1970 PT wins my nomination for the most uneven of all the storylines. I thought it coupled some of the series' best moments with some real duds. I absolutely loved what they gave Thayer, Grayson, and Louis to do. I had mixed feelings about Lara's work on the storyline but some of it was really excellent, and darling Hannah Stokes was a hoot to watch (Paula Laurence--is that the name of the actress?). Nancy and Johnny made a great pair, too, though their screen time was greatly diminished due to various film involvements.
[spoiler]For me the biggest stumbling block was Quentin and Maggie. They were both such dreadful people, Quentin especially, but Maggie wasn't much better. And this made Barnabas' obsession with helping them very problematic for the viewer. There is even a scene where Julia asks Barnabas why on Earth he wants to help the PT Maggie and he gives her the usual runaround in response. I always wonder whether that wasn't included due to fan mail asking that very question. In those days, producers of shows actually cared what the fans thought about a given character or storyline, which is why the Leviathan story wound up being so abbreviated--because of the negative mail.[/spoiler]
With all this said, I've watched certain weeks of PT 1970 more frequently than many other periods, just because the theatricality of the premise worked so well for the actors. There really isn't anyone in the group for the audience to identify with though, which is problematic if you approach it as a traditional narrative.
Gothick
