I guess we could argue left and right on the meaning of camp and if DS was camp. I still think there's pre-camp and camp DS. I'm also not convinced that after a couple of years into the show the writers hadn't decided to go for the "camp" value.
There's not any evidence of that from what survives of interviews with and about the writers of DS that I know of, is there? Soaps were looked down enough in the industry at the time without a soap writer going for yet an ever more looked-down upon style/genre such as camp. It doesn't make sense to me that a writer would do it, especially when DS had such unprecedented success with a straight story.
I suspect it was deliberate and I think a poster here nailed it by stating that the writers, knowing who the fans were (pre-teens running home from school), got into writing silly campy stuff
One of the reasons that Ramse Mosteller and other production personnel fought with Dan Curtis was because of his insistence on doing everything as quickly and intensely as possible, including the writing of the scripts. He was not interested in pacing and really had no idea at the time why the show was such a success. The development of Barnabas was subtle and I really don't think Mr. Curtis has ever been familiar with that word. He had nothing to do with the casting of or development of Barnabas. He wasn't even in the country at the time the casting was done or the initial scripts written. JF and the writers met to talk about how the character could be developed. Curtis was never involved with that that I know of. But I digress: the reason the scripts became silly and illogical is because the writers were compelled to write at a frenzy they couldn't cope with. Who could? How else can anyone explain that the writers of the Leviathan scripts had no idea of really what was going on in the very scripts they created? I definitely do not think it was deliberate.
thinking that's what these kids wanted. I remember reading how Dan Curtis wanted more monsters, maybe because JF was exhausted and needed a break.
Actually, Stefan, that's not correct. Curtis wanted a more frenzied pace for the series, not monsters. It was Frid who went to him and said that it all too much for him and that if they wanted him to survive as an actor on the show, another leading man needed to be brought in. Frid and others have told this story at conventions and I believe in some of KLS' publications. That's where David Selby came in.
Dan Curtis might have overestimated the vampire monster aspect of Barnabas and underestimated Barnabas' romantic and tragic appeal that would probably have been the case if he were no monster at all.
Curtis' initial idea about what Barnabas should be was eventually revealed in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS. His original concept of the vampire was to be a monster and nothing more, to last maybe a cycle (13 weeks) before being staked. He did not, and has admitted as much, understand how much the public would be fascinated by Barnabas. You're right: he underestimated the tragic, vunerable quality of Barnabas and the appeal it would have.
I think fans tolerated the camp out of a sincere affection for the show but I also think it's what lead DS to its downfall.
From what I understand, the ratings were just fine when the decision was made for DS to be cancelled. The gore of the HODS movie concerned advertisers and parents about the series and there was also a change of programming vision at ABC. Not only that but as some of the actors will tell you, they believe the constantly changing time periods and characters in the latter part of the series made the series unwatchable unless you stayed with it every single day. There was much confusion about the plotlines. Curtis' drive for more more more is what eventually lead to cancel cancel cancel IMO.
Nancy
