I personally blame the writers and directors for a lot of the clumsiness, one-note performances and odd (or, in some cases TOTALLY LACKING) transitions in the 1991 series.  From what I can recall of the circumstances of the time (I was actually living in China when it was being produced and broadcast so this is all very second-hand), I suspect that the real villains were some of the NBC network supremos--"the suits"--who, I seem to have heard, kept interfering and micro-managing.  I know I read somewhere that they were the ones who demanded that during the 1790 story, they keep switching back to show what was going on in 1991.  That leaves even less time to work out an already crowded & compressed storyline for 1790.

Just to cite a specific example--I just re-watched episode 6 and there's a scene at the beginning of the show between Willie and Carolyn that is a re-staging of a scene originally played in the film, house of Dark Shadows.  In the 1991 version, neither actor appears to have been directed, and Barbara Blackburn, who plays Carolyn, doesn't seem to be doing anything at all--literally sleepwalking through the scene.  And not in a way that relates to what is supposed to be happening.

At the end of this episode, I find it clumsy, poorly paced and a complete mood-breaker when Joseph Gordon-Leavitt as David comes into the room and makes his little announcement.  That scene desperately needed a rewrite but, as seems to have often been the case, they probably ran out of time.

I know that the actors cast in the series were an exceptionally talented group.  I have seen Lysette Anthony in other work produced in England and know she has chops.  I really feel sorry for her at the embarrassing antics she had to put on as Angelique--it's really at the level of cheap panto.  But at least, from what I can recall from an interview I saw from her at the time, she had fun doing it.

G.

Yeah, in those first shows, there's kind of a Miss Havishamesque quality to the fact that Liz, who has not left the house in 18 years, is dressed as if to attend Bobby Darin's big concert in the Rainbow Room at Caesar's Palace.

It's too bad we didn't get to see, oh, say, Liz grilling frankfurters at the stove in full tiara 'do, drop earrings, stunning cocktail gown and high heels, glaring with a coldly imperious look in her eyes as she turns the recalcitrant franks.

ROGER:  Liz, why do the hot dogs have to ALWAYS be well done?

LIZ:  Because I CHOOSE to cook them so!

G.

I am revisiting the 1991 series mainly to enjoy Barbara Steele's performance again.  IMNSHO by far the best bits of that show are Steele's scenes with Ben Cross.  Between them they packed *a lot* of subtext into a show that was otherwise poorly scripted and directed.

G.

This is by and large a pointless observation, but I'll make it anyhow.

In the original 1967 storyline, Barnabas' great love for Josette was [spoiler]finally revealed to be a complete will-o-the-wisp.  In a conversation between Julia and Barnabas in an October '67 episode, Julia ALMOST gets Barnabas to admit that Josette never really did return his love.  He certainly gets very annoyed with her "poking and prying."  It's implied that the only love Barnabas really knew as a human was from Sarah.  Remember how, when he was with Miss Winters in the Old House during his initial arrival, he laughs bitterly at the notion of there ever having been any "love" in that house.

All this implies that Barnabas' original story was much more tragic--and emotionally twisted--than the romantic narrative eventually revealed in the 1795 storyline.  Of course, the original story would have been a lot less satisfying, emotionally, for the audience, had they kept to it for Vicki's time travel back to the past.

Montague Summers reports a number of versions of the folk tradition that a suicide may return as a vampire, as a nosferatu, and I wonder whether Art Wallace had intended this as the original backstory to Barnabas' existence as one of the living dead.[/spoiler]

G.

I don't mean at all to rain on the parade, but does anyone know how Mr. Frid feels about this?  I have heard that he is a fairly private person and basically wants to be left alone at this point in his life.

I thought of this because shortly before this topic was posted, I was both amused and said to hear that Ennio Morricone (I think--my short term memory is in tatters these days) is going to receive an honorary Oscar this year, and he is upset about it because he never wanted one in the first place.  (I just checked the IMDB news item on this and it seems that he isn't THAT unhappy about it after all.)

Just thought I'd ask.

G.

MB, darlin', you know I'm LMAO at your list!  You definitely understand the Dark Shadows approach to romantic love.

I'm not really one for anything related to that holiday, but for me the most romantic episode, when it comes to REALNESS, was in the 1995 sequence when

[spoiler]Julia had briefly broken free of Gerard's thrall and told Barnabas to get away from her and return to their own time, leaving her behind.  Barnabas takes her into his arms, holds her tight, and murmurs those stirring words:  "Not without you.  NEVER without you."  For me, THAT is IT when it comes to romance on the show.[/spoiler]

I do agree that the final two episodes supply a more conventional happy ending.  As Miss Brodie said on a memorable occasion, "For those who like that sort of thing, that's the sort of thing that they like."  I do think that Melanie and Kendrick make a truly adorable couple...

Oh, another fabulous moment for MB's list occurred to me:

[spoiler]Quentin goes down to the Netherworld to fetch Amanda Harris, in a storyline inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.  Because she can't keep her paws off him, Amanda gets buried alive under a ton of rubble.  What more festive way to celebrate the Triumph of True Love? *BWAhahahahaha!*[/spoiler]

G.

Thanks for letting us know.

There is an audience tape from one of the Preview nights of Grayson in Happy End (sound only, unfortunately).  It does not seem to have been videotaped officially--the only thing in Billy Rose is a segment (Bilbao song, I think?) that was staged on the Tony Awards that year.

Even more unfortunately, this one tape that has surfaced was recorded when Shirley Knight was still in the role subsequently taken over by Meryl Streep.

G.

I am dying here.  Thanks for the larf, lori!  I needed it!

cheers, G.