Like some others in the room, I got an emotional rush whenever DS music turned up in such things as the DC Frankenstein or Picture of Dorian Gray.  (I did see one of the broadcasts of the Jack Palance Jekyll/Hyde but don't recall the music so perhaps I saw it before I started watching DS--I started the latter in June of '68.)

Part of the emotionality of my response was the fact that DS was totally unavailable in Maryland from the time it went off the air in '71 until the syndication of the 1967 shows (which I of course had never seen the first time around).  I followed the latter on Philadelphia-based UHF station Channel 48 from its inception--as I recall it started around January of '76--and audio taped several episodes.  I was literally breathless with excitement the night Dr. Hoffman first appeared!  You bet your sweet bippy I had that tape recorder going that night!

So, during that period of five years or so, coinciding with a very traumatic period of my adolescence, my favorite TV show was not around.  I would play the old 1969 soundtrack LP, look at my Viewmaster reels, and get out my old magazines from time to time to get my DS fix.

A friend of mine recently watched DC's Picture of Dorian Gray and the music was one of the things that ruined it for him because he found it disconcerting and anachronistic.  I just shrugged and pondered how tastes differ.

cheers, Steve

I've always loved Clarice's reading of Mrs J's reaction to Barnabas' statement that he hails from England:  "Oh, from England!" 

I can just imagine Mrs J glued to the tube years later watching the Charles and Di royal wedding.

It's worth noting that in an interview somewhere or other (I have read so many, I honestly can't recall the source), Jonathan Frid praised Clarice Blackburn and basically said that it was entirely thanks to her solid support that he got through "that first day"!

There's a shot somewhere or other of Barnabas wearing that hat, a publicity shot.  As far as I know, he NEVER donned it again.

I hope my contributions to this thread are suitably "refiined'!

cheers, G.

I watched the final week or so of Jason Maguire episodes at some point last Summer, I think, and I remember very well this scene and being hugely impressed by it.

After it was over, there came some feelings of frustration about how the foreshadowing Jason gives in this sequence about future events in the life of Miss Winters is largely tossed out the window (presumably by executive order of DC).

Still a brilliantly written and, of course, beautifully acted scene.  Dennis Patrick is great as always and we get a taste of how much more Moltke could have done had her role not been dumbed-down with the full onset of the Barnabas years.

G.

MB, or somebody, posted a 1969 or 1970 soap mag interview with Joel in which he discussed his departure from DS in a fairly frank way.

He also revealed that he had written several episodes of the show, which I found quite fascinating.  I've never seen this mentioned in any other publication, which seems kind of sad.

Clarice Blackburn went on to become a fairly well-known writer for soaps, and it sounds as if Joel Crothers had that potential as well.  I have never heard whether he did any further writing in his later career?

I do LOVE Joel's thesping in his final episode as Joe.  It's so deliciously over-the-top!

G.

Hi Midnite, It is Leviathan period and if it is the one I am thinking of, it was just up on the slide show; it looks like a shot from the episode where the Leviathan box is delivered to Julia and Chris' arrival helps keep her from opening it.

Another possibility is the episode where Sabrina gets her dye job; he smiled really brilliantly in his scene with her.

I am 99 percent sure he never wore that coat in any of the '68-'69 shows--it turned up during Leviathan.

Not that I'm obsessed with Briscoe or anything... *snrk*

G.

Yeah, well, since I cut my hair, the camouflage is well and truly lacquered solid.  A friend actually had the impudence to turn to me the other day and say, "Darling, you've gone quite Republican."

It was only because I had inexplicably misplaced my Destructo button that she is still among the living.

cheers, G.

This isn't my favorite line, but I thought of it recently because it's such a delicious verbal put-down of Angelique.  In 1897, Laura tells Ang:  "You may be succeeding as a ... whatever you are ... but it doesn't hide the fact that you're a failure... AS A WOMAN."  This is followed by the two women swearing to destroy one another.

Just delicious stuff.

G.

What a cool idea--and how delicious to have refined discussions about the shows!  I'm willing to give it a shot.

As for SoapNet, the people I know who are into current television (as I think I have mentioned before, I've officially given up on it, although I just started watching a newish show called Life on Mars that a friend was kind enough to send me on videotape) all have TiVo, one of the forces pushing the VCR into the graveyard of the dinosaurs.  Knowing that they pour hundreds of dollars per month into the tube makes me feel almost virtuous when I occasionally buy a beloved series on DVD.

cheers, G.