Discuss - Ep #0335

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #335

And if you'd care to look back, the first WP discussion topic for this ep:

Re: Discuss - Ep #0335

[Mysterious Benefactor]

As I've mentioned before, it's interesting that in the real world almost two weeks passed between the tapings of Ep #334 and this ep. Ep #334 was taped on 9/22/67 - but because of the NABET (National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians) strike, taping was shut down and this ep wasn't taped until 10/3/67 - only 3 days before it aired - and with executives doing the technical work because the technical people were still on strike.

And all that leads us to Frid's next noteworthy letter to his mom:

Monday, October 2, 1967

Dear Mother,

We've been idle for a week now. We're not actualy striking ourselves but supporting the engineers who are.

The producers have asked us to cross the pick lines. In fact we were supposed to do it today. The actors agreed in principle with the idea. None of us feel strongly about the engineers and what they are asking for. But a couple of us have been concerned about reaction of our own union should we do so. We could be suspended. I wasn’t too popular at the meeting in the production office last Friday. One of the actors a little too gayley (JF's spelling) "Come on, let's get this telegram off to union headquarters that we're going back to work and let's get out of here". I barked back "I’ll slay here all night if necessary to make sure we're doing the right thing".

We sent the wire that we were going back Monday morning (actually I wasn't due back until Wed.) I went along only to test the union's reaction. Needless to say we immediately got a telegram from the union to report to a meeting with it the next day (Sat.).

They were surprisingly lenient. (They're not too sure the engineers are right). They asked us to wait until Tues. and to meet with them again on Mon. (This afternoon) They might have settled. I see no signs of it as of this moment. We may still be in trouble.

Love,
John

[Joeytrom]

I posted this before but don't think I got a response.  Did other soaps stay off the air until the strike was over or did they follow what DS did.

[DarkLady]

Thanks for the letter, MB! Very interesting, and JF writes a good one too. It's a lost art now.

Welcome, Peter Turgeon as Dave Woodard no. 3!

We can only imagine what Dr. Fisher (played by William Shust in his only appearance on the show) must chard for a house call to an isolated mansion on the coast of Maine!

Elizabeth tells Burke that Seaview, Vicki's dream house, is not for sale. I assume that the end of this plot line means that the writers have decided not to kill Barnabas.

I love the last scene of this ep., where Dr. Woodard is beginning to get an idea of the reason for the secret room--and sees someone he didn't expect to see….

[dom]

Wow, DarkLady, I don't remember there being another (1st) Dr. Woodard. I'll have to look him up.

I wonder how Jon's letter coincides with Gerringer's departure, being they had meetings and whatnot. There must have been a picket line to get fired for not crossing. Maybe another letter will explain it. BTW, thanks MB for posting these letters, I've heard of their existence but have never had the opportunity to read them. And their placement in the watching project makes it all the more interesting (and fun).

So, David’s had enough of Sarah’s BS and demands her presence, and she obliges. Too bad David doesn’t have two crystal balls. Sarah is evasive in the face of David’s plea for help. Oh, I’ve been wanting to ask this; Can a 10-year-old girl have hair that long? Is it biologically possible?

So, it was Barn who "glued" the ring, but, it’s not a recorder, it’s a flute. The scene with David and Sarah made me think of the young 2012 Maggie.

David is wearing floods, lol.

David gets a visit from a shrink. So weird seeing a new face on the show. Two new faces in this episode. Woodard is becoming like a dog with a bone with this David/Barnabas/Maggie thang (it should be the sheriff!) but I am surprised that he is not going after Julia.

I was fascinated by the shrink’s prediagnosis of David’s “illness”. The writers gave so much airtime to it when we know David is not mentally ill (well, you know what I mean). I am also thinking about how it is representative of professionals so willing to label patients as broken and back it up with research. I like that they went into such detail so as to convince us that the elders would be convinced. It was so un-DS to me. I’m betting on Liz to follow her instincts and keep David at Collinwood. (Roger should have been there or his absence should have been explained.)

So, do you think Woodard’s figured out that Barn’s a vampire? He’s certainly figured something out thanks to the shrink finishing up his professional opinion with Barn’s portrait as a backdrop.

I can’t help but wonder if they are tying up the Seaview story-line with a "no-go", for Burke & Vicki, or if things are still going as planned. LOL, Liz is so gracious and generous, she gives dwellings away as gifts. I love it.

I thought for sure Woodard was going to get into the mausoleum’s secret room. So, I’m at the edge of my seat biting my nails and...…Sarah shows up. <eye roll> I am SO happy she is fluteless.

Poor Joan Bennett couldn’t spit out the word “solution” to save her life. I liked this episode, mostly because it was different than what I’ve been accustomed to watching lately- with the shrink and all. I am of course heartbroken that Gerringer has been replaced. DarkLady, is this the last we hear of Seaview and that whole story-line or am I reading you wrong?

[DarkLady]

Yes, dom, I'm afraid that as far as I can recall, this is the end of Seaview. Too bad.

And yes, it is possible for a 10-year-old girl to have hair long enough to sit on. I have known/seen several.

[dom]

Thanx twice!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I posted this before but don't think I got a response.  Did other soaps stay off the air until the strike was over or did they follow what DS did.

I suspect the probable lack of response to the question is that none of us really remember. And I tried to do some research on the Internet about the strike but only came up with conflicting info. Some Web sites say the strike was only against ABC, while others say it was against all three networks. And one site even says that DS was preempted for repeats of The Farmer's Daughter (which originally ran on ABC in primetime from '63 until '66) - but I don't see how that can be right. For one, DS never ran out of eps, so why would there have been a need to fill its time slot with repeats of some other show? Plus, everything that we know about the broadcast history of the show tells us that DS was never preempted during that period because for every weekday that the strike lasted a DS ep was aired. But then, as we know only too well when it comes to what's written about DS on the Internet, so much of it is inaccurate. 

[alwaysdavid]

Another B&W episode.  Not caring for the new doctor. He has an almost sinister manner. I liked how the headshrinker tied in David's past with his mother which at the time seemed odd that he just kind of glossed over what had happened to her and almost to him. Seaview will says only Collins can own it for 100 years and there is five to go.  Why can they not just live there or rent it?  A hasty tie up to that story.

[DarkLady]

dom, you said David is wearing floods in this episode. What are floods? 

[dom]

dom, you said David is wearing floods in this episode. What are floods? 

Another better known term for floods were high-waters - when your pant leg bottoms showed your ankles or came to rest far above the tops of your shoes. "Where's the flood?" Or "You goin' digging for clams?" So, it's when your pants are too short. That's probably how the extra long pant leg came into and remains in fashion to this very day.

[DarkLady]

Ha ha ha!!! Thanks, dom! I do remember those, I just never knew what they were called.

[Roland]

Burke slips up and calls Dr. Woodard Dr. Hoffman. Maybe Peter Turgeon was really brought in to replace Julia not Dave and we've all just had it wrong all these years! 

One thing that drives me crazy in the big drawing room scene is the fact that, when the psychiatrist is spinning his theory that Sarah is merely a figment of David's disturbed psyche, not one of the other people in the room thinks to mention that Sarah has appeared to Maggie and Sam as well.