What If...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Recently in the Vampire Diaries topic I've posted a few links to articles about certain groups of fans launching Internet campaigns to try to persuade the show to do things that they want to see happen. That got me to thinking - if there had been an Internet when DS was originally on, I wonder what if anything fans may have tried to persuade the show to do by starting Internet campaigns?

One thing I would have liked to have seen happen would have been the return of Alexandra Moltke as a character with some sort of a dark side. But as we know, DC absolutely refused to do that when AM said that would have been a way she would have considered returning to the show (her interview about that topic on Disc #2 of DVD Collection #11(Disc #66 of the Complete Series Collection) is actually quite interesting). DC's thinking was that the audience would have never accepted AM that way because virtuous Vicki was a character that was too ingrained in their minds. But if fans actually organized a campaign to support AM's idea, thus showing that they could accept the notion of AM playing a dark character (as an example, AM said she would have absolutely loved to have played a vampire), I wonder if it would have made any difference?

[Uncle Roger]

Even in the 1960's, TV and soaps in particular were responsive to audience input. Actors were brought back, popular couples were paired off romantically and so forth. DC might not have liked the idea buy if ABC was involved as they would in later shows, he might have had to comply. I don't know if the network brass had focus back then but the younger crowd that made up a large chunk of the audience didn't get offended easily. Joel Crothers and Lara Parker played both good and bad characters and the audience accepted them. Why shouldn't an evil Vicki have been accepted as well?

[DarkLady]

It really is too bad that never happened. I'll bet AM would have made a heck of a great vampire, maybe in yet another iteration of parallel time. Joel Crothers especially moved easily between "good old Joe" and the duplicitous Nathan Forbes. And Lara Parker played good and evil twins!

[Gothick]

If you mean would the audiences of 2014 have accepted an evil Alex Moltke character, MB, I'm sure the answer would have been yes. I'm not so sure about the audiences of 1969 which presumably was when AM was thinking of returning to the series.  That was the year when the Leviathan plot gave Frid the chance to play an evil, devious, scheming Barnabas again, and the fans revolted.  The outcry was enough that the entire storyline was drastically curtailed, resulting in quite a hash, and the good heroic Barnabas quickly returned to the scene.

I wonder if there would have been a similar outcry if fans' beloved "Vicki" had shown up has some evil minx, vampiric or otherwise.

G.

[MagnusTrask]

Was there a fan outcry when AM left?  If not, I doubt they'd have cared either way if she played a nasty character.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you mean would the audiences of 2014 have accepted an evil Alex Moltke character, MB, I'm sure the answer would have been yes. I'm not so sure about the audiences of 1969 which presumably was when AM was thinking of returning to the series.  That was the year when the Leviathan plot gave Frid the chance to play an evil, devious, scheming Barnabas again, and the fans revolted.  The outcry was enough that the entire storyline was drastically curtailed, resulting in quite a hash, and the good heroic Barnabas quickly returned to the scene.

I wonder if there would have been a similar outcry if fans' beloved "Vicki" had shown up has some evil minx, vampiric or otherwise.

You may be right about the AM situation if it had played out in '69 with that period still being exactly as it was originally. Though the premise I'm trying to put forth with this topic is how would fans have reacted to a variety of situations on the show if during its original run there had been an Internet and things had worked back then the way they do today. As far as Leviathans goes, it might have prompted a different reaction if that had been the case because one of the biggest problems many fans had was how Barnabas changed so radically overnight without any warning. But if things operated back then as they do today in the world of soaps, chances are very good the audience would have been clued into the premise of Leviathans, the producers, writers, and actors would have given their take, and on numerous message boards and soap sites fans would have endlessly speculated just what it might turn out to be like - and all that taking place weeks before Leviathans actually began. Very little is left unspoiled these days - and spoiled weeks in advance. Which is one of the reasons I suspect that once it was somehow released publicly (because it inevitably would have been) that AM had been willing to return as a darker character but DC had turned her down, fans might have turned to some sort of Internet campaign to get DC to change his mind.

And as I indicated above, this topic isn't just to speculate on what might have happened in AM's case but to speculate on anything and everything that fans may have tried to persuade the show to do differently by starting Internet campaigns? So, what else comes to mind? I know other things do because just in the years this forum has been in existence numerous fans have written about the things they would have liked to have seen done differently.    Just as another example beyond AM, might Barnabas and Julia fans instituted a campaign to have Barnabas forget about Josette, forget about SYTs, and focus his attention on Julia? After all, there actually were numerous letters like that sent to the various daytime magazines' comments sections, so it's not hard at all to imagine that if there had been an Internet, those fans might have organized on the Internet...

[Joeytrom]

Had the internet been around then, DC may have changed his mind about doing PT 1970 and centered the real 1970 on AM's return as another character with some new ones thrown in the mix.

I'm guessing that there may not have been a summer 1970 or 1840/1841 PT either as fans would have insisted on remaining in the present time.  Barnabas & Julia as a couple is possible.

[MagnusTrask]

I don't see why.   Fans loved it when DS went into the past.   That's clear from the repeated milkings of 1795 long after Vicki returned.  It's not so much where they went though, but what they did with the story within whatever time or reality.   Personally, for me, ever since the first trip back to 1795, ther "present day" plots were let-downs.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Magnus, that's because they put all of the good present-day storytelling on hold after 1795.  All of the great plots that had developed before the flashback were thrown out the window in favor of the "Monster of the Week" format...  and Peter Bradford.    Though The Haunting of Collinwood is nothing short of inspired, as is the first part of PT.

As for a Monstrous Moltke, I think we got pretty close to that with the early writing for Kate Jackson's Daphne.  Even with her character, though, we ended up with a softie, as a opposed to the evil, revenge-seeking governess they kept introducing her as (in the present and the past)...  It also didn't help that they needed a replacement for KLS, even giving her the KLS character theme music.  Had KLS not left, though, I wonder if we would have seen a Vicki-esque character with a truly evil streak.