I know what DVD collection you are referring to and I have to go back and watch that particular interview because I cannot simply remember what he said about aimless gothic the first year of the series.  It didn't even start off as Gothic initially..at least not from my perspective ..it became more Gothic like with the seaweed guy and all that and then Laura and the burning phoenix etc.  So aimless no.. maybe planned ..what to do to keep the show on the air another 13 weeks kinda mentality?  As far as Joan Bennett, she was such a strong figure in the series [spoiler]up until I felt Rev Trask made potty of her senses.  She came back though and walled him up. She was senseless too with the Leviathans but then again she came back strong as ever.[/spoiler] I do think she did become slightly of a backdrop actress.  Its a shame though.  She was after all Mistress of Collinwood and seemed to me to command a strong sense of respect and acknowledgement.  Her mere presence often kept ol Barn in line too!

I never thought Angelique or Victoria were ever drop dead beauties.  Angelique's mouth always bothered me and Victoria well no. However, Roxanne IMHO was never all that "pretty" either.  Her character was rather daft too.  Not enough backbone.  To her credit she only appeared in about 32 episodes so I guess she needed more time to develop into her own.  But no Roxanne was not pretty as say my girl KLS or even Liz Stoddard.  Now those two....killers!

I saw those episodes a few months back  and I hated every scene with Blair and Maggie in it.  First of all Maggie looked very uncomfortable in his presence.  Secondly, [spoiler]that long smooch they had looked as if two disgusted statues where having to kiss for the sake of kissing.  YUCK! That grossed me out. I also felt sorry for Mags.  Her dad had just died, Joe was in vampire prison with Angelique and here comes this supposedly suave guy and tries to sweep her off her feet.  Mags I don't think ever really fell for it and when she finally did say yes to marrying him, she was drugged into it.[/spoiler]This had to be the pre-ecstasy drugs!!  She should have been calling out to Barn but he was still mooning over Vickie who was mooning over that disgusting Peter Bradford (another loser.)  And somewhere in this storyline Adam is threatening all the time.  So in her lonliness I guess I could se why she needed some friendship. But Blair?? Maggie C'mon girl you could have sought out some normal person..Is that possible in DS???

I loved the Original (as I have nearly completed the entire series from beginning to end with countless reruns of the 1795 storyline since January).  I totally disliked the revival.  Maybe its because I was expecting my first child when it aired and I was still in the " morning sickness mode" at night.  All the fanging and blood was so out of character from the original ( and maybe it had to be that way) that I just couldn't sit there long enough to stay interested.  Now that 17 years have passed, maybe I'll try to give the revival a try but I'm not sure.  I still love watching that Gothic Soap Opera that is over 40 years old.  I love Julia, Barn amd Mags and the revival doesn't hold that mystique for me.

Okay the movie ended.  The ending well.. it was .. it sucked!!  My beautiful boy Jonathan did not speak once!!  I don't even know who the leading part went too.. who was or is that actress?  Oh well at least i got to see JF in something other than DS.   I have already seen Seizure too.  I actually liked that movie better than this one.  Oh and yes Richard Burton was absolutely terrified of Grayson's Ms. Fellowes.  I guess she did not realize she was gay in the movie.  He was gentle in not wanting to let her know he knew.  Ava Gardner's character though was not so sympathetic and let her know how butch she actually was. That sent Ms. Fellowes off the wall. I guess she had not realized it herself.  In any case her Oscar nomination for best supporting actress was well deserved.   Imagine playing a gay woman in the sixties.  Pretty impressive but than Shirley MacLaine had a similar role with Audrey Hepburn in 1961 or '62 in the movie The Children's Hour.  I believe Audrey did this one right after Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Yes.. it taught me that old habits die hard or never die at all.  The same man(Barn of course) I had a crush on when I was 8, 9,10 years of age is the same man I think is still soooo cute at my age of 49.  Is there something wrong with me??  And I also learned to stay away from mausoleums with secret or hidden doors in them. I definitely learned to stay away from chained coffins!!!     

Julia was not a psychotherapist.  I believe when Dr. Woodard introduced her, she was a specialist in blood disorders.  Angelique needed psychotherapy to help her get through her obsessive-compulsive disorders especially in dealing with men she had to have  and women she loathed like Josette, Maggie, Rachel etc...   So I don't think Julia could really help.  Angelique was beyond help.  Poor thing!

The Leviathan storyline started out really fascinating but then went nosediving!!  They ( the writers) never really finished the Maggie/ Barn romance that started and what about the ring he gave her that was supposedly Josette's ring?  That went to no man's land.  I always hated that the didn't finish  that story line. How could they have made it better?  Finish storylines!