Happy Cheap Insufferable Pig Day, everyone!

G. (who will quietly celebrate, alone, his very own festival of Jeb's Delicious Secret Personal Naga Day)

Although today is *officially* Cheap Insufferable Pig (in Lusciously Tight Trousers) Day, after viewing the day's slideshow I also feel moved to declare it "We Love Julia... let us count the ways" day!

We were graced with a truly wonderful snapshot of Julia and Barnabas together that beautifully expresses their relationship with one another (from today's 1969 episode) *and* an almost as fabulous portrait of Julia and Quentin from the Leviathan period!

Definitely a red-letter day for Julia-shippers!

cheers, G.

Folks, I just have to share that that image (see title and today's slide show) is just PERFECT for my day, my week, my month and my lifetime.

kiss kiss,

G.

I was completely puzzled by today's appearance of the floating jar of mayo (at first I thought it might be a jar of "Fluff") here on the boards, until I viewed the daily slide show and realized that today is the anniversary of Mrs Johnson's epic roast beef sandwich encounter in the Collinsport Inn.

"Is the mayonnaise FRESH?  I ALWAYS make my own!"

Perhaps tomorrow we'll have the dime with which Mrs J tipped Maggie Evans after her meal.  "There's ten cents for your trouble, my dear.  You've been very kind.  Now don't spend it all in one place!"  KLS is priceless in that scene--and Clarice deserved an Emmy!

G.

Just a line to report how impressed I was by Alec Newman's performance as Barnabas in the WB "Dark Shadows 2004" pilot.  While I found the 40 minute episode to be very much a mixed bag, Newman was startlingly good as our favorite vampire.  His courtly manners, quietly seething sensuality and aloof, subtly dangerous body language were right on target.  I could imagine tuning in just to watch Newman unfold the character over the weeks.

Matt Czuchny (I hope I have his name right) also showed promise in the role of Willie, although the character's actions were left seeming barely coherent because of the insane amount of story they covered in the one episode.  I wonder whether one reason for nixing the series was that it was obvious they would have had to reshoot (or perhaps re-edit with new footage) some of this--for one thing, the scene where Vicki arrives at Collinwood was directed in this bizarre manner, as if it were an episode of the Gilmore Girls?

I don't feel up to writing a full review at the moment, but overall I'd describe it as having occasional good moments mixed up with a LOT that seemed jerky, out of left field, or WAY over the top.  Vicki's nightmare on the train and every scene involving Roger and David being two examples.  Blair Brown was good in her breakfast scene with Vicki.  The actress who played Vicki did not work AT ALL for me in the role, although she was perfectly competent--just a case of not the right casting as far as I was concerned.  I saw Dan Curtis' interview on one of the discs where he described seeing so many young actresses for Vicki and the day Alexandra walked in to read and the moment he saw her, he knew she was the one.  I don't think they cast that rigorously for such an important role on the WB pilot and they really needed to do that.

For the Julia fans, I thought Kelly Hu's appearances were too brief to really say anything about.  Again, she seemed competent, but there just wasn't enough there to get a handle on how she would have played the character.

The Mario Bava/Dario Argento color stuff seemed more distracting to me than anything else. Dark Shadows should not have the aesthetic of a splatter movie. Also, the grainy screening disc seemed a poor vehicle for the aesthetic vision the director was seeking to foster.

As for the episode ending, it was laughably over the top, but seemed pretty much par for the course for a WB series.  I'm presuming it would have turned out to be another of Vicki's nightmares.

More later, possibly--I don't know that I have anything more to say on this subject.  Oh, somebody asked about the Old House sets--I thought it was far too grand for a mid 18th century New England manor house--they made it look more like Versailles.  Even rich people did not live on that scale in colonial America.  Just my two drachmae.

G.

(For those who don't get the reference, the title of this topic is inspired by an old Saturday Night Live skit, "Coffee Talk," featuring Michael Myers as talk maven Linda Richman "filling in for my dear friend Paul Baldwin, who is STILL in Boca Raton with shpilkis in his genechtigezoink."  In this skit, Linda and two of her dear friends, played by Madonna and Rosanne Barr, were discussing "Barbra Joan Streisand" and the movie "Prince of Tides," which they kept saying was "like BUTTAH."  Madonna said "It's better than HEROIN, not that I would ever know what heroin is like!")

In honor of the imminent publication of "Grayson Hall: a Hard Act to Follow," by R. J. Jamison, the new full-length biography of our very own Dr. Julia Hoffman, I am starting this thread to discuss favorite scenes by the Divine One on our show.  Her own favorite role on the series was that of Magda--after 1969 she mentioned in several magazine interviews that Magda was "still alive" and hinted that she would enjoy playing her again.  One of my favorite Magda moments was featured in the board slide show a couple of days ago:  [spoiler]after Sandor's death, Magda tells Barnabas to bite her, so she can know what Sandor went through during his last months of life.  Even better, perhaps, is the scene where Magda takes an axe (at the end of this show) and chops the Hand of Count Petofi in two--I just love the look on her face in this scene![/spoiler]

This highlights how so many of Grayson's great moments on the show were entirely (or almost entirely) non-verbal.  I loved the scene (used by Claude North in one of his videos available on You Tube) where Julia comes to the Old House in the 1967 storyline and [spoiler]informs Barnabas that she's wiped Maggie's memory through hypnosis--and Barnabas is now going to have accept that Dr. Hoffman is in charge.  While she makes this statement, she lights her cigarette off of one of Barn's cherished candelabras, inserts it into a long holder, and casually blows smoke around the room, while he glares at her in outrageous.  It's a FABULOUS moment.[/spoiler]

I do think that in some ways, Grayson's finest acting was as Hoffman, the housekeeper in Parallel Time 1970.  You get to see her toning things way down and working with a degree of restraint not seen in her other work on DS.  I love how subtly she intimidates and condescends to Maggie in the initial days of the storyline.  One of my favorite moments is when she is talking about Quentin and says (clearly thinking of his sexual relationship with late wife Angelique, whom Hoffman idolized) "He had EVERYTHING."  The way she says the line makes it clear, with devastating finality, that in Hoffman's eyes, Quentin deserved NONE of what he had.  And then there's the great moment when Hoffman comes into the drawing room and [spoiler]sees Alexis for the first time, believing her to be Angelique back from the dead.  Her reaction is beautifully played and very realistic.[/spoiler]

I encourage other fans to share their favorite Grayson moments in this thread.

Can't wait to see the new book!  Big congratulations to RJ!

Best, G. 

Fans,

Last night I took a look at the old MPI tape 53 (which includes episodes from the 1968 storyline which have featured in recent montages on this site).  I remembered some good scenes between Grayson and Clarice as Julia tries to keep Mrs J from telling David the Dream.  I have to say I was REALLY impressed by how excellent Clarice was in these scenes.  I thought she underplayed superbly (for the most part--you could tell there were moments when Lela or Kaplan were pushing her to rev things up for "that DS effect") and she really made me believe in the terror of the Dream--not something I found very plausible by and large.  Her delivery of a line that ran something like: "What is it about that dream that makes us become other than who we are?" had a tragic beauty (that actually was way out of character for Mrs J, but it was a superb moment nevertheless).

Over the years, I've come to cherish Grayson's scenes with Clarice.  One of the old fan newsletters mentions that at one time, Clarice was the "honorary President" of Grayson's fan club, so the two ladies were obviously fond of one another.

Best, G.

Many thanks to MB for today's montage!  The shot of Julia and Cassandra *fiercely* rules, both in the stunning outfits those two glamourpusses are wearing, and how savagely Julia is working that one glove.  Truly swoonworthy!  I love Julia's choice of scarf, and how glamorously she's wearing it.

AND we get the infamous "When will the madness STOP!?" closeup of Julia on the phone.  And we know what comes next; Barnabas yelling through the door "Remember somebody!" followed by Dr Lang muttering "Dave Woodard!"  Too rich.

Dark Shadows '68... ALL Glamour, ALL the time!  Leaves "Project Runway" in the dust, IMNSHO!

G.