There Goes . . . : the Neighborhood

Guess who’s coming to Knots Landing? On Jan. 7, a black family will move into the “Knots Landing� cul-de-sac--the first black regulars on the prime-time soap, now in its ninth season. Lynne Moody, with a long list of TV shows, will play bank teller Patricia Williams, mother of a young daughter (Kent Masters-King) and wife of a salesman (Larry Riley) who’ll lose his job, causing plenty of stress.

“The Williams have marital problems, don’t know anyone and have a secret that makes them anti-social,� revealed Moody, who said she’d never seen the series before being signed. “This could be any family. They have human problems, not black problems. It’s the first time I’ve had a lot of freedom in developing a character.�

Moody said she was told by the producers that “Knot’s Landing’s� sizable black following led them to integrate the series. While she’s mum on more plot developments, look for co-stars Kevin Dobson and Michele Lee to get involved.

Joked Moody: “I expect to become an alcoholic, get kidnapped by a UFO and get involved in your usual soap opera trouble.� And, she added, she wouldn’t mind “having an affair with William Devane,� who plays a state senator on the series.

Said producer Lawrence Kasha: “It was a natural evolution for the show to include blacks. It’s like one of those things when you say let’s go to a certain restaurant sometime. Then one day you just decide let’s go to that restaurant tonight. Having blacks on the show wasn’t like we discovered radium or something.�