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

[Bryan^H]

30 minute shows from the 50's through the 80's were around 25 minutes in length, so wouldn't soaps follow the same until they switched over to a full hour?

Not really.
Ever watch In Serach Of...?

 

[darkrock17]

Not really.
Ever watch In Serach Of...?

Most 30 minute series were around 25 minutes per episode though.

 

[moviebuff75]

Dark Shadows ran anywhere between 20-22 minutes.
Saturday morning shows also ran the same.

 

[Harry-N]

Daytime shows had a very different structure regarding the number of commercial minutes allotted. While prime-time shows were limited to about 8-10 minutes per hour of commercials and promos, network daytime shows allowed for a good bit more.

There were not only actual commercials in the show, but there were billboards that highlighted the show's sponsors, and a mid-episode announcement that the show would return. For example, here is the breakout as originally broadcast and as seen on the restored DVD version of episode #211 with original commercials:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Program open through opening credits

Opening Billboards
:20 This portion of Dark Shadows is brought to you by
the new Dream Whip, it's creamier now, by
Diaparene baby products, at drug counters everywhere, and by
new Lux liquid, with Dermasil.

Program, Act I

:30 Lux liquid commercial
:30 Lux lotion

Program, Act II

:30 Diaparene baby powder
:30 Cope headache

Program, Act III

:30 Dream Whip
:30 Gaines meal
:05 Dark Shadows will return in just a moment
:30 Hairdew by Clairol
:30 Windex

Program, Act IV

:30 Princess soap
:30 Amour star meat spread

Program, Act V

:30 Woolite
:30 Anacin

Closing Billboards
:27 This portion of Dark Shadows has been brought to you by
Woolite, cold water wash makes sweaters look alive, by
the sandwich spread made with good Amour meat, Amour Star potted meat, and by
Windex glass cleaner. Another work-saving product from Drackett.

Program, End Credits

:20 ABC Joey Bishop Show promo

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So actual commercial minutes add up to 6 minutes
Add about 50 seconds for open and close billboards and mid-episode "bumper"
Another 20 seconds for the closing ABC promo

Total 7:10 for non-program content. Then one more minute for local as the show closes at 29 minutes - total 8:00.

Subtract 8 minutes from 30 and you get 22 minutes of program time. Standard for daytime in the 60s.

 

[Rob_Ray]

30 minute shows from the 50's through the 80's were around 25 minutes in length, so wouldn't soaps follow the same until they switched over to a full hour?

Daytime shows even back then had many more commercials than primetime did. They subsidized primetime shows

 

[Harry-N]

In my recent spurt of "Beginnings" episode-watching, I managed to get up to about 126 or 128 - just through the Vicki/Matthew section and the start of the Laura Collins Phœnix story.

 

[bujaki]

In my recent spurt of "Beginnings" episode-watching, I managed to get up to about 126 or 128 - just through the Vicki/Matthew section and the start of the Laura Collins Phœnix story.

I love the Phoenix story. Little David really shines as an actor in this segment.

 

[moviebuff75]

I'm at the end of the "1995" storyline. Creepy stuff.

 

[Harry-N]

I guess this thread took a year off for the pandemic!

Once again resurrecting this thread to note that I finally finished a project of mine. It has to do with soundtrack music. Those out there who remember DARK SHADOWS from its network run in the 60s may also remember the soundtrack album that was released.

I of course had to have one of those, and it got a lot of play back then. The music from DARK SHADOWS was just so iconic, and it was fun to have it on an official record. I wasn't thrilled with Jonathan Frid and David Selby's narrations - I didn't need those, but they were there, so there wasn't anything I could so about it.

In the 80s and 90s, several soundtrack CDs were released on various anniversary occasions, etc. Dutifully, I picked those up too, but they didn't seem to have the magic that the old record had.

Finally, I managed to pick up the mega soundtrack set that was released around 2006. This set had eight discs and allegedly *every* DARK SHADOWS music cue ever written and used or not used in the show. Some of these discs had the maximum of 99 tracks of cues. Some of the cues were repeated as slow, medium, fast, or there's be a cue, and the next one was the same cue with a bit of percussion. There were bumpers, curtains, stingers, all sorts of stuff we'd heard a thousand times on the show. Sounds great, right? Not so much. Because of the organization of tracks, this set just wasn't listenable at all. Disc six, for example, starts with "Josette's Music Box" and then there's seven more tracks of various spooky versions of the song.

That's not bad enough - next up is 23 different takes of "London Bridge", the theme they used for little Sara's ghost. Then comes a bunch of Quentin's theme tunes, and Pansy Faye's music, and Angelique's odes, all played multiple times, making the whole thing really unlistenable. It's great to have them all archived like this, and I don't know how else it could have been organized.

But back to that old LP. It had all original cues too, and was quite listenable - if only Barnabas a Quentin hadn't spoken over some of the tracks.

So my project was to search the mega set, find all of the cues used in the old LP, and edit them together the way they were on the LP. Thus, I would finally have what I wanted back in the 60s - the old LP without the narrations. This was a long project as you might imagine when you have to comb through and listen and compare the original tracks with some 600-700 tracks on the CDs. I spent many an afternoon doing that, and finally succeeded. I was reminded of it just now as I stumbled on it on my computer.

Having not seen a DARK SHADOWS post in ages, I thought I'd resurrect the discussion again.

 

[EricSchulz]

I just started relating DS. I'm at the point where Maggie has just met Sara Collins. Never gets old!

 

[Dave Lawrence]

R.I.P., Mitchell Ryan.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mitchell-ryan-actor-dark-shadows-021442286.html

His Burke Devlin is one of my favorite DS characters. It’s unfortunate that his alcoholism forced him off the show. At least he was ultimately able to turn things around and continue acting. Always enjoyed seeing him in his various TV and film appearances.

 

[Claude North]

Weird -- Dark Shadows is currently listed in imdb.com as Dark Shadows: The Vampire Curse. There's a video compilation with that name, but somehow that title has been applied to the listing for the series.

 

[Claude North]

R.I.P., Mitchell Ryan.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mitchell-ryan-actor-dark-shadows-021442286.html

His Burke Devlin is one of my favorite DS characters. It’s unfortunate that his alcoholism forced him off the show. At least he was ultimately able to turn things around and continue acting. Always enjoyed seeing him in his various TV and film appearances.

I've often wondered how Mitchell Ryan's Jeremiah would have compared to Anthony George's. Also, my understanding is that George did not enjoy his time on DS. If Ryan hadn't been fired, and if he was content to stay with the series, I wonder how that would have changed Burke's character arc.

I like that both actors who played Burke Devlin had last names that are also first names and vice versa. (Ryan Mitchell? George Anthony?)

 

[Harry-N]

Yesterday, I dug out my DVD set of CORONET BLUE. Mitchell Ryan is in the episode called "Faces", and being filmed in the mid-60s, was around the time he would have done DARK SHADOWS.

 

[Claude North]

Question: is this thread an appropriate place to post questions about certain storylines? I admit that, even after several viewings, I still don't quite understand one of the DS storylines...

 

[Harry-N]

It's called all things with spoilers, so fire away.

 

[Harry-N]

[ spoiler ]
Barnabas did it.
Then he didn't do it.

 

[AlanP]

Which Burke was first and why did Anthony leave ? How many episodes were each on the series and how were they written out ? Another note, lost interest in the series after Victoria Winters got lost in the time warp.........It was like when Allison left "Peyton Place" it left a void in the series, that never was the same. Also, felt the same about Pam on "Dallas" for me that show also was boring after Pam disappeared from the hospital lost interest in all three and quit watching.

 

[Claude North]

Okay...here goes...

Who or what, exactly, was Laura in 1967?

Here's what I understand:

Laura was Roger's wife and David's son. She returned to Collinsport in 1967 and David insisted that she wasn't his mother. Meanwhile, Laura was identified as having died in a fire in Phoenix, Arizona, but the Laura in Collinsport insisted a mistake had been made. Eventually, Laura is revealed to be a phoenix when she attempts to lure David into the flames with her. She fails to get David, so she goes up in flames alone, and that's the end of her.

Here's what I don't understand:

If the woman who died in Phoenix, Arizona was the true Laura, then who was the Laura in Collinsport? Were they the same person? Did Laura self-immolate in Phoenix, then come back to pick up David? If so, then why didn't she just head to Collinsport and do the flame thing once?

If they were two different people (as fans on other forums have suggested), then what was the motivation of the Laura in Collinsport? Was she just some random phoenix who decided to kill the real Laura so she could take her place and steal her kid? What would have been her motivation for that?

It all makes for compelling viewing, but after several viewings, I still don't get it.

 

[smithbrad]

I've seen that story line twice. I've never read anyone else's interpretation, so I only have my original perspective.

I always interpreted as there is one and only one Laura. If nott the same Laura, she at least has all the memories of past Laura's. She is a Phoenix that goes through the metamorphosis every one or so many 100's of years (I forget). When she is comes back to our world she doesn't realize what she is and just goes on with a normal life. As she gets older some aspect of realization starts to sink in. She was at the asylum in Arizona, likely because she thought she was going crazy. When she dies in Arizona and she was reborn as the Phoenix she was fully aware and went back to Collinsport to get David to join here for the final journey, which I recall she had also tried in the past with a son. When she burns up in Collinsport it is to go to the land of the Phoenix where she will live until it is time to come back and start the process over. That's how I took it to be.