i was surprised yesterday to open my mailbox and find mail from nancy barrett.it was a letter announcing her upcoming activities.she has launched a new website,nancy barrett online(www.nancybarrett.info),that will feature recollections,rare photos and such.also,on april 2 and 3 she will be a guest at the "big apple con" nostalgia convention in new york.that's been mentioned here before.www.darkshadowsonline.com/big apple for additional info.also mentioned before is her appearance in "judy and bea" on march 18 and 25,and april 1 and 8.212-206-0609 for reservations.
i'm tempted to go see it but the cover is $30 plus a $15 drink minimum.kind of pricey.and cabaret is not really my thing.is anyone else going?
i don't remember ever putting my name on a mailing list for nancy but it must have been at the fest.

i had some unstructured time on my hands this morning .so i did a little d.s.math.
now d.s. was a daily show that originally aired 1225 episodes over a five year period.now what if it had been a weekly prime-time show instead.there are about 23 episodes in a prime-time t.v. show's season.so what if they tried to cover the same area story-wise and produce the same number of episodes?dark shadows would have been on the air in first-runs until the year 2016!

let's take a look.season one.twenty three episodes.story-wise this would have brought us to the car crash/bleeder valve business.and a quick reference to luciaphil's idle thoughts reminds us that at this point in the show we were on day three.three days covered in a year-long season!
barnabas would not have been released from his coffin for nine years!the seance that led to the year 1795 would not have taken place until 1981.now if we think 18th century fashion as seen through the late 60's was weird think of it seen through the early 80's(a new-wave influence?).victoria would have been on the show until 1993.we would now be viewing episode 900-ish.early leviathan stuff.

there were a few re-casts on the show but can you imagine this scenario?as actors aged and moved on to "greener pastures" they'd have to be replaced.would they characters constantly be re-cast to maintain the age they were originally or would they have been allowed to age in real time?would jeb hawkes be dating a sixty-something carolyn?could barnabas still turn into a bat in his eighties?would davis still require a governess in his fifties?

like i said i had some unstructured time.

i noticed that on the show the character of maggie evans was the very first to wear the miniskirts that became the rage in the late 1960's.she was wearing them as early as 1966...a time when most of the other characters on the show adopted a more modest length of skirt.not including the older characters,carolyn's skirts rarely raised above mid-thigh,and vicki's hemlines generally hovered just above the knee.

so i was wondering if it was simply a costuming choice or was there a visual metaphor happening?did costuming decide that this said something about the character maggie.not that maggie was by any means "loose" but she was a working girl from "the wrong side of the tracks"(she was even rather brassy at first).did it set her apart from high-born-carolyn and virginal-vicki?
or did they decide that since maggie was a secondary charcter(before alexandra leaves)that they could be somewhat more experimental with her than the "heroines".after all she was the one barnabas kidnaps(they certainly didn't choose vicki for a reason).

while later on everyone including julia and elizabeth(unfortunately)sport the mini-lengths maggie was our pioneer!
any thoughts?

have you guys seen this?i found a new book today called "what were they thinking?the 100 dumbest events in televsion history"by david hofstede.it just came out i think.

taking pride of place along such gems as "supertrain" and "pink lady and jeff" at #61 is the dark shadow's leviathan story.
the chapter is actually quite praiseworthy of the show itself.it comments on strong writing and specifically the performances of johnathan,nancy,kathryn and lara.it notes the show's enduring popularity and goes so far as to say that when the show was right it was "as good as anything on television"(i get the feeling mr.hofstede might be a fan).
but then goes on to say that after the "triumphant 1897 flashback" the show gambles on a plot that spelled the beginning of the end.it calls the story "dull,poorly-paced even by soap standards" and complains that popular characters like quentin and angelique were relegated to the sidelines.it took several confusing turns before "ending as an afterthought".yikes!
it ends by saying that the show had a few late bursts of creativity(1970PT)but never really recovered in the ratings and was cancelled a year later "though thankfully it never really went away".

it always amazes me when the show comes up in a mainstream publication...and not just the show itself but specific characters and plot-twists.there might be more of "us" out there than we think.
anyhow,the book is a hoot with or without the d.s. chapter.give it a look.

since registration was re-opened today...do we have new members amognst us?

as cassandra blair collins she wore the requisite boxy coat and dress ensembles...cass exits the scene but when angelique returns the "look" is considerably different.

the black wig is gone.in it's place is a very strange "hostess-from-hell" ensemble.a dove gray gazar blouse with sheer sleeves and voluminous,ruffled,pleated collar and cuffs.a massive self-belted silver jaquard maxi-skirt.what's up with this look?

she should come complete with her own fondue pot.

the new board looks great...but i've had one odd thing happen lately.in the "current talk" section,the little icon of collinwood that means there are new posts is always lit-up(as opposed to black when there are no new posts).is that just me?

and mysterious...you lost part of your "quote"(fog that can...).

a "funny" thing happened this morning...i went to check my e-mails and,as i often do out of habit,take a peek at the forum.then something unexpected happened.instead of my usual welcome screen the "guest" welcome screen popped-up.i had somehow logged myself out(which i never do).
momentarily startled i knew i just needed to log in again.no big deal.then came the time to type in my password and i realized i couldn't remember it at all...i hadn't used it in several months.i stay logged in.
confused(this was early morning after all) i tried to conjure up the long forgotten password to no avail.i thought to click the "forget password" option which would just e-mail me a new one.then i remembered that for awhile the forum was unable to generate new passwords.was i going to get locked out?!?
a current of low-level panic ran through my blood.what would i do?where would i go to discuss governesses?seances?sleeveless dresses?i was about to e-mail midnite.and all this drama before i even had my first cup of coffee.
then the long forgotten phrase began to visualize itself to me...and with sweaty palms typed the letters in.i breathed a hearty sigh of relief when my own welcome screen popped-up and the morning was as good as new!

anyhow...it's funny how we react when our little routines are thrown out of whack.