Dark Shadows

SAYING OF THE DAY:

If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.


BLOG OF THE DAY:

Dark Shadows

1966 was a watershed year for tv shows...meaning some
excellent and different ideas manifested into new tv programs..I
dont know what it was, it may have been the counterculture's
influence, or just a strange time when young producers came
into fruition, but many good shows started to appear. The
Monkees, Mission Impossible, Star trek etc.
It was at this time that a young entrepaneur got the go ahead
or green light from ABC to institute a different type of show.
The producer was able to worm his way into daytime
soap opera territory with a contemporary idea that had never
been tried. The man was "Dan Curtis" and the concept was
to do a 5 day a week live (on tape) show with "gothic"
overtones...The show was taped at ABC TV in New York for those of you who are wondering where it originated from.

Based on an imaginary town in New England called Collinsport
The title of the series was to be called "Dark Shadows"...
At first there was just kind of a sinister side about this well to
do family that lived in an old mansion,(the head of the family had some dark secrets)

but through the writers, SAm Hall being one of them, the idea
for a strange and mysterious visitor who also happened to be a vampire
in disguise came on the scene. His name was Barnabas, and he
was to take this mediocre(at first)
series and turn it upside down with the love from the pubic
for his character.
So now, Dan Curtis and his people had something..A "twist" to
the typical soap opera...A Gothic Vampire show done as a daily
series!
I must say that while the concept was a breakthrough, there is
one name that made the series what it was...The young middle
aged shakesperean actor, Jonathan Frid...(Barnabas)
His looks and his acting abilty were to set the tone for the 5
year run on the show and propelled it to what it was to become.
The shows producers were lucky to find a few other actors that
were to help meld the shows popularity...The lovely and
charming Katheryn Leigh Scott, who played "Maggie"
a young woman living at the maniosn Collingwood, while working as a waitress.
She really developed into a very good soap actress...
And then we have the excellent Stage actor Thayer David, who
played several wonderful roles as a middle aged heavy set man.
As I said earlier The beginning of the series was rather normal
and in it we had 2 excellent actors, JOan Bennet, and Louis Edmonds,
who played brother and sister living at Collingwood.
In fact, the gothic side(vampire theme)did not come into existance until
at least a year later, when Jonathan Frid joined the show.

It was this time when all seemed to start coming together, that Curtis and his staff augmented the cast with some fine actors..
Televison was also going thru a change to "color" and this show
was caught up in that excitement, switching to chroma after a couple of years of inititally being seen in black and white.
The first part of the vampire scenario were the best seasons for the show, and then the writers who were searching for something to keep the show going, hit upon the idea of going to a different "timeline" utilizing the same actors in
different roles..I dont know, but I think this kind of eventually brought the show down. I know the actors tired of it after awhile, and was getting to be surrealisitc, if not downright corny.
For example, the fine character actress Grayson Hall who originally
was brought in to play psychiatrist Dr Julia Hoffman,
later had to "switch roles" and play, of all things, some sort
of Hungarian gypsy named MAgda!(in a different time line)
I want to make mention of the "neat" original music by Robert
Cobert throughout the series..
Not a lot of music, just specific, effective little cues, that
enhanced the show..they were used repeatedly, and became kind
of an identification with the show. The title theme was
excellent as well..
Suprisingly, Mr. Cobert had a hit record with his composition Quintin's Theme
recorded by by Charles Grean based on yet another good actor
in the series played by David Selby. Selby was a good looking
man who played kind of a silent ghost who hanted the children in the mansion.
He kind of looked like Elvis Presley!, had long sideburns and
did not speak during the first couple of seasons of the
show, until they went into back into time.(parallel time lines)


All in all, after 3 or 4 years, the show started to stray
abit. It was ineveitable that script ideas were to grow thin.
After the shows end, Curtis was able to strike a deal for a
couple of full length Theatrical movies, the first one
Jonathan Frid participated in, but on the second, he demured,
and did not participate. I think Jon was getting very tired of
his role.
Through the years since the killing off of the show, it has
been brought back by popular demand on cable tv(Sci FI channel, etc)...The show was
never desinged for reruns, as it was shot on the impermanent
medium of video tape, and those tapes sat on the shelf for many
years, before being transferred or remastered onto new tape
stock...We are lucky to have the show at all
since the modus of most soap operas of that time were to reuse
the tapes or eventually "deep 6" them.

SO the show survives now... the look of the video tapes are
a bit soft, and dim...this due partially to the state of videotape then,
but mostly to the deterioration of the tapes.
some are Black and white kinescopes(films made from tv monitors
using special equipment) but all epsiodes (except one) are
available for purchase on dvd...
Fans gather once a year at the Dark Shadows festival for
several days, and the featured guests are the cast of the show, including Mr. Frid...Most of the cast are still alive..
The last coulpe of these festivals have been held in Burbank, Ca. and before that they were held in New Jersey..
So fans, even fans that were not even born when the show originally aired, continue to embarce this highly original soap that aired on first run so long ago..
an eerie show by the name of..."Dark Shadows" (cue music) lol




CAST Of Dark Shadows:

Barnabas(main vampire) Jonathan Frid
MAggie Evans(young woman; main hottie) Katherine Leigh Scott
Victoria Winters(another young hottie:Anlexandra Moltke
Barnabas' unwilling assistant: JOhn Karlen
BRother and sister- Matriarch and Patriarch at the mansion:
Joan Bennett and Louis Edmonds(both deceased now)
Dr. Stokes: Thayer David(deceased)
Dr. Julia Hoffman: Greyson Hall(deceased)
Young boy at mansion: David Henesey
Jason McGuire-;'nerdowell that marries JOan Bennett for money:Dennis Patrick(deceased)
MAggies father Sam Evans: David Ford(deceased)
Part Ghost, part werewolf Quentin: David Selby
Yet another hottie whom you all know: Kate JAckson(Charlies Angels)
Hottie no. 3(Carolyn) NAncy Barrett
Angelique: Lara Parker
and many others..
Show directed by Sam Hall and Lela Swift
produced by Dan Curtis..


Steveo

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