Ockeghem's All Things DARK SHADOWS (w/Spoilers) (3 Viewers)

[Mr. Handley]

Mark, thanks for your detailed response. I was born in January 1966, so I was very young when the show first went off the air. I do have some very fuzzy memories of watching it with my mother, who was a big fan. I also had the board game that came with the Barnabas fangs. I often wish I'd been born earlier as I really love a lot of shows from the 1950s and 1960s. Oh well, at least I can now visit them on DVD!

 

[Harry-N]

I was in high school and college when DARK SHADOWS aired on ABC, so my memories are a lot clearer. Rushing home to see the show when it was moved to from 4 PM to start at 3:30 PM was problematic at times. And I recall a time when our local affiliate moved the show to the next morning at something like 9:30 or 10 AM. That must have happened during the summer, because I can't recall long segments of missing the show, but I know they did that for a time.

College was harder, as I commuted to the school. and some days had late classes I had to take, so I had to rely on audio recordings of the episodes. Either I'd set up a tape and listen to it, or a buddy would record it and play it over the phone for me!

As for how they got an audio recording from a fan, well it probably was the fan who contacted MPI. A big fan would have purchased the videos, noticed that an episode was missing, checked their own home recordings, discovered they still had it, and then contacted MPI. That seems the most likely scenario.

I remember that the weekend in between when the show went from black & white to color had to be one of the longest weekends I can ever recall. The anticipation of seeing Collinwood and all its trappings in color was almost more than I could bear. What confuses me is that episode 295 is where the announcer, Bob Lloyd, announces the "Good news" that the show would now be seen in color, and that show aired on a Friday. I've read somewhere that they taped that Friday episode in color, but it aired in black & white - is that true? If so, then why would the announcement from Bob Lloyd state that the show is now in color if they were airing it in black & white?

I clearly remember the weekend anticipation, so I know that it was a Monday when the series went to color, at least it was for me. This is one of those things where your memory tells you one thing and the Internet doesn't agree. Frustrating.

Harry

 

[Ockeghem]

"Rushing home to see the show when it was moved to from 4 PM to start at 3:30 PM was problematic at times."Harry,This is the primary reason (seriously) why I was one of those school children who ran home to see the series back when it first aired.

I don't have any answer for your question regarding Lloyd stating what he did when he did. But I sure do remember seeing the clip in the Blue Whale of Maggie in that brightly-colored dress. That was quite a surprise to me.

 

[Mark Collins]

Paul I had both games at one time. The Barnabas Collins game that you spoke of and the Dark Shadows game. I collected every article i could find when the show aired. I have told the tales so many times here I hate to repeat myself.

Scott knows all the stories. Harry believe it or not when the vhs tapes were released and I still have them all MPI had tracked down that audio episode. Now it may have happened during the SFI airing which came first before the home video market received the show. I cannot remember when they began to air it on SCFI but it was when the station came into being which is easy to look up. I belive the VHS tapes hit in the fall of 1989 for I still have each catalog from each year release from MPI.

I saw the first show ever aired then did not watch again until our local put it on at 4:30 CST. David was giving Vicky all kinds of trouble and we were in the hunt for the real killer which is solved and then more problems and then Laura comes on the scene. The local aired the showed one week later than Chicago at 3:00 PM. I watched the show twice this way. The show was moved after the Laura storyline and before Barnabas comes to Collinwood to the 2:30 slot where our local picked it up and then I could not watch it twice. I began audio taping in the 1795 storyline. The show went color in the late summer of 1967. I cannot remember but I do remember seeing a big C by the show for the next week. I was very excited about it. I also knew the ratings were good because I was in constant fear of the show going off the air. I would take audio recordings to school and play them for a friend. The show was moved back to 3 in the summer of 1968 by popular demand is what they said over the credits. I found a near by local city that we picked up and I was able to watch it twice again. 3 PM and then the day before episode at 3:30 from the other town. The show ended its run while I was in High School.

DS launched the SCFI network and Peyton Place launched the Romance Channel. The two were compared a great deal. Peyton was on the way out when DS was gaining strength. Jonathan always stated in interviews he wished they could have aired at night like Peyton Place. I am glad they did not. DS is a sort of dark Peyton Place. The way both shows open is the same and there are many things when one starts to think.

 

[Mr. Handley]

Well, I decided to watch the final shows this weekend and I've now seen every single episode of Dark Shadows! I was going to write a big wrap-up with a list of my favorite actors/storylines, but it'd be too hard to narrow them all down. I found something to like in every storyline and just about every character (well, except maybe for Sky Rumson). Anyway, it was quite a ride. I don't know when I'll revist the show as I could certainly use a break and I have so many other shows to watch. Let me just say that I now understand why this series remains so popular to this day. There really hasn't been anything quite like it before or since. So much talent both in front of and behind the cameras. The memories will last a lifetime.

 

[Radioman970]

We discovered the same thing, and have been avoiding them ever since. We may go back and watch some after we are done, or watch them along the way during the next viewing. Don't get me wrong, it's all great stuff but it can be hard to not catch a few spoilers along the way.

I'm not sure how Ill do the interview material in the future. I may do that too, just wait until I'm done. I hate to say that they should have been more selective, but at that rate everything would have been on the last few DVDs. Or...just taken a long time to sort out.

At episode 120 the real roller coaster ride of Dark Shadows is just about to begin for you.

I've slowed down slightly in favor of some horror movies. But it hasn't been easy. I just finished 126 and it was a doozy. edge of the seat the whole time. I like the line from Burke, "you want me to carry ya...?" I'm not supposed to like Burke, dang it!

James, you're really getting into some fantastic episodes ahead. When Laura arrives on the scene things really "heat up" (pun intended)!

I think she may have just showed up. I was thinking... (to quote Madonna) o/ who's thaaat giiiiiirrrlll... o/

 

[Mark Collins]

Ok Harry you have beat me again. DS fans will not get the joke but Voyage fans will. I did some checking Jim Pierson and MPI must have put the word out to fans at the conventions or what have you for that audio episode. I recalled yesterday that we had an 1840 flashback VHS tape 45 minutes long so MPI must have decided to do the entire run from 1989 which ended in 1993. The episode is on the VHS tapes also the wrap up of the series. Syfy did not start airing until the early 90s which launched DS as their first show. The show restarted on the first year 1966 called the classic shows and gave us all of the shows which included the edited material from volumes from 1 through volume 8 of Barnabas. VHS VOLUME 54 has the fans favorite episodes. You will receive Sam working on Angeliques portrait in 1968. The next Count Petofi travels through time 1897. The last 1969 Barnabas and the Dream Vampire. You have the slates and commercials from the time they were originaly broadcast. The 1840 flashback preview is very good and volume 54 is worth the money too. I would suggest Amazon for those tapes. These two were never included in the dvds that we bought. The coffin set does not have them but they do have the other special dvds that were released which is a very good deal indeed.

Now to the question Harry put out there about the color episode. Much confusion at one time but I have the original DS guide book plus for Harry I pulled my dvd but I will not pull the vhs Harry!

 

[Mark Collins]

Just like Scott and I remember that episode of Maggie coming into the Blue Whale at the start is the first color episode. Now the VHS Monday episode used to say over a black and white kinescope this show is in color. Now it states it over the correct episode. I can only conclude and Scot has to back me that MPI changed the voice over to the Friday color episode. Scott please tell me fans use to be confused why this guy would speak those lines over a b&w episode. I remember the talk and I would have to go and hunt for that tape to prove it. I happen also to remember when it first aired as Scott does and it was the Blue Whale in color. My book states it as the first color episode filmed and that not until July 31st 1967 was color used. I believe the 31st was a Monday but it aired on a Friday that much is true. Why the guy said it on the following Monday and not on Friday as he now does I have no idea. I just no he did on that Monday b&w kinescope because the fans brought it up constantly even when it aired on NJN.
Here were some facts I dug up to help with the other questions plus i guess the color issue.


Dark Shadows originally aired in black-and-white, but the show went into color starting with the August 14, 1967 installment transmission.

For many years, the show was rerun on Scifi, now known as Syfy. Unlike previous networks, Syfy had the entire run of 1,225 episodes to show. The network stopped airing Dark Shadows in December 2003, only two weeks short of completing the series. All 1,225 episodes in the series were shown at various times between 1992 and 2003.

Dark Shadows is an American gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements. It was unprecedented in daytime television when ghosts were introduced about six months after it began. The series became hugely popular when vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) appeared a year into its run. Dark Shadows also featured werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles; indeed, as actors came and went, some characters were played by more than one actor. Dark Shadows was distinguished by its vividly melodramatic performances, atmospheric interiors, memorable storylines, numerous dramatic plot twists, unusually adventurous music score, and broad and epic cosmos of characters and heroic adventures. Now regarded as something of a classic, it continues to enjoy an intense cult following. Although the original series ran for only five years, its scheduling as a daily daytime drama allowed it to amass more single episodes during its run (1,225) than most other science-fiction/fantasy genre series produced for English-language television, including Doctor Who and the entire Star Trek television franchise. Only the paranormal soap opera Passions, with a total of 2,231 episodes, has more.
In 2004 and 2007, Dark Shadows was ranked #19 and #23 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever. For the one lost episode (#1219), only a home audio recording exists. The home video version and cable reruns of this episode were reconstructed from a combination of this soundtrack, the closing scene from the episode #1218, the opening scene from episode #1220, and video still frames sourced from other episodes

The series reached its peak in popularity during a storyline set in the year 1897, broadcast from March 1969. By the end of May, Dark Shadows was ABC's most popular soap, and by late 1969 it was reaching nearly 20,000,000 viewers. In November 1969, after nine months of some of Dark Shadows’ most intricate, intelligent storylines, an end came to the adventures in 1897. Now the writers were faced with a dilemma: with ratings at an all-time high, what could they do next to hold the audience? Their decision, a storyline known as "The Leviathans," proved to be a thematic misstep for the show and one from which it never recovered.

The launch of Somerset in March 1970, a much-ballyhooed spinoff of NBC's Another World, also hurt the series considerably Beginning in the fall of 1970, several ABC stations across the country dropped the show due to falling viewership. Within six months, ratings dropped from 7.3 to 5.3.Ironically, Nielsen ratings for March 1971, the last full month that Dark Shadows was on the air, revealed that viewership had risen in its final weeks.

Perhaps one of ABC's first truly popular daytime shows, along with the game show Let's Make a Deal, Dark Shadows found its demographic niche in teenagers coming home from school in time to watch the show at 4 p.m. Eastern / 3 p.m. Central, where it aired for almost all of its network run, the exception being a 15-month stretch between April 1967 and July 1968, when it aired a half hour earlier.

 

[Mark Collins]

I also forgot to make mention of the wonderful dog bite I received on the run home to see the show. I shook him off got home to see Julia Barnabas and Adam finish what Adam had asked them to do and then went to the Doctor. That my friends is a true story!

I just looked up those dates on the MPI run. 1989-1995 the entire series with a gap between the last and first year in 1993. The 1840 preview has the date of 1991 so the show must have been a good investment for MPI to look for that missing episode. I still think they were so lucky to find that one fan and the quaility of the audio was not that bad. I also look on the back of my first dvd which I bought and that was in 2002 with the release of the unedited Barnabas storyline. We then received as before in blue dvd cases the first year.

I really cannot remember if listening to what they are going to say in those interviews will hurt the viewing. I knew what was going to happen because the show never went off the air for me because of my audio recordings. They still play great even better then the cassette recordings of the first Barnabas year when I recorded it in syndication.

The funny thing is PT 1841 i have only one recording of. I guess i did not like the show as much then either. I have however liked it more in video form over the years. My audios just gather dust with my vhs tapes now.

Make sure that if you buy the VHS 54 that it is the blue black case with Roger and Liz on the front and ask the seller questions 4.95 not a bad price.

 

[Radioman970]

So with Matthew gone I got a bit worried, that was a fun ride. But now we have David calling for his mother out the windows. lovin it!

 

[Harry-N]

Watching the early episodes is a real hoot. I'd seen them in 1966, but not since then, so a lot of it is basically "new", though I know where the stories are headed.

While watching, the other day, I thought of a DARK SHADOWS: THE BEGINNINGS drinking game. Take a drink every time a scene ends with someone declaring the name of "Burke Devlin!" (cue dramatic stinger).

Harry

 

[Radioman970]

^^^ Another one... take a drink every time someone leaves a cup of coffee without taking a sip.
Laura is freaking me out now. Poor David.

 

[Ockeghem]

Harry,My family and I used to play a variation on the drinking game you mention above. Every time we heard a knock on the door of either The Great House of The Old House, we would guess who it was. If you were correct, you got a piece of candy! It was fun, and we had at least one or two door knocks in every episode!

 

[Ockeghem]

Tonight, we finished episodes nos. 778-779. We had the return of Angelique, and both Carl and (through Carl) Quentin found out about Barnabas. When Carl was locked in the secret room of the mausoleum by Quentin, I figured he was a goner once Barnabas arose. But he found his way out. That was a nice twist that one might not expect the first time viewing the series. Now the question becomes whether or not Angelique will help Barnabas yet once again.

 

[Radioman970]

The numbering system on the chalk slates has changed from 135, 136, etc. to 1, 2, 3.. grrrr.... but the labels on the DVD cases still go with the old.

I was calling my dog in from the backyard this morning... kaaaaaaaaa laaaaaahhhhHHhhhh... kaaaaAAAAaaa llllaaaaaAAAAAAHHHH... just like David.

 

[Harry-N]

Recently I've gotten through the first episodes to introduce ghosts. First, the delightful ghost of Josette, played by KLS coming alive from the portrait, capped off by the exterior dancing among the columns. I'd never seen that before that I can recall.

Then yesterday I got up through the ghost of Bill Malloy appearing to Vicki, singing the same drunken sailor song as Burke and Sam.

Speaking of that, I've become quite aware of some excellent scene-shifting techniques in these early episodes where someone on one set seems to echo that which had just taken place on another set. I think that technique got lost over the years - understandably - it's not that easy to accomplish by the writers.

Harry

 

[Ockeghem]

Recently I've gotten through the first episodes to introduce ghosts. First, the delightful ghost of Josette, played by KLS coming alive from the portrait, capped off by the exterior dancing among the columns. I'd never seen that before that I can recall.

Then yesterday I got up through the ghost of Bill Malloy appearing to Vicki, singing the same drunken sailor song as Burke and Sam.

Speaking of that, I've become quite aware of some excellent scene-shifting techniques in these early episodes where someone on one set seems to echo that which had just taken place on another set. I think that technique got lost over the years - understandably - it's not that easy to accomplish by the writers.

Harry

Harry,In your first paragraph above, you've described what is arguably my all-time favorite episode of Dark Shadows (no. 70), although I have many from which I could choose. I love the way Josette descends from the portrait, and how the scene is set-up before her descent with some interesting special effects while the camera is frozen on the portrait. You can see the effect implemented before she descends if you watch the portrait closely. And of course the music that accompanies the ghost of Josette dancing is quite chilling and effectively eerie (the segments you hear during the descent and later while she dances). In another thread I described this episode as among my favorite from any series.

I like the footage and scenes leading up to the appearance of the ghost of Bill Malloy. The dialogue between Burke and Sam is memorable. For that matter, I love all of the scenes that take place in The Blue Whale.

The technique you describe -- nicely said. I know what you mean. I hear it very much during the first year or so of the series.

 

[Harry-N]

I've gotten up into the 150 numbered episodes and am deep in the Laura Collins story. I clearly remember watching this one with my parents in the room so by this time our Philadelphia ABC affiliate must have reclaimed the series from the UHF that had taken it. It seems to me that I recall filling them in on some past details, like who Matthew was, and what Burke Devlin had been up to, since I'd seen a lot of that stuff by watching the show upstairs on the only TV in the house with a UHF tuner.

I too am getting a kick out of hearing Bob Lloyd promote the other ABC shows. I've heard a couple of TIME TUNNEL promos as well as THE INVADERS and THE AVENGERS. That's just so much fun to hear. I'll be sorry when those disappear from the Barnabas era forward.

Harry

 

[Cowboy]

Did anyone else buy the complete Dark Shadows set on Amazon today for $253 shipped?
I have been waiting to buy the set at a price I could afford.

 

[classicmovieguy]

I'm in the middle of Adam's storyline, with the whole Jennings werewolf plot to follow. Personally I think the show is very slow going during these plots and it's all I can do to jump ahead to the 1897 arc.