That's a fabulous thread, Darren.  Way to go! and of course now i'm more frustrated than ever with the latest releases of the films. Aargh!

If I can think of something civil and eloquent to say, I'll post, but some of the posters, particularly yourself and Richard W, have already said it all much better than I could have.

If James Aubrey really did target Grayson's performance for cuts, that's yet another reason to loathe and detest the man.

Happy Thanksgiving!

G.

Do we know if the cruise is going to be the only event being sponsored by the DS Festival in 2013?

I'm really wondering if this cruise is planned as, perhaps literally, a swan song for the Festival.

G.

Was it an old commercial, Annie?  From what I have heard, Diana is completely retired now.

G.

Hey Quentin, I definitely enjoyed this series.  I posted about it a couple of times but there wasn't much response.  The humor obviously isn't to everybody's taste but I thought it was really quite funny.  There were a couple of misfires but you are quite correct in saying they really know the ins and outs of the series.

I would love to see them do more, but I would guess that after 30 episodes, they all felt ready to move on to other projects.  Who knows, perhaps they'll go back and do more at some point.

Carnabas's lounge lizard look in the final episodes reminded me of Jerry Lewis in the "Nutty Professor" when he transformed into a similar personality--Buddy Love or something was the name?

Lots of fun in-jokes and references to explore in this one.

G.

I haven't been watching, but it does sound like fun.

G.

michael, you needed to fix Tracy with a frigid glare and intone, "Did you EVER stop to think that perhaps you don't belong here?"

(A line Grayson/Carlotta has in the movie, in a scene with Jackson/Tracy)

I still remember a dream I had of being at Collinwood when the show was originally on.  This would have been in the late Sixties.  I remember being very happy to be there but then I started to worry whether "the vampires" would get me...

cheers, G.

michael, the kind of thing you mention was, from what I have been able to figure out over the years, largely controlled not by the writers or producers, but by an office at the network that, if memory serves, bore the name "Standards and Practices."

I've just pulled out my copy of a book entitled "Dark Shadows: the introduction of Barnabas," a fan publication from 1988.  I was fortunate enough to be able to secure a copy when I first found the organized fandom in the early 1990s. (I may even have purchased it at New York's Forbidden Planet!)  On p. 132 there is a photostat (for you youngsters, that's sort of like a scan) of a memo headed ABC Dept. of Broadcast Standards and Practices, Eastern Division--New York.  I don't have the energy to type out the entire text, but the memo seems to imply that the script AND videotape for every episode of DS had to pass review by this office--essentially, an internal censorship board the network ran.  The photostat gives approval, with the proviso that corrections or suggestions as outlined be adopted, for the script, and mentions a screening report that would be issued once "the finished film" had been submitted for review.  (I frankly doubt whether the office had time to screen every episode of DS before it went out for broadcast, particularly on weeks when the schedule got tight between taping and broadcast, but who knows.)

This memo contains the often-quoted notation:  "Please ensure that Jason's wisecracks [to Willie, in a scene at the Old House] about 'light housekeeping' and 'the lady of the house,' as addressed to Willie are delivered so that there is no insinuation that Jason suspects a sexual relationship between Willie and Barnabas."  (One wonders if they were aware that many fans have seen the whole Jason/Willie thing as a thinly veiled sexual "friendship" with what appear to be bondage undertones!)

You can really tell that things have changed with what they were allowed to get away with, with the Yeagar character's Maggie obsession in 1970 and how Yeagar "expressed" it onscreen, and then the most dramatic change of all, when [spoiler]characters played by Jonathan Frid and Lara Parker actually went to bed almost in camera view, in circumstances that imply a rape (or at least some heavy coercion), in the PT1841 sequence.[/spoiler]  I don't know what the status of script review by the S&P office was at that point.

All this notwithstanding, speculation about hanky-panky between various characters is a lot of fun, and I'm enjoying this thread.  I also love it in 1970 when Carolyn informs anyone who cares to listen that "hypocrisy above all is the Collins family motto"--a great moment, in a GREAT storyline *wink*.

Cheers,

GothEEK