this might be slightly off-topic but i think it's a testament to many of the actors involved that what could be seen as a totally off-the-wall show can actually be emotionally involving.

i recently watched the episode where julia first discovers barnabas in his coffin.the set-up involves julia eavesdropping outside the old house near sunrise as barnabas sends willie off to portland on some errands and prepares to go "downstairs" for the day.he tells willie that he might as well leave now and get back as soon as possible.

i pictured willie in a beat up old truck driving down the backroads of maine before dawn and thought about what a lonely,narrow existance he must have lead during this time.for some reason i found this imagery to be quite moving.

i also thought it was sweet that willie had this secret crush on maggie,a "working class girl",rather than some of the show's more exalted heroines.

it's too bad that after joel crothers left the show they didn't explore this relationship a bit more.i guess the storyline began to yo-yo back and forth in time and become more plot-driven than character-driven so it wasn't really possible.

i agree.

i just can't see julia as the show's most long-suffering character.i've been watching the 1967 episodes and it's easy to forget how coldly ambitious her character started out as.she sacraficed the well-being of a young woman in who's care she had been put in charge of to pursue a personal goal.
she softens up over time and they come to rationalize her and barnabas' actions by making them the show's by default anti-heros(see...if we don't create an artificial woman adam will kill vicki!).but julia inserted herself into all of these situations.

did she fall in love with someone who didn't love her back?yes.haven't we all.but considering the types of catastrophes that befell most of the other characters on a constant basis she got off relatively easy.

dr. julia hoffman didn't get anything she didn't sign on the dotted line for.

I love Eve. I can't keep a straight face when she's in a scene. I am laughing now just thinking about it. At this stage of the game the show may as well be a comedy (as far as I'm concerned). It's the only way I can get thru it. Personally, I think it's this portion of the show that earned DS it's 'camp' reputation.

i agree.it's here that the show(quite deservedly)begins to become known for high camp.
during this period i alternated between being amused and annoyed but i stopped being emotionally invloved.it was just too silly.

i think there were some episodes that actually had no human characters in them.just monsters!that's kind of hard to take seriously.since the 1968 monsters were essentially disposable characters i didn't really "care" about what happened to them.

that said i was surprised that i did enjoy marie wallace's portrayal of eve.i thought she injected a(much needed)bit of naughtiness and fun to an otherwise dull,dour storyline.

am i forgetting something?

wasn't danielle as well as eve played by marie wallace?if i'm remembering this correctly except for the clothes eve and danielle looked exactly alike.

roger:"liz you know nothing about this girl you're bringing up here!what are her qualifications?her credentials?why don't you just hire that wise-cracking blond from the diner and have done with it!"

last summer i went to a new york screening of "the healing gardens" with alexandra isles in attendance.

i remember distictly that the home video version of this film was available for $29.95.i posted ordering information about it at the time.i'm very surprised to see it being sold on dvd for $295.00.that's pretty outrageous.

here's a "charitable" idea.if ms.isles wants to sell a signifigant number of these dvds she could of course attend next years fest(if there is one),price them fairly,offer to autograph a purchased copy(you know i'd be first in line)and donate the proceeds to her charitable works.

i was recently surprised to see a copy of "the salem branch" at the brooklyn public library.

perhaps libraries across the country ordered the book.that would certainly have helped sales.

as for the "written word" part as i already voiced i thought this book was dreadfull.