LornaHansonForbes

I've noticed in later seasons that RAY COLLINS, who plays the inexplicably octagenarian POLICE LIEUTENANT has started to scale back his appearances.

also, TALMAN did not miss all that many episodes of PERRY MASON, his reinstatement happened the same season he was let go.

I was just coming here to talk about this!!! Apparently, there was such an aggressive letter-writing campaign from the viewers asking for WILLIAM TALMAN to be re-instated that the producer GAIL PATRICK JACKSON (yes, the former GAIL PATRICK of STAGE DOOR) was able to convince the network to rehire him...apparently she was a very nurturing Producer and believed in protecting the talent on the show... it maybe also helped that COSTAR WILLIAM HOPPER (aka PAUL DRAKE) was the son of HEDDA HOPPER, and methinks p'raps Mama looked out for her boy when it came to his show getting Good Press. for the record, I kindasorta think TALMAN is maybe the BEST THING about the show- he takes the character of a d1ckhole prosecutor with a track record on par with the Seattle Mariners and really has a ball with it. there was one episode the other day where the lady who went on to play CANDY THE STEWARDESS on THE GOLDEN GIRLS played an addlepated witness on the stand confessing to a murder she did not commit and his FACIAL REACTIONS WERE PRICELESS. TALMAN could have made a smashing comedic actor.

You can tell DAVID SELBY is having a blast playing crazy though.

Good. cause 1995 is ALL THE SHADES OF F-ED UP!!!! If they went back in time just to prevent that pink macramé sweater of Carolyn’s it would be worth it.

Yes, I’m looking forward to 1840...I’m in 1995 right now...

Really, after watching so many episodes the only complaint I have to make about the series is that it had a hard time bringing some of these long running stories (1895, 1970 parallel time, The Leviathons) to a fully satisfying conclusion.

The Leviathan storyline Did not bother me at all, but it had absolutely no resolution. They just launched instantly into the 1970 parallel time...which, by the way, I just finished and DAMN WAS IT DARK!!!!!!!!!!! ...But in so far as I can recall, there really was no resolution to the whole Leviathan story.

a link to the amazon.com page for the new edition of CLUNY BROWN (which is by the same author of THE RESCUERS) https://www.amazon.com/Cluny-Brown-Novel-Margery-Sharp/dp/1504050843/ref=sr_1_3?crid=ZRLP3JDPBTGN&dchild=1&keywords=cluny+brown+book&qid=1630356318&sprefix=cluny+brown%2Caps%2C357&sr=8-3

the 1946 ERNST LUBITSCH MOVIE "CLUNY BROWN" is, and will always be, very close to my shriveled black heart. It literally rescued me from a deep depression. So, a few months ago, I ordered a copy of the novel on which it was based off amazon.com. (NOTE: this is not the edition I read, I read a BRAND NEW REPRINT OF THE BOOK, dated 2021, alas, I could not find a photo of the edition to post.) It was an absolute delight of a book, maybe not quite as good as the film, but it made me respect the job the screenwriter did all the more- he really fleshed out the relationship between the titular character- an independent-minded, pixelated young British orphan who goes into service as a parlor maid at a Devonshire estate and an exiled Polish Professor in the last years before WWII. The screenwriter softened the edges of the Professor a bit, and added more scenes between the two characters- wisely introducing THE PROFESSOR in the first scene of the movie. He also added a hilarious bit where CLUNY is mistaken for a proper guest on first arriving at the estate and is invited to tea with the lady of the manor...but besides that, they are very similar and I was delighted to see that some of the funniest lines are in the book itself (although the famous "nuts to the squirrels" is not.) just like the movie though, the book has one Hell of a touching ending and is LIGHT YEARS ahead of its time on matters of class and a woman trying to "find her place in the world" when the odds are against her, and that very world itself is fast falling apart. Just a delight, and one I highly recommend.

I also recall wondering just why BARNABAS BIT AUNT ABIGAIL in the 1991 revival instead of just snapping her neck. I bet you anything her blood tasted like CLAMATO. Bet it took DAYS just to get the taste out of his mouth!

Yes, I watched the scene (on the original show) where BARNABAS gives her a HEART ATTACK in the cellar of the OLD HOUSE and it was GREAT!!!!

I've been on the lookout for the 1991 revival series, someone told me it was on HULU, and it has a page listed there, but there is no option to watch the show. Same thing for AMAZON PRIME. I'd really like to see it again, IT WAS MY EVERYTHING IN SEVENTH GRADE!!!!!!!

I had forgotten that! I have not forgotten- after all this time- HOW VERY GOOD THE ACTRESS WAS WHO PLAYED HER WAS in the dual role of AUNT ABIGAIL. I WILL NEVER FORGET HOW DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY I WAS WHEN BARNABAS KILLED HER ON THE STEPS! Man she was SUCH a COPPER-PLATED B*****!!!!!!!

YES HE WAS (oops, caps lack) and FRANCES REID of DAYS OF OUR LIVES fame was also in it, A LOT of FAMILIAR FACES have popped up in the dozen or so episodes I've watched- ROBERT REDFORD, BEULAH BONDI, ADAM WEST, JASON EVERS (of THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE)- and that's just who I can recall offhand. for those with digital TVs, IMDB TV is pretty cool, everything is FREE, it doesn't have excessive commercials and there are A LOT of CLASSIC TV SHOWS.

the COLLINWOOD (PARALLEL TIME) KITCHEN:

I have seen neither hide nor hair of MRS. JOHNSON since (as I recall it) BARNABAS went back to 1897, she isn't in the 1970 PARALLEL TIME, "REVERAND TRASK" is THE BUTLER TRASK and "JULIA" is HOFFMAN the MRS. DANVERSESQUE housekeeper.

whew, had to come up for air from the DARK SHADOWS binge-a-thon I've been on for a while. All nine seasons of PERRY MASON are on imdb tv, with waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay fewer commercials than there are on PLUTO (which also shows PERRY MASON re-runs, only you can't choose which ones.) man, TV Producers and writers in the 50s/60s really thought a hell of a lot more of the intelligence of the average viewer than now, these are some LABYRINTHINE, INTRICATE stories that would have, on occasion, I imagine even RAYMOND CHANDLER scratching his head. For "straight" episodes- I recommend THE CASE OF THE NEBULOUS NEPHEW, which has a great twist at the end not related to the ID of the murderer, and THE CASE OF THE DEADLY VERDICT, which guest stars a surprisingly haggard JULIE ADAMS as a woman whose case Perry loses and who goes on death row. but the one I think I enjoyed the most was THE CASE OF CONSTANT DOYLE, which was one of FOUR GUEST STAR EPISODES in SEASON SIX (1963) done for the series when RAYMOND BURR was in the hospital for a month. MISS BETTE DAVIS steps in wearing a mink and a hard-front wig and proceeds to TEAR IT UP as a widowed lady lawyer named CONSTANT DOYLE who is working on a murder case wherein it seems her late husband was involved in a swindle. in all honesty, this episode could have been expanded into a feature film, and it has some wonderful things to say about being a WOMAN LAWYER. Sadly, it did not end up turning into a series of its own, although I would wager there was talk of it at the time.

GRAYSON HALL just strikes me as the sort of person who, the minute she heard the word "CUT!" reached for three unfiltered, extra-slim cigarettes and lit them simultaneously. to paraphrase JEFF FOXWORTHY (which I rarely do)- I bet she did not even remove the cigarette from her lips when telling the State Trooper to "kiss her @ss." one thing that sorta surprised me in watching behind-the-scenes clips of DARK SHADOWS was DAVID SELBY with a cigarette in his hand, but, then again, he was from WEST VIRGINIA, so I guess that's better than chewing tobacco.

I started watching DARK SHADOWS around episode 700, well after Willie's introduction- so I would not know, but I would take BETHLUVSFILMS's word on any and all things DS related.

In episode 1049, We finally see the kitchen at Collinwood. Also Thayer David as Angelique and Alexis’s father was smoking a cigarette a few eps ago (I know somebody was asking the other day if anyone ever smoked on screen in DS)