Let's talk about Dark Shadows

Do you remember the original t.v. show, Dark Shadows? Did you watch it?

I did. Confession. I own the complete series box set. I am on episode 807 of 1245 episodes. I don't "binge watch" it. I don't even watch episodes every week or every month. Just whenever I am in the mood.

Why talk about it? Well, guess what? The CW network is working on a pilot for Dark Shadows: Reincarnation. Yay! I found this out on Face Book. Of course. There is a Dark Shadows FB page called The CHS Drawing Room - The Collinsport Historical Society Drawing Room. Seems like a good Halloween topic too.

So let's back up.

The show ran from 1966 - 1971. It was in a soap opera slot I think about 3:30 on ABC. If you read anything about it, you will often see that kids "ran home from school" to watch it. That was true for me. I don't think I saw it in the beginning but when I was in 8th grade, my best friend and I would get off the bus and run to her house to watch it. She says now that "she doesn't really remember it", but I think she doesn't want to admit it. Her older sister would make "oooo oooo" ghost noises from other parts of the house. Now we weren't scared by it. In fact a lot of times we laughed and laughed. There were plenty of bloopers, missed lines and really cheap special effects. Very campy. That is what has created the cult following it has.

About: "The story of Dark Shadows begins with newly hired governess Victoria Winters arriving at Collinwood, the Collins' estate in Collinsport, Maine in search of her mysterious origins. She soon is caught up in the strange events and mysteries that seem to surround the Collins family. Eventually, the Collins' "cousin from England", Barnabas Collins, arrives and takes the show in a new direction; his vampire curse introduces a new history of the Collins family. Part of this revised history is the popular character of the witch Angelique whose jealously led to the tragic death of Barnabas' great love Josette and who placed the curse upon Barnabas."

What was so great about this series, is there were so many famous stories that were played out. When the series first started, it was more of a dark soap opera; Victoria Winters comes to the house to be a governess. The man of the house, Roger, is an alchoholic. I think he even killed someone while drunk driving. This didn't go over very big, and the series went gothic and supernatural.

Some of the story lines were Dracula, Frankenstein, Frankenstein's Bride, The Werewolf, Dorian Gray, the Salem witch trials, a Phoenix and plenty of ghost stories.

There were some well known actors in the series also.  

• Joan Bennet played Elizabeth Collins, the matriarch of Collinwood. You know Joan Bennet.
• Jonathan Frid played Barnabas Collins, the reluctant vampire. He was a theatre trained actor and played on Broadway.
• Luis Edmond was Roger Collins, Elizabeth's brother and the "man of the house".  He also was in numerous plays but if you also were an All My Children fan, you remember him as Langley Wallingford.
• Grayson Hall played Julia Hoffman, the doctor that is always trying to cure the vampire and has a crush on him. She was nominated for an Acadamy Award for her performance in Night of the Iguana in 1964.
• David Selby was Quentin Collins. He plays the werewolf at times. He was on Falcon Crest. He was the heart throb of the show.
• Nancy Barret was Carolyn Stoddard the daughter of Elizabeth. (Elizabeth buried Carolyn's father in the basement). She was also on The Doctors and Ryans Hope
• Denise Nickerson was Amy, one of the children that comes and goes. I think the kids were on more in the summer. She is famous for the girl on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that turns blue and blows up like a blueberry.
• Thayer David: Several roles. He was in Journey to the Center of the Earth and Rocky.
• Kate Jackson: You know her from Charlie's Angels and various movies
• Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker, Jerry Lacey, David Henesy....the list goes on.

No one ever went to work, no one ever ate (expect in the vary beginning of the series, lol), they were always up in the middle of the night, and it was always thundering. So fun.

There were a couple of movies based on the series in the 70's that were o.k. There was a Dark Shadows: Revival in the 80's but I didn't like it. Maybe the original series was too fresh in my memory. The SciFi channel used to run the series at that time. Then there was the Dark Shadows movie by Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. I actually kind of liked it. Many didn't. Three of the original case had a cameo. 

The director was Dan Curtis. Two of his daughters are on the Dark Shadows: Resurrection project. 

I can't wait!