oh..

and i guess having 'vampires' mentioned in the pilot bugs because the proper sense of mystery and suspense is not being established.i prefer a slower buildup.it's too quick.

having people 'on' to the main mystery twenty minutes into series is hasty storytelling to me.but that's just my opinion.

i wasn't planning on doing the watching project II but since i have the dvds i figured why not.

i have to get a few glaring incongruities out of the way first.the show is set in maine but was obviously filmed in the blazing california sun.the "town" of collinsport is soundstage.it looks too glossy.even with all the dry ice it fails to communicate the proper sense of gothic menace.

the fashions are quite dated.vicki's traveling costume.she's wearing a suit with large shoulder pads.i forgot young women still dressed like that then.when she tops this with a similarly padded coat the effect is a rather "stacked" shoulder.carolyn wears miniskirts and black leather biker jackets.this is meant to convey that she is a "rebel" of some sort.elizabeth gets lots of wide-pleat trousers topped with matching caftan-y things.very bea arthur circa "golden girls"of around this same time.

what was socially acceptable behavior has changed somewhat.roger(portrayed here as a total douche)tells a drinking and obviously drunk willie(portrayed here as a slob and a moron)to go pick vicki up at the blue whale putting not just his life but her's in jeopardy.no one there does anything to stop this either.strange putting a girl in the car with a dangerously drunk idiot but whatever.we also learn around this scene that sam evans is committing tax fraud(aided by daphne)but whatever.business intrigue is not going to be part of the recipe.

vicki can handle willie and also the as yet inexplicably psychopathic david.this is meant to convey that she has "spunk".that she grew up in an orphanage is unmentioned in this episode but she was apparently hired by a lawer.no mystery there.david's "pranks" such as hiding in a closet and shouting "boo" and hiding a spider in his desk are pretty routine and not really that scary.the young actor will grow up to be a real hottie(see "mysterious skin").

i didn't think barnabas was that hot when i first watched this but he does have a certain appeal.

strange that they're already mentioning vampires in the pilot.takes alot of the suspence and mystery out of the proceedings when people are already in on it.

o.k. if perfunctory introductions to most characters with enough hints dropped to imply numerous subplots in the future.

i'm sort of with lydia.this wouldn't normally be my type of show.i'm not into vampire stuff in general.but i'll go with the flow in this.

needless to say this episode was a bitter pill for me to swallow.

when i first got into the series i was unpleasantly surprised at the fervor with which some fans disliked vicki("simpering idiot" was a phrase i often encountered)but for me she was the heart of the show.

after this episode i either liked or disliked casually the rest of the program's run but i never loved it in quite the same way as i did during the moody,melancholy reign of (alexandra moltke's)victoria winters.

i always think this is one of those funny "chicken or egg" situations.

but josette collins(or at least her ghost)was a firmly established character long before anyone had ever heard of barnabas collins.

what's ironic too is that considering how acrimonious their relationship became in 1795 that josette actually helped vicki out of several scrapes and even saved her life once or twice.she sort of looked out for her.

perhaps she was posthumously trying to correct the wrongs vicki had been done in the past.

had the series lasted into 1971 and beyond i wonder if they would have recast david or if perhaps the character had played itself out?

throughout 1970 they really struggled to keep the pubescent david a "child" with a nanny and a playroom and a dollhouse.

with kathryn leigh scott gone there would not have been that "gothic governess" angle any more either.i doubt they would have replaced that role.

at any rate at some point they would have had to address the fact that david was a teenager,not a child,and write for the character as such.perhaps they would have pulled that classic soap opera move of having him go "away to school" and then having the character return with a much older actor in the role.that opens up the storyline possibilities with the character a young adult.

kids i remember being born on the "young and the restless" are now older than i am.

the scenes with maggie and nicholas were uncomfortable to watch.zero chemistry and contrived to boot.

it would have been much more compelling storytelling,and more in keeping with continuity and character development,to have maggie turn to willie during this crisis with joe.that i could buy.this was not only yucky but totally out of left field.

i'll also throw this out there...

why is it vicki who always gets to be "clueless" and "dumb"?in watching 1968 i'm amazed at what poor judgement both carolyn and maggie use throughout the storyline.carolyn sheltering adam,a dangerous potential killer,and then maggie falling for nick's dubious charms.both amazingly "clueless" behavior.

vicki,while her storyline with jeff might not have been the best,at least keeps her nose clean throughout this period.she keeps a pretty level head.more so than her best friends.

much about 1968 annoys me but tonight i watched an episode that left me somewhat physically repulsed.

it's towards the end of the joe/maggie/vampirelique storyline.maggie and joe share a nicely played,if sad,scene at the blue when in enters the supposedly "suave" nicholas blair and procedes to smooth talk the vulnerable,clearly upset girl with a round of black russians and the usual blah,blah offers of "friendship" that the d.s. ingenues frequently receive from older "gentlemen" callers blah,blah...

later however he goes in for the kill,tells maggie he's falling in love with her,and plants a long,fat,wet kiss on her...the sight of this creep kissing a girl we all know and love totally disgusted me.

the whole nicholas/maggie plot rings as totally false for me.i don't but it for one minute.it seems in a way to have been written just to give kls something to do.and i don't believe for one minute mags would fall for this louse!

none the less that's who they were hired to play.

joel and company were not cast as villians.they were hired to play the "nice guys" in this tale.

they knew that going in.