I praise Christopher Bernau’s work on The Guiding Light, where he spent his time imitating Jonathan Frid, and lament his work on Dark Shadows, where he spent his time imitating Jack Benny.
Tag: jonathan frid
Episode 947: A Helping Hound
Why Jonathan Frid’s acting style and Malcolm Marmorstein’s writing were uniquely suited for each other.
Episode 1020: To Serve Man
Two comments from me this time. In the one linked above, I praise Elizabeth Eis and Kathryn Leigh Scott for playing romantic scenes so effectively that they make Jonathan Frid seem sexy. In the second, I point out that the television set in Buffie’s room is the first one we’ve seen in the entire series, and suggest that the lingering closeup it gets here is a sign of Buffie’s desperate loneliness.
Episode 1043: The Heat Death of the Universe
I express delight with an especially hilarious bit of unintentional comedy.
Episode 1066: This Is How We Do It
In which I wonder what it might have been like if Dan Curtis had had his way and Bert Convy, rather than Jonathan Frid, had played Barnabas Collins. I then try to imagine Jonathan Frid in Convy’s place as host of Tattletales.
Episode 1077: The Scent of Lilacs
Did Carolyn remember her time as Barnabas’ blood-slave? Nancy Barrett seemed to have one idea, the writers another.
Episode 1082: You Don’t Have to Put on the Red Light
Jonathan Frid’s single funniest line.
Episode 1090: Today’s Ten Things That Make No Sense
Sebastian Shaw’s terrible clothes, Julia Hoffman’s ridiculous bossiness, and Barnabas Collins’ apparent sincerity.
Episode 1091: You, the Living
In which I point out that Dark Shadows has kept a key plot point ambiguous for two and a half years, and lament the fact that, in this week of episodes, they resolved that ambiguity in favor of a narrative dead-end.
Episode 1114: The Unshakeable
How Barnabas found his soullessness-mate.
Dark Shadows Commentary 