Wondering.......

[Birdie]

Originally posted by Birdie on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on February 08, 2002 at 04:47:19:

When did they decide to keep Barnabas as a main charactor? Was it after yesterday's episode? A sudden change of story line. His telling of the Josette story being so very different made me wonder. Also wondering if the plan had been orginally to have Burke return. It is a very typical device in the soaps to have a charactor have a accident with no body found to return.

Thinking about this keeps me from worring about the real world. You know the stuff, family illness, should I look for a new job, should I clean my house, should I go to the market, etc,etc,etc,

As my husband says invite people over--you might just clean the house.l0l

Birdie

[Gerard]

Posted by Gerard on February 08, 2002 at 07:57:40:
In Reply to: Wondering....... posted by Birdie on February 08, 2002 at 04:47:19:

I wonder, too, Birdie, when they decided to keep Barnabas as a more permanent character (note I said "more", because I also wonder when they decided to keep him just permanently; maybe there were still plans to off him once the whole constantly expanded story was over). It's always interesting to see how these things play out when ratings cause show-makers to take sudden and drastic turns. Dr. Smith on "Lost in Space" was to be on for only a few episodes and then offed, but look what happened there, too. Anyway, I also hafta clean, and tonight it's suppose to start raining, and by tomorrow it'll be a good winter snow storm (if there is such a thing as a "good" winter snow storm), so I'll be shoveling as well.

Gerard

[Linda]

Posted by Linda on February 08, 2002 at 11:09:46:
In Reply to: Wondering....... posted by Birdie on February 08, 2002 at 04:47:19:

I think the decision to alter the original story plan was made was earlier than this -- most likely, in the heart of the kidnapped Maggie sequence -- and probably corresponded with the mountains of fan mail that Mr. Frid started to receive, but it took them awhile to determine exactly how to proceed.

Someone mentioned in a different thread that the initial story had Barnabas madly in love with a disinterested Josette, but since writers typically begin to establish redeeming qualities for a popular evildoer when they're trying to salvage the character, and creating a hot love story usually helps in the effort, this IS probably the time they began to craft the new take on 1795.

Cheers,

Linda

[Minja]

Posted by Minja on February 08, 2002 at 18:48:39:
In Reply to: Re: Wondering....... posted by Gerard on February 08, 2002 at 07:57:40:

Dr. Smith on "Lost in Space" was to be on for only a few episodes and then offed, but look what happened there, too.

Ahhh, good old Dr. Smith! Another comparison is how they changed the character of Dr. Smith from a devious, dark enemy type to a bungling, manipulative, lazy whiner. Kinda like Barnabas going from an obsessive, evil villian type to a more sympathetic, save the day type. Though I don't think the PTB's at Lost In Space kept Smith around due to fan mail. His character was most likely kept because he could provide a well spring of wacky situations on which to base storylines on. Just my opinion!

Oh, Gerard....Snow good...Ice bad! Trust me!

Always, Minja

[Gerard]

Posted by Gerard on February 09, 2002 at 04:39:39:
In Reply to: Re: Wondering....... posted by Minja on February 08, 2002 at 18:48:39:

Jonathan Harris, aka the notorious Dr. (Colonel - a good trivia question; what was his rank?) Zachary Smith, was the one responsible for changing the character, basically to save his own skin from being released from the show. After all, it was a paycheck. His character was to be temporary, to cause "tension" amongst the characters (Robinson family) to flesh them out more. Once accomplished, he was to be offed. As it turns out, he received a rather good paycheck because he was not, nor ever, a member of the cast (that's why he was billed as "Special Guest Star"); he was paid more per episode than they. All guest stars were. Let's say they shot ten episodes per season, and the cast each received a hundred bucks for the whole shebang. However, a guest star got fifteen bucks for an episode. I guess we can figure out the math. He made his character, now changed from an evil murderer (kinda like Barnabas), to a bumbling, loveable troublemaker, popular among the kiddies and their parents who better appreciated a goofus than a homicidal maniac, and gave him power at the bargaining table. Here he was, a "Special Guest Star" for the entire series, technically never a member of the cast, and he got paid more than the stars (Lockhart and Williams). Don't think that didn't cause some real tension on the set.

Gerard (Waiting for the storm, but so far nothing, so I'm gonna go jog first)