I think they had a whole arc for Rachel planned that never got off the ground because KLS decided to take an extended vacation from the show (I think it was the safari in Africa thing) for several months.  So the character and her storyline came to an abrupt end.  I do agree that Rachel is probably the least satisfactory of all the KLS characters.  She just seems to have "helpless victim" tattooed on her forehead.

The only really good scenes with Rachel, from a dramatic point of view, are the ones with Trask.  I practically squirm watching them because Lacy's depravity is so palpable, it's like something icky between dropped down the back of your neck to watch him with KLS in those scenes.  Eventually the Rachel character does show some backbone in her scenes with Trask.

There are a couple of hints in the final weeks of the 1969 Quentin's haunting storyline (before 1897) as to where they were planning to go with Rachel's storyline, but only hints.

G.

MB luv, thanks so much for posting those images again.  I just love all of them, but to my taste, the one of Thayer and Grayson takes the palm--those two together on screen are magic!

G.

Personally, I love all the wild and woolly antics of the 1897/Count Petofi storyline.  I think a lot of the credit for how good it was goes not only to Thayer David and the rest of the cast, but to Violet Welles who seems to have had the knack of using the supernatural intelligently in a television screenplay.  She wrote all the best 1897 episodes in my not-so-humble opinion.

As for Kitty, I think she's much more interesting in her original persona.  I find the whole Josette-rediviva thing a snooze-fest, although I agree that KLS and Frid had a wonderful chemistry together.  I just find the chance the original Kitty character gave KLS to show that she knew how to do more than just fall apart onscreen to have created some of her finest moments on the series.  Once Josie starts seriously taking over, that comes to an end.

I guess we all find personal strengths and weaknesses, favorites and not-so-favorites, in watching this extraordinary series.

G.

I swear, I look at that picture of Clarice, and all I hear is "I'll GET you, my pretty--and your little DOG, too!"

G.

Thanks for sharing those thoughts, Buzz.  You and I are in agreement about the 1991 series (although I still think it deserves better the treatment being meted out to it in the forthcoming DVD release), so your comments make me all the more curious about the 2004 pilot.  Of course, it is highly unlikely I will ever see the latter, but those are the breaks in that tough town called Holly Wood! *cackles*

G.

mscbryk (I know it's none of my business, but is your handle some sort of acronym?), I absolutely agree about Clarice's fab performance in episode 69!  And that's a great snap of her with Burke on the front of the site today.

Like Roger, it's really sad about how watered-down Mrs J's character became in the later years.  I can see the original Mrs J giving the ghost of Quentin Collins a good salty piece of her mind if he had tried to pull the tricks on her that he did in those 1969 episodes!

G.

Well, I'm sure I'm not the only "ancient blood" fan (as those of us who watched DS during its original broadcast are sometimes known) to recall vividly an encounter between Mama Cowsill and Jonathan Frid on the briefly popular evening series The Generation Gap. (An episode of this program featuring David Henesy and his Mom was shown at a DS Festival a few years back.)  Frid appeared in full Barnabas regalia surrounded by masses of dry-ice induced "ground fog" in a stunt on the show. Mama C correctly identified him as Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows.  I remember noting her New England accent and being charmed.

I hope Barry shows up soon.  If it's any consolation, just last week I saw a friend of mine who had moved to NOLA and just returned to Mass.  He'd stayed on 9 days after the Katrina disaster in an apartment he said was on the edge of the French Quarter.

G.

Hands down, the Cassandra slap.

I still remember my jaw dropping back in '68...

G.