Art walked into the writer's room. His mind swirled multiple plot lines like the
cigarette smoke in the air. Ron, Malcolm and Sam were seated at the long table.
They were already arguing.
"Sam, that is not going to work. Why do you keep picking on David Collins
anyway?" asked Malcolm. "Look, he's the kid brother, not Satan."
Sam considered before answering, "Malcolm do you have any younger siblings?
Believe me, sometimes Satan would make less trouble."
"Why don't we have someone from town tell Caroline," suggested Ron.
"It doesn't matter," said Art. "We have to take a different direction. If we don't find
a way to liven up the show, we are dead."
"Sam would have us bring in Satan," Malcolm laughed.
"That might work," teased Ron. "We couldn't get any lower in the ratings. We
could use his help against 'As the World Turns'."
"Come on now. Seriously, what can we do?" asked Art.
"You know, Satan is ridiculous, but what about a ghost? asked Sam. "Collinswood
has generations to pull from. Maybe a visit from the dead would breathe
some life into Dark Shadows."
Ron pushed a few papers back toward the center of the table. "Ouch!" he said
lifting his finger to his mouth. Why do paper cuts bleed so much anyway?
"No, not a ghost, said Malcolm starring at Ron. "A vampire."
"You can't be serious," said Art incredulously.
"Why not? Not a face-covering cape-wearing monstrous vampire,
" Malcolm continued. Let's make him handsome, maybe a little sexy," said Malcolm
with a smile.
"Are you nuts?", asked Art looking at Malcolm. "Why would housewives want
to see vampires?"
"Art, not vampires. One vampire, with a tragic story," chimed in Sam.
Ron dug through the papers cluttering the center of the table. "Hold on," he
he said. "Aha, found it." He pulled out a photo. "Oh, he's it. This guy, Jonathan Frid. He
was supposed to be a love interest for Caroline. Forget that. We can find another
way to bug Elizabeth. Gentleman," Ron paused and held up Frid's headshot,
"our vampire. Look at those eyes." Ron handed the photo to Sam.
"Absolutely," Sam agreed, passing it on to Malcolm.
Art accepted the photo from Malcolm. He studied it and smiled. "This
might work," he said.
"We need a back story. He has to be a Collins," said Malcolm. "He's from the
last century, any further back and he couldn't cope with today's society."
"Late 1800's," Ron jumped in. "He needs a good name, though. One that
rolls off the tongue with Collins."
"I got it, Barnabas... Barnabas Collins," said Art enthusiastically.
"Where did that come from?" asked Sam.
"My niece is having her Confirmation next week. I got her a St. Barnabas medal,"
Art answered.
"You want to name the vampire after a Saint?" questioned Sam.
"Why not?" said Malcolm, "It sounds good: Barnabas Collins."
Sam reached into the papers and pulled out a script page. "We were
going to have Willy Loomis leave town. He's a coward. What would
happen if he stumbled upon the vampire while looking for buried jewels?"
"Barnabas would need somebody to help keep his secret," said Art. "Someone
he could control. As insane as it seems, this is our best shot. We're dead if
we go on as it is. We're probably dead if we run with this. At least, they'll
remember us. Who knows? Maybe a vampire will makes us undead."