dom, i'm with you on ep.1 being my fave.i like early barnabas and i love julia but the pre-barns are kind of my favorites.it's funny that they filmed live footage with both actors who portrayed sam evans.it seems like alot of expense for a relatively minor character.i prefer david ford over the other actor and a personal favorite is a scene he has with diana millay during the laura story.she is such a menace!i met her at the fest last year and bought her silly book about halloween,she's too much!

this topic got me thinking about 1966 d.s..it seems like a show that wasn't allowed to come into fruition.the mystery of victoria's birth.why elizabeth hired her.elizabeth's own secrets.burke's vendetta with the collins family.the carolyn/joe/maggie triangle.burke and vicki's romance.all of these plots were either hastily wrapped-up or abandoned entirely when barnabas arrived.he was supposed to be quickly killed-off but ended up stealing the show and it evolved into something else entirely.but even without barnabas,the early eps. had to have been more interesting than most daytime t.v. c.66/67.does anyone think that the show could have been good if allowed to continue on it's original path,and the vampire show it eventually became been a seperate show altogether?

i absolutely love the 1966 episodes!they're some of my favorites.carolyn is so petulant,liz is so grand,david such a menace(remember him writing "death" on vicki's mirror),maggie such a wisecracking waitress,burke such vengeful bad-ass,vicki so sassy and inquisitive.it had a sleepy "twin peaks" quality,a small town full of secrets.the laura collins story is the best!i like that it's just one supernatural character up against normal human beings.that's what made the early barnabas eps. so good too.when it becomes a show with an endless line-up of monsters it loses most of it's charm.i wish post 1795 the show retained some of these real qualities too.it seems like the producers felt they needed to keep upping the ante to keep viewers interested,but that was a short-sited plan because the show became ridiculous and viewers lost interest.if the show stayed a bit more reality-based it might have lasted longer:some soap operas have been on for 40 years.

i also pride myself in that i have not fallen into the bottomless pit of "reality-t.v."(although i do spend alot of time watching vids. of a 35yr. old soap opera,but that's another story).anyhow,if wb is sinking further into "reality's" quicksand they might want to remember that those shows are contests and have virtually no value in terms of syndication or video/dvd sales.they're only good once(if that).whereas a good drama like o.d.s.(or the x-files etc.)have huge value in terms of syndication and vid/dvd sales.i wasn't even born when d.s. ran originaly,but have spent alot of money on videos,books etc.wb execs and dan curtis should think about that before totally scrapping the idea of a new show.

the liz/jason confrontation was so good!i know the early vhs tapes are trying to highlight the barnabas story,but at expense of some good stuff.we're all grown-ups here,we can handle life w/o barnabas collins for a few minutes,why edit out the other actors work?joan bennett and nancy barrett had some of their best mother/daughter scenes during this time.

26?!oh my head.i've only seen the first four.and they do always seem to get interupted.it's funny that in the first seance,josette speaks in french,not english,assuming at the time j. didn't speak english.little did they(we)know a bit down the line josette would be a real live character played by the very un-french collinsport diner waitress maggie evans(kls).

i havn't seen d.s. on dvd,but i certainly don't like the idea of the eps. being "cleaned-up".part of the fun of the show is the bloopers and screw-ups.it adds to it's charm imo.