Oh No.....not Betsy Durkin!!!!!!

[Dr. Eric Lang]

The show should have taken much more care in re-casting such an important character.  In my opinion, this was the worst re-cast in the history of the show (although she faces strong competition from Peter Turgeon!).

That's just the trouble - by this time, Victoria Winters was NO LONGER an important character. She was peripheral to the entire Adam and Eve story line, and her own story line with Jeff Clark was weak, inconsistent and uninteresting. I guess it's no wonder they put so little effort into finding a replacement when they had put so little effort into using this character at all.

[Miles]

Actually, no.  The bigger "stars" of DS don't even get a small check anymore in the current syndication, never mind the actors who appeared on the show even less.   And the actors had to chase after MPI for several years just to get paid for the video release in some nominal way.

Surprising, but I guess not so much if re-runs just werent a consideration in contracts...

A shame.

I know wil wheaton (wes crusher of star trek) went to college on re-run money.

[VictoriaWintersRox]

Most TV actors and actresses who appeared in shows from the late '70s on or the shows went into syndication around that time get residuels, but most before that do not, which is really bad. The producers or the people who own the show usually do get syndication money. I'll use one show I know very well syndication wise, lol - Three's Company. Since it went into local reruns in 1982, all the stars got residuals. Suzanne Somers by now has made nearly half a million dollars, and John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt have made over half a million.

It is a shame that many stars do not get money back even though their acting usually accounted for 99% of the show's watchability with writing in second. In the '50s and '60s no one imagined that TV shows would be rerun, especially soaps and gameshows. Sometimes this has caused entire episodes to be pulled from reruns. Two seasons of The Donna Reed Show were pulled from reruns in the late '60s due to contract troubles with the actors.

[jennifer]

Well it is too bad because the show has been repeated now so many times it isn't fair but athletes have the same problems so many of them in the 60's &70's made so little money they had to find other jobs when their careers were over Compared to today when they are paid in excess! i've heard the football league has a fund
that helps old players!Isn't fair to both!a lot of these actors were probaly paid little too!
as for Betsy Durkin she was a pretty girl it isn't her looks i object too but her acting! did she ever do anything else? i still don't think she is the worst actor on the show there are others coming up that hold that role for me!

jennifer

[scout75]

I have a friend who is a fairly casual Dark Shadows fan, who, without any prodding at all from me, dislikes Betsy Durkin as VW and reasons that she was hired simply because she could fit into Alexandra Moltke's wardrobe...

Hey, wait a minute! He might just be onto something!

[Julian]

I also felt the change from AM to BD was very jarring when I first saw these episodes.  It might have been better to have wrapped up Victoria's story before AM left the show.  I have to say that BD does have one really good scene with Jonathan Frid coming up - she's rather subdued and effective - Frid seems to bring out the best in her.

[Birdie]

My two cents I had never seen Betsy Durkin before and I have to say I go with the club.  She was awful and annoying.  Today when she was talking to Amy all I could think about was "Psycho Vicki".  She scared me.

Birdie

[Craig_Slocum]

She looked scary, standing in the shadows in the hallway, wearing that black robe. That was a good scene.

[Nancy]

Good bye Betsy Durkin
You're Vicky isn't workin' . . .

[VictoriaWintersRox]

I was looking up 'Alexandra Isles pictures' on Google and this was one of the pictures that came up:

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/Partypics/NY%20for%20New%20Yorkers/Image070.jpg

She looks different in it imo then in the other pictures I've seen of her from the last few years.

[scout75]

She looks different in it imo then in the other pictures I've seen of her from the last few years.

But she still looks as though she doesn't understand.

?!?

[The Doctor and K9]

From these rather pointed and candid statements about AM's replacement, I guess it's safe to say that, along with the great Addison Powell, Ms. Betsy Durkin will most definitely NOT be attending any Dark Shadows festivals in the near future!

Actually, she was at the last Festival in NYC, LOL.  I was surprised, to say the least.  I'd always agreed with the general opinion of this board, and still do.  Seeing and hearing her in person however, changed my perspective a bit. I did not see her episodes until the 80s.  I'd always gotten the impression she thought the show was hokey and perhaps beneath her.  Watching her view some of her key scenes, I was surprised to see that they made her cry.  Satisfactory performances or not, she put her heart into them, if her demeanor at the festival was any indication.  I was glad the audience was kind to her.  She seemed like a very nice person.

She told a story about a boy who was paralyzed in a car accident.  Ms. Durkin's mother asked her to send an autographed picture.  The boy got a lot more; she sent scripts and pictures autographed by "the whole cast".

Betsy Durkin was the Irish Spring lass in those commercials.  I'm not sure if she was the only one or if there were more.

My daughter and I are watching DS and will get to her episodes this month.  I'm going to try to watch them wwith a bit more tolerance.  It will be hard though.  She was in an unenviaable position. 

[IluvBarnabas]

Betsy wasn't a very well-received recast for sure (and I too preferred Alexandra Moltke) but there have been worse recasts on other shows. I can make strong cases for that on the case of the two Darrins (from Dick York to Dick Sargent) on Bewitched and the switch from Barbara Bel Geddes to Donna Reed as Miss Ellie on Dallas.