Karen MacKenzie record for an actress on American primetime television. Karen's storylines focus on family troubles, addiction and kidnapping. In her early years on the serial, the character had much more of an "edge" in order to test the audience on who would be the most like J. R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), the primary character of its parent series "Dallas". (The bad girl role would later be taken on by Abby Cunningham, Karen's sister-in-law.) Over time, she became much more of a wholesome character. Series creator David Jacobs said "Karen is the tent pole. She says the things I want to say.
Larry Hagman fire his agent as a result. In January 2011, Hagman made a guest appearance in the seventh season of "Desperate Housewives" as a new husband for Lynette Scavo's mother, Stella (played by Polly Bergen). He also directed episodes of "I Dream of Jeannie" and "The Good Life", as well as several episodes of "Dallas" and "In the Heat of the Night", which was the only series he directed but in which he did not act. He appeared in such feature films as "The Group", "Fail Safe", "Harry and Tonto", "Mother, Jugs & Speed", "In Harm's Way", "The Eagle Has Landed",