How long did it take you to get all of that info written out and HTMLedized and stuffs?? jooc    

Too long -- LOL.  Glad you like it, though

Another DS connection [sorta] is that Roy Thinnes (1991 Roger) had a prominent guestspot in one of the season finales a few years ago.

OMG -- I'd completely forgetten about the Moon Poppy [tm], another plant which someone tried to eat... [seeing a trend]

Yes, the Moon Poppy was a classic -- a silk and plastic legend in its own lifetime

The only one I can think of is where Jeff asks Stokes to help with get back to 1795...  Stokes holds a ceremony which... erm... involves Jeff eating leaves.

No, I didn't quite get it, either

Very cute -- have you thought about making an actual version of the game, maybe adapting an existing Monopoly board?

Re: The novices thing...

Bear in mind that "Dark Shadows", especially in the early days, was an underfunded soap from a producer with no track record, on a network firmly entrenched in third place...  For those reasons, it was rarely able to offer much reward for an actor, either financially or career-wise.  For this reason, the majority of the young cast were relatively inexperienced, simply because those with proven track records were usually getting better offers and salaries elsewhere.  

Kudos to those involved, however, for assembling a cast of the quality they acheived under those circumstances, because it was frequently far better than they really could have expected.  

Fore example, it's common knowledge that Grayson Hall did the show initially because she had bills to pay and a family to support, and if we're being honest, looking over her resume prior to the show, the work was beneath her to a certain degree.  However, for the experienced performers in the cast, there was the enticement of the wide range of character roles the series offered, and I guess that's what ultimately attracted so many talented individuals to the show's ranks.

Anything in that supernaturally hideous shade of lime green -- the one that apparently exists in a special spectrum only found in "Dark Shadows" episodes

There's no real middle ground with "Dark Shadows" -- people either seem to love it or hate it.

And I suppose that's not entirely surprising.  On a technical and stylistic level, it really represents an era of television that just doesn't exist any more.  Viewers today watching the show are continually asked to overlook the shortcomings of a frantic, underfunded production, something they otherwise simply don't experience.

"Dark Shadows" is a curate's egg throughout -- if you're willing to take the leap and enjoy it at face value without cynicism, it's amongst some of the most rewarding television you're ever likely to encounter.