Well, the 1970s were a great time for ABC. Up until that time, they usually were the third place network. Under the guidance of Fred Silverman, they shot to number one in the ratings.
Oh, I realize that - but it's not like the decades since have been all downhill.
I agree that the DS clips were disappointing. How odd to choose a shot of Old Barnabas. Why not a clip featuring Barnabas and JULIA HOFFMAN?
Well, as much as I agree it would have great to have seen a dramatic clip, particularly one featuring Julia, it seemed like they were going more for something that was "ground breaking" and the make-up effects DS used were most definiterly ground breaking - especially for a soap in the '60s.
We love to make fun of so many things about DS. But in this day and age when special effects are fairly common place on soaps, we tend to forget how really ground breaking DS actually was for its time - and not just when it came to special effects. For example, it was pretty common, particularly for shows like GH, to have an actor play a scene that was staged in front of one wall, with a chair in front of it, a floor lamp behind the chair, and a telephone stand and phone beside it. THAT was the character's entire apartment! DS, more often than not, had sets that were comprised of three walls and decorated with a fair amount of furniture (even if that furniture wasn't always entirely accurate for the period
). And having a permanent set like Collinwood's foyer/drawing room was practically unheard of for daytime. So, it might have been nice if a few more "ground breaking" aspects of DS had been explored, even if was simply in a really quick montage. But then, I suppose that would have cut into the time the special was devoting to ABC's celebration of the '70s.