Dark Shadows - General Discussion

[Jan Spears]

On ‎6‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 5:27 PM, peacheslatour said:

Read what Danny Horn says:

At its core, Dark Shadows is actually the story of an over-worked, under-resourced team of lunatics who spend five years desperately struggling to make a daily television show.

Nancy Barrett would agree with him. In Kathryn Leigh Scott's second book, The Dark Shadows Companion (1990), Barrett had this to say:

"Frankly, I was getting tired of Dark Shadows. I've always had ambivalent feelings about it. It was too ambitious. When it was good, it was brilliant. But we had some real disaster days when everything went bad -- from costumes to hair, lines to sets. Too much was required in a medium where getting shows on quickly is of the essence. It was too involved technically and too exhausting physically. Too much was asked of people -- technicians, writers, actors -- for a half-hour show. If it had been about 25% less ambitious, it could have been great. And it might still be on the air."

[azshadowwalker]

Lots of excuses for the shitty behavior of men. Like I said, I don't buy it. Shitty men are shitty men, no matter what excuses their society gives them. There is a reason that women started to fight back against this kind of behavior. It was always wrong. If they just threw their hands up and made excuses, nothing would ever change. 

[azshadowwalker]

I like the pre-Barnabas episodes. I liked the conflict between Liz, Roger and Burke. I liked Matthew. It was much more gothic, less supernatural and monster movie. That was compelling to me, because I liked gothic novels at one time. 

[peacheslatour]

10 hours ago, azshadowwalker said:

I like the pre-Barnabas episodes. I liked the conflict between Liz, Roger and Burke. I liked Matthew. It was much more gothic, less supernatural and monster movie. That was compelling to me, because I liked gothic novels at one time. 

I totally get this. I too was/am a gothic novel fan. When Dark Shadows came out I was in my Victoria Holt phase. The house by the sea was a staple, it's still my happy place.

[Jan Spears]

On ‎6‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 12:28 PM, JAYJAY1979 said:

and the focus on just a few characters at the expense of everyone (Barnbas, Quentin, Angelique... other characters became cardboard and weren't developed after the first year or so).

I finished watching the Parallel Time storyline yesterday - 48 years to the day from when the last episode of the storyline aired (July 17, 1970). I kept a running tally of character appearances from the first Parallel Time episode (969) to the last (1060). That tally really hit home for me how overused certain characters were:

Actor/Character(s)/# of Appearances

Lara Parker (Alexis Stokes/Angelique Stokes Collins) - 57

David Selby (Quentin Collins) - 51

Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins) - 47*

Grayson Hall (Hoffman/Dr, Julia Hoffman) - 39*

Chris Pennock (Dr. Cyrus Longworth/John Yaeger) - 39

Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans Collins) - 38*

*These numbers are all the more extraordinary when you consider that Frid, Hall and Scott were absent from the show for six weeks while they were filming House of Dark Shadows.

No other actor had more than 20 appearances. (Joan Bennett came in seventh with 19.)

[Tress]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 11:24 AM, peacheslatour said:

She was a ghost, she would just walk through the walls.

I have laughed so much over this !  'This thread is a blast - even if we only post once a year - LOL

[ByaNose]

I’m currently watching the 1795 storyline. Roger Davis just showed up. I had always heard and read about the 1795 storyline but I was always under the impression that they went back and forth between both times. I had no idea that they were in 1795 alone. It was such a great idea. The actors got to play different characters (except for Moltke) and, got to dress in period pieces. I do have one question though. Is it true 1795 went on much longer then projected? Is it true TPTB didn’t know 1795 would enthrall viewers and kept it going? Also, it’s great watching a soap without commercials. It’s so seemelss without them. 

[peacheslatour]

13 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I’m currently watching the 1795 storyline. Roger Davis just showed up. I had always heard and read about the 1795 storyline but I was always under the impression that they went back and forth between both times. I had no idea that they were in 1795 alone. It was such a great idea. The actors got to play different characters (except for Moltke) and, got to dress in period pieces. I do have one question though. Is it true 1795 went on much longer then projected? Is it true TPTB didn’t know 1795 would enthrall viewers and kept it going? Also, it’s great watching a soap without commercials. It’s so seemelss without them. 

I don't know if they planned on it lasting that long but I do know that later on they do go back and forth. At least Barnabas and Peter/Jeff do.

[Jan Spears]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 10:59 PM, ByaNose said:

I do have one question though. Is it true 1795 went on much longer then projected? Is it true TPTB didn’t know 1795 would enthrall viewers and kept it going?

I've never read anything stating that Dan Curtis and the production and writing staffs kept the 1795 storyline going longer than initially projected. 1795 is very "tight" in terms of its tremendous forward progression. There aren't many discursions from the Barnabas/Josette/Angelique triangle and Vicky's experiences in the past.

1897 is the storyline where all concerned may have kept the storyline going a lot longer than anticipated due to the tremendous ratings success. The 1897 storyline went on for a long time -- 8 1/2 months in 1969. (It's even longer when the introduction of Quentin and Beth and the haunting of Collinwood in 1968-69 are factored in.) Personally, I think 1897 lasted too long. I always lose track of why Barnabas projected his spirit into the past by the time the storyline concludes in November 1969.

[ByaNose]

1 minute ago, Jan Spears said:

I've never read anything stating that Dan Curtis and the production and writing staffs kept the 1795 storyline going longer than initially projected. 1795 is very "tight" in terms of its tremendous forward progression. There aren't many discursions from the Barnabas/Josette/Angelique triangle and Vicky's experiences in the past.

1897 is the storyline where all concerned may have kept the storyline going a lot longer than anticipated due to the tremendous ratings success. The 1897 storyline went on for a long time -- 8 1/2 months in 1969. (It's even longer when the introduction of Quentin and Beth and the haunting of Collinwood in 1968-69 are factored in.) Personally, I think 1897 lasted too long. I always lose track of why Barnabas projected his spirit into the past by the time the storyline concludes in November 1969.

I’m 53 & I don’t even think I knew about 1897. At least, it will be new to me. I might have been confusing the two storylines on the length of time. I know I read somewhere that one of them went longer then initially anticipated. It’s been great catching up. It rained all day Saturday in Philadelphia so it was a Dark Shadows binge day. 

[peacheslatour]

27 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

I’m 53 & I don’t even think I knew about 1897. At least, it will be new to me. I might have been confusing the two storylines on the length of time. I know I read somewhere that one of them went longer then initially anticipated. It’s been great catching up. It rained all day Saturday in Philadelphia so it was a Dark Shadows binge day. 

Oh, perfect!

[Jan Spears]

12 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I’m 53 & I don’t even think I knew about 1897. At least, it will be new to me.

You're in for a treat if you keep watching. Over the 5 year course of the show, there were 5 great time travel storylines:

1795 (1967-68) -- A séance at Collinwood hurls Vicky back in time.

1897 (1969) -- Barnabas projects his spirit into his body in 1897 to find out why the ghost of Quentin Collins is haunting Collinwood in the future.

Parallel Time (1970) -- Barnabas discovers a room in the deserted East Wing of Collinwood which is a portal to an alternate Collinwood. He manages to cross over to this world.

1995 (1970) -- Barnabas and Julia are unexpectedly thrown into the future via the Parallel Time room.

1840 (1970-71) -- Julia uses a mysterious stairway through time in the West Wing of Collinwood to travel to 1840. 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Jan Spears

[hypnotoad]

I started watching this show on Hulu but that started with the Barnabas stuff. Now I see Amazon Prime has the show from the beginning ... so here I am watching at the very start! I'm only about 10 minutes in and already this show is 1000 times better than any soap remaining on the air today. The mysterious music is cracking me up though!!

Edited July 25, 2018 by hypnotoad

[peacheslatour]

12 hours ago, hypnotoad said:

I started watching this show on Hulu but that started with the Barnabas stuff. Now I see Amazon Prime has the show from the beginning ... so here I am watching at the very start! I'm only about 10 minutes in and already this show is 1000 times better than any soap remaining on the air today. The mysterious music is cracking me up though!!

Isn't it great? They were doing special effects on a half hour soap that other tv shows wouldn't do until years later. And the sets! That's what happens when a bunch of crazy New York theater people get together and make magic at 4:00 in the afternoon 5 days  a week.

[TheLovelyAnomaly]

On 7/16/2018 at 12:30 AM, azshadowwalker said:

Lots of excuses for the shitty behavior of men. Like I said, I don't buy it. Shitty men are shitty men, no matter what excuses their society gives them. There is a reason that women started to fight back against this kind of behavior. It was always wrong. If they just threw their hands up and made excuses, nothing would ever change. 

No one is making excuses. Nowhere did anyone say Barnabas'--or any man's--shitty behavior was okay. All anyone did was put it in historical context. Whether you like Barnabas or not (that is beside the point), his attitudes and actions are, in general, consistent with wealthy men of his time period.

As a side note, on the topic of shitty behavior, let's say that Barnabas did kick Angelique to the curb once the rich girl became available (which is just an assumption since we don't know the details of Barnabas' and Angelique's relationship). Does that excuse what she did to little Sarah, magically causing her pain to manipulate Barnabas into marrying her? Does that excuse her enslaving Ben? Does that excuse her putting a spell on Josette and Jeremiah? What did any of these people do to her? It's one thing to sympathize with Angelique (and being a person who can understand someone's behavior while not agreeing with it, I am one of those people), but I definitely wouldn't call her innocent either.    

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 11:59 PM, ByaNose said:

I’m currently watching the 1795 storyline. Roger Davis just showed up. I had always heard and read about the 1795 storyline but I was always under the impression that they went back and forth between both times. I had no idea that they were in 1795 alone. It was such a great idea. The actors got to play different characters (except for Moltke) and, got to dress in period pieces. I do have one question though. Is it true 1795 went on much longer then projected? Is it true TPTB didn’t know 1795 would enthrall viewers and kept it going? Also, it’s great watching a soap without commercials. It’s so seemelss without them. 

I don't recall the 1795 storyline being extended either, but I am pretty they did that for the 1897 one, considered the high point of the series.

[Tom Holmberg]

"Master of Dark Shadows" a documentary about the show:

[peacheslatour]

3 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

"Master of Dark Shadows" a documentary about the show:

That looks fabulous! When is it coming to theaters?

[Tom Holmberg]

23 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

When is it coming to theaters?

There's a release date of April 16, but whether this will go into wide release or play at festivals or go to streaming etc., it doesn't say on IMDB. It would be nice if PBS would pick it up, or even TCM.

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

There's a release date of April 16, but whether this will go into wide release or play at festivals or go to streaming etc., it doesn't say on IMDB. It would be nice if PBS would pick it up, or even TCM.

Oh, that would be awesome. That was how we got to see Won't You Be My Neighbor without having to see it in theaters.

[Tom Holmberg]

On ‎3‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 5:20 PM, peacheslatour said:

That was how we got to see Won't You Be My Neighbor without having to see it in theaters.

Apparently the documentary is now available for purchase on DVD.  

[annzeepark914]

On 7/25/2018 at 11:32 AM, peacheslatour said:

Isn't it great? They were doing special effects on a half hour soap that other tv shows wouldn't do until years later. And the sets! That's what happens when a bunch of crazy New York theater people get together and make magic at 4:00 in the afternoon 5 days  a week.

And wasn't there always thunder & lightning? I can still hear the music for the opening credits. 

[peacheslatour]

14 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

And wasn't there always thunder & lightning? I can still hear the music for the opening credits. 

And the waves crashing on the cliffs. I lived in a lakefront village at the time and when we had stormy weather the waves would crash against the retaining rock walls and I would imagine I was at Collinwood.

[HighMaintenance]

Amazon prime has most if not all of the Dark Shadows episodes.  Last weekend, I was browsing the Amazon episodes and I saw a Dark Shadows title called "The Haunting of Collinswood".  So I watched it.  Essentially, it was a "readers digest version" of the Quentin's ghost meets David and Amy and attempts to possess them.  This title basically edited down multiple DS episodes keeping only scenes that related directly to that story line.  The overall flow was a bit choppy in the telling of the story but it distills it down from several months of episodes down to a 3.5 hours movie. The ending was rather odd - everyone leaves the estate because Quentin's ghost drives them out of the house.  It ends with Quentin's ghost on the staircase laughing.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, HighMaintenance said:

Amazon prime has most if not all of the Dark Shadows episodes.  Last weekend, I was browsing the Amazon episodes and I saw a Dark Shadows title called "The Haunting of Collinswood".  So I watched it.  Essentially, it was a "readers digest version" of the Quentin's ghost meets David and Amy and attempts to possess them.  This title basically edited down multiple DS episodes keeping only scenes that related directly to that story line.  The overall flow was a bit choppy in the telling of the story but it distills it down from several months of episodes down to a 3.5 hours movie. The ending was rather odd - everyone leaves the estate because Quentin's ghost drives them out of the house.  It ends with Quentin's ghost on the staircase laughing.

Ah yes, that was Dan Curtis' Turn Of The Screw phase.

[HighMaintenance]

...or The Innocents. 

I vaguely remember this story line from some 50ish years ago.  The one thing it reminded me, was that even as a kid, any appearances by David Collins bugged the hell out of me.  I didn't like the character or the actor's wooden acting. 

On the other hand, I really liked Angelique's character, even though she was a villain.  She seemed to take such glee from tormenting the Collins family.

[Jan Spears]

I watched my favorite episode -- 233 -- again tonight on the 52nd anniversary of its original air date in 1967.  This is the episode where Carolyn and Vicky are sheltering uneasily in the darkened drawing room at Collinwood while a massive storm rages outside. Barnabas arrives and delivers what is now known as the 'Josette soliloquy,' in which he recounts the night of Josette's suicide.

Frid is spot-on with his performance and the mood of these scenes is incredible. The production staff manage to sustain the illusion of a powerless Collinwood lit only by a few candles, the fire in the fireplace and the flashes of lightning. Vicky still has her brain at this point in the storyline and Barnabas has to think fast when she makes a connection between his story and current events in Collinsport (i.e. Maggie's mysterious illness). Dark Shadows at its best!

Edited May 19, 2019 by Jan Spears

[Tom Holmberg]

Claus von Bulow, who murdered his wife so he could presumably marry Alexandra Isles (Victoria Winters)-she gave him an ultimatum about divorcing his wife-and still inherit his wife's money, has died.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Tom Holmberg

[Tom Holmberg]

On ‎5‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 11:53 AM, HighMaintenance said:

I didn't like the character or the actor's wooden acting. 

At least he could usually remember his lines, unlike a lot of the rest of the cast (I'm looking at you Elizabeth and Julia).

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

At least he could usually remember his lines, unlike a lot of the rest of the cast (I'm looking at you Elizabeth and Julia).

And Frid's weird making up his lines or maneuvering the other actors in the scene so he could face the teleprompter.

[HighMaintenance]

I've been revisiting a part of my childhood by watching DS on Amazon Prime recently.  I can comfortably binge 5 or 6 episodes and .  I just got through the 1795 storyline (while skipping several episodes to keep from getting bored) and now I'm just starting the "dream curse" storyline.  

As I reminisce over these old episodes, the bungled lines, actors jockeying for views of the teleprompters and frequent guest appearances of the boom mike are both endearing and cringeworthy.  

Maggie Evans is the first to have the dream curse.  The ultra terrifying and soul shattering climax of her dream where she sees a disembodied skull with beautiful baby blue glass eyes actually made me laugh out loud.  I know the 1960's were a gentler time, but I think I had scarier halloween decorations in my 1st grade classroom.

Still enjoying the scene chewing by Lara Parker as Cassandra/Angelique.

[Jan Spears]

On this day (06/30/67) in Dark Shadows history . . .

Grayson Hall makes her first appearance (episode 265) as Dr. Julia Hoffman, who would become Barnabas' primary ally (and, at times, enemy) for the next four years.

[peacheslatour]

19 hours ago, Jan Spears said:

On this day (06/30/67) in Dark Shadows history . . .

Grayson Hall makes her first appearance (episode 265) as Dr. Julia Hoffman, who would become Barnabas' primary ally (and, at times, enemy) for the next four years.

In December of the same year Grayson's RL husband, Sam Hall started writing for DS. He wrote some of the most memorable episodes on daytime television.

[Jan Spears]

I watched episode 270 yesterday (original air date: July 7, 1967). This is the episode where Liz is supposed to marry Jason McGuire but can't go through with it and blurts out at the wedding ceremony that, "I killed Paul Stoddard. And that man [Jason] was my accomplice!"

This represents the culmination of the whole 'Is Paul buried in the basement?' storyline. It also signifies the end of the show's original gothic melodrama focus that had prevailed for the first year. I know most fans were ready to move on to full-out supernatural storylines at this time but I always liked this story. I especially liked how it ended: The 'A' storyline (Barnabas) intersects with the 'B' storyline (Liz/Jason) by having Barnabas be the one to kill Jason.

[HighMaintenance]

I'm still binge watching 4-6 episodes each night (skipping the really boring ones) and I'm finally up the the Tom/Chris Jennings episodes.  The Werewolf Diaries.  The makeup and transformation transitions are somewhat hilarious and campy.  We're also at the point in the story where Vicky bails out of 1968 Collinswood and time travels back with her beloved Jeff Clark/Peter Bradford to the 18th Century, because twoo Lurve!

So, here's the B plot - Elizabeth Stoddard thinking only of death and being buried alive.  She "dies" in episode 655 and gets nary a mention for the next few dozen episodes.  They don't even show them burying her (they make a cursory mention about no embalming, etc).  So...everyone just busily carries on the usual business - the kids get possessed by a ghost, werewolves attack, Joe Haskell goes insane, Maggie moves in and becomes the governess, Barnabas plans to take the kids and Maggie to Boston, etc.

Is Liz being kept fresh in the root cellar?  Did Mrs. Johnson move the lunch trays out of the way to make room for her body?  Nobody seems to disturbed that Liz is dead. 

[Jan Spears]

Sad news -- actress Denise Nickerson (Amy Jennings) has died:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/denise-nickerson-violet-in-willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory-dies-at-62/ar-AAEaqTi?ocid=mailsignout

[Jan Spears]

Denise Nickerson's untimely death (at 62) got me thinking as to which cast members who were present at the start of the show are still alive:

Mitch Ryan (Burke Devlin) - b: 1928

Nancy Barrett (Carolyn Stoddard) - b: 1943

Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans) - b: 1943

Alexandra Moltke (Victoria Winters) - b: 1946

David Henesy (David Collins) - b: 1955

Those members of the original cast who've passed on include Joel Crothers (d: 1985), Joan Bennett (d: 1990) and Louis Edmonds (d: 2001).

[Technically, Thayer David (d: 1978) and David Ford (d: 1983) weren't original cast members -- they were replacements. But I always think of them as original cast members.]

[peacheslatour]

Jonathan Frid died in 2012. Or did he.....?

[Jan Spears]

I watched the final episodes (#s 274 and 275) of the Jason McGuire story this weekend, which aired on July 13th and 14th in 1967.

I think these episodes represent a real turning point in the show. With Jason's death at Barnabas' hands, the show moved away from gothic melodrama once and for all. They're also a turning point because episode 274 is the last one to begin with, "My name is Victoria Winters." (Alexandra Moltke would stop being the exclusive narrator with this episode as well.) From this point forward, the show would be Barnabas' story rather than Vicky's story.

[HighMaintenance]

Been watching the werewolf chronicles, which is interspersed with the "Quentin possesses David and Amy" storyline.  You know, Tom/Chris Jennings was teh hawtness back in the day.  Don Briscoe was quite the soap hunk!  Poor Don died relatively young - 64.

So, I'm now gearing up for Barnabas' time trip into 1897 and his encounters with Quentin.  I think this is when the series really became culturally hot and before the polarizing Leviathan storyline drug everything down.

[Jan Spears]

20 hours ago, HighMaintenance said:

So, I'm now gearing up for Barnabas' time trip into 1897 and his encounters with Quentin.  I think this is when the series really became culturally hot and before the polarizing Leviathan storyline drug everything down.

I looked up the ratings for Dark Shadows across the five years of its existence (season-rating-daytime soap ranking):

1965-66 - 4.1 - 13th (tie)

1966-67 - 4.3 - 12th

1967-68 - 7.3 - 12th

1968-69 - 8.4 - 11th

1969-70 - 7.3 - 12th

1970-71 - 5.3 - 16th (cancelled)

The show started to take off in 1967-68 (focus shifts from Vicky to Barnabas in the present, 1795 storyline begins, introduction of Angelique) and then kicked into high gear in 1968-69 (introduction of many supernatural characters and elements, introduction of Quentin, 1897 storyline begins). The show did experience a drop in 1969-70 (1897 storyline concludes, Leviathans saga, Parallel Time storyline begins) but the true free fall occurred in 1970-71 (Parallel Time storyline concludes, introduction of Gerard and Daphne, 1840-41 storylines in regular and Parallel Time) -- dropping 2 whole points. Was the decline due to a particular storyline? Or had the show burned through story content and become repetitive? (i.e. The David-Hallie-Gerard-Daphne storyline was a rehash of the David-Amy-Quentin-Beth storyline.)

Edited July 17, 2019 by Jan Spears

[Jan Spears]

Any episode of Dark Shadows that has a massive storm raging over Collinwood and a power failure in the great house is my kind of episode. So it is with episode 289, which aired on this day in 1967.

There are so many wonderfully moody elements in this episode:

• Vicky staring moodily out her bedroom window during the storm and thinking that she sees someone watching her from the surrounding forest. (She does indeed -- it's Barnabas. This exact scene would reappear in the 1991 revival series.)
• Barnabas appearing in Vicky's room while she's asleep with the intent to bite her. He can't do it so he opens Josette's music box on Vicky's night stand and lets her wake to the sound of Josette's theme.
• Vicky and Carolyn heading to the drawing room in the wee hours of the morning and encountering Julia reading by candlelight. (At this point in the storyline, Julia is posing as historian "Miss Hoffman".)

The scene where Vicky and Carolyn first encounter Julia is lit to perfection. The production staff managed to create the illusion that Julia is reading only by candlelight and the light from the fire. Once the show moved to color, the staff were never quite able to achieve that 'dark shadows' effect.

Great ending to the episode as well -- Julia breaks into the Old House and finds Barnabas sleeping in his coffin in the basement. And this was only a Thursday cliffhanger!

Edited August 4, 2019 by Jan Spears

[HighMaintenance]

Those early DS episodes were very gothic and moody.  They're almost like those old horror movies from the 1940's.
Once the color episodes hit, like many other shows of the late 60's, programs really wanted to wow viewers with *COLOR!* and it unfortunately toned down the moodiness of the series.

Barnabas and Josette.  It seems that Barnabas just can't seem to get over that woman - throughout the series he continually keeps trying to pull Josette into his life - via surrogate (Vicky) or someone who looks just like her (Maggie Evans, Kitty Hampshire and Rachel Drummond).  Of course, most of his attempts to get jiggy with pseudo-Josette never works out.   Josette's family sure had some strong genetics that she continued to have dopplegangers throughout the centuries!

[Jan Spears]

This week, I got watching the first few episodes of the Another World spin-off, Texas, which debuted on August 4th, 1980. Who should show up in episode 2 but Robert Gerringer -- the second (and best) actor to play Dr. Dave Woodard on Dark Shadows in 1967,

It's always been a disappointment to me that Gerringer was released from the show (for refusing to cross a picket line) before his storyline came to a conclusion. (Barnabas murdered him and Julia was complicit in the murder.) The payoff just wasn't there with the replacement actor.

[iMonrey]

Anyone interested in this show should check out "Barnabas and Company" by Craig Hamrick. It's currently available on Kindle for $3.99 and it's a terrific read. They cover almost every single cast member who ever appeared on DS, even the ones that were only on for a day or two. 

Some of the actors had truly tragic lives, like poor Don Briscoe, and alas, Denise Nickerson who recently passed away had a rather unfortunate childhood.

The book is pretty tight-lipped about Jonathan Frid's personal life, presumably because they know who their audience is and how fiercely devoted to him they are. But it's a departure from the deep dive and even some speculation they do about all the other actors.

[willco]

I see that Tubi has added 40 episodes, starting with the one where Willie finds Barnabas' coffin. It's only those 40 for now, I guess, I hope they add more. And even though I've seen those eps many times, I'm sure I will burn thru them in no time ! At barely 20 minutes each, it won't take long !

[peacheslatour]

32 minutes ago, willco said:

I see that Tubi has added 40 episodes, starting with the one where Willie finds Barnabas' coffin. It's only those 40 for now, I guess, I hope they add more. And even though I've seen those eps many times, I'm sure I will burn thru them in no time ! At barely 20 minutes each, it won't take long !

Decades had them all the way up to where they were about to make Adam and then started them over. 😞

[willco]

On 11/29/2019 at 6:34 PM, peacheslatour said:

Decades had them all the way up to where they were about to make Adam and then started them over. 😞

I've never had that channel on my cable package, but I did take advantage of the Hulu black Friday sale ($1.99 per month) and saw that there are quite a few episodes on there, so that was a pleasant surprise. For some reason. I thought Amazon had the only streaming rights currently.

The funny thing is, I have pretty much a complete run of episodes on video tape, from way back around 2003 when (then) Sci-fi would run 2 shows every morning. And I do still have a working VCR, but when I moved some years, most of the tapes ended up being packed away at the very back of one of my closets. So it would be a job to dig them out and even then, they aren't really in the best order for watching. If I wasn't so cheap, I'd just buy the complete set that thy put out some year back, but I am so I don't 🙂

[Ubiquitous]

On 11/29/2019 at 6:34 PM, peacheslatour said:

Decades had them all the way up to where they were about to make Adam and then started them over. 😞

I had Decades until last year, when they replaced it with "Charge!", IMHO, a very unfair trade.

[Pete Martell]

John Karlen has passed away. 

John was always one of my favorite actors on the show. He was so charismatic, intense, and at times gruesomely over the top in that...unique Dark Shadows way. He also had much more subtle moments, and effortless chemistry with many of his co-stars, especially Nancy Barrett. I just loved the Will and Carolyn Loomis story, brief and toxic as it was, and I was very happy when Barrett and Karlen essentially became the de facto couple in the show's last months (along with Lara Parker and Jonathan Frid). 

I just can't imagine Dark Shadows without him, and I would never want to.