BARNABAS: Tell me, Chris, do you always play with yourself like that when you're entertaining guests?!

CHRIS: Actually, Mr. Collins, when Julia gets here, the robe's comin' off!

CHRIS: Can't chat now, Barnabas - I'm off to a Blue Whale-sponsored version of The Dating Game where I'll be Bachelor #1.

My 2nd DARK SHADOWS episode was the one where Joe had gone off his rocker and attempts to kidnap little Amy.... so years later when I first watched the older episodes in syndication, there was Joel Crothers as Joe, seemingly normal and average. I was confused, but curious to see how Joe's mellowness would turn to crazed hysteria as the series progressed (he was perennially in the Collinsport hospital during 1968).  At the same time I was viewing DS reruns, Joel was on THE EDGE OF NIGHT - and while he'd aged well, I was never too crazy about his mustache. As for flubs, Joel was good at avoiding those - I never saw him glancing at the teleprompter, butchering his lines, or phoning in a performance. I think he had one "wardrobe malfunction" in 1795, but he was a consistently solid actor to watch. R.I.P., Joel.

I agree with Stefan's comments - Vicki was definitely the "bridge" that brought the viewer into the show, and once that was accomplished, her character calmly faded into the background while more florid and intense characters moved to center stage.
That said, Alexandra Moltke was a noble and special soap ingenue of her time. Given her competition of the time (nice choices, Fletcher):
Victoria on One Life To Live had a split personality with a penchant for danger.
Tess on Love of Life was impulsive and immature.
Alice on Another World cried at the drop of a coffee cup.
Tara on All My Children... another incessant weeper.
Susan on Days of Our Lives... trigger happy and not playing with a full deck.
Vicki was different than these daytime divas in that the writers (while ultimately short-changing her character's intelligence) tried not to saddle Alexandra with more than she was expected to handle, and she was content not to chew the scenery in frustration. Instead, she sublimely complimented the histrionics of her co-stars by being so natural and real in her reactions, as her character avoided self-absorption with a genuine concern for the welfare of others in her orbit (David, Barnabas, Mrs. Stoddard, Maggie, etc.). An ingenue with no ego - who you want to learn more about, as she doesn't wear it all on her sleeve - is a rare find.

TRASK: People will know I'm missing! What do you plan to tell them?

BARNABAS: I'll say the last time I saw you, you were "hanging around" the Old House, trying to "cement" the relationship.

Mine was the day both Angelique and Barnabas were human (at last)- in 1968 - and Ang, disguised as Cassandra, revealed her true identity (which Barn had suspected all along) as she whipped out a pistol and prepared to shoot Barnabas in the Old House parlor! If I wasn't hooked by then, the next scene took us to Vicki's room, where the portrait of Angelique began to age. Vicki summoned the fabulous Dr. Julia Hoffman (whose striking features immediately haunted me) to surmise the phenomenon. Then the elegant Roger showed up in a smoking jacket. Then a frantic Angelique shows up, pounding on the doors of Collinwood, wanting her portrait back. Then Julia pulled out her stethescope (versus a sedative, for a change). At the age of 6, I thought these were the most tortured, complex but fascinating people I'd ever seen on TV.

MAGGIE: Pssst! Pop, didya hear the one about the horny redheaded female hematologist from Nantucket?!
SAM: Aw, Maggie, those randy limericks Nurse Jackson taught you at Wyndecliff are hardly ladylike!

I always get a chuckle out of the scene (in 1897) where the possessed Charity Trask a/k/a Pansy Faye is shocking her father Gregory Trask with her randy "ta-ra-ra-boom-di-yay" song. At one point, Nancy Barrett playfully bumps her hip against Jerry Lacy, and the expression on his face is hysterical.

Another favorite is a simple scene between Barnabas & Julia in the gazebo, around the time Dr. Lang offers Barnabas a cure for his affliction. Barn says something along the lines of "I could be a free man..." and Julia counters, "..Or a DEAD one!" Both Frid and Grayson are in top form during this exchange, and it showed that the two characters were no longer enemies - but now confidants.