The ratings were going up when the cancellation was announced.

As I have said before, it's my opinion that the plug was pulled because DC no longer wanted to do the show (and I personally think others wanted out as well).  I know this will never be proven, but it's really the only thing that makes any sense.  Particularly when you consider that the new movie started shooting roughly one week after the final episode was taped.  That just seems like too much of a coincidence not to have had the involvement of the production team.

G.

Darling MB,

Darren is showing NoDS clips at Tarrytown next year???

Gods, I just *may* have to attend--even though the Roger Davis alert is set to a truly terrifying ORANGE level.

My Mom also hated DS, but she grew to hate it long before the movie ever came out.  It was the same as what others have reported--every time she saw the show, there was something really gruesome going on.  Mom still has a lot of sensitivity towards violence.  A couple of years back, my Dad and I were watching a TV broadcast of the restored Spartacus, and after a bit she asked if we could turn it off, because it was so violent and it was upsetting her (I think she actually retired to her bedroom at this point).  I was surprised, given how stylised and balletic the violence in that film was compared to what's done in routine police dramas today.

Mom actually banned me from watching DS back in 1969, and watching it in secret was the first real act of parental rebellion I can remember.  I was a real goody-two-shoes as a child... the nastiness was festering beneath the surface of course... heh heh...

G.

As regards the symbol in the Astrological Font, which I finally got around to examining today, it's the old alchemical symbol for Earth.  A symbol similar to it is also used to represent the Earth sephira (Malkuth) on the Tree of Life in Qabalah.

Why it was adopted for use as a prop for the Judah Zachary character on DS, I have not a clue.

Perhaps it was meant to be a relic of the Happy Meal of Baal???

G.

IIRC, there were a couple of unresolved storylines at the end of 1897. The ultimate fates of Magda, Count Petofi, Edward, and Charity were never resolved.  It may have been that there were thoughts about doing a follow-up story further down the road with some of these characters.

I remember a charming interview Grayson did late in 1970 in which she was talking about Magda, her favorite character, and said something along the lines of "I insisted my gypsy girl stay alive."  It was implied that she might be given the chance to play her again.  Barrett got to reprise the "Pansity" persona with Letitia, and I've often wondered whether Grayson might have played a Magda-type character in 1840 had Julia not become so popular at that point.

I find the pacing of the final weeks of the 1840 story to be very dodgy.  Both Barnabas and Julia are absent for some weeks running (I know in the case of Grayson she had an unexpected furlough when her father-in-law died).  The spellcasting sequences with Gerard and Daphne are vacuous and repetitive, and so is a lot of the material involving other characters who are around.

I think one of the biggest surprises is how a certain storyline involving Samantha plays out--despite a string of botched scenes leading up to it, the denouement is really quite satisfying.

G.

She was adding to that Satanist edge of the 1840 storyline.

I know that every time I hear that evil wail, "HUUUU--- ARRRRE--- YUUUUU???" I feel the Powers of Darkness rising.

Carrie was DS' very own screaming banshee.  Just think about it--every appearance of Carrie heralds some ghastly fate suffered by one of the characters.

looping the loop, G.

Gerard, Fran Drescher as Angelique is indeed horrifying.  Especially in her Cassandra mode.  Can't you just see Ms. D screeching at Sam Evans' ghost: "YOU ... WILL ... KNOW ... NO ... REST!!"

I think *I'm* the one who needs help.  I live with a Smallville addict, and so help me Goddess, I keep picturing Tom Welling as Barnabas Collins and Kristin Kreuk as Vicki Winters.

where's the dramamine when you need it???

thankfully, I'm quite sure it will die in development.

G.

I'm sure that the Bedford named in those 1840 episodes was meant to be a Maine town or village near C'port.  Julia travels there and back within the space of an afternoon and evening, so I sort of imagine it being right next to C'port--perhaps on the other side from where they situate Rockport, a neighboring town of which we do hear quite a bit over the years.

I don't have a map of Maine handy, so can't tell whether there are actual towns that bear the names Rockport and Bedford in Maine. We have both here in Mass.  The town names tend to repeat through the New England states--Salem, Plymouth, etc.  You get the drill.

G.

Anybody got anything?  I'm dying here.

I'll settle for a screen capture from Don Briscoe's shower soap commercial.

It's been TOO LONG since we have enjoyed the glorious sight of Briscoe in the daily montages!!

TTFN,  Steve