I did see some articles, one in particular, that blasted and laughed at the "fact" that The Lone Ranger was another JD "flop."  The author did, indeed, reference DS, stating that it only made $80 million dollars in total (a blatant lie, of course).  Of course, I didn't save any link to the article.

Gerard

Lang:  "Quit your moral kvetching, Julia!  You're a doctor like me!  Now see if Blue Cross covers this!"

Gerard

Sci-Fi (now "SyFy" was such a different and better world back in the '90's and into the early 2000's.  DS was its crowning glory.  The network aired other fantastic classics, from Irwin Allen productions like Lost In Space to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Time Tunnel.  Don't forget The Twilight Zone (which, fortunately, still airs on occasion).  And what about Boris Karloff's Thriller?  Plenty of classic movies, especially the Edgar Allen Poe/Vincent Price ones, aired.  There were those short vinettes that were creeply fantastic.  Anyone remember one of its first special-produced shows called Trailer Park?  I think that's what it was called.  It showed classic horror/sci-fi movie trailers.  What a wonderful, fun and nostalgic program.  And then there were documentaries, including the one about DS on its 25th anniversary.  Sci-Fi was so proud of DS back then.  It also aired, several times, the '91 remake.  And didn't it pick up Mystery Science Theater 3000 after Comedy Central dumped it? 

"SyFy" is such a pale version of what it once was.  Don't get me wrong - it has produced some incredible and fine programming including the remake of Battlestar Gallactica of the highest, award-winning quality.  But it's not the same.  Today, it's all about "professional" wrestling (that's sci-fi? - I guess it is) and the typical, cheesey Saturday night movies about 20-something hunks and hunkettes in stained muscle T-shirts and dirty faces fighting a computerized monster that looks like a CGI cut-out until they blow it up in either a shack or a mine.  Same old drivel over and over again.  And all those "game shows."  When Sci-Fi first started airing, with all those classics and well-made documentaries, I watched it 24/7.  Now I turn it on maybe a couple hours a week.  I do watch Paranormal Witness and occasionally Ghost Hunters (they're both on SyFy, aren't they?).  But that's about it.  I miss the old days, especially with DS. 

Gerard

You are correct, Patti. 

I was not enamored with the '91 prime-time remake when it aired.  I thought it lacked the subtlety of the original, how it was basically a rehash of HoDS, and I didn't like what was done to some of the characters.  Later, it grew on me more.

Gerard

Considering that Barnabas was not only in his golden years, but in his platinum ones, a reverse mortgage on the Old House would've been absolutely economically advisable.

In a DS novel I wrote (hoping to submit it to the failed HarperCollins series of the late 90's), set in the year 2000, Barnabas (who had been human since 1971) and Willie lived in happy retirement in the Old House.  Of course, by that time, it had electricity, central heating and air, full plumbing and a satellite dish on the roof.  Barnabas was very apt at using the internet as well as his cellphone.  The times did change.

Gerard

Fantastic recall, Patti!  It was all a decade ago (or thereabouts) and much of memory is foggy, although I did enjoy posting on the DS board there (I think there might've even been two but maybe I'm wrong because of that gull-darn fog).  I'm now remembering, but vaguely, of a sudden increase in trolls and a whole lotta spam.  But, when things ran smoothly, it was a great deal of fun.

Gerard

DS Usenet Newsgroup

mentioning the old Usenet Newsgroups makes me wax nostalgic.  I belonged to several back then, including the DS one (and there are cousins here who also did).  It was once a great forum, especially for those of us who use to belong to AOL.  It's a shame that they were all disolved; lots of good discussions went on.  And there was the occasional "fun" character.  Anyone remember that guy who use to spam virtually any and every Usenet Newsgroups, a real macadamian who believed that the model Heidi Klum was a goddess?  He called her "Our Lady" and he was the head of her new religion, being psychically connected to her, spreading the good news that she was preparing to take over the world and turn it into a utopia.  Oh, those were the fun days of Usenet. 

Gerard

(small bit of editing by admin.)