Whatever Happened to Burke Devlin?

[buzz]

I've always found the off screen killing of Burke very odd for a number of reasons. Apparently the writers didn't know what to do with Burke, but instead of having a final dramatic confrontation with Barnabas, he was killed in a plane crash. Story wise I think this was poor, since it seemed like a very convenient way to (perhaps they thought temporarily?) get rid of Burke. If I'm correct a new writer replaced Malcom Marmorstein around this period, Joe Caldwell, and that may have affected the change. Perhaps another reason was because Dr. Woodard was recently killed off, and they thought it would have been repetitive if Burke was done in the same way. Or, he was too well liked by the audience. Still, I think it would have been better to either keep Burke alive and remain a rival and potential trhreat to Barnabas or kill him off in a dramatic way.

The period following Dr. Woodard's death seemed particularly morbid, aside from the aging of Barnabas the writers seemed to be biding their time for the 1795 storyline.         

[Midnite]

If you can suggest another title, I'll change it for you, but in the future please don't include spoilers in topic titles.

Also for the benefit of visitors that haven't seen the entire series, there's now a spoiler icon in the main topic.

[retzev]

If you can suggest another title, I'll change it...

'Burke Devlin...WTF?'

[David]

Barnabas was only supposed to be on for 13 weeks, until Frid's performance sent the ratings skyrocketing.
So, Barnabas stays, stories get rewritten.

During the languish period, the writers concocted the 1795 story & Vicky's next romance with blonde boy.
Plus, A George stated publicly years later that he didn't like doing Dark Shadows, so he wanted out.

Between George's feelings, and the upcoming storyline, Burke's goose was cooked!

David

[MagnusTrask]

Burke was offed before 1795 though, and A George continued on for a long time after that as Jeremiah...

In all these years, with all these con appearances and all the fan scrutiny of every detail of DS, wouldn't you think information on why these choices were made would be out by now?

[Joeytrom]

I thought that Burke's demise was temporary at first as they didn't seem to know what to do with him anymore and took a break from the character.  When 1795 started and AG appeared as Jeremiah, it seemed that Burke was to return after 1795 ended, but AG leaving changed that. 

When Jeremiah told Vicky he thought she seemed familiar to him (after she told him he looked familiar to her) I had an odd idea that Burke was also sent to 1795 and took over Jeremiah but looking back now, that was too far fetched.

Burke grounded DS into being more realistic like I thought.  He was the kind of hero the show needed to have and once he was gone, we viewers had no hero to look to anymore and the show seemed to just meander for a month.  Barnabas was still the bad guy and he got even more evil and there was no balance on the show.

You could tell they were stretching the story as much as they could until 1795 began.

Given all the recasting they had recently done (Dr. Woodard, the caretaker, Sheriff Patterson), I am surprised they didn't recast Jeremiah and go along with the original Jeremiah/Josette storyline. 

Burke in the Adam/Cassandra/Nicholas storyline would have been interesting.

[buzz]

Midnite, I apologize for the error. I forget that there are some who may not have seen these episodes. You can certainly change the topic line. How about "Whatever Happened to Burke Devlin?"

[Joeytrom]

I dont mean to sound rude or anything, but I hope there isnt going to several apology/acceptance postings where the topic itself is forgotten. 

Its a pet peeve of mine and it has happened on so many message boards, its frustrating.

Not that I mean people should respond to the topic simply because I posted something.

[buzz]

Joeytrom,

No more apologies, I promise! I agree with many of your comments re: Burke. He was a good anchor for the show, although beginning with the 1795 storyline Barnabas became more sympathetic and later on became the hero of the series, along with Julia.   

There were many instances when it was apparent that the writers were stalling for time and of course, the boss, Dan Curtis, may have turned down some interesting storylines that the writers thought up.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Plus, A George stated publicly years later that he didn't like doing Dark Shadows, so he wanted out.

Interesting - I've never heard that. However, it's no secret that George had only signed a six month contract. He wanted to jump-start his career, which had been languishing since the cancellation of his primetime series Checkmate. And in light of that, I've always found it ironic that what his run on DS actually accomplished was not jump-starting a new primetime or film phase of his career, but a long run as a popular leading man in other soaps.

[buzz]

He wanted to jump-start his career, which had been languishing since the cancellation of his primetime series Checkmate.

BTW, Checkmate is out on DVD. I got the first season on Netflix and saw the first episode, although Anthony George was hardly in the story. From watching the first episode it doesn't look like its going to be a very good series. A better 1960's crime show was Arrest and Trial, featuring Ben Gazarra and Chuck Conners.   

[Garth Blackwood]

Whatever happened to Burke?

He died. Any questions?

[Gothick]

Anthony George does have some good episodes in Checkmate.  The stories vary from some that are more engaging to others that are pretty much cookie-cutter examples of early Sixties action shows.

One of the better episodes has Anthony George attempting to safeguard a very highly strung alcoholic dowager played by Joan Fontaine.  The shots of Joan in party frock staggering drunkenly around a party on this luxury cruise are hysterical.

I also liked the shows with Charles Laughton as a missionary and Joseph Cotten as a survivor of the French resistance.  There was a good one with, I think, Ricardo Montalban as an old buddy of the George character's.

Having read a good deal of official and unofficial Dark Shadows history over the years, I have a short answer to why Burke was written out--Dan Curtis made up his mind that Burke had to go, and he went!  Anthony George probably asked for a raise, a surefire way to get Dan to give you the boot back in those "good old days."

The writers would protest that storylines and audience expectations were being disrupted, and Dan would narrow his eyes, angle his golf club, and ask "are you writing the show, or not?  I can get other people to write the show if you don't want to do it."

G.

[Gerard]

Maybe it's possible that there were plans for Burke to pop up again in a later storyline, considering how he, shall we say, departed the show and it was never absolutely stated that he, well, you know.  But once Vicki had, well, you know, there was no longer a need for him to say "surprise!" down the road.

Gerard

[Nancy]

I gotta tell you, David, as someone who loves reading and hearing about production from the backstage view, this is the first I am hearing that Anthony George didn't like doing DS.  Where did you read that?

Nancy