over the years i have tried with limited success to get friends and coworkers into the show.

because the storyline is relatively easy to follow i usually start them with the 1967 episodes(as opposed to something much more convoluted like 1897).even like-minded friends claim to "enjoy" these episodes and certainly get a kick out of the datedness of it but that's generally it.they don't or can't commit to more.

i think the massive volume of episodes and the show's serialized format make it hard to view casually.the episodes don't really stand on their own if you don't understand the context.it has to be followed regularly and watched sequentially for it to make sense.not everyone wants to make that kind of commitment...and i can understand that.there is no other show i would ever want to sit through over 1200 episodes of.just watching it through once took me over five years and there are still episodes i haven't seen.

no offense david...

but considering how most of the weddings/marriages played out on d.s. i would consider it somewhat cursed to get married at a d.s. related event.

i think i read somewhere that dick york,who played the original 'darren' on "bewitched",was ill and for many years lived in poverty even though his series has essentially aired daily somewhere in syndication(not to mention current dvd sales)for the past forty years.

so yeah back in the 1960's most actors probably never thought about adding residual clauses to their contracts.

however the casts of recent shows like "friends" will probably be living high for the rest of their lives.

breathtaking!!!

when can i move in?

yes,

i never understood either how elizabeth went from believing she was naomi collins to fearing being buried alive.both fears are on the same wavelength but i don't believe they ever explained this change.once angelique loses her powers i'm not sure either why this particular curse continues to play out.

i suspect it's just sloppiness on the part of the writers.unfortunately liz was not considered particularly important during this period in 1968(her screentime drastically reduced from 66/67)so rather than write a new storyline for liz they probably thought they could get a bit more mileage out of this for the few episodes a month the character appeared in while adam and company took over.

if i recall liz is restored to her former prominence during the quentin hauntings a few months later.

yes folks it's that time again...

time to wish our show a happy birthday.on a summer afternoon forty two years ago it all began.

i always watch episode one on this day.it gives me something of a spiritual connection to it.

i always find something new...for instance,in an effort to make joan bennett look as regal as humanly possible,she is carrying what appears to be a fan along with that gown and that hairdo and those jewels.REGAL!

but i always feel melancholy when i see vicki and maggie in this episode considering the tragedies they suffer later on.beauty and kindness are not always rewarded.

but i love this episode.

david,

i'd like to see that.despite the loathsomeness that is peter-jeff-ned-whatever even i have to admit that the young roger davis was pretty easy on the eyes.

one thing i love about the show is it's time capsule element.it was very much a product of it's times in terms of it's social mores despite the outrageousness of the plots.

hence we have julia as perpetual collinwood houseguest.even though julia spent most of her time at the old house,often until all hours,she never officially "moved in" because it would not have been "proper" at the time for an unmarried lady to live under the same roof as two men.she might be there until nearly dawn but there's usually a point when she puts on her coat and gloves and returns to collinwood.did she ever actually "sleep over"?

for proprieties sake,and respectabilities sake,she needed to be there as the guest of elizabeth stoddard.because julia compromised her integrity in so may other ways for the character to remain a "respectable" lady this detail was important.things like that still mattered then.especially on an afternoon drama.

i always notice too that when the situation at hand requires joe to spend the night at the evans' cottage so that maggie won't have to stay there alone they make a big point of joe announcing that he'll "just stretch out on the couch" so that the impression is not left to the audience that joe and maggie slept together.again these things mattered in a more genteel time.