Karen MacKenzie (maiden name Cooper; formerly Fairgate) is a long-running fictional character in the CBS primetime soap opera Knots Landing.

Karen is portrayed by actress Michele Lee, and has appeared on the show since its pilot episode, first broadcast on December 27, 1979.

Knots Landing follows the trials of four middle-class families living on a suburban cul-de-sac known as Seaview Circle in California.

Lee portrayed Karen for the entire run of Knots Landing, being the sole cast member to appear in every episode of its fourteen seasons.

During the course of her existence on the program, she was married to both Sid Fairgate (Don Murray) and second husband Mack MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson).

[3] The characters of the series often represented what was happening in society at the time, which Lee acknowledged by saying: "Karen wanted to be a Pollyanna and wasn't ashamed of that.

"[4] Prior to being cast in Knots Landing, Michele Lee had made a slew of film and television appearances.

[5][6] (S. Epatha Merkerson, who portrayed character Anita Van Buren on the crime drama Law & Order, surpassed Lee's record in 2008.

)[7] After the success of Dallas, David Jacobs' presented his initial idea again and created Knots Landing, with some alterations of his original script.

Today, she's headed for big trouble, but Karen, onetime widow, single mom, addict, kidnappee, shooting victim, talk show hostess, and target of a psychotic fan, is resilient.

When Sid divorces Susan, he marries Karen and they move to Knots Landing, California where they live with their three children Diana (Claudia Lonow), Eric (Steve Shaw) and Michael Fairgate (Patrick Petersen).

When Sid's killers are released in 1982, she goes to see Federal Prosecutor Mack MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson) in order to get help to bring them to justice.

Karen soon gets hooked on prescription pills when her daughter, Diana, runs off and marries murderer Chip Roberts (Michael Sabatino).

Karen decides to divorce Mack when she discovers he is still tracking down the Wolfbridge Group, a dangerous crime organization.

Once there, Karen insists on making Lotus Point as environmentally friendly as possible, refusing to compromise her principles purely for profit.

When her friend Laura (Constance McCashin) dies in 1987, she leaves behind her forlorn husband, Greg Sumner (William Devane) and their baby daughter, Meg.

While running Lotus Point with her fellow partners, Karen fights Manny Vasquez (John Aprea), who tries to use the resort's marina to transport drugs.

Lotus Point then becomes a focus of bad news because of the drug bust and is later sold to a Japanese firm, which is secretly headed by her former sister-in-law Abby who has actually discovered there is oil beneath the resort.

However, her scheme is thwarted by Karen and Abby is forced to donate Lotus Point to the state as a public park in order to escape prosecution for fraud.

In the 1997 reunion mini-series Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac, Karen and Mack celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary.

Amid dead husbands, nubile, surprise stepdaughters, snatched up baby twins, philandering neighbors and one hoeish sister-in-law, you could always count on Karen!