Valene "Val" Ewing, portrayed by Joan Van Ark, is a fictional character in the CBS primetime soap opera Knots Landing, a spin-off from the long-running series Dallas, in which she also appeared. The character originated on Dallas in 1978 as the mother of Lucy Ewing and ex-wife of Gary Ewing (the second son of oil baron Jock and Miss Ellie Ewing). Van Ark made several guest appearances on Dallas before becoming one of the main stars of the spin-off Knots Landing in December 1979, though she continued to make small appearances in Dallas for the next several years. Van Ark played Valene in Knots Landing for thirteen of its fourteen seasons, which made her one of the show's longest running stars. The character made her last Knots Landing appearance in 1997, when she appeared in the reunion miniseries Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac. In 2013, Van Ark reprised her character for the sequel version of Dallas.
Valene's storyline in her first two episodes on Dallas focuses on the rebuilding of her relationship with estranged ex-husband Gary Ewing. When Valene arrives in Texas to find her daughter, Lucy Ewing, she is brought back into the drama of the Ewing family. Upon arrival, she is reunited with Gary with whom she slowly falls back in love. Once Dallas became a hit, series creator David Jacobs proceeded to launch a spin-off series titled Knots Landing, which would feature Valene and Gary prominently. The actress had strong input on how they would create her character outline. She recalled, "I remember going to wardrobe and getting a peachy pink waitress uniform, and the shoes. And then I was trying to get that Texas sound, her all important accent. And so we created her layer by layer."
Van Ark received positive reviews for her portrayal of Valene, and received two Soap Opera Digest award nominations in the category "Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role on a Prime Time Serial". Greg Hernandez said, "Her character of Valene was a best-selling author, but her personal life was always a mess. She had her husband, Gary, stolen by another woman, then got pregnant by him, her twin babies were kidnapped by a crooked doctor, she was given a drug overdose at gunpoint by her ex-husband's fiancee, and she racked up enough marriages to give Elizabeth Taylor a run for her money. But she and Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) made for one of television's most beloved couples and the audience never stopped rooting for them to get back together."
Development
Casting and creation From the outset, Dallas was centered around the lives of the wealthy Ewing family who lived in Dallas, Texas. Once the show became a success after the initial run as a five-episode miniseries, the producers decided to expand the roles of certain characters. They introduced the parents of Lucy Ewing (Charlene Tilton), who had not been shown until that point.Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime-Time Soap, pp. 28 Actress Joan Van Ark was contacted by series creator David Jacobs about joining the show. Her husband, John Marshall, convinced her to take the opportunity. In an interview for an episode of Celebrity Weddings, Van Ark said: "At the time Dallas came up, I was doing two different jobs. They offered me to join Dallas, which would be shot in Dallas, Texas at Southfork. I read the script and it was buzzed about already...they were saying this was the hot new show. I said to myself, 'How can I be in Los Angeles doing this, down in Dallas, and then back in New York doing two days worth of Estée Lauder commercials?' He (my husband) read it and said, 'You've got to. It's a wonderful part. So, my husband talked me into a role that would become a fifteen-year chapter in my life."
When asked about the casting process, Van Ark explained: "It all happened so fast. They sent me a script for a [Dallas] two-part guest shot, but I was supposed to be in New York recording commercials. My husband – much like Larry Hagman's wife, Maj, talked him into playing J.R. – basically talked me into playing Val." She later added, "I thought the script was wonderful, and [Valene] was a great character. But we created her within those two episodes. I remember going to wardrobe and getting a peachy pink waitress uniform, and the shoes. And then I was trying to get that Texas sound, her all important accent. And so we created her layer by layer." During the second season of Dallas, David Jacobs decided to create a spin-off for the quickly growing franchise. He wanted to create a television show based on "family issues and examining relationships at the middle class level".Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime-Time Soap, pp. 4–5 The production company, CBS, turned down this idea, as they wanted something more "glitzy" to put on the air, with wealthier characters, which would become Dallas.
After the success of Dallas, Jacobs' presented his initial idea again and created Knots Landing, with some alterations of his original script. In an interview, Jacobs explained: " Well, that's pretty good, but you know-and then he pulled out the pages that we'd left for them a few years ago on Knots Landing, or a year before on Knots, and he said, 'Is there any way we can make this a spin-off?' I just took one of the couples and made it, you know, Val and Gary who had already been created on the parent series and putting them into the mix, but when you have four couples and you change one, you sort of have to change the dynamic all the way around. However, once I wrote the script, remarkably little changed from the script and the pilot as you would see it." Gary Ewing was originally played by actor David Ackroyd, but Ackroyd was unable to sign on for the spin-off, and Ted Shackelford assumed the role.Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime-Time Soap, pp. 49 Initially, it was presumed that Charlene Tilton would be joining Knots Landing as Gary and Val's daughter, but the network decided to keep her on Dallas in order to keep the two shows separate. She did, however, make a guest appearance in the first season.Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime-Time Soap, pp. 61
Van Ark appeared in Knots Landing for thirteen seasons of its fourteen-season run before she left to pursue other interests. According to co-star Michele Lee, Van Ark was apparently offered a role on an NBC sitcom after she left the show. The actress reprised her role for the series finale of Knots Landing, where Val is revealed to have been alive the whole time. When asked about her departure in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she said: "I could stay forever on the show and be safe. But three years ago I did Night of the Iguana in Williamstown [Massachusetts], and I had a quote from Tennessee Williams taped on my mirror, taken from an essay he'd written on success. It said, and I'm paraphrasing here: 'Security is in the shape of a kidney-shaped pool in Los Angeles, where you sit waiting for your residual checks.' I was in a comfortable spot on Knots, and an artist should not be comfortable. I'd forgotten that there was a character I'd loved for 13 years. She was the seed of the show. I am the sole person to spin off from Dallas (because actor David Ackroyd originated the role of Gary on that show). Valene gave Knots a note of spirituality. There was a heart that was Valene. I hope they treat her with respect, that she is seen out with a resolution she deserves."
Characterization and relationships
Throughout the course of the show, Val was often played up as the good girl character. When asked about whether Val was a weak character, Van Ark said: "God, no. No she wasn't. For the very reason that she went through so much and landed on both feet. She was strong in a realistic kind of way. I do remember that TV Guide did a quote that the three of us can be compared to Earth, Wind and Fire. Michele was the Earth, I was the Wind and Donna was the Fire. I think that really captured it." Van Ark was later asked about who she saw Val as today. She said, "Of course the dysfunctional elements would come out. Why even bother otherwise? But of course they would persevere and still be together after all. I think Valene was headed to, and my sister's like this, after years of doing everything for her husband and her children, Valene was going to further her achievements in the professional world. I think if you saw Valene today she'd be much more accomplished as a writer and would be very successful overall." The actress also said: Since Valene, I've tried to do anything and everything but play a goody-two-shoes. I love Val, I adore her. But I spent a total of 15 years—if you count the first year I played her on Dallas. That was quite an investment for me as an actress. If you were playing a goody-two-shoes today, the tabloid media would be dying to catch you on a bad day. Look at what they've done to Tiger Woods. Look at what they've done to that man. My feeling is his father—or the absence of his father in his life—is (the root of) what's going on with Tiger and that marriage. But the media won't leave him alone. No matter who you are, (the celebrity coverage) is obsessive and constant. It's hurtful. For me, if they show my face in a bad photo, they latch into me hook, line and sinker. Even Entertainment Tonight now has blood on their hands. It's brutal. I wonder what they'll do with Alec Baldwin now. He was my brother on Knots. They really threw him under a bus (when endlessly publicizing his infamous voice-mail rant against daughter Ireland, then 11, in 2007). He loves that child so much."
Valene's relationship with Gary is important to the understanding of her overall character. The Gary/Abby/Valene love triangle, which involved Gary cheating on Valene with Abby Cunningham – the show's main villain – was a monumental storyline for all three characters. Van Ark described the storyline:"There wasn't really anything I could think of, but I will mention that Ted and I went in way early, whenever Donna Mills came on the show, and told David Jacobs that it made total sense that Gary would fall for Abby. I can't believe I did that but it really provided me with some great stories. Because they were celebrating Donna Mills and she became the center but Gary and Val were supposed to be this enduring couple. Ted and I were saying Gary and Val should break up and Gary should go with Abby. It was a pretty big deal to break up the couple that the show began with. So (the producers) were going toward this, then they pulled away but eventually returned to it. David Jacobs was against it but we convinced him. And it was the longest running story on the show. It took a long time for them to get back together. Eight years."
Ted Shackelford, who plays Gary, described the love story, "I can't complain. I mean, Gary spent six or seven years being led down the primrose path by one stupid broad after another. So with Val... You'd think after 13 years, at the age they are [Val is 45, Gary is 47] and the amount of bullshit they've been through, they would have learned something! They'd probably have a very comfortable life by now. But it makes for a dead story line." When asked about working with Van Ark, he said: "I don't know how it could get any better. She's remarkable, and I'm not blowing smoke up your ass. I'd tell you if I thought she was a pain in the ass, although sometimes she is a pain in the ass. But my best work is done with Joan." Van Ark also discussed Valene's relationship with her daughter, Lucy Ewing. She said, "The spine or the beginning of the series was Gary and Val, coming over from Dallas, so maybe there should have been more Lucy. I do know that CBS and the producers of both shows wanted to keep the two shows separate but in the beginning you had Larry Hagman and others going over to Knots."
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