I did decide to order it. A lot of people here must have ordered it after seeing this thread, because the status changed from "In Stock" to "Only 17 copies left" to "fulfilment by ... [an outside company]" in a matter of a couple of days last week. I received my copy in the mail yesterday. The sticker on it says "new," so hopefully that's the case. Haven't opened the packaging yet. I remember the Bi-Centennial and what an important time that was. It seemed that the country came together in a spiritied way ... everyone watched the "Bicentennial Minute," at least for the first few months they were broadcast.

A film I have wanted to see for years which has never been released on VHS or DVD airs tonight for the first time on TCM. From the 1930s with Leslie Howard. The theme is time travel, and I recall that Gothick once mentioned this film as a possible inspiration for DS's 1795 storyline. I read the play which was somewhat reminiscent with a man in search of his ancestors. The play was inspired by an unfinished novel by Henry James, who was inspired in turn (I think) by H.G. Wells. Unfortunately, I'm still at work and with too much going on at the moment probably won't see much of it myself.

I am curious about this but don't know when I'd have time to watch it, so don't know whether to purchase or not ... was the series done on video or film? I notice that amazon has now raised the price.

I found my receipt in the envelope, luckily.

Sorry to hear that Gothick and many others won't be able to attend. I've only been able to attend three previous festivals since 2001, so I understand the disappointment. Although I wish there would be more merchandise at the festival, I'm really looking forward to simply being able to have some relaxing walks on the grounds of Lyndhurst and Washington Irving's home.

I know I got a confirmation of payment in the mail some time back - I'll have to look for the envelope when I get home tonight ... I don't recall there being a ticket for the dinner in the envelope.

That is really funny ... I think of Bert Convey as someone who was a guest on the Love Boat ... I don't know how the character of Barnabas was originally envisioned (and there's been a lot of disagreement about who "created" the character). But Jonathan Frid brought a melancholy to the role, a sense of tragedy, created an antihero, and came through with a powerful, Shakespearean delivery ... hard to imagine anyone else doing anything quite like it.

I've attended three festivals, and Mr. Frid was only at the last of the three. It never occurred to me that people wouldn't want to go to a festival because Mr. Frid wouldn't be there - and he has been as close to my favorite cast member as I could ever choose as a favorite.

That's amazing, midnite! I had been thinking about posting something a couple of weeks ago about '60s nostalgia and "Mad Men" after Newsweek did a cover story on just that topic. Even the ads in the magazine were done to resemble advertising from that era. At the same time, I had come across an article online about a history grad student who had analyzed the use of language on "Mad Men" and found that there is a lot of terminology being used on the show that was not used in the '60s and '70s. Apparently the writers are too young to realize that.

I've always thought that there was a high level of language on DS, that the writers were very literate.

Anyway, it's fun to learn that "Mad Men" may be making a "DS" connection - even if they're only alluding to it through the title an episode.

I haven't actually seen much of the show.