Barb Lien-Cooper & Park Cooper

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  • Was Angelique SO Wrong? (A Dark Shadows Essay)

    Was Angelique SO Wrong? (A Dark Shadows Essay)

    Time for another essay about the 1966-1971 gothic daytime soap opera Dark Shadows…

    When it comes to the 1795 Dark Shadows storyline, I am a bit of an Angelique apologist, with two huge exceptions:

    1/ What Angelique does to Victoria Winters, the only person who, in the Collins household, offers Angelique friendship, one of the few people who wants to be kind to Angelique, and Angelique frames Vicki for being a witch (instead of herself)! Yes, it was an act of self-preservation on Angelique’s part, but it was still a nasty thing to do.

    2/ What Angelique does to Sarah Collins when Barnabas tells Angelique that he knows that Angelique is a witch. Yeah, I get it, Angelique, you’re angry as heck at Barnabas, but sticking pins in a voodoo doll representing Barnabas’ little sister and then threatening to stick one right in the dolly’s heart? Sorry, that’s a step way, way too far. I was totally on your side before that (I wasn’t all that fond of Vicki, sorry).

    Still… let me tell you why I have more compassion for Angelique than I do for most villains.

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  • Dark Shadows: Anatomy of a Scene #4

    Dark Shadows: Anatomy of a Scene #4

    Okay so here we are with Anatomy of a Scene #4! Today we’re doing the scene from the once-famous gothic daytime TV soap opera Dark Shadows (kind of two scenes, technically, or maybe just one longish one, depending on your point of view) where, in the year 1795, Joshua Collins finds out his son Barnabas is about to marry gorgeous servant girl Angelique instead of Josette DuPrés, who, just a few weeks ago, was the girl everyone (except Angelique, I guess?) thought he was going to marry…

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  • Dark Shadows: Anatomy of a Scene #3

    Dark Shadows: Anatomy of a Scene #3

    Okay so here’s the thing: Barb and I wanted to do another Anatomy of a Scene, because this, to us, is Fun. It is F-U-N, as they said one time on MST3K. But we weren’t sure what Dark Shadows scene really NEEDED us to deep-analyze it. There are certainly other great scenes on Dark Shadows, but we would need another one that (1) NEEDED analysis (so that seemed to exclude scenes with Willie Loomis, because they’re all amazing, but they’re also not as SUBTLE as the scenes we’ve done so far), and also scenes that (2) no one ELSE had already analyzed. There are other amazing scenes in Dark Shadows, but other writers have already done a good job of analyzing some of those.

    Well, we talked about it, and finally realized that what we might need to get into is Barnabas’ relationship with his father—like, say, the first time we see them together.

    As it happens, that moment ALSO happens to be in the same episode where we first get Angelique—just earlier in the episode.

    SO HERE WE GO.

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  • Dark Shadows: Anatomy of a Scene– #2

    Dark Shadows: Anatomy of a Scene– #2

    We’re back, with another installment of our feature Anatomy of a Scene, in which we take a deeper dive into a scene, this time once again from the classic gothic television daytime soap opera Dark Shadows, 1966-1971.

    Okay so remember our first Anatomy of a Scene? The talk that didn’t go well between Angelique and Barnabas in Barnabas’ bedroom? Well Angelique has gotten RIGHT TO WORK and has acquired one of Barnabas’ handkerchiefs and a toy wooden soldier that was his when he was a boy, and she is contemplating some voodoo revenge magic for Barnabas (but the audience doesn’t officially know yet that Angelique can do magic, so let’s try not to get ahead of ourselves!)…

    https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/508877/s04-e39-episode-370

    She’s talking to her new little inanimate friends… ending with the line:

    Angelique: You are all I need… to make him regret what he’s done to me…

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  • Dark Shadows: Anatomy of a Scene #1

    Dark Shadows: Anatomy of a Scene #1

    Okay, so this is going to be a thing we’re calling Anatomy of a Scene–specifically, this is going to be the first time Angelique and Barnabas are seen together alone in episode 368 (sometimes called number 368/369 for network numbering reasons I don’t want to get into right now) of the TV show Dark Shadows, in the 1795 storyline.

    So here’s the set-up:

    –Barnabas is the only son of rich parents, and the year is 1795. The place is the coastal fishing town of Collinsport, Maine—except back then, Maine was considered a part of Massachusetts, and not a state all by itself yet.

    –Josette DuPres is a pretty rich girl of French ancestry, who has been living in Martinique in the Caribbean.

    Now, Barnabas’ dad owns a very prosperous fishing fleet, and Josette’s dad owns a sugar plantation. They would both sort of like it if these kids got married (although Josette has had other suitors in the past who didn’t quite work out, apparently).

    –Josette’s aunt Natalie is the Countess DuPres…

    –And the Countess’ maid is a gorgeous blonde gal named Angelique.

    Reader, Spoiler Alert: Barnabas took a little tour of the Caribbean (he stopped at Barbados, too), and he spent time around Josette. But in those days, young men and women with money were VERY chaperoned, and had to abide by LOTS of rules of being polite and not doing much touching—heck, one hardly ever left such people alone together for five seconds.

    So, Barnabas met Josette, and liked her. Quite a bit, actually, to hear him tell it.

    BUT, he had a self-esteem problem, and didn’t feel like Josette would return his feelings for her—

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  • Barb’s Literary Corner: THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

    Barb’s Literary Corner: THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

    One time Barb got a little obsessed with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Barb answered some online student essay questions.

    MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT: The following Literary Corner involves big ol’ spoilers for the plot of the book and the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

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  • What Really Walks Alone in Hill House?

    What Really Walks Alone in Hill House?

    by Barb Lien-Cooper

    MANY SPOILERS AHEAD (You Have Been Warned)

    I’ve read the novel The Haunting of Hill House five times.

    The first time, as a teenager, I was frightened by the book, but I also felt conned, not by the author, but by the house itself. When I got to the last page, I said: “Poor Eleanor has been duped by Hill House.”

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  • Park and Barb riff the film NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS

    Park and Barb riff the film NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS

    Okay, so, some of you know that Barb and Park’s favorite TV show is the 1966-1971 gothic soap opera DARK SHADOWS. They made two movies about it (and then in 2012, Tim Burton also made a movie connected to it, but we don’t talk about that one). Anyway, some time ago, Barb and I riffed the WHOLE MOVIE (not out loud. It was only out loud at our house).

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  • PARK AND BARB’S PARKTOBER MOVIE MARATHON

    PARK AND BARB’S PARKTOBER MOVIE MARATHON

    Halloween-time is one of our favorite holidays. Barb likes to watch lots of horror movies, more and more as we approach Halloween. This month we started out having trouble finding good things to watch, but then we started doing better and better.

    WE HAVE ALREADY WATCHED, THIS MONTH:

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  • Barb Halloween Update: 10-20-2022

    Barb Halloween Update: 10-20-2022

    I’m listening to Howling Wolf right now, as sometimes, you just need the toughest electric blues possible.

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