Did the original stars ever resent the later direction of the show?

[Roland]

I sometimes wonder if the original actors ever felt slighted by the direction the show took after the arrival of Barnabas.  Not only did they receive much less camera time than they had had previously, but many of their characters were relegated to that dreadful state of perpetual ignorance (the kiss-of-death for any actor), while other characters (like Barnabas, Julia, Willy etc.) always seemed to be "in the know"  and, thus, got all the best scenes.

I know that, in "Lost in Space," for instance, many of the "lead actors" became unhappy when, by season two, Dr. Smith, Will and the Robot had become the de facto "stars" of the show and everyone else receded into the background.

I realize that a show has to go with its strengths if it is to survive, but I still can't help wondering if there were any hard feelings about it all (I know that Alexandra Moltke may have had some).

[adamsgirl]

I don't know of any and haven't heard even a rumor. I'd venture to say, though, that a lot of the actors were grateful. For many of them, it was their first "real" job in the business. If the character of Barnabas hadn't taken off the way it did, the show would have been cancelled. I suppose, given that, they were grateful for his appearance.

The person I thought was shoved to the side, and this was tragic, was Joan Bennett. I would have liked to have seen her utilized more effectively, as she was in the beginning. As for Moltke, yeah, she became a real clueless idiot after Barnabas came on the scene.

[Willie Loomis]

The person I thought was shoved to the side, and this was tragic, was Joan Bennett. I would have liked to have seen her utilized more effectively, as she was in the beginning. As for Moltke, yeah, she became a real clueless idiot after Barnabas came on the scene.

i feel the same about bennett.   in watching the beginning story line, i see she had alot going for her in style, and in her character.   she wasn't so wishy washy.    she had determination and was gutsy.   after a while, everyone just walked all over her. 

the characters were definelty ruined after Barnabas's entry into the story, and considering that B.C. was only supposed to be on for 13 weeks, it's sad that the original troopers of the show were pushed back.   If liz had been strong enough to order B.C. around, conisider this:

(edited by admin)

[michael c]

as the show's original "stars" i think the four actors who fared(or would have fared)the worst were joan bennett,louis edmonds,alexandra moltke and mitch ryan.

ryan got out early.

but i agree that it was perhaps joan bennett who suffered the most once the barnabas character took over.at least in the present time as elizabeth.she went from easily being the "star" to a secondary(and at times tertiary)character within a matter of months.by the 1970 episodes it's easy to forget that collinwood was still liz's house with barnabs and julia running the show.

that said i have read many times that joan did not in fact mind the reduction in her workload,looked at the show as a well paid "semi-retirement" and it was at her request that her characters only appear in one or two episodes a week(as opposed to the first year when she was in nearly every show).

in general i think that after a certain point both joan and louis did much better in the time travel storylines than they did in the "present".

as for alexandra i don't know if she minded the reduced screen time she got but of course we all know she was disappointed that her character became so "dumbed down" over time.

once monsters became the main characters i think that the "townsfolk" like joe haskell,sam evans and mrs.johnson suffered greatly storywise as well.

[Midnite]

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[CastleBee]

I know that, in "Lost in Space," for instance, many of the "lead actors" became unhappy when, by season two, Dr. Smith, Will and the Robot had become the de facto "stars" of the show and everyone else receded into the background.

Since I had a big old 6th grade crush on Will (Billy Mumy) Robinson at the time it all seemed exactly right to me - I doubt I would have had much sympathy for the other actors at the time.  Years later - and based mainly on his earlier work as Anthony - the kid who banished everyone to the cornfield - and a couple of other creepy (Hitchcock and Twilight Zone) parts - I thought he would have made a pretty decent David Collins. I posted that on his web site once and was unhappy to find out that he had not been one of the "run home from school kid" fans of the show.  Probably kind of difficult when you're busy upstaging everyone on your own show  . -

[Gothick]

My thoughts--

Joan Bennett:  in the books about the show's history, it is stated (originally by KLS, I believe, in the first edition of My Scrapbook Memories of DS--a wonderful book just for the photographs; I cherish it for the series of Thayer David in the antique store alone) that Joan insisted on being given a six week vacation every year.  So, it was built in from the get-go that Liz (or whoever Joan played) would have periods of being "away" in some form or other.  I do think that Joan has some of her best moments post-Barnabas.  The whole Jason Maguire thing is concurrent with the original Barnabas storyline and I actually find it very effective now to watch the two storylines switching back and forth.  The Judith Collins story in 1897 contains some of Joan's best work on the show (and may I just mention here, since I seldom here anyone else voicing this opinion, that I love watching Joan work opposite Jerry Lacy and that I think that for once, the showdown of the whole Judith/Trask storyline packs quite a punch on DS--where storyline payoffs all too often ended with a rushed fizzle).  For some reason, after Parallel Time 1970 Joan got very little good material to work with.  I did hear a fan report about a ca. 1972 talk show appearance (I have no idea which one) in which Joan stated bluntly that she was relieved that Shadows was done with because she was tired of it and had not had a very good time.  I suspect this reflects (if anything more than a passing mood on that day) her experience on hoDS and the decline in the material she was given in that last year.

Louis--I don't think he really cared one way or the other so long as he got his own share of work.  Unlike Joan, Louis did get some more substantial material right through to the end of the series.  I thought the aged Daniel was a fantastiic tour de force, and Brutus was great fun.  Louis was a champ!

Nancy, as Michael and others in this thread have implied, did continue to have central importance throughout the Barnabas era.  We got to watch Carolyn grow up, and go through some remarkable experiences.  As for Alex, I give her credit for bringing depth and plausibility to the work  even when Vicki goes way out on a limb (that whole Jeff Clark/Peter Bradford thing--let's just not go there).  I so wish she had come back in 1897 to play a darker more sinister role, as I've read she had requested from DC.  Of course the fans probably would have sent in hate-mail as they did when Barnabas was made evil again during the Leviathans (I think the real reason why the Leviathans story was so reviled at the time--the teenybopper fan base couldn't deal with seeing Barn go bad).

Missed opportunities:  I would have loved to have seen Frank Garner become a regular on the show as Vicki's love interest.  I think that would have added a different twist to the whole dynamic of Barn's courtship of Vicki.  And I wish that Ned Calder had come to Collinwood.  In Sam Hall's notes on how the story might have continued, I like to think of the man that Liz brought in to help with the business as Ned, although I think that Sam described him as a younger man and very brilliant.  In any event, I like to think of Liz having some happiness in her life after all those "dark shadows."

Just my two drachmae--

G.

[markyboo]

Daytime dramas are notorious for putting veteran members of their casts on the sidelines or out to pasture. I am a daily viewer of AS THE WORLD TURNS & I am saddened at how Helen Wagner, Eileen Fulton, & other longtime performers rarely make apperances now or their characters are referred to only  in passing. Part of the problem is that networks & producers think viewers are only interested in young, sexy characters & while I hesitate to describe Barnabas & Julia that way, those two, along with Quentin & a few others  elbowed Elizabeth, Roger, etc. aside.  The "powers-that-be" in television always think they know best for the viewers at home. During DS, they didn't realize (or didn't care) how much actors like Joan Bennett & Louis Edmonds added to the "flavor" of the series. Elizabeth practically became a damsel in distress - how I would have loved to have seen a scene where she stood up to Quentin's ghost & blasted him for terrorizing children. Don't you wish there had been more Roger-Cassandra scenes? I was all excited when Spoiler:

Barnabas "drafted" Roger to help battle the Levithans but then poor Roger promptly got bitten on the neck by Megan Todd & was under her power. Roger Collins was absent from Collinwood in the weeks leading up to the 1840 storyline. I would have loved to have seen Roger challenge Gerard's ghost or protect Maggie from the mystery vampire.

Heck, I would have settled for a bitchy remark about Sebastian Shaw's wardrobe!

[MagnusTrask]

The openings to soaps now consist of all the young actors one by one looking at the camera and posing, as if to say, worship us, we're beautiful.   It's pathetic.     If I see supermodel women or men who look like their last job was posing in the Sears catalogue, somehow, I don't care what happens to them.     The title of soaps like these could be, "Models Have Problems Too!"

[markyboo]

I agree with you one hundred per cent, Magnus. I shudder to think what the DS cast would be like if the series was on today. I am sure the networks would immediately fire Jonathan Frid & Grayson Hall & cast performers that are much younger & have toned & buff bodies - acting talent be damned! Soaps used to draw upon the NY theater community to cast their shows - many members of the DS cast could be seen on the stages of NYC on the evenings of 1966-1971. Nowadays I swear soap casting directors head for the local fitness clubs to cast their shows. And when you put these novices besides a sturdy soap vet, it becomes painfully obvious these pretenders can't hold their own. I don't want to declare all young soap performers as being inept but some of them can't act their way out of a paper bag. The younger DS performers always spoke of how much they learned about the craft of acting from working with vets like Joan Bennett, Thayer David - even Clarice Blackburn in her minor roles. I wonder if todays soap fledgings are as grateful working with seasoned survivors?

[BuzzH]

Missed opportunities:  I would have loved to have seen Frank Garner become a regular on the show as Vicki's love interest. 

Couldn't...agree...more G!  I LOVED Frank Garner and was none too pleased when he SPOILER just disappeared w/out any explanation as soon as Barnabas arrived on the scene.

Nowadays I swear soap casting directors head for the local fitness clubs to cast their shows. And when you put these novices besides a sturdy soap vet, it becomes painfully obvious these pretenders can't hold their own.

No joke!  I was watching some bloopers of Guiding Light on YouTube recently and the young actor's just didn't compare to the actors that were on that show in the 70's and 80's when I used to watch.  One young woman in particular was so horrible it was seriously painful to watch her!  

[Roland]

Thanks for all the great comments, everyone.

I've always just found it interesting that in on-going mysteries, one set of characters seems to have to be perpetually "in the know," while another have to be eternally "in the dark."  It's just strange that the latter category in DS was actually filled by the original cast of characters who launched the series. 

[Miss_Winthrop]

If I happen to be off work during the week and try to watch a 'soap' for a day or two, I can't even get interested in what's going to happen the next day after to set up my DVR.  Some of the soaps today do have a good sized following but it's definitely not anywhere near as big as Dark Shadows was.  No one talks about the daytime soaps at work and the only thing discussed is 'Oprah'.  Times are definitely different.

[michael c]

miss winthrop makes an interesting point.

soap opreas are definitely not "cool" today.there are times when they are "in" and gain a cultural signifigance that goes beyond their tradional housewife based audience(remember luke and laura?)
now is not one of those moments although these things are cyclical.

when i was a kid in the 1980's during general hospital's heyday we used to arrive at school breathless to rehash the previous days episode.today it seems like chessy "reality" shows are the water cooler talk.

i agree about roger and cassandra.when the storyline first started i was expecting something of along the lines of the laura story...lots of tense scenes with roger,showdowns with liz,catty exchanges with carolyn,thinly veiled threats to vicki.a dark domestic drama with a supernatural edge.

but the show's writing changed at just this moment.domestic dramas were out and monsters were in and cassandra ultimately ended up playing second banana to the adam storyline before she was dispensed with all together(although angelique soon returns in another guise).i would have loved some more traditional "sopa opera" storytelling here.

[Gothick]

The week of Cassandra's arrival on the scene is one of my favorite parts of the show.  They give us lots of tense, dramatic scenes--the ones involving Liz and Roger are particularly sharp.  Lots of bitchy moments with a smug Cass twisting the knife in Liz and the Mistress of Collinwood firing back.  I love the scene where Liz coldly informs the new Mrs. Roger Collins that her husband doesn't have a penny to his own name.

G.