OK, I'm going to have to come clean: I'm not quite sure why, but I've started watching all the episodes of Knots Landing and Dallas ... in alphabetical order! Scary, huh?

Thus far, I've made it through the A's, starting with 'Abby's Choice' (as in 'to donate or not to donate', kidney-wise); gone 'Back To The Cul-de-sac' and binged my way through six annual Ewing 'Barbecues'.

Today I watched 'Baths & Showers', the 13th season Knots ep, during the course of which Val is invited to write Greg's biography; Pierce blackmails Mort; Claudia sleeps with Alex to stop him sleeping with Kate and, erm, Vanessa turns up.

As 1991/92 instalments go, it's not at all bad - some great two hander scenes, very well acted: between Pierce and Mort, Claudia and Greg (her confession that she helped their mother to die and is now being blackmailed), and the scene where Greg interviews Alex for a job is great. Also some great lines - Greg explaining to Paige and Claudia his lack of concern ver Val: 'We're not talking about Woodward and Bernstein, we're talking about some daffy blonde!'

However, the scenes between Claudia and Alex, Alex and Kate, and Kate and Vanessa all seem somewhat ... anaemic - the storylines and characters somewhat undercooked. there's also a telling remark by Mack which indicates that perhaps the writers working on these later episodes know the show slightly less well than the fans - Mack, Karen, Gary and Val are out at a restaurant together and Mack says (something like) how nice it is that they're all out together as a foursome, just like the old days - except that in the old days, when Mack first arrived in Seaview Circle, Gary was long gone. This is actually the first time the two couples have all lived together in the cul-de-sac at the same time. If memory serves, Gary and Mack didn't actually start to get properly pally until Gafter Gary blew up Empire Valley in season 7.

Watched in isolation, this episode does seem to offer so much potential - had Val had the chance to actually write her book, who knows what the reprecusssions for all the regular characters, and their friendships would have been? I still maintain that Alex could have made a great villain - charming and manipulating his way through the cul-de-sac, in the mould of Chip - insted of sticking him in some unconvincing four way lust triangle with Claudia, Kate and Vanessa. Poor Vanessa, stuck with such cod-English dialogue - we don't all pepper our sentences with numrous 'Bloodys' and 'whereupons', you know!

Anyway, SoapNet viewers, this is all a long time in the future for you, isn't it?! Enjoy the madness of Season 4!!!