, selfrighteous and had to have her hand in everything in Val's life!!! My God, she never gave Ben a chance, only liked Gary when it was convenient for her, and couldn't sing!

I hate this character, and hoped for a long time when I was young that her character would disappear! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>No ....I didn't like her , either....
Get ready to be pummeld, Owen....LOL

The last time I brought this up.....They damn near crucified me....LMAO http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

And just HOW does this make for a BAD soap character?
For one thing, she left a death toll even a Bush would be proud of!!

[juppiter]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Miss Marky 'Billyboobs' Philip:
For one thing, she left a death toll even a Bush would be proud of!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm not touching that one with a 10-foot pole!