Wow, doombuggy, you're so lucky to have Grayson and Nancy's work from OLTL in 1982 on tape.  I've seen Grayson's first two episodes on that show--marvelous role for her.  I've never seen any of Nancy's work from that period, alas.

It's claimed in one of the KLS published Pom Press DS books that there *was* one scene on OLTL in which the characters portrayed by Grayson, Nancy, and Tony George met.  Supposedly, the dialogue in the scene revolved around how long it had been since the characters had met!

As I'm sure you've heard, Tony George was a good friend of Grayson's and Sam's. When Grayson started appearing on OLTL, Tony kept joking that he wanted Sam to write a romance storyline for his character and Grayson's!

I never knew about the fire for the original OLTL credits being filmed on the set of DS.  That's fascinating.

Steve

Happy birthday, dear!  I want a chorus-line of kittens to parade around your bed and meow you a Happy Birthday chorale.

Many happy returns, Steve

After reading KLS' diary from her experience making the first DS film, I have to wonder whether having to suffer through this storyline was how DC paid her back for her comments on his plans to have her new love interest on the show portrayed by Roger Davis (who played Maggie's boyfriend in the movie, but not on the series).

It all puts a new spin on KLS' decision to move to Paris shortly after this storyline!

G.

Angelique of our own time band certainly had her fair share of incompetence.  The Dream Curse, apart from being poorly realized by the budget-strapped production crew, was unbelievably clunky and flaw-ridden.  As a junior witch, that whole fiasco she perpetrated with the ghost of Jeremiah was simply laughable.  It bothered me last Spring when I was watching 1795 and the writers simply DROPPED that whole storyline.  There was no explanation at all as to why the ghost stopped haunting Angelique--I got the feeling that DC simply got bored with it.

There were a lot of other instances in which poor judgement or sheer stupidity got her into trouble.  The way she handled Joe Haskell when she was a vampire wasn't just cruel; it was really quite boneheaded.  If she wanted him dead, she should have just done the job herself.

This kind of thing is why the insistence of so many fan writers upon depicting Angelique as "SuperWitch" used to drive me crazy back when I was still reading DS fanfic.  Even in 1840, Angelique didn't use her powers very expertly, when supposedly she had been wandering the world for 45 years and should have had the chance to work out the kinks.  I suspect her of having been one of those Witches so desperately convinced of her own innate superiority, she never bothered with magickal homework or the kind of exercises most Witches do to keep themselves on their toes.

G.

Hi John, this was an actor who played the guy from whom John Yeagar rented some property.  I can't figure out whether the episode has been screened yet on Sci Fi so I won't say more right now.  If no one else bothers to post the actor's name, I'll make a point to look it up when I get home tonight and post it here tomorrow.

I thought he was cute, and, judging from the tight trousers he was wearing, well endowed. Unfortunately he didn't have much to do on this one episode.

Gothick who's wondering when the detritus from Witch Switch week is going to get cleaned up here

Well, the arrival of Mrs. Maggie Collins' studio portrait from Paris (in a box that looks like it came from a Coney Island stall) certainly tells one a lot about the taste (?) of her husband.  I've seen far better efforts by a 6th grader armed with a decent assortment of crayola crayons.

We need a poll for worst portrait on Dark Shadows.  It might be a toss-up between this one and the original Charles Delaware Tate portrait of Quentin, which made one of the most attractive men on Earth look as if he were dying of dyspepsia and sunburn.

For best portrait, I'd probably vote for Sam's sketch of Betty Hanscombe.  The portrait of aged Quentin is a fun example of a very particular genre.

any other thoughts?

Gothick

Thanks, Midnite, for that tip.  I just LOVE the screen capture of Grayson and Louis together on the July page!  What a treat. This is one of my favorite scenes, and this image beautifully captures two of the characters who make this storyline so memorable for me.  I just watched this scene a couple nights ago.

I remember well a few years ago that I wrote a short review of Louis' brilliant thesping in the role of PT Roger Collins.  Guy Haines was kind enough to make a printout of the review and show it to Louis.  Imagine my delight a few weeks later when a copy of the printout arrived with a short, handwritten note from Louis himself thanking me for my kind interest in his work!

Louis Edmonds was a true gentleman, and I still miss him.  He always brought a special quality to the annual Dark Shadows gatherings.

Gothick

I agree that an onscreen scene of Barnabas nuzzling Will's neck would have been VERY hot ... hmmmmm....  but it's HIGHLY unlikely that anything like that would have been shown on network TV at this time (1970), though just a few years after this those of us with Public TV got to see Ian McKellen performing a very sensuous kiss with another man in a BBC production on Edward II (that I really wish would come out on home VHS).

If you have Kathy Resch's 1967 concordance, you'll have seen the letter from ABC's standards and practices office about some sarcastic dialogue given to Jason Macguire in a scene with Willie during the early Barnabas storyline.  Apparently, s & p were worried that Jason's crack about Willie's light housekeeping duties would be seen as an inference that Willie and Barnabas were in a gay relationship!

And some people think we go overboard when we talk about homophobia as a mental disease!  ::sigh::

Gothick