Maggie:  "I don't know!  One minute I'm me, and the next minute I'm Harriet Oleson!"

Gerard

Maggie:  "'To be, or not to be, that is the...'  Jeez, no wonder David hated learning this junk."

Gerard

Of course, it appears that The Lottery, an apocalyptic drama, airs at the same time as Falling Skies and The Strain.  Why not just put them all up the most successful cable apocalypse show, The Walking Dead (throw in Revolution, Defiance and Domination , The Last Ship all at the same time)?  Heck, why not throw in some new series about meteors crashing into Earth or mutated ants-elephants wiping out the human race, all airing at the same time?  Not everyone has that Tim Tebow or whatever it's called. to record them all and then spend a week trying to watch them.

Gerard

It appears there's a "cross-over," if you will, between DS '04 and '12.  Both Barnabas' were questioned (in '04 by Roger and in '12 by Elizabeth) about their "cousin" showing up to try and get some moola.  Interestingly, the '04 Collins family was still loaded while the '12 family was struggling.

Gerard

Wouldn't that be great CastleBee?  Several years ago, Cunard offered, on the luxurious Queen Mary 2 (a ship I spent a month on, for free!), a pre-Labor Day Saturday-to-Saturday cruise round-trip from NY, visiting places like Newport (where you can see "Collinwood" and other exterior-shot places), Boston, Bar Harbor among other ports (including in Canada).  It decided to sell it at incredibly low prices, starting at - are you ready for this? - $400.  Not $4,000 (unless, of course, you wanted to book one of the double-floored penthouses with your own butler, maid and grand piano in the drawing room); $400.  A couple of us debated doing it but we took too long - by the time we decided to do it, every single bed was sold.  Imagine if that happens again this year!

Gerard

How about a combination of the two?  That would be a real blow-out for the 50th anniversary.  It could start with a NYC-port based cruise starting on a Saturday (most do).  DS performers and personnel who can make the cruise, along with fans able to do the same, depart for a week of warm tropical seas, big drinks with plastic flowers in them, and sorted DS-related on-board activities.  Meanwhile, back in NY, the following Friday the big hotel-based blow-out weekend begins.  DS fans/cast/crew unable or not wanting to do the cruise portion begin the festivities.  Saturday morning, the cruise ship docks (they always dock early; it's not uncommon for many passengers to still be sleeping) and by no later than nine or ten a.m., all have disembarked and for those fans/cast/crew who will be joining the hotel festival, there can even be buses ready and waiting (it can be sold in one of three ways:  cruise/hotel combined; cruise alone; hotel alone).  Everyone gets together, maybe even having a massive buffet luncheon as both combine, catching each other up on what's happened whether on sea or land, along with pics, "selfies" and videos.  Oh, and yes, see if Alexandra Moltke and David Henessy can and will come.  Since it is the 50th, invite everyone from '66, '91, '04 and '12.  For the mid-centennial, if you're gonna go for it, go first class all the way.  Make it four days - have it over the Labor Day weekend with the cruise the week before.  Maybe they can see if there's a New-England-in-early-fall cruise (they already did Bermuda).

Gerard

I'm finding this re-boot pilot fascinating.  It appears so well written with a great cast.  It's a shame it was rejected.  It's also extraordinary that with everything we've seen so far (not counting un-shot or cut scenes) has elapsed in only about 20 minutes.  My one criticism, regarding the storyline, is having Barnabas show up at Collinwood in just a few hours after his release with full knowledge of everything going on, including, apparently, much of 21st century goings-on.  I always counted the rather rapid appearance of Barnabas introducing himself to the family one of the major illogical things about DS, in whatever version.  The '12 version handled it the best.  The '66 and '91 versions did wait for a couple days or so (still not enough time for our favorite past-dweller to make himself inconspicuous), but - if my timing is right - having him show up in a few hours.  Maybe I'm wrong about that timing.  It does become confusing trying to understand its passage when dealing with what was in the script but re-written; what was in the script and not shot; what was in the script and shot but cut; what was not in the script but shot.  Maybe a day or more has passed.

Kinda along that line, I think it would've been interesting if the powers-that-be saw the completed pilot (meaning really completed) and liked it enough to run with it, had said "it's good, but it needs more fleshing out - put the cut/never-shot scenes back and add a few more and expand it over several episodes."  That was done with Lost In Space back in '65.  The original pilot, an hour long, was packed with lots of adventure that spanned years in the passage of time (much of it taken up by the Gemini XIII [later Jupiter 2] space ship drifting through space until it crash-landed on a hostile planet).  There was no Dr. Smith or the robot.  The suits at CBS wanted it "fleshed out" to promote character development, so new scenes were shot, Dr. Smith (who was originally a totally evil character that was suppose to be offed after no more than six episodes) and the robot added, and the one-hour original pilot was expanded into four episodes.  The series became a cult-classic and a part of television Americana.  Of course, TV suits don't do that anymore.  They don't want to invest in working and developing a series.  They want it all now, and if it doesn't work right now, it's history.  There's no opportunity to work out the kinks, allow for development and find the audience.  Many classic TV shows from the past wouldn't be around if broadcasters "back then" followed today's make-it-rich-quick mentality today.  If that had happened, we wouldn't have such critical/viewer smashes like The Dick Van Dyke Show, All In the Family and Cheers.  All debuted to extremely low ratings which today would've had them trashed after a few episodes.  But the networks held out, found ways of making them work and without these classic series, we'd have no TVLand today.

Gerard

I'd love to watch it (because I loved the novel), but it appears that it airs at the same time as Falling Skies.  I'm now a Falling Skies junkie, so I had to make a choice.  I'm poor, so I don't have that cable/satellite recording thingamajig, and my VCR can no longer record.  Maybe it'll be re-broadcast at another time or can be found on-line.

Gerard