Well, since Sci-Fi has decided to take this vacation (interrupted for one week later this month) from our favorite show, it might be interesting to note how many of the cast members actually took their own holidays and vacations during the 1897 storyline. Not to worry, anyone - no spoilers here. Just because various actors/actresses took some time off will reveal nothing about plots.
As we already all know, the original 1897 story was to last about three months, but because of the sky-rocketting ratings, it was expanded to approximately nine months. Because of that, plots had to either be expanded and made more complex, or a whole series of subplots were written in. With that much, it gave the performers chances to take some time off, sometimes for several months. Kathryn Leigh Scott took advantage to have some R&R. Jonathan Frid did so as well. The most famous of temporary departures to kick back and do other stuff was Joan Bennett. And others in the cast did likewise for certain lengths of time. Yet with these granted leaves-of-absence, the plots just plugged right along, focusing on other characters until they got their turns to take some time off, and the others returned, refreshed, ready and rarin' to go.
That was a different time, a different era in television, especially day-time TV. While the actors/actresses obviously loved their work, like work it undoubtedly got tedious at times and they - like anyone else trying to earn a living to pay the bills - needed that occasional time-off. They were fortunate that the whole 1897 storyline became so complex that they were all able to do it.
Gerard
