What an interesting topic. I loved the 1795/96 and 1897 storylines, of course, but I also did enjoy the adventures set in "modern" times. That doesn't mean I really liked all of them; I did not care for the whole Adam thing at all. But it was always good to see the original characters doing "modern" things.
I sometime wonder if the decision to do time travel, to show the Collinses of the past, was to bring up the ratings. Maybe not at first. The whole concept of telling the story as to the how and why of Barnabas' vampirism was fantastic and very integral to the overall developing show. Ratings, I'm sure, definitely went up. And then came the whole Adam thing, set in the present. Maybe I'm one of the few who found it disappointing compared to what we had just gone through 175 years earlier, but then maybe other viewers' interest might've wained as well, so something had to be done. Along came 1897. Like I said, I really enjoyed it; I can see why DS hit its highest ratings during that plot. But I also ADORED the "build-up" to it with Quentin and Beth haunting Collinwood. It was just all so "modern." I wish it would've lasted longer. After 1897 came the Leviathans. Now, I enjoyed that story, but many did not, and the ratings took a tumble. It's obvious they rushed through it when that realization came just to end it and along came Parallel Time, devised it seems to get most of the main characters out of TV Collinwood and to movie set Collinwood. When that was over, the producers and writers, maybe concerned about those ratings again, decided to do another time travel to the past since it always worked in bringing more viewers in before. So, to me, the show changed, from having intact, set-in-present-time stories, to the present time just being a set up for another voyage in time. Get through it and get back to the past; pull out those costumes and candles. The thing is, with 1840 (which I didn't care for), it was just a rehashing of 1897 with some 1795 (the witchcraft trial) thrown in; nothing new, same old same old. So, to me, DS "evolved" from various stories to just one idea: have some spooks run around in present day for six weeks or less, and then send Barnabas (and Julia and whomever else booked passage) to the past to get rid of those spooks. When that was done, do it all over again.
Gerard