#2: A Wonder Woman Episode Led to Knots Landing’s Core Couple
Joan Van Ark and Ted Shackelford were cast as a couple on Knots Landing because they’d already worked together — on an episode of Wonder Woman in 1975. That earlier appearance gave producers a chance to see their chemistry before the soap even existed.
It paid off in a big way. As Val and Gary Ewing, Van Ark and Shackelford became the emotional backbone of Knots Landing. Their complicated, often turbulent relationship anchored the show for years, proving that a superhero detour helped launch one of prime-time soap’s most enduring marriages.