that's funny that they were going to persue a david-and-his-governess type scenario into 1971 and beyond.

as it was they were pushing the borders of credulity with maggie and david and hallie in 1970...but a year or so later it would have been beyond ridiculous that either of these kids required the services of a governess.

by that point they both would have been well into their teenage years and david would have been just about old enough to date "tracy" or whatever they planned to call her.

of all the time periods that they could have covered on the series but did not i think the 1920's would have been the coolest and most visually arresting.

the ladies in flapper attire.the men in spats.the collins family fattening their purse with a bit of bootlegging on the side.perhaps alexandra moltke cast as a young elizabeth...

and david selby playing a character named something besides "quentin".

roland,

the "presence" of josette was established pretty early on.we,the viewer,had several "confirmed" sightings of her.

who actually believed she existed is up for debate.david of course believed in her but i think it is only vicki who actually sees her for herself and whom has several communications with her.

she watches over vicki when she's being held captive by matthew morgan and then becomes a pretty major player during the laura collins story when her presence guides vicki with a series of clues that leads to the conclusion of this mystery.here she is more of a guiding influence more than a ghostly apparition although her fragrance,jasmine,becomes observable to several people.during a sceance in this period she makes her first spoken communication(in french no less!)through vicki that is witnesses by several people although it is unclear who actually belives in it...if i recall roger is highly doubtful of course.

most of the time everyone thinks vicki is being overexcitable or imagining things but the viewer knows she is not.

then,of course,during the barnabas episodes her presence becomes observed by everyone at barnabas' ill-fated costume party...but then for whatever reason sarah collins takes over as the ghostly presence du'jour.

i didn't own a dvd player until 2005 and by then i had already invested in all of the 1966-68 episodes on video and then switched to the dvd format with the start of the quentin storyline.

now i'm really torn as to how much i want to invest in buying everything on dvd.it's quite expensive and i doubt i'll re-watch the entire series over from begining to end.

i am thinking about the "the beginings"(formerly the "collector's series").i have started to see them in lots of book and dvd stores.what does everyone think about them?do the extras make them worth it?

a few more observations...

the mens' hairstyles certainly are "fluffy" here.i think it's much more a reflection of what fashions were in 1970 more than anything that had to do with the 1840's.the glued-on muttonchops are funny...i wonder why the actors just didn't grow out their own sideburns for this period?

for all of the build up tad and carrie got in the 1970 set-up to this storyline they actually have very little to do with it thus far.i just finished dvd volume 23(about halfway through)and tad has yet to appear at all and carrie only in a few episodes.again both kids are too old for a governess but at least they acknowledge that with carrie as she develops a crush on gerard and remarks herself that she's growing up.it would have been quite annoying to have her again fussing around with that dollhouse...speaking of which both the dollhouse and the playroom disappear from the story early on.do they reappear or does this entire plotline get scrapped in favor of something else?i have a sneaking suspicion that that all of that is going to go unresolved.i haven't heard much about the "java queen" or most of the other things that set-up this storyline.

does it just go free-form from here on out?

so true gothick.

for graysonphiles november is indeed the "coolest" month.

as you suggest grayson owned the part of julia(and soon the show)from day one.

the foyer confrontation is as you say "better than heroin".every time i watch it i get a new "high".
just recently i rewatched it and i had forgotten the bit with julia grabbing the phone out of carolyn's hand and slamming it down to indignant cries of "how dare you!".

this whole subplot is ripe with "get outs!" and "how dare yous!".it's the best.

what's funny about the scene in question is that when julia first walks in the door she and carolyn make nicities about dinner before they start to go at it.i think carolyn expressed it best when she told julia that "good manners can cover up the most complex of emotions...it's game" after her mother made her apologize to julia for being rude.this cat and mouse period is indeed one delicious game.

has no one really gotten this one yet?

S is for the Sedatives that julia dispensed with shocking frequency.

i've long had my own theory about nathan and suki...

the chemistry between them is really dirty-sexy.money was obviously not a factor so it must have been a very intense physical thing.

they seem like the kind of couple that knows how to push each other's buttons,would have knock-down,drag-out fights and then end up on the living room floor if you get my drift.