The New DARK SHADOWS?

I personally prefer Marlowe.  And John Webster... the Duchess of Malfi is a fabulous play, perhaps one of the very greatest plays in the English language.

Not to say that Willie the Shake is chopped liver, of course.

G.

In the possible remake, regarding casting, I'm picturing Fran Drescher playing Angelique.

I don't know why.

Help me.

Gerard (Who's Picturing Fran Drescher's Mom In The Nanny As Elizabeth Collins Stoddard)

Gerard, Fran Drescher as Angelique is indeed horrifying.  Especially in her Cassandra mode.  Can't you just see Ms. D screeching at Sam Evans' ghost: "YOU ... WILL ... KNOW ... NO ... REST!!"

I think *I'm* the one who needs help.  I live with a Smallville addict, and so help me Goddess, I keep picturing Tom Welling as Barnabas Collins and Kristin Kreuk as Vicki Winters.

where's the dramamine when you need it???

thankfully, I'm quite sure it will die in development.

G.

WB RAISES "DARK SHADOWS"

http://www.scififx.com/news/topstory.php?q=4314

And here's another fine example of misrepresenting a source. This is based on the same Variety piece other media sources have been quoting all week. The difference is that they decided to substitute the original source's description of a negotiation in progress with the phrase "The WB has ordered a pilot."

Apparently, this was written by a former employee of the New York Times.   

I'm hearing sound fx of "shattering Glass."

G.

  "...plotline for the updated Shadows is being kept under wraps."

http://www.filmstew.com/Content/DailyNews/DetailsPrinter.asp?ContentID=7248

and ? as Victoria Winters
(please, NOT Paris Hilton...)

I could picture a Paris Hilton type as Carolyn but definitely not Victoria.

One thing I haven't seen addressed that I believe is important, IMO, is that character development on a weekly series is much slower than a soap opera.  I'll admit it will be hard for me not to compare the new series to the original but it would be unfair because the original unfolded daily while the new series will unfold weekly.  If you think about it Jonathan Frid appeared in almost 600 episodes of Dark Shadows in less than 4 years while the cast of "Friends" have filmed maybe 200 episodes in 10 years.  Just something to consider that it's probably best for us that love the original to keep things in perspective and not judge to harshly.

Murph

Should it come to pass, I hope it ends up being nothig like the original (so to speak). I couldn't bare watching the Ben Cross series because it was almost a carbon copy (to me) of the soap. It was impossible for me not to compare it and be sorely disappointed. I'd like it to be totally up-to-date with fresh dialogue and fashion. It will be very interesting to see what they come up with if they pull this off. 

"...plotline for the updated Shadows is being kept under wraps."

http://www.filmstew.com/Content/DailyNews/DetailsPrinter.asp?ContentID=7248

Crimey, even these maroons can't spell "Barnabas" correctly...

Hooooold the bus!

--Mark[/b][/color]

I personally prefer Marlowe.  And John Webster... the Duchess of Malfi is a fabulous play, perhaps one of the very greatest plays in the English language.

I'm willing to bet you like Marlowe's "Edward II"     ... I saw a small theatre group's electric contemporary production of this a few years ago, and there's also Derek Jarman's interesting take on it ...

For 16th century Elizabethan poetry, Sir Thomas Wyatt is unequaled ... Shakespeare's sonnets are complex and challenging, but very static and undramatic; I enjoy reading more Philip Sidney's "Astrophil and Stella" sonnet cycle (whose title personages Dickens' named his Philip "Pip" and Estella after ...).

Not to say that Willie the Shake is chopped liver, of course.

Nicely put! 

And speaking of literature in relation to DS, I wonder if writers for a new DS could possibly be as literate as they often were on DS.  I'm thinking of Barnabas' lengthy speech recounting the death of Josette to Carolyn and Vicki in the drawing room at Collinwood (this was pre-1795/7) ... the range of reading that the writers showed, drawing on classic works of literature ... Roger Collins' recitation of "Dover Beach" ... the knowledge the writers display of customs and language and manners during the various time periods ... there really is a lot of intelligence in a lot of DS that I can't even imagine seeing in a show today.

Vlad,

Thank you for bringing the literary discussion back to DS.

Vlad wrote:

... the knowledge the writers display of customs and language and manners during the various time periods ...

This makes me think of how much I enjoyed the early Elizabeth Stoddard. While watching the pre-Barn eps for the first time in the 90s, I was so impressed with Liz's dialogue, and how dead-on perfect it was for a woman of her station. Especially in contrast to Roger whom you could tell was raised with equal privilege but had ever so slightly let it go by the wayside. It helped distinguish him from his sister as being less than trustworthy. I think that the pre-Barn writing was very good and extremelly well thought out. You could tell a great deal about the characters just from their grammar and vocabulary.

I also enjoyed and was very impressed with how the writers wrote for Viki before 1968. AM had so many scences with so many different characters. I loved how she was seemingly a different person with each of them. Perhaps this is normal and how writing should be but I personally had never noticed these nuances until I watched this part of the show at that time in my llife. I haven't looked at entertainment in the same way ever since.

It's somewhat funny, though David Collins is in no way close to being my favorite character, many of my favorite scenes from the pre-Barn days consist of scences where the adult characters interacted with him. It was these scenes (the writing) that made my faves, my faves.

This makes me think of how much I enjoyed the early Elizabeth Stoddard. While watching the pre-Barn eps for the first time in the 90s, I was so impressed with Liz's dialogue, and how dead-on perfect it was for a woman of her station. Especially in contrast to Roger whom you could tell was raised with equal privilege but had ever so slightly let it go by the wayside. It helped distinguish him from his sister as being less than trustworthy. I think that the pre-Barn writing was very good and extremelly well thought out. You could tell a great deal about the characters just from their grammar and vocabulary.

I very much agree with this. Although the pacing of some of the pre-Barnabas episodes (ah, what the hell...the pacing at various points all through the show) leaves something to be desired, the characterizations were strong enough to really carry the program for all those months. Roger and Elizabeth in particular were at their best, but Vicki, too, came off far from the ditz they eventually made her out to be. Mitch Ryan became a personal folk hero during this period and showed how painfully unworthy a replacement Anthony George would turn out to be.

Also -- although I am a diehard fan of Thayer David, George Mitchell made such an excellent Matthew Morgan, I wish he'd stayed in the role. (He's one hell of a character in The Andromeda Strain, too, one of my favorite movies).

--Mark[/color][/b]
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