i totally agree gothick.

for me elizabeth collins stoddard is one if the defining characters.as soon as she walks into a scene the episode's status is instantly elevated.she simply brought a great sense of refinement that raised the bar on the material.

on dvd collection #20 there is some excellent commentary on joan from paula laurence.she says that besides her beauty and dignity that she brought a certain "weight" to the storylines that was necessary.that with all of the "nuttiness" going on having this unchanging core of a "respectable dowager" anchored the show in a way that was important.

that's an interesting way to think about it.that all of this was taking place on the estate of this patrician lady gave it an air of respectability that wouldn't have been there had it taken place elsewhere.even when liz isn't on the front burner storywise her presence is a vital part of the tone of the show.

i'll second that.another great read luciaphil.

that's funny that you mention maggie's lousy coffee.they seemed to make that something of a running joke in the early episodes.all-in-all not a great waitress.she makes a lousy ice cream sunae too.

but i did like maggie as a character in these episodes.she was spunky and decisive.she made a play for joe haskell and followed through with it.i liked that.

after alexandra leaves and they need a new ingenue i think maggie loses alot of what made her different.
i'm currently watching the 1970pt episodes and here maggie is just so weak.i realize that the role for kls changed over time but i just like maggie with an edge.

i guess i hated the adam plot and all it represented so much that i never really thought about whether or not rodan played the part well...

i'll have to give that some thought. :-

now the show often plays fast-and-loose with the time-band.

it's all about suspending disbelief and not taking things too literally.

but i just completed dvd set 20(the first part of 1970pt)and there was one segment that really stood out for me in terms of some sloppy writing.
i don't want to get totally spoilered but let's say there is a moment when quentin suddenly becomes quite "unwell".this occurs while maggie is in new york staying with her sister.fearing that quentin's condition is grave elizabeth phones maggie in new york and suggests that it would be wise for her to return to collinwood as soon as possible.

lo and behold maggie shows up at collinwood later on that same night!now i know one isn't supposed to focus on such mundane realities but come on.how is it supposed to be plausible that maggie is able to book a flight,pack,get to the airport in new york,deal with all the boarding issues,fly to maine,deal with the airport situation there and get to collinwood all in the same night(probably much more difficult in 1970 than it would be today)

once there this same night continues for several more hours.barnabas is present across these episodes so all of this occured after dark and before dawn the next day?

like i said one really can't focus on things like this but this was glaring for me in the way the writers sometimes felt that they didn't have to bother with normal storytelling techniques.

if i had been a fan at the time i'm sure i would have been devastated by the show's cancellation.

but perhaps there is another way to look at it.perhaps five years was the perfect amount of time for the show to tell it's story.it created a perfect time-capsule.

there is nothing more depressing than a show that overstays it's welcome and continues as cast members and the audience drifts away.maybe the show said what it had to.from what i've always heard several of the key cast members were ready to move on.jonathan frid himself has said in interviews that they just sort of "ran out of gas".the show in the "present time" was sort of spent.they could have continued with the time travel stuff but it was starting to get further and further away from it's origins.between 1968 and 1970 they crammed so much in that by 1971 there wasn't much else they could do and keep it fresh.

as much as i like diana millay i doubt she could have saved the show had people like frid and grayson wanted to leave(and certainly not roger davis).what i find more disturbing than the cancellation of the show itself was that they chose to go out in a parallel time period without any reference to the characters first introduced.

as a contemporary viewer i've found the five year cycle to be quite satisfying.

for me all of roger davis' characterizations on the show are variations on jeff clark thus i can never really handle them.i have never seen him in anything else but on d.s. at least he exibited limited range as an actor.

the episode with the closing credit i mentioned is the final episode of dvd set 20 #1021.

but the television set is visible in several episodes that feature buffie's room.

a similar thing happened to me recently as well.

i was walking by a co-workers office one day(a lady in her forties so she was one of those kids that you-know-what)and i heard her say the name "barnabas collins" to someone she was talking to.needless to say that pricked up my ears.i entered her office and and the floodgates were opened.she was surprised and amused that somebody was actively watching the show to this day(if she only knew the half of it)since she watched it as a kid.

she only remembers the grayest outlines of it(for instance she thought that quentin and josette were an item)but she does remember most of the main characters.

so now as a running joke i give her a semi-daily "pop-quiz".first question was how did josette collins die?she now knows she jumped from widow's hill.i'll have to come up with some new questions.