I guess, Gothic, that writers will take liberties in correcting perceived errors in the original "bibles."  It would make sense that Barnabas would be rather "scruffy" after being chained in a coffin for 200 years devoid of blood to keep him "young" rather than continuing to "age" while still alive.  To me, the '04 version made the most sense when Willie and his girlfriend opened Barnabas' grave and found an emaciated, mummified-like "corpse."  As more blood is consumed, the aging process ceases and reverses.  Stoker referred to that in Dracula, where the count first appeared as a grey-haired old man because the blood he consumed in Transylvania was "old."  When he relocated to England where the blood was "younger" his aging reversed and his hair returned to its pre-geriatric state without the benefit of Clairol.

Gerard

Barnabas and Dr. Hoffman enter and seeing that Vicki seems disoriented, suggest she go for a drive with them in Dr. Hoffman's very expensive silver Rolls Royce.

Dr. Julia Hoffman had a silver Rolls Royce?  Now we know why health care is so expensive.

Gerard

I wonder if the series would've done better if it was a re-imagining of King's novella (not a remake of the cinematic version) wherein the characters from the original work are tapped in the supermarket and, after a few decide to flee, end up in a motel on their way to Hartford, CT (from which they received a broadcast as in the novella and the initial ending of the film) and pressed on.  It could've been a whole different and better creature than Spike made with its convoluted plots about date-rape and cross-gendered teens dealing with parents.  None of the characters (only one transitioned from the novella and she was quickly offed) were sympathetic.  Not one.  When someone got dispatched, there were only cheers of gratitude. 

Sometimes it's just best to portray the characters as King has done in his works.  In the various versions of Carrie, she's portrayed as a thin, fairly attractive girl.  The first two were classic; the third with Chloe Moretz was a dud.  However, in the novel she is a rather pudgy teen with clumps of acne (her nickname among the bullies was "puddin'").  Her mother was a fat woman with long gray hair tied in a bun and rimless glasses pressed into her pudgy face.  King drew Carrie from a composite of two girls he remembered from high school.  We all had a girl like that when we were in high school.  Ours was a poor, tormented creature, totally friendless, taunted with the nicknames "spider" and "eagle-claw."  She lived in the shadows, trying to hide as she walked the corridors between classes.  We all had them; we can relate and identify; that's what makes King's characters work - we know them.  Spacek, Bettis and Moretz were just too "pretty" even when they were "uglied" up.  But they, despite dramatic expertise, could not portray the "Carries" we had in our schools.  Our Carrie was humiliated at her high school graduation.  Having no friends, she had no social skills or understanding of fashion.  Our graduation was formal:  evening gowns and tuxedos.  She came in a pink dress (like the one in Carrie) that was too short to hide the white sweat socks and yellow shoes she wore.  When her name was called for her diploma, scores hooted and howled and "spider!" and "eagle-claw!" reverberated.  She moved as quickly as she could, walking with her arms swinging, her head downcast, her shoulders shrugged as someone yelled:  "She looks like a monkey!"  All that was missing was the bucket of blood.  We all saw it in high school; cinematic versions should stick with what it was like.  That's what draws our sympathy.

Gerard

I would've been willing to see where this awful adaptation went, if it could've saved itself in a second season.  But it blew it.  Not enough people watched for good reason.

Gerard

I'm picturing a scene from Night of the Living Dead, where some guy is cowering in his house, a DS image on his computer, and JP and his army of lawyers, in suits and brandishing briefcases, are pounding on the boarded up doors and windows, moaning:  "Sue...sue...SUE!!!

Gerard

Even when I saw the movie in the theater as a kid, I wondered about that, too.  At the most, only a few days passed when a scene occurred in the Old House and it was all spit and polish, ready for a photo-shoot for Better Homes and Gardens.  And then when Stokes arrives, it's nothing but dead foliage, broken furniture, dust and cobwebs.  Maybe Willie ran out of Windex.

Gerard

All:  "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.  Mr. Sandman, sing me a dream!  Make him the cutest that I'v ever seen!..."

Gerard

"Vampirology" is fluid.  In Dracula, the Count could not enter a home unless invited.  Nor could he even cross over the threshold of his own domains - he would have to leave by crawling out a window and scamper down the walls like a spider.  Of course, Bram Stoker broke these rules throughout his novel.  In 'Salem's Lot, the vampires could not enter a home without being invited.  Of course, Stephen King broke this role a few times. 

In other vampire works, whether written or filmed, the rules of invitation were completely ignored.  It all depends upon the intent of the creators.  In the Hammer films, Christopher Lee could use his supernatural strength to break through any door or window to feast on whatever nubile pretty thing was beyond.  In The Last Man on Earth, the best cinematic adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, the vampires (created by a virus) were individually weak, and sometimes mob weak, unable to break through a locked or barricaded door or window.

Gerard