At last, I've finally made a page for one of my long-loved TV favorites. I'd resisted the impulse to do so prior to this since I didn't feel I had anything new to add to the "canon," so to speak. But then I've never thought my webpage was a particularly groundbreaking thing, more my own scrapbook that didn't involve glue and scissors since those can get messy. As such, "Beauty and the Beast" should have a place on this page if for no other reason than it is a part of my life and it might help clue in any of you who wandered over here from JABB. Also, the TV show is what launched my fascination with the ancient story so I thought it only right it deserved a mention along with the books and movies I have listed on the other page.

"Beauty and the Beast" aired for 2.5 seasons, ranging from my 5th year to age 7. My Mom used to watch it and I only have a couple memories of that time. The first is sitting around some family friends' house waiting for our tie-dying efforts to pay off (gotta love the 80s!). "Beauty and the Beast" was on and my Mom and the other mom were watching it and discussing what Vincent "was." I have no idea what, if any, conclusion they came to. Sometime later I remember watching "Saturday Night Live" from the top bunk of my room. It was during the "Weekend Update" skit and the anchor made some joke about Vincent and the actor who played him, Ron Perlman. All I remember is that it apparently made me angry enough to launch a stuffed animal at the anchor.

:-) That's all I remember of the time the show first aired.

I can't remember much of anything else until I was graduating from grade school. The 8th graders got a couple weeks off at the end of the semester that the rest of the grades didn't, presumably to make graduation party preparations. That was probably what most of my friends did. Me? I spent that time camped out in front of the living room TV watching Vincent mourn for Catherine on the Sci-Fi channel. (Third season just happened to be what was playing, I'm not a huge fan of it.) I believe my schedule looked something like this:

8:30 AM- Wake up

9:00 AM- Watch "Beauty and the Beast" and cry

10:00 AM- Watch old videos of myself with old classmates and cry

12:00 PM- Realize the morning's behavior was borderline psychotic and liven up

Then Sci-Fi started replaying the series from the start and I started behaving in a more healthy manner. About this time I decided reading Dickens and quoting Shakespeare was very cool. Vincent managed to do what my Grandma had tried to do for some time: get me to read the classics. I credit him for a fair share of my success in my Literature and History classes freshman year of high school. But it was still a stressful year and for some time I felt very lost. I had dreams about running away to the Tunnels because I just wasn't making friends. Since that was impossible I settled for Plan Two: recreate my childhood. I began collecting all sorts of variations of the "Beauty and the Beast" story. After several years I was reading fairy tales again! Even better towards the end of freshman year I had formed some solid friendships. I was comfortable in the real world again and Vincent somehow fell into my memories joining Rainbow Brite, The Wizard of Oz, and company.

"Beauty and the Beast" would pop back into my mind every so often. Like when we'd read "The Lady of Shalott" in junior year Brit Lit or when I'd go see "Shakespeare on the Green." Then sometime during my freshman year of college the dreams came back of tunnels and Vincent. During that year my friendships from high school had started to crumble and schoolwork made increasingly less sense. By this time I had the Internet and if anything feeds a weak obsession, it's the Internet! I happened upon a site that listed all the books quoted in "Beauty and the Beast." I printed that right off and made it my goal to find all the books that were still in print! I was watching episodes again and even when life started to look a little better, I still kept watching and reading and apparently making a webpage.

It's a tad annoying to be the only one among my friends to remember the show and to be teased by my brother about "Vincent the Cat Man" but I'm glad I've watched the show. If the show's made me a hopeless romantic who's obsessed with used bookstores then there are worse things I could be!