Jeremiah Collins

Also, it's funny how we sometimes perceive things. Gerringer was actually 5 years younger than George

 D'oh! I didn't realize that.  I just assumed Gerringer was older than George. 

when barnabas throws the costume party he suggests that burke come dressed as jeremiah collins.
i belive it is here that the resemblance between burke and jeremiah is established.this is long before robert gerringer leaves the show.

when they first began to tell this "story" i doubt that anyone concerned knew that they would actually send the show back in time.it's remarkable if you think about it.that's why i think there are so many huge inconsistensies between what was established beforehand and how the actual telling of the 1795 story played out.

Sorry but I don't remember where I read that Gerringer would have had the role of Jeremiah.  I think they had a rather strong role in mind for Gerringer. I'm certain that the role was to be that of Jeremiah. In thinking back to the timeline of the show, wasn't the actor who assumed the Dr. Woodard role doing it for about 6 weeks or so? The writers may or may not have been thinking about many different scenarios at that time regarding character relationships.

I wonder if there was even a strong physical resemblance between Jeremiah and Burke.  I think that it was more along the lines of a man who felt threatened by another man whose interest was in the woman that Barnabas wanted.  Burke wasn't interested in Maggie, who looked like Josette,  but was attracted to Vicki. Vicki had become Barnabas's Josette in a sense. Maybe Burke had become like a Jeremiah in Barnabas's mind and he was there to take Vicki away from him.

I remember when Barnabas decided that Burke should dress the part of Jeremiah at the party he seemed to just be casting him in the role of his rival. I don't think he was supposed to resemble him at this point. The only person who was supposed to resemble anyone at first was Maggie, who looked like Josette. I think that the idea to have people resemble other people was decided when they showed the past. Otherwise they would have had Barnabas commenting to Willie that Liz looked like his Mother, etc.

Misa

I think that the idea to have people resemble other people was decided when they showed the past. Otherwise they would have had Barnabas commenting to Willie that Liz looked like his Mother, etc.

Actually, during the costume party, Barnabas does comment that Liz looks just like Naomi. From the Robservations for Ep #280:

... Carolyn, Roger and Liz are admiring the work that Barnabas has done so far. He offers them claret cup, then nearly slips and says Liz looks just like his mother, then almost slips again and refers to Roger as his father. ...

Thanks for those quotes, MB.  I just watched those tapes about a month ago.  Anybody who doesn't remember, go back and watch.  (I heard you can get the DVDs through Netflicks now.)

Barnabas does comment repeatedly on Burke's physical resemblance to Jeremiah.  He also makes a ghoulish comment along the lines of "Ah, if only Devlin could be as dead as Jeremiah is now, I would be a most contented man."

Frid was so good in the role of the nasty, devious, scheming Barnabas.  He spoke so many of those lines with a cold, deliberate relish.  Great stuff.

G.

I'd say that Barnabas, full knowing Angelique was the cause of Josette falling in love with Jeremiah, and furthermore considering the great sadness Barnabas felt in killing Jeremiah, you'd think then Barmabas would have had sympathy towards Burke instead of hostility

I'd have to agree w/this wholeheartedly.  Although it doesn't lessen my love of DS, it annoys the hell out of me that they completely changed the background of Barnabas' pre-vampire days.  Now, having said that, I like what they ended up doing, making Barn more sympathetic and more of a victim etc...rather than a boorish jackass who stole, or tried to steal at least, his "middle-aged" uncle's wife.  So, even though the inconsistancy of them having him go from this jerk to someone we'd actually care about and cry with bugs me, I do think the change was the right one.

On a related note, more than one fan has suggested that when Vickie traveled back to 1795, that she *actually* went to a PARALLEL 1795 and subsequently returned to the future of that PT 1795.  And as we all know, in 1968, when Barn is cured and Vickie goes back to be w/Peter and we learn of her hanging via David's photograph, I think Barnabas even says to Julia that he remembered Vickie being in the past after all, rather than it being Phyllis Wick.  I tend to agree w/the theory that when Vickie left the present, she went to an alternate universe, not only to the past.  That at least helps me cope w/the plot inconsistancies before that infamous seance.  

It wouldn't have made sense if Gerringer had portrayed Jeremiah especially since Barnabas kept commenting on how much [spoiler]it was Burke and not Woodard who resembled Jeremiah so much.[/spoiler]

As for Anthony George, I liked him better as Jeremiah rather than Burke Devlin.