Hey, MB,

Who had worse taste in men, Vicky Winters (with Burke and Jeff) or Carolyn Stoddard (with Burke, Buzz, Chris, and Jeb, and certainly not including, good guy Joe Haskell)?

Bob

PS I think that Vicky and Carolyn had about as much "luck" with men as Zsa Zsa Gabor and Kim Kardashian have!

Hey gang,

I just wanted to bid farewell to New Jersey Network, the Garden State's own public network television station, which is going off the air after nearly forty years of broadcasting.  Sadly, due to budget difficulties, NJN will cease broadcasting after tomorrow night.

Of course, I believe that NJN was one of the first PBS stations in the US to broadcast Dark Shadows, starting way back in 1983.  NJN began its airing of Dark Shadows with the classic episode featuring Mrs. Johnson answering the front door at Collinwood and meeting Barnabas Collins, that very-much unexpected "cousin from England."

NJN continued to air Dark Shadows for the next several years, right up to Parallel Time episode number 1006, in which actor John Harkins (as chemist Horace Gladstone) declared dramatically to actor Christopher Pennock (as Dr. Cyrus Longworth): "Cyrus Longworth is John Yeager, and John Yeager is Cyrus Longworth!"   Regrettably, all of the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania DS fans (including yours truly), who used to tune into NJN every night to catch the latest goings-on with Barnabas, Julia, Willie, etc., had to wait for far too many years to finally see what happened during the remaining 239 episodes of the program over on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Still, it was great to see Dark Shadows aired again in 1983, after not having seen the much-beloved show since its cancellation in April of 1971. 

Au revoir, New Jersey Network.  Thanks for the great memories of Dark Shadows on New Jersey's PBS station.     

Gerard,

The very thought of Mrs. Johnson supplying all of the "delicious" food for Matthew's repast is terrific!  Wasn't Jason McGuire a "big fan" of Mrs. Johnson's trademark Maine "haute cuisine?"

And, that would have been something to see all of the husky men of Collinsport, sauntering over to the caretaker's cottage to try on some of the late Matthew Morgan's "nifty" threads!  Let's see: Sheriff Patterson, Adam, and, possibly Sandor and Istvan, (if they had discovered Quentin I's Stairway-Through-Time back in 1897), might have formed a line to check-out all of Matthew's snazzy flannel shirts and "slightly-used" long johns.

Lydia,

Yes, I was inspired to post a thread on ol' Matthew's funeral service after recently watching the "beloved" Livia Soprano's funeral service as it was portrayed on "The Sopranos."  (I loved the part when after Tony's meddlesome, younger sister, Janice, suggested that they all sit around the table and exchange loving, heartfelt  stores about Livia, her big, strictly-no-nonsense, New Jersey brother Tony replied, "Just cut out all of that California 'bovine excrement,' will you?")  

Patti,

I'm glad you enjoyed it; as both former VP Richard Cheney and former CNN "Crossfire" host Bill Press are wont to say:

"Laughter is the best medicine."  

Bob

Lydia,

I think that Barbara Hershey (before she eventually hooked up with David "Kung Fu" Carradine) was on "The Monroes."

And let's not forget Bob Lloyd (Thank you, Midnite!) intoning those immortal words at the end of a Dark Shadows episode:

"Tonight on ABC, tune in to see 'The Rat Patrol' and 'Love: American Style'  IN color!" 

Bob

Gerard,

Thanks for the interview with Ms. Nickerson; I understand that she is a very warm and gracious person.

Bob

 But somehow I think Roger wouldn't have been caught dead in K-Mart!  

Yes, Roger Collins, always steadfast in "keeping up appearances," among the "unwashed masses," of Collinsport, just like his "other," likely "British cousin," Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "Bouquet").

What's going to happen to "Soap Opera Digest"?  I'm going to miss employing my old Evelyn Wood speed reading training lessons, when reading that eminent publication as I wait  on line to check-out at my local supermarket.

By the way, do you think Mrs. Johnson (or even the "slightly" toffee-nosed Roger Collins) ever enjoyed perusing through all of those weekly periodicals prominently displayed on the rack by the check-out register as they made purchases at the local Collinsport Von's or K-Mart's? 

Hey gang,

I recently watched a new dvd copy of a British 1960 supernatural thriller film, entitled "The City of the Dead."  The star of the film is the truly great, Sir Christopher Lee.

Basically, the film deals with a coven of witches, who, since 1692, have gathered together to conduct a human sacrifice on every Candlemas Eve (February 1) to honor their "boss' and to renew their immortality for another year.

Sir Christopher portrays Prof. Alan Driscoll, an expert in the occult (and a not-so-nice version of Prof. T. Elliott Stokes), who urges one of his comely, young female students to travel to Whitewood in order to gain a better "insight" into the history and legends of witchcraft  in New England.  (I don't want to spoil the plot, but suffice it to say, that that impromptu academic field trip ends rather badly for the young coed.)

The village of Whitewood, Massachusetts reminded me very much of the beloved Collinsport, Maine; most of the the residents seem to be very creepy and there always seems to be an incredible amount of fog, rising up from the streets and sidewalks of the town (very much like the pea soup-like stuff Barnabas encountered when he first met the Leviathans on his way along the path to the Old House).

Of course, there is an especially nasty witch around, named Elizabeth Selwyn (shades of Angelique), who was previously burned at the stake in 1692, right around the same time that Judah Zachery had his head lopped off after his own witchcraft trial.


The film was directed by veteran director John Lllewllyn Moxey, who directed such memorable television series as "Mission Impossible," "Kung Fu," "Magnum P.I.," and the superb British spy series, "The Avengers," starring the wonderful Patrick MacNee and the remarkable Dame Diana Rigg.

Oh yeah, Mr. Moxey also directed the 1972 cult supernatural t.v. film, "The Night Stalker," starring Darrin McGavin and the beautiful Carol Lynley, and produced by one Mr. Dan Curtis, a prolific giant of both American film and television, and who once also produced a Gothic daytime soap opera, which we all may have seen, from time to time, over the years.

The dvd also features commentaries by both Sir Christopher Lee and Mr. Moxey, and also an in-depth interview with the United Kingdom's greatest film Dracula. I first saw this film on John Zacherle's Friday night horror show on Channel 11 in NYC way back during the 1960s, and I wholeheartedly recommend this genuinely spooky film to all of my Dark Shadows cousins today.

Bob