Knots Landing

The desperate housewives of Wisteria Lane have nothing on the characters in this "Dallas" spinoff, which saw recovering alcoholic Gary Ewing and his wife, Valene, settling into a Southern California cul-de-sac to escape the dirty dealings back home in Texas. Gary worked for car dealer Sid Fairgate, whose wife, Karen, became one of Valene's best friends. Sid's recently divorced sister, Abby Cunningham, stirred things up when she moved into the neighborhood with her two children and promptly starting wrecking marriages. Other characters who played prominent roles were Val's mother, Lilimae Clements, and powerful state senator Gregory Sumner and sex kitten Paige Matheson.