what is it with vicki and maggie(and barnabas and nicholas)that makes them see these clowns as kindly older gentlemen friends rather than guys on the make?have they never heard of midlife crisises or trophy wives?
I was just a kid then, and I knew only TV, but I do think that we weren't yet in a world that bombarded us with information and news and jokes about the seamiest side of things. Actually, what few shows did a bit of that, I liked quite a bit, those were the edgier comedy writers, but the down side (I just said "edgier" and "down side" in almost the same breath, sorry) of having a lot of that around is perhaps a sort of depressing total cynicism. Tune in The Simpsons, and you know you're going to hear twenty or thirty jokes about how cowardly or weaselly or perverted (or stupid, or selfish) so many characters are.
I like the fact that perhaps in 1967-8 it might still have been possible for a middle-aged sophisticated-seeming man to turn up, and even be a "suitor" (do I think I'm in 1897 suddenly?!), without immediate judgment as a sleazebag with a mid-life crisis. Of course, in reality it was probably more like it is now.
Anyway, some more suspicion on their parts would have been more realistic (and conducive to self-preservation... I'm speaking funny tonight), but I also like open-mindedness and avoiding of pre-judging. And admit it, Barnabas was good at it...