And don't forget, that in that same review scathing the original television DS, Cleveland Amory also said, after a week of watching it, he "missed it." There's a lot to read into that comment. He panned it (as most soaps, if not all soaps, were panned back then), but he obviously
enjoyed it. For him, it was undoubedly a guilty pleasure (and I wonder if he did go back to watching it, while never admitting it).
It was like my mom, who always would yell from the kitchen: "Are you watching that spooky crap again?" But the moment Joan Bennett appeared, my mom, dish-towel in hand, would creep into the doorway of the living room and watch. And when Quentin's Theme played on the radio, she'd turn up the volume and listen and afterwards would hum the melody over and over. She even learned to ear-play it, one finger at a time, on our organ (I had the sheet music and performed it during the annual concert at our local conservatory where I took organ lessons).
Sometimes I think DS haters just like being contrarians. DS was the most popular and one of the most iconographic soap operas of all time. It set standards which exist to this day. It influenced highly popular literary takes on vampires, from
Salem's Lot to
Interview With the Vampire to
Twilight. Other soaps began to introduce direct supernatural plots. It's the only soap from its time where every episode (save parts of one) has been preserved in some form, has re-aired many times, is available on DVD, had two television remakes and inspired three motion pictures, all successful and profitable. Is there any soap opera that has an annual festival that draws several thousand people? How many soaps have had numerous documentaries produced about them? Only one. And soundtracks - don't forget the soundtracks. I have seven of them and I don't think that's all of them. There's a lot to be resentful of and to hate when one likes to go against the grain with something so unique, groundbreaking, successful and continuing in popularity. Don't forget, many if not most critics initially panned
The Wizard of Oz. It's now listed in the top ten greatest motion pictures of all time.
These DS-haters, especially among the "younger" crowd, simply like being contrarians. Being conditioned to enjoying what's only here for the moment and gone the next, they don't have the concept of something that has endured over time (with some exceptions). For example,
The Avengers was their big lovey-huggy, but no one hears much about it anymore. It's now yesterday's news; it's no longer "trending." Now it's the latest Batman movie (its reputation, however, sadly sullened by the tragedy). Today's younger critics are formed by the do-it-now mentality. For me, this little non-DS-related clip pretty much sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSSDeesUUsUGerard