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 apartments near each other in New York. Over the years, they had a lot in common; just as O'Connor concluded contract negotiations for his salary on "All in the Family" in 1974, missing two episodes, Hagman eventually found himself renegotiating his salary on "Dallas", with similar results. Hagman's daughter, Heidi, whom O'Connor had known since her childhood, joined the cast for one season of "Archie Bunker's Place". Hagman directed several episodes of O'Connor's later series, "In the Heat of the Night". They both endured serious health issues, with O'Connor's heart bypass surgery, and Hagman's liver transplant. Hagman remained close after