Well, if we can believe Sam Hall's take on the last year of DS (and I see no reason not to), the push to cram more and more into each episode can be directly traced back to DC's supposed short attention span, which DC believed the DS audience shared. He feared that if the show employed anything approaching the slower pacing of the first years of the show (to great effect, I agree, Stuart), the audience would quickly lose interest and tune out. Talk about being completely out of touch with most of your audience.

Not to be the devil's advocate  , but isn't that exactly what was (perceived to be) "wrong" with the first year of the show -- remember, DS was nearing cancellation with its first year of slow-moving drama.

But interestingly, DC's attitude would seem to have been a precursor of something that would soon become all too commonplace in the entertainment industry. Just look at how many primetime dramas/theatrical movies have shared that same notion that their audience needs to be grabbed by the throat and dazzled by dizzying pacing (and often times stunts and effects) to stay tuned in/pay to see it rather than by thoughtful storytelling...

Very true, and not only of cinema but this is very true, too, in literature.  For example, much "young adult" (juvenile) literature today must instantly grab the young reader with shocking "action" and strong visual imagery.  I've done some reading on this topic for a class I took, and many children's authors today consciously use a style that attempts to mimic the quick cuts and jarring movement of MTV and music videos.

As an aside, I think it's interesting that when Stephen Spielberg was trying to land the "Harry Potter" directing job, J. K. Rowling rejected his view that the opening scene should be the murder of Harry's parents by Voldemort rather than the quietly unfolding events on Privet Drive that Rowling described.

I have no idea where on dsboards I am right now, but somehow I found where this part of the thread had gone too ...  ... I'm glad I did since I was feeling guilty about leading people astray off-topic ... 

I loved "The Wyvern Mysteries" and mangaged to tape it the third time it aired a couple of years ago -- after the second airing was pre-empted both nights by local politics on my PBS station ...

I think I started the book afterwards to make some comparisons and believe there were significant differences from the book, though I don't remember what they were.

Thought the production was great fun, though!

Hmmm, I wonder if J.K. Rowling makes use of the wyvern anywhere in the HP books ... I still have three to go to find out.   

I wonder if it was thought that the merriment and gaeity of the holidays would detract from the somber, Gothic goings-ons ... or interject an unwanted shot of reality into the supernatural world DS created.

But I wish they had had Christmas, at least ... 

Very glad to see the return of John Karlen. He has been missed.

I forgot he turned up in this storyline!  Another plus just when I keep expecting things to go steadily downhill ... (although Willie is probably my least favorite of his DS characters).

And Marie Wallace is just starting her third character transformation, showing her versatility within one storyline.

I think what really irked me about Carolyn was how she remained in ignorant bliss about Jeb through the end of the series. That really caused me to lose sympathy for her character.  I mean, I just couldn't like a character who was that dense.

(I have a tough time believing Geoffrey Scott was offered another job elsewhere, but I guess anything is possible.)

He actually did fine in his first scene in Tuesday's first episode, when he was talking on the phone before Angelique came in.  I mean, that isn't much, but it does show potential. 

How sad that another classic is being desecrated by Hollywood.  I shudder to think what the movie moguls will do to "I Capture the Castle

OT - Things may be somewhat more hopeful than you fear, Gothick.  I did some checking just now, and it is a BBC picture -- not Hollywood.     An advance review I found said it's lovely to look at and nicely done, though a little too sweet.  But a wonderful cast including some of my Masterpiece Theatre favorites:  Sinead Cusack, Tara Fitzgerald, and Romola Garai, who made a luminous debut in the recent "Daniel Deronda."
 

I always come back to my lasting suspicion that there was very little respect for the audience involved here, and "good enough" was the prevailing standard.

Gosh, this is almost a direct quote (quite coincidental, I'm sure ) from a rather infamous post I made last year, although that was still a little further down the road in Leviathan ... but if you are getting that impression already, well, let's just say you'll have even more reason to in the near future ...

I'm pretty much fast-forwarding through things at this point, especially with Friday's really bad episodes (including the unexpected triage of my three "favorite" DS actors  ) ... the only high point I remember from this point on in the storyline is Angelique (though possibly I'm forgetting some good things since I don't really remember how much longer Leviathan goes on). ... I remember I was still defending Leviathan for the most part until much closer to the end -- even the unexpected news about Victoria Winters that's coming up (which seemed to get most people in a dither).

The good news about Pennock is that he is quite a bit more tolerable as Gabriel in the 1840 storyline, though he still enjoyed mugging the camera.

I remember expressing a similar opinion last time regarding Carolyn's stupidity as MB mentions ... you'd think she would have some sense of listening to her own instincts, especially when re-inforced by some extraordinary dreams, not to mention warnings from others, but ...

On the other hand, I suppose we all have ignored our better instincts and judgment and gut feelings at times, and have been sorry for it afterwards.  I just viewed an extreme case of this in a made-for-TV re-run miniseries on Lifetime, where a woman seemingly assisted in her own (and her two young children's) murder(s) ... withdrawing all her savings to turn over to her "future husband" (yeah, right), rewriting her will to make him her sole beneficiary, taking out a number of staggering life insurance policies on herself, naming said "future husband" sole beneficiary of course. I mean, how dumb can you get? Pretty sad case, though.  The things people do for love ...

BTW, Dodie Smith--have you read I Capture the Castle yet? Great book and they're making it into a movie

I had never heard of "I Capture the Castle" -- unless you mentioned it before, Luciaphil -- until I spotted it on display at my local Border's a couple of weeks ago.  Of course I bought it right away, remembering that Dodie Smith had written one of my favorite childhood books.

Not sure if/when I might actually get around to reading it.  I noticed that it's one of J. K. Rowling's favorites -- I finally got back to Harry P. recently after a two-year detour, and am reading "Chamber of Secrets."  Wonder if there's any way in hell I can get through "Goblet" before "Phoenix" comes out?  Not bloody likely ... 

My copy of "Castle" is the trade ppbk. movie tie-in (usually like to avoid those) ... I thought maybe the movie had come and gone already...

BTW, I'm not sure if we ever clarified this a while back -- Dodie Smith was one of the writers on "The Uninvited" -- though you probably knew that.