for some reason i'm missing the volume that immediately precedes these episodes...so i can't recall how mrs. johnson reacted when she found out who was responsible for bill malloy's death.

she did have a few priceless scenes here with david however.after she brazenly smokes cigarettes at the breakfast table with david he steals the pack to bring to matthew.later when she accuses him of stealing them he cheekily asks her if she should be smoking while she's working...and then as a final zinger "master" david collins puts her in her place by saying that if he wanted cigaretttes he would just buy them.

another neat scene here was when a confused matthew thinks that victoria is mrs.stoddard and briefly treats her accordingly.

the topic on george mitchell got me thinking about matthew morgan.
over the weekend i re-watched the episodes where matthew kidnapped vicki and that ultimately lead to his demise.i hadn't seen them in years.

they were a very tense and suspensful group of episodes.i remembered them as only a few episodes but this plot lasted for nearly three weeks.i thought it was more disturbing that this young girl was at the hands of a desperately disturbed man as oppossed to later storylines when the captor is some sort of monster(which can be read as being "cartoonish").by the end of it both characters looked like hell.it was interesting to see the old house before barnabas and julia held court there.very different feel.

i also thought that these were a very transitional group of episodes.the show was just evolving into what it became.
carolyn(who was a b*tch across these eps.)and joe's relationship was in it's death throes.maggie was begining a not-so-subtle flirtation with joe.burke was realizing the extent of his feelings for vicki.josette was making her presence known.and of course this ultimately being a ghost story it was steadily moving away from being a darker version of a standard soap into something else entirely.then there is the first appearance of laura collins(in a hat and gloves no less!).there was something so strange about diana millay's delivery that i can't take my eyes off her when she's onscreen.

there was some nice attention to detail here.the collinwood pantry was well stocked and in the exterior shots of david running up to the old house he held a grocery bag in his hands.which meant that these were shot with this specific storyline in mind.and i love the diner set!later it would have become absolete(it's hard to imagine angelique and nicholas conspiring over grilled-cheese sandwiches)but it was a great set.

because of the strange way the show is marketed(with the pre-barnabas episodes being treated almost like another show)there are lots of fans who never saw this.which is sad because thayer david fans should see this very vivid portrayal of matthew morgan...so different from the urbane professor stokes

anywho...thoughts on these episodes?

nicholas:"don't get haughty with me MISS WINTERS...i'm an invited guest.you're suppposed to WORK here and all i've ever seen you do is stand around looking stupified while trying to decide if your dim boyfriend's name is 'peter' or 'jeff'."

i'm going to have to re-watch this film.i can only recall three deaths and the violence was so stylized it disturbed me much less than in more "realistic" films like the texas chainsaw massacre when i actually found it almost nauseating and difficult to watch.

and there is no question that on a daytime show that aired when d.s. did that there would never be that level of violence.there still wouldn't be today.

because of her distinctive style grayson hall gave dr.julia hoffman great "presence" on the show.that combined with the chemistry she had with mr.frid gradually lead to her being written into the show's lead.

but what if a less charismatic actress had been hired for the part?would the character have been given less prominence?
because the character lacked a back-story or any sort of personal life in the hands of a lesser actress she could have been a very boring character,and indeed,a "doormat".it was grayson's style and charisma that made the character what it was and she did always have an air of the "tough cookie" even when she was obviously being put to ill use by barnabas.

chris:"maggie,what are you doing?i thought you girls only wore your scarves like that before what's-his-name at the old house was 'cured'."

maggie:"i have no idea what you're talking about.there was a scarf-tying seminar at ohrbach's today.i think it looks nice!"

nancy is a treasure(although she infuriated me throughout the adam storyline).i liked her alot at the very end of 1795 when millicent lost her mind.

whenever i see nancy in the 1970/71 episodes i'm struck by how different she looked than she did during the first half of the show's run.she has much darker hair and it looks like she removed her eyebrows.

as i said i would i watched episode one...and then kept watching for hours.i hadn't really seen these early episodes in years and forgot how engaging they were.totally different show.

it was so overwrought!and how quaint that the biggest threat that faced these people at the time was burke devlin.mitch ryan had quite a swagger.

alexandra moltke photographs beautifully in black and white but in these episodes she's given a really frumpy look.and gum-chomping,wise-cracking,wig-wearing maggie at the diner was almost more than i could take!

early crew-cut joe haskell was really a hunk-a-rama.i didn't notice it the first time around but bill malloy had a certain gruff charm as well.i can see how mrs.j got worked up.

for those who haven't seen these on video they leave the original commercials in episode one.they're a scream.i know the "sunshine rinso" jingle by heart.