It's just such a different experience watching the show on home video or DVD as opposed to viewing it, either back in the day of you are of "the Ancient Blood" (that phrase never ceases to amuse me), or in local UHF syndication in the Seventies, or on PBS in the 80s, or on Sci Fi in the 90s.

I'm strongly in favor of fans re-evaluating stories that have been labelled as failures ever since the 1960s because the ratings dropped or fans complained or whatever.

I recall during the original b'cast being intrigued by Parallel Time because its premise really set it apart from anything the series had done before.  Sy Tomashoff did a fabulous job making the sets look different, I think a couple of new cues were introduced by Bob Cobert, and Liz was even seen briefly wearing dowdy clothing!

I did not get to see any of Parallel Time again until I was in my mid-30s and the VHS tapes had been released.  But I had read about it in KLS' book, My Scrapbook Memories of DS, and was very excited by what she said about it in there.

And to Barnabas Jr, [spoiler]I always thought it was Quentin who killed Stella--but I can't remember exactly which bits of dialogue made me think that.  One reason may have been that the murder mystery as left hanging because David Selby's hospitalization in March of '71 meant that Quentin dropped out of sight for the last couple of weeks of the show.[/spoiler]

G.

The annual 20 percent sale at DeepDiscount.com is on.  This means you can get DS DVD sets there for around $35 each, I believe--maybe less!

The code that has been posted on the site I saw this on was DVDTALK.  Other codes are probably out there to use as well--maybe DVDUSA.  Check it out.

G.

MSC, the gay bookstore in Boston (Calamus Books) had the Superstar in a Housedress book/DVD on sale about a week ago when I was last in there.  Did you try the Strand?  (You can look on their website, apparently, to find out if a particular title is actually in the store.)  I don't know whether the Oscar Wilde Bookstore on Christopher Street is still open--if so, I would think they would definitely carry it.

One of the funniest (unintentionally so) Holly Woodlawn moments, as far as I am concerned at least, is in the documentary about Quentin Crisp, Resident Alien, where Felicity Mason, a very dowageresque English lady who comes across as a female drag queen, burbles about Miss Woodlawn--"Holly is such a dear, sweet girl!  such talent!  and you know, she has the most marvelous skin!"  Juxtaposed with scenes from Woodlawn's ca. 1988 cabaret act, these comments come across as a total hoot!

I'm still convinced that Erica Fitz, who played "Leona Eltridge" in two episodes of the 1968 storyline, was one of the female impersonators glimpsed in the infamous 1967 documentary The Queen (another unforgettable relic of the Sixties).

G.

Julia darling, you know I *LIVE* for these tales!  Thanks so much for sharing!

I'm just thinking of Grayson at a party introducing Candy and saying "She's Candy Darling ... darling!" and grinning ear to ear. 

xo Steve

Hey Sandor, Happy Birthday!  May the occasion have all the appropriate royal splendour!

cheers, G.

My first viewing of NoDS was on the CBS Late Movie in the early 1970s.  The network piled on additional cuts that left the movie even less  coherent than Sam and Dan's enforced 48-hour guerilla cut at the behest of the studio execs had done.  In the 1990s, I was able to see it again and this time, I fell in love with it.  Apart from Kate Jackson who just doesn't do much for me as Tracy (apologies to KJ fans), there are wonderful moments for each of the main players (Nancy Barrett should have been given a bit more to do, though).

My regard for the movie ascended to a completely new level after I was able to see the black and white screening of the seance sequence footage at a DS Festival.  (I forget the technical reasons why the footage was screened in monochrome--Darren Gross stated as part of his fascinating presentation that the full color print does exist and, if there's ever a restoration, will appear on the DVD.)  That sequence just may be Dan Curtis' finest moment as a director, in my not-so-humble-opinion.

Another regret connected with this project that came to me when I watched a Michael Stroka interview on one of the DVD sets recently:  Michael was slated to play a flamboyant antiques dealer in Collinsport in the movie, but his scenes were cut before shooting even began. 

G.

I agree with Brandon about the rushing of the 1790 story.  One reason for it that I had also read about, which I know most fans here are well aware of, is that the NBC suits demanded that the 1790 episodes include segments that showed what was happening in 1990, I suppose on the theory that otherwise, viewers would forget that the main story was set in the present day!  This resulted in the 1790 storyline being even MORE compressed than might otherwise have been the case.

G.