Long live the original Barnabas storyline!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

i mean after this what were they going to do? go back to a cannery storyline?

I suppose they were planning to do the Seaview storyline with whatever supernatural elements it was going to encompass. But once they decided to go with 1795, that got dropped completely, which is too bad because it might have been quite interesting.

If only they hadn't "killed off" Burke before 1795, the Seaview storyline could have possibly been revived after 1795. Even as possessive and overbearing as Burke often was with Vicki, it still would have been better than bringing in Jeff Clark. But alas...

[Nancy]

I   believe there were several variables at work.   They had to wait and see if Barnabas was a novelty that would wear off or a bonafide character for whom a backstory would hold that same audience?  I need to find the letters but if I recall correctly (and I may not) it was October of 1967 or so when the 1795 storyline was conceived.  Frid makes reference to this in the letters.  But the letters also make it clear that he didn't really care whether or not his run on the soap continued.  It was all money to get him to where he wanted to go: to California to find work as a drama professor.  Naturally the more popular the character, the more money he got and the more he decided to run (or fly) with it.  

Nancy

i find it quite stunning that as late as october/november 1967 the barnabas character(and frid)still had an out date when by that point he clearly owned the show.

[michael c]

i thought seaview had alot of intersting potential too.

but wasn't barnabas somehow pivotal to that? was the idea originally for seaview to go forward after barnabas was killed off?

[Joeytrom]

Barnabas showed Vicky & Burke the house, but I believe that was all he had to do with it.  He found a handkerchief with the initials "F. McA. C." that he gave to Vicky.  They even used a real house for the exterior.  The story was brought to a halt when Liz told Burke about Caleb Collins & his will.  I dont remember how many episodes are between Vicky first finding the house and this episode with the will.

If they were going to use this as a story, it sure would have been a slow "fade in" and a slow "fade out" for Barnabas at the time. 

i thought seaview had alot of intersting potential too.

but wasn't barnabas somehow pivotal to that? was the idea originally for seaview to go forward after barnabas was killed off?

[MagnusTrask]

Is there a point where academic standing takes over, and professional success becomes less important?   I'd think that a very popular DS would be the fulfillment of a dream.   Granted, few actors want to aim for daytime soaps as the pinnacle of their careers, but in the 1960s the cultural nature of everything was being rewritten.