Calling fans of "Dark Shadows"!

OP I LOVE YOU! I was literally just sitting here thinking about "how much I loved the let's be thread, oh the dark shadows one was such a favorite....why can't I find it".....AND BOOM your thread pops up. I loved the "I'm Satan, Angelique and I...have an understanding" lol.

I did like the remake of Dark Shadows from 1991 with Ben Cross....but when I saw the REAL DS....I fell in love. The remake changed a lot stuff. My aunt will tell me how she'd run ho,e from school to watch "Dark Shadows". I really liked the original actress who played Victoria Winters (cute face). Love that old bitch Roger Collins.

R2 I liked the maid, Mrs. Johnson. She would become exasperated and opinionated so easily. A real hoot. But oblivious to most of the evil doings going on at Collinwood - I guess she was too busy cleaning the spooky old mansion. lol.

I did like the very beginning but I have watched as many DVDs as I could get and liked it all...I just couldn't stop watching.

My favorite time was when Julia (Grayson Hall) first showed up and thought she could cure Barnabas (and had a crush on him while he was pining for Victoria).

In which timeline did Grayson Hall play Magda the gypsy? I loved Dark Shadows but I've got all the (outrageous) plots mixed up. I also looked forward to the low-budget squeaky bat.

I really liked the storyline when Barnabas Collins kidnapped Maggie Evans and tried to make her into his long, lost, tragic love, Josette. It was very suspenseful, scary, and well done.

R6 Grayson played Magda during the 1897 time period. She was the one that put the curse on Quentin Collins and turned him into a werewolf.

Yes, I recall watching some of the original episodes, but not all (due to active "Parental Guidance" on the home front).

So, you can imagine my joy when the Tim Burton extravaganza / remake was released! There are sooooooooooo many hilarious one-liners in that film, one of them being: " . . . You're stoned." To which Barnabas immediately replies, with a devious smile, "Many have tried, but they'd failed!"

When Angelique over powers Barnabas and forcibly kisses him, Barnabas just as forcibly pushes her away in disgust and sneers, "How DARE you place your WICKED LIPS upon me!"

Then there's Helena Bonham Carter as the perpetually hungover live-in family/child psychiatrist. (She gives Depp a run for his money as the true "star" of this film!)

This Blu-ray is a new add to my annual winter holiday rotation film festival!

No R9, just No.

I grew up on DS as well. I came in as the ghost of Josette was trying to save David from his fiery mother. Then came Barnabas and the show went full throttle. The 1795 sequence was inspired. The show got tripped up by the departure of Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters. After the 1897 sequence, the show lost its footing. It did have some eye candy, some suspense, and who could resist Grayson Hall trying to save Jonathan Frid who could never remember his lines (although he did deliver them well). The homoerotic underpinnings (Lieutenant Forbes, Adam, even sometimes Quentin) were also a hoot.

So many queens were on that show, starting with the biggest queen of all, Jonathan Frid.

Yeah, I loved all those queens.

I wish they would take the original scripts and just redo them form episode one. Once again a daily half hour soap.It wouldn't cost much.

Loved it in the '60s and still do. The 1795 vampire-origin story was my favorite. Having attended a few of the fan conventions in the past, I was able to meet many of the cast members, except for Grayson Hall. The Tim Burton film version was completely disappointing.

Louis Edmonds sucked Jonathan Frid. Ewwww!

I loved both Burkes.

I used to fantasize about being invited to Collinwood to visit David. We would fool around(we were close to the same age) and then we would get Willie Loomis to join us. I also had a big crush on Roger Davis as well My favorite story lines always involved Angelique

I saw an old picture of the guys at the beach. Jon Frid could rock a speedo. I loved the 1897 scene where Barnabas shows up and gives his old line about being a long lost cousin from England who is descended from the original Barnabas. The old lady of the house knew that Barbara's never went to England and that he was a vampire locked up in the Mosoleum. Her grandchildren intoduce her to cousin Barnabas from England and she goes like "oh shit, soneone let out the vampire and keels over.

Back in the day retakes were next to impossible to do on soaps so on Dark Shadows you saw on the mistakes and unexpected events which simply added to the allure of the show.

In one scene Barnabas is trying to have a serious conversation with Willie and Dr. Hoffman, and a fly keeps on landing on his face. In another scene, from 1795, Rev. Trask is trying to perform an exorcism and a fly keeps buzzing around him until he finally blows it away from the corner of his mouth. This happened with other actors on the show as well so I certainly hope that the fly had its union card!

I discovered Dark Shadows the summer of 1985 when my location station ran the repeats. I was completely hooked. Then when they remade the show in 1991, I fell in love with it again. I hated the Tim Burton movie. Then Sci Fi started airing the repeats and I got to see the first season, which I loved. It was like a film noir and Roger was at his queeny bitchy best. Loved Joan Bennett and Victoria and Laura the Phoenix. Just a great show all around.

Joel Crothers played Joe Haskell on D.S. He was a real hottie who looked like a typical straight guy but was gay in real life. Gone but not forgotten.

Joel sucked alot of cocks on that DS set!

As for Joel.. better with the moustache or without?

I don't want to see the series redone, but I would like a sequel: Dark Shadows, The Next Generation.

R18 - We're probably roughly the same age. I, too, had a thing for David and wanted to be friends with him, shall we say. Angelique scared the shit out of me at the time when I was watching it first run.

A couple of years back, I watched the entire series starting with Barnabas' arrival on the scene. The before that which were more focused on Victoria winters background where more like a standard so proper, very boring. I definitely got the impression that Doctor Lang was forcing Jeff to have sex, which is why Jeff hated him so much. Don Briscoe was very, very attractive!

My best friend loves those 1790's scenes, but I thought those were the weakest part of the series. They emphasize Quentin-the-werewolf so heavily, but as it turns out he wasn't one for very long at all. Jerry Lacey was hot playing a modern day character in some episodes, but as Reverend Trask he was incredibly creepy.

Beth Chavez seemed the type to attract lesbians.

Is it still on YouTube?

I also enjoyed it every day after school OP. It was fun to spot the mistakes and screw ups. There were lots of times actors forgot their lines. During the end credits roll they always had the camera focused on the last scene. Once during the credits Johnathon Fridd, who had changed out of his costume and gotten into his street clothes, walked through the room the camera was filming with his overcoat draped over his arm and just before he got off camera someone must have yelled at him because he turned his head and had a look of shock on his face. Another instance they had the camera doing a close up of the neck of one of the actors who had been bitten by Barnabas. There were 2 puncture wounds on her neck, and at one point one of the puncture wounds just fell off. Bad glue I guess. LOL

Here's 48 minutes of Dark Shadows bloopers.

Actually that should be screw ups, not bloopers.

Adam was hot.

I agree that the first journey into the past was the best. Although Alexandra Moltke was no Meryl Streep, she was perfect for the part of clueless ingenue Victoria "What's going on?" Winters. When she left, the show lost something. Lara Parker was amazing as Angelique. She stole every scene she was in. It's hard to believe that Grayson Hall was an Oscar nominee. With her gasping and shrieking, she was the Queen of Scenery-Chewers.

I loved me some Grayson Hall! She out drama-queened the gays at times, and who doesn't love a pill pusher?

I loved the bloopers; lots of stagehands who could not dash off-set soon enough. My favorite is the crew guy standing in the window! Oh, and the off-set fire. And the flies on Barnabas' nose, and...

R9 is an idiot. That movie was a shitfest. Really terrible.

I liked Willie Loomis - really cocky and a trouble maker in the beginning but beaten down when he became the slave of the vampire, Barnabas Collins. John Karlen, who played Willie, was a good actor, a handsome guy, and looked great in tight pants. I think Barnabas and Willie had a Brokeback Mountain thing going on.

I got a kick out of the fact that Louis Edmonds always played the most conservative, uptight straight-laced characters, but was a flaming fag in real life. Don Briscoe probably had the saddest life post-DS. He had all sorts of emotional problems, became morbidly obese, and basically became a hermit at his parents home until he died. What a shame..such a stud!

It felt sexual to me and I was a six year old.

Many inferred Willie as his "bitch" - I recall reading a piece a while back outlining the gay subtext to dark shadows, with scenes that could be interpreted as a sexual relationship between the two implied.

Was anyone else besides Edmonds, Frid and Crothers on the show gay?

A funny compilation of Dr Hoffman emoting

I liked the relationship between Barnabas Collins and Dr. Julia Hoffman. They started out as enemies - how many times did he put his hands around her neck and strangle her? I've lost count. But then they evolved into quite the team and became fond of one another. Julia was "the physician to the vampire".

I read that Grayson and Jonathan couldn't stand each other.

I have a hard time believing that Thayer David, as Professor Stokes, was straight. I think Chris Bernau from the Leviathans episodes was gay?

Looks like something very bad happened to Louis Edmonds' chin and mouth in his later years.

He had oral cancer and subsequent surgeries.

I never understood why Barn bit his male victims on the wrist.

The first movie based on the series, 'House of Dark Shadows", was pretty good for a cheap horror movie. Nancy Barrett as Carolyn made a wonderful vampire, with her long blonde hair and white burial gown. The second one, "Night of Dark Shadows" wasn't that great. It was made after the series ended and Jonathan Frid wasn't inclined to play Barnabas anymore, so the movie was about Quentin instead. It wasn't a hit; Barnabas was a much more interesting character than Quentin.

There were 3 governesses during the run of Dark Shadows.

1. Victoria Winters (the best) played by Alexandra Moltke . Dan Curtis said that he picked out the most innocent girl in New York City to play Vicky.

2. Maggie Evans, played by Kathryn Leigh Scott, took over the role after Vicky left (isn't it strange that Maggie went from being a waitress in a cheesy diner to a governess in the home of the most wealthy people in town?).

3. Kate Jackson played Daphne, the third and last governess. Kate stated in an interview that there was intense jealously on the set because she got the plum role that some of the other ladies wanted.

R48 MGM wanted Dan Curtis to make a third Dark Shadows movie but he turned them down and went on to other projects.

I had a crush on Donna Wandrey. She played Barnaba's other great love, Roxanne. She was a pretty redhead with peaches and creme complexion. And she had short hair, which made her stand out on a show that mostly featured women with long hair. During her audition she was asked why she thought she should get the role of Roxanne and she said something like "because I have short hair." She got the part.

Barnabus and Julia was the inspiration for The Sopranos.

Love Grayson Hall

Thank you for that montage

Yes, Grayson was a an Oscar nominee. It just goes to show you what happens when you are producing a script a day with little rehearsal time and no multiple takes. Even Meryl Streep couldn't have turned out a good performance under those conditions. This is why soap opera is so unique and why many actors can't cut it under that kind of work load.

My favorite storyline was the first trip into the past. Seeing the period sets and costumes in color(when there wasn't some kind of screw-up with the tape which resulted in refilming in black and white)was wonderful. And finding out how Barnabas came to be a vampire was great. They found a great cast overall. Not the greatest actors, but they all had something that clicked. Alexandra Moltke's wistful beauty was never matched in the recasts for Victoria Winters.

Anthony George, the second Burke Devlin and Jeremiah Collins in the 1795 storyline, was gay.

He was in a LTR with Earl Hollinam.

The real question is which males were straight, since the gays were almost everywhere. I think Mitchell Ryan, David Ford, Thayer David, Roger Davis, John Karlen, and Robert Rodan were straight. Don Briscoe was too, but, one wonders. Thayer David seems like he should have been gay... One really has to wonder what went on in the dressing rooms. Yes, the relationship between Barnabas and Willie was highly suggestive of a master/slave relationship. I read that Barnabas bit Willie on the hand because it would have been too homoerotic to bite him on the neck.

A fantastic series that deserves a well made sequel series or a total remake. So many cute men. I had such a crush on the gaspingly beautiful Alexandra and Lara. Kathryn too, such a sweetheart! Graysontruly is a fantastuc actress...check out the Gargoyles movie. She married a man from a small Ohio town who was one of DS writers and wrote for other soaps. Joan Bennett, such a beautiful, regal woman. I loved Collinwood and the Old House. Truly a unique series, and I loved all the storylines until after 1897--it went south after that. My straight friend whom I made watch DS on dvd likes the 1897 the best; I think I do too, mainly due to Magda. But even the early ones with Vicky wondering around the (real) Collinwood and the Old House in the vaguely Gothic (at that time) sequences were amazing. David and Amy were great little actors, David so cute and smart. Loved Roger's voice. Loved the second very hot Burke/ Don Briscoe and Joel Crothers were great handsome men. In today's crazy world, we need the Collins family BACK to take us away!!! Netflix? Showtime?

I actually preferred Burke #1. I heard the actor was fired because he was a drunk. They made the actor who played Sam Evans blind because he could never remember his lines.

I wish they wouldn't have dropped the Victoria's parentage storyline, but once Barnabas hit there was no going back.

Agreed about the Vicky's parentage storyline. Everyone was expecting it to be revealed that she was Elizabeth's illegitimate daughter, but did they ever drop a hint as to her father?

I preferred Burke #1. Anthony George creeped me out . And while we're talking cute men, don't leave out Chris Pennock(Jeb?). He always melted my butter.

I remember seeing this pic back in the day and finding it SCANDALOUS! A case of one scandal covering up a bigger scandal?

R58; yes, whichever Burke was not Anthony George was the hot one; thanks--got confused. Anthony looked too old for Alexandra's Vicky, when they had them as dating interests.

They created a microcosm of the world in Collinsport; I always loved the mausoleum and the legends of the Collins family in the 1700s too. Alexandra was one of the most beautiful women on tv, ever, so was Lara.

Amazing all this was done in a tiny studio where I think Wendt Williams is. Wonder who has any of the props/paintings?

1991 series was fine, Jonny Depp movie blew.

I get that many consider Chris Pennock hot, but not me. I wasn't as taken with Sky Rumson either. I'll take Dr. Lang. Magda was a real hoot, indeed!

Supposedly, part of Briscoe's mental issues were freaking out when he realized he might be bisexual? Astredo was straight, but camped up the role to the max. There was a guy in the earlier episodes, who played a family lawyer, written out just as the ghoulish angle began, whom I thought was rather attractive.

My two favorite OG Dark Shadows guys were,

Don Briscoe and Tom Happer

Chris Pennock really got into the "spirit" of the things, particularly when he played in the Jekyll/Hyde plot in later years. I thought he was hot, too. Probably fun in bed.

My favorite memory? Sitting on the couch, beneath the Barnabas portrait, in the NYC apartment of Jonathan Frid during a small dinner party circa 1990. He had the ring and cane in wall mounted cases as well.

Which portrait R65? The one that hung in Collinwood or the one that hung in The Old House?

I think Don Briscoe was gay but really couldn't come to terms with it. There was just something there, plus he acted in gay-themed plays in NYC. He never married or had children, lived with his parents, put on weight and became a recluse. His sister said that he was looking for some form of spirituality but looked in all the wrong places. He took drugs, had mental problems, and his life didn't end well. Sad, for a young man who showed promise.

Roger Davis was almost universally disliked on the set of DS. He was a pussyhound, loud, and abrasive. Even the coy Joan Bennett said something critical about him in her memoir. When the character of Victoria left the series the producers were thinking of hooking him up with the character of Maggie Evans as a new love interest, but Kathryn Leigh Scott (who played Maggie) said that she would quit the series before she would work closely with Davis so they created a new character for him to play.

The above must be true. Mayne 20 years ago we were at UNSET BOULEVARD in NY and Lara Parker andd hr probably husband and daughter and Roger Davis and a young woman were in the audience. Roger Davis was a tall, well built man in a suit with tennis shoes. He had an arrogant air and at intermission kept looking around, seemed to hope someone would recognie him. After the play, when people ere leaving, he was loud, laughing, boorish, trying to call attention to himself. I noticed Lara didn't pay much attention to him. These actors must be in their late 70s, early 80s by now.

There was two remakes of "Dark Shadows", a tv series starring Ben Cross and the awful Tim Burton movie starring Johnny Depp. The series was mediocre and the movie was a piece of shit. No more attempts are remakes or revivals should be attempted because none of them could compare to the original, wonderful, cheesy, cheaply made tv series. And no actor could ever come close to Jonathan Frid's portrayal of the reluctant, tormented vampire Barnabas Collins.

Frid was a bottom.

Does anyone remember an episode where a woman came back and she was wearing a large hat and veil. On Friday's show she lifted the veil with her back to the camera and we had to wait until Monday for the reveal. i remember running home and being scared when we got to see her. Was that just a little kids imagination or was there a scene like that?

I very vaguely remember it, as I'm the guy who watched almost the entire series within the past couple of years on a binge. If I remember correctly, it was one of the female witches who aged badly so we saw her as basically a skeletal old crone. For some reason I'm hesitant to say was Angelique, but the only other I could think of was David's mother, Laura (the Phoenix).

[quote]The series was mediocre

I don't agree. It was more stylized and didn't have the kiche appeal of the original, but I loved it. Two things stood out for me, they made Victoria and Josette the same person, which was great and made total sense and Adrian Paul.

I started watching the show when the first back-to-the-past story had already started. The show had already been on for about a year, and although always "Gothic" was much less supernatural. Before Barnabas, the first attempt at the supernatural was Laura, the Phoenix . Then when the show seemed like it might be cancelled, the producers said "what the hell" and went all out with the vampire storyline.

There were several reunion DVDs out, where the cast got together for reminiscing and questions from the audience. Time was not kind to many of the cast but Kathryn Leigh Scott , and especially Lara Parker, seemed like they found the fountain of youth.

The Phoenix was awesome. She was the first big foray into the supernatural, outside of some unseen ghostly presences.

I wonder how the 1966 audience reacted to her storyline. It must have been at least somewhat promising, since they decided to go while hog with Barnabus to stave off cancellation.

I was always intrigued about the young girls' legs. Poor Alexandra Moltke had fat knees so they always put her in longer dresses, just below the knee. Kathryn Leigh Scott and Nancy Barrett both had gorgeous, skinny legs and wore the miniest of mini-skirts. I felt sorry for Alexandra.

Also, Moltke was the girlfriend of Claus von Bulow who murdered his wife and she had to testify at his trial. I think her father had been some kind of minor nobility or general or something in Denmark and they escaped to America during the war? Oh some kind of exotic background.

The old blind man, Sam Evans, in real life, was married to one of the young women - either Scott or Barrett - can't remember which.

He married Nancy Barrett.

Yeah sam was married to Nancy, it's like WTF??

This one.

R72 You might be thinking of the scene where Barnabas Collins called back his tragic, true love, Josette, who had jumped off Widow's Hill and killed herself on the rocks below. Barnabas summoned her back from the grave, and she came, but she was wearing a hat-like veil to cover her face. When Barnabas demanded to see her she reluctantly lifted the veil to reveal a hideous, smashed up face.

Was it cancelled because of low ratings?

R82 Yes. The producers and writers of the show got carried away with going back into the past and parallel time way too much which kind of confused people. In fact, the show ended not in the present but in another time period in the past. The ratings of the show are on the internet, and the last cycle of the show were the lowest ratings ever for DS so they staked it through the heart.

Some people say that the show never recovered from the Leviathan storyline.

Some people say that the show never recovered from Grayson Hall's hammy acting.

Another thing that killed the show was the habits of viewers before VCRs, let alone DVR, online synopses, and streaming.

People did not watch the show daily, which is why the early years worked better at the time: very little actually happened in each episode, and half the dialogue was summarizing what had already happened.

I binged a bit with the dvds, and the slowness and repetition turned it almost surreal. When it switched to color, things really started to move. And a couple years later, spiral.

I hated the Count Petofi shows.

I hated Quentin and that storyline.

Dark Shadows was a mirror of the times. Whenever Joe Haskell stayed overnight at girlfriend Maggie Evans house he always slept on the couch in the living room while she slept in her bedroom with the door closed. Then Barnabas the vampire would come into her bedroom and bite her neck while dear, old Joe slept unaware in the next room. A bit unintentionally humorous.

I just remembered that "Quentin's Theme" was a top 5 hit on Billboard. You never hear it on oldies channels today.

I wonder if Jonathan Frid was angry when David Selby's Quentin started getting some of the attention Barnabas always got.

My favorite was when Julia just gave away sedatives like candy. No prescription, no initial exam, just go upstairs and take two pills and everything would be alright. It was so sixties.

Count Petofi days with Magda were the best part. Aristede was about as str8 as Jm J Bullock.

And Victoria, the young governess, ordered a straight scotch at that bar - I can't remember the name - when she was out with her boyfriend Burke and Barnabas. That was so cool.

But this was around the same time that on Bewitched, on every show, they're mixing and drinking cocktails as soon as Darren walks in the door from work.

Magda's gypsy husband was Sandor. Magda is one of the most colorful and funniest characters on TV. Moltke had fat knees? Never noticed. She wore a trench coat a lot. Barnabas was happy when Quentin came along so he was not the focus of every ep. There was a lot of sow moving stuff at first, but the look of the show was way cool, esp. for daytime. The great director Fritz Lang was a fan and friend of Joan Bennett. Jackie O. was a fan A very successful series of paperbacks appeared 1965 or so ghost written by a Canadian man. The first 3 or 4 had very artsy and beautiful painted covers. Lara Parker has 3 novels out based on Dark Shadows. I wish one of the old peoples networks would air the reruns. and finally I wish someone would reboot this with quality...no Johnny Depp.

Are any of these cast members still alive?

Did any of them write a memoir of their time on the show?

Plenty are still alive; Vicky, Maggie, Angelique, Reverend Trask, David, Amy, Quentin, Beth, Willie, Kate Jackson, Jeff David ND OTHERS. "Maggie" has written a couple memoirs. I think Roger (desceased) also did; "Quentin" has written some stuff and a mediocre bio of Jonathan Frid appeared a few years ago.

[quote]You might be thinking of the scene where Barnabas Collins called back his tragic, true love, Josette, who had jumped off Widow's Hill and killed herself on the rocks below. Barnabas summoned her back from the grave, and she came, but she was wearing a hat-like veil to cover her face. When Barnabas demanded to see her she reluctantly lifted the veil to reveal a hideous, smashed up face.

Yes, thanks I didn't think I imagined it but I remember being scared when we saw her face. Now I'm going to try and find that scene.

Found it!

R98 Bravo! I remember that scene very well. Josette rises up from her freshly dug grave, traipses into the Old House and gives Barnabas a shocker. Only on Dark Shadows!

David Selby (Quentin) and Kate Jackson (Daphne), especially, were the breakout stars of Dark Shadows. They went on to star in successful movies and TV series. Kate starred in "Making Love", with Harry Hamlin, a groundbreaking gay-themed movie

1897 was the highpoint of the series. It had everything. Barnabas, Julia, Angelique, Quentin, Petofi, Aristede, Crazy Jenny, Laura, Gregory Trask, Charity/Pansy Faye, Magda, Sandor, Charles. The weak points were Kitty and Amanda. Their scenes were a complete waste of time.

R101 I loved Kathryn Leigh's Scott portrayal of Lady Kitty Hampshire, a beautiful gold digger with spunk who also dressed beautifully and mesmerized Barnabas. It was K.L. Scott's portrayal of Rachael Drummond in the beginning of the 1897 time cycle that I disliked - whiny, too innocent, always a victim, and boring.

Joel Crothers used to masturbate in his dressing room. I should know.

The dream curse became a real chore to sit through.

^ I believe this was the TENTH iteration of the curse, meaning we had been through the doors nine times already.

Still, Caroline did the best screaming.

I really enjoyed the dream curse cycle - it was suspenseful and well done. The best dream curse episode was when Prof. Stokes confronted Angelique in a dream - the acting from both of them was fantastic, and he foiled her, the classic example of good winning over evil. One of the few times that witchy Angelique retreated and threw in the towel.

Johnathon Fridd was packing.

Did Jon Frid suck the cock?

Nancy did have the best lungs in showbiz. Only the chick in Texas Chainsaw could rival her.

The dream curse was the worst, I stopped watching the show before the Adam storyline ran it's course, I couldn't stand that either. The best was when they went back in time, I loved seeing how Barnabas became a vampire.

I keep misreading the subject line as "ceiling fans of DataLounge", and I wonder why anyone would bother to discuss ceiling fans.

The Adam story sucked. Loved blushing bride Cassandra and her attempts to avoid a honeymoon with Roger.

All the ceiling fans in Collinwood AND the Old House were removed when the houses were featured on a very special "Trading Spaces".

R111 Barnabas absolutely refused to have ceiling fans at the Old House. They were much too modern. He had a thing for 1795.

Plus ceiling fans and flying vampire bats didn't mix well either.

That would've made for some great bloopers! Cast members trying to look terrified as vampire bats on fishing poles get caught up in ceiling fans.

[quote] R111: I keep misreading the subject line as "ceiling fans of DataLounge", and I wonder why anyone would bother to discuss ceiling fans?

I meant that I read it as "Ceiling Fans of Dark Shadows". Something about ceiling fans. Was it particularly hot in Collinwood? What color were their fans? Did anyone catch their model numbers? Maybe the fans were to keep mold from growing. It always looked damp there. Does anyone own replaca fans? This is so fascinating.

Maybe Julia could have incorporated the motion of ceiling fans into her hypnosis techniques.

"Watch the fan, David. Watch closely. Don't take your eyes off it. Watch it turn. round and round and round and zzzzzzz..."

I don't think Collinwood would have had ceiling fans. The stagnant air adds to the brooding atmosphere, especially for Elizabeth at the window in the drawing room.

Just think, when this series originlly aired, there was no Kardtrashians, no Obama, Hilary was in her possible horn rimmed dykey phase; the US had issues but was dealing with them, no crazed Muslisms, most of us had (thankfully) never or rarely seen a Muslim. If only we could return to the golden days at Collinwood.

please, nobody bring up Vietnam or civil rights; those have been dealt with nicely, thank you. And I don't think ceiling fans were popular 1966--1971--tacky wall murals ad afghans maybe.

It was a real eye opener to me that rural Maine was host to gypsies and hispanics (blonde Beth Chavez) in 1897!

Does anyone remember the storyline where someone rose from the dead and they were walking around, still wrapped in burial linen, appearing like a mummy? I recall Elizabeth staring out the window, like R119 suggests, and she spotted the mummy, and got the vapors.

It was probably the first episode I saw, and I was hooked from then on.

Ugh, 120, we're not all entombed in 1966 like Barnabas was in 1795.

Times change. They get worse, they get better, they seldom remain static. A gay man who has been alive for 50+ years should be able to recognize as well or better than anyone.

R122 I think that was Jeremiah Collins' ghost, although Lord knows it could have been any number.

Wow, R124, your advanced sleuthing skills amaze! That looks like it. I seem to recall I had to get under the covers of my parent's bed, I was so scared.

Did Jerimiah get hit in the head by a ceiling fan!? Sometimes I wonder if people fully anticipate the possible hazards when they install these fans.

Why wasn't Lara Parker a bigger star post DS? A good actress, better than many, and breathtakingly beautiful. So many lesser talented and much less attractive women worked in the late 60s/70s/80s. Was David Selby the only one to achieve some relative fame after Collinwood?

As I recall, the .Old House had no electricity and that was just fine by Barnabas.

When I was 16, my folks moved to a different house on the same street. When we referenced them, we'd use their addresses. Such as "I grew up at 213, but moved to 2100 when I was in high school". But we also referred to 213 as "the Old House" and that always reminded me of Dark Shadows.

R127 Lara Parker said that she thought she would be the next big thing in Hollywood after DS but it never happened. She appeared in a couple of movies including Save The Tiger starring Jack Lemon. I think she played something like a prostitute in it - Thayer David was also in it, also playing an unsavory character.

Besides David Selby, Kate Jackson was the big breakout star of Dark Shadows. She went on to do successful TV series (Charlie's Angels) and movies.

Kathy Cody signed a Disney contract!

I think John Karlen was on Cagney and Lacey,not that that's huge but it's something. And Joel Crothers went on to be a big star on another soap opera until AIDS claimed him. Louis Edmonds had a long run on Days of Our Lives as Langley Wallingford. I loved him in that.

Jonathan Frid said he turned down some similar type roles, thinking something better would come along after DS, and not much did. He directed a play with that giantess who played Adam's wife -- and he toured in Arsenic and Old Lace with another tv legend - Marion Ross I think but I'm not sure.

I believe Frid came from a wealthy Canadian family and didn't have worry about money. He had an apartment on Grammercy Park and eventually retired to Canada where he lived to be almost 90.

The Old House had no power, except briefly when it was on a generator for Julia's experiment (making Eve?).

Did Frid have a husband?

Fire Island Pines, mid to late 1970s. Decided to drop some acid and go out. Waiting for the acid to kick in, I turned on the TV. The only channel the TV could pick up was showing a color TV movie of Dark Shadows. Some ingenue type was walking uneasily through a dense forest, pushing tree limbs out of her face and looking back over her shoulder as intensely melodramatic and frightening music played.

Everything was fine until the trees started walking out of the screen towards me, finally wrapping their limbs around my neck....

I have never done acid since.

R135 Interesting story. The Dark Shadows affect!

R133 Julia was trying to cure Barnabas of being a vampire.

What was wrong with Julia's eyelashes, that kept them fluttering about? Did she have dry, itchy eyes? I wonder if she ever told her best friends?

Drawing Room ceiling fan. Uses whale oil.

Donna McKechnie went on to win the Tony Award for "A Chorus Line".

R140 She married Michael Bennett, a Broadway producer, who was as gay as a goose and later died from AIDS.

It was kind of peculiar: Barnabas shot Jeremiah in the chest, but the ghost ran around with bandages on his head. I figure they stopped paying Anthony George, so they needed to hide Jeremiah's face. BTW, one of my greatest thrills was seeing Jonathan Frid emerging from the fog on Twelfth Avenue in the West 20s in Manhattan.

R142, as I recall, DS was full of such peculiarities. Like, how did Julia think she could cure Barnabas? She just made it all up, right?

R143 No, Julia did not make it up. She was a doctor with an excellent understanding of medicine and told him that altering his blood system with a number of medical injections could cure him of his affliction. She just about did it until Barnabas screwed the whole thing up - and then blamed her!

Barn didn't screw it up. Julia was jealous, remember. She thought that Barn was getting the cure so they could be together, then she found out about Vicky and that Barn planned a life with Victoria after he was cured and Julia slowed everything down.

Barn found out what Julia was up to and forced her to give him extra injections which aged him.

Did Julia seriously think Barnabas would choose her over Vicky? Does she own a mirror?

Her eyelash fluttering used to drive me nuts. I think those ceiling fans were set too high and giving her dry-eye.

Julia was what they called a handsome woman and she was far more interesting than Victoria.

Vicky had a boyfriend too - so why would Julia think that Barbabas had any chance with Vicky - and he should have been grateful to her for giving him back his life, or I can imagine her thinking that. She also knew his secret and could rat him out.

After Maggie Evans didn't work out, Barnabas set his sights on Vicki, who was in love with the past as much as he was. Why would Julia think that Barnabas would fall for her, every other second he was threatening to kill her.

One of the soap opera magazines had an article listing each soap's signature couple (like Holden and Lily from ATWT, Reva and Josh GL, Nikki and Victor Y&R, etc). When it came to Dark Shadows, it wasn't Barnabas and Josette, or Barnabas and Vicki, or even Barnabas and Julia. They selected Barnabas and Angelique, who spent most of the series trying to kill each other.

During the 1897 Quentin Collins time period he had an affair with Kate Jackson's character Daphne Harridge, but then he had so many affairs. Does anyone remember what happened to the character of Daphne? She must have died young because her youthful ghost appeared to David and Amy in the present time. What happened to her?

Did Daphne like the puss?

Do I recall correctly?

As I recollect, towards the end, they went into a parallel dimension/universe. All the characters had different histories and different interests. Barnabas wasn't even a vampire, as I recall. It was fine for a short while, but they continued in that universe for so long, it was just gobbilty-gook. It make me not care about either dimension/universe. I think they eventually came back, but that killed the series for me.

[quote] R14: I wish they would take the original scripts and just redo them form episode one. Once again a daily half hour soap.It wouldn't cost much.

Funny you say that. A few years ago, I watched a DVD of the very first episode. It was terrible, in every way. Then, there WAS a reboot of the old series broadcast. It was filmed fresh with new actors and everything. Because I had just watched the original series, I was able to tell that they literally used the original script. It was a dud that lasted only about three episodes.

Things have changed in 40 years. They really needed to update the script for a modern age. For examp,e, the "Buffy" TV show did a good job with the same genre, I think. The old DS scripts were fine, then, but are crap, now. They tried to save a buck, and it was a flop.

Passions was the Dark Shadows of the past few decades. It had its moments, but fell to often into the same flat style of all the other daytime soaps.

Anything that runs five times a week is going to suffer in quality. Dark Shadows certainly did, but it made up for the cheap budget and impossible time constraints with inventive stories, outrageous characters, and extremely fun and often wondrously misguided performances.

That quality of succeeding in the face of almost no money or time is harder to replicate than anything else.

According to people who count appearances on "Dark Shadows", the character of Barnabas Collins came in 1st for most times on the show. The #2 spot went to Dr. Julia Hoffman, and #3 went to Victoria Winters - even though she appeared for only a little for half of the show's duration, she was on the show almost everyday for a long time.

I liked how at the end of the series the final episode wrapped everything up and told the fate of the characters. But I do remember on the final episode a female character being carried in with a wound in her throat and how the character played by Thayer David commented that if he didn't know better he would think that what wound in her neck was made by a vampire. Great ending.

What happened to Barnabas?

My family took me to the site of the exterior shots of the old house, IIRC. I remember being a huge fan, though not a ceiling fan, but anyway, when we got there, I didn't recognize the building and was very disappointed. I lived in Connecticut, so it had to be in CT, RI, or MA. Anyone know it?

As an 8 year old I was hooked when the Laura "Phoenix" storyline was going on (I remember having to ask my older sister what a phoenix was). Then Barnabas appeared.....I watched faithfully until the Leviathan story when my Mom made me quit watching. Many months later she backed down when she realized that story was over, but I found it difficult/nearly impossible to pick up on what was going on (I was a little kid) and eventually stopped watching, way before it was cancelled. Thankfully I was able to watch it in full when SciFi aired it. My Mom watched it then too and told me if she'd known how bad the Leviabas bricked up Rev. Trask (without a comment), but several mothers of my classmates made them stop watching.athan story was going to turn out, she would've let me continue watching! She was religious, but let me watch when Barnabas bricked up Rev. Trask while some of my classmates' mothers made them quit after those episodes.

My favorite storyline was the 1890s period with the gypsies, Quentin, Crazy Jenny, Count Petofi, Aristede and so many others. I LOVED it when Julia finally appeared to help bring Barnabas back. I also loved Nicholas Blair, but he wasn't in that timeline.

There was another DS pilot made about 10 years ago or so. I can't remember if it was for the UPN or another network, but I surprisingly liked it, after expecting to hate it. The show was modernized. Unfortunately, it was not picked up.

Sorry for the double sentences in the long paragraph. My good laptop is in the shop and this old one wasn't showing what I was typing in that section, so I rewrote it. UGH!

R162 My mother always let me watch Dark Shadows - it was my passion. She would sometimes watch it too. But one day when Jeff Clark came in with a box containing a severed arm for the mad Dr. Lang that proved to be too much for mom and she only watched it a bit after that.

The film actress Marsha Mason started out on Dark Shadows playing a vampire girl in a 1970 episode during the Leviathan storyline. Her episode was quite good, scary.

Marsha Mason.

A number of actors appeared on the show before their big breaks.

Actually, I found the ending unsatisfying because it was about characters in an alternate universe in 1840. We wanted to know how Barnabas, Julia, Liz, Roger, David and Carolyn ended up.

Abe Vigoda.

Only on DL would this count, but the dad from Gimme a Break was on one of the early episodes.

Considering the budget of the show, Barbabas's old age make-up was nothing short of spectacular.

I loved the groovy jukebox at The Blue Whale, even though it only played three songs.

Aristede and Nicholas Blair were two of the femmest characters going, both by straight actors.

R167, I felt the same way! It was very deflating.

Cheer up, gothic gays. Just pretend that the alternate timeline is the actual one, and that the one started in 1966 was the alternate.

Alexandra Moltke (Victoria Winters) quit the show because she was pregnant with her son, in the midst of the Adam story arc. And what did she name her boy? Adam. How strange is that?

Not at all, Selby named his son Jameson after the DS character.

The b/w episodes where Barnabas was holding Maggie prisoner in the Old House cellar were a bit disturbing to me - as an adult! The story moves so slowly, I started to get the feeling of being locked in the gloomy underground cell along with Maggie, as Barnabas broke her down mentally so she would have nothing left and assume the identity of Josette.

Her final desperate escape through those tunnels (guided by the ghost of Sarah) with Barnabas in close pursuit was genuinely suspenseful.

When the series switched to color, that atmosphere largely evaporated. I still loved the series, but it sacrificed the genuine gothic feel for faster moving plots and color.

"The b/w episodes where Barnabas was holding Maggie prisoner in the Old House cellar were a bit disturbing to me - as an adult!"

Didn't he shut her up in a coffin? That scares me as an adult, too.

I was afraid of the Reverand Trask treatment.

There were no repeats, right? I know I saw Trask get bricked-up. Did it air just once?

Didn't Barnabas get bricked-up for 200 years, and it was some workers who let him out in 1966? I bet he was hungry!

When I was a young Gayling, even younger, I used to go to sleep forming a Cross with my index fingers. I was doing it as late as age 25, when someone though instead that I was crossing my arms like a cadaver. I don't do either now, though. I'm 58 now.

I knew I was gay when I saw Lt. Nathan Forbes walking around in his military breeches.

Barnabas chained and bricked up Trask in the cellar. His ghost was freed later.

Barnabas was chained and locked inside a coffin in a secret chamber in the Collins family mausoleum. Willie was grave robbing and let him out.

When Barnabas when chained in the coffin in 1796 (not to be released by Willy until 1967) was he awake? Sleeping? Awake in the night and sleeping in the day? Was his extreme sadness (as well as barbarity) because of nearly 200 years of tortured aloneness?

That is a question only Dan Curtis could truly answer.

I like to think that he was mostly in a dream state for almost two centuries.

Maybe it was true torture like the Catherine Deneuve character in The Hunger, waiting for someone to notice they're there (their, just for fun)

I remember seeing Louis Edmonds in real underpants, with a really good hairy body and noticeable bulge, on All My Children, probably when Langley was fucking the original Opal.

I remember thinking how weird it was that I was jacking off to a guy who was older than my dad. But I could tell Louis was gay, so I wasn't obsessing over some straight guy for those two weeks or so.

[quote] I remember seeing Louis Edmonds in real underpants,

Speaking of Louis in his underpants .. In his bio, "Big Lou," he told author, Craig Hamrick, that there's an episode of DS where he had to do a scene in his underpants. Apparently, he'd left the set, thinking he was done for the day. He was back in his dressing room and had already begun to undress when he was called back to the set, and there wasn't time for him to put his trousers back on.

[quote] they made Victoria and Josette the same person, which was great and made total sense

R74 The original team kind of did a flip of that development in their 1970 "House of Dark Shadows" film, in that they moved Maggie Evans into the governess role that had been occupied by Victoria Winters in the TV show.

I have a question about Laura the Phoenix storyline.

Did she want David because she needed a sacrifice or because she wanted him to become a Phoenix like she was?

I think it was more the former, r189. As I remember it, burning him up along with the old fishing shack was a matter of great urgence. When he was rescued, she simply returned to ash, consigned to wait another period to rise again.

There was lots of maternal talk about what was about to happen, but I don't recall any solid promise that he would be a Phoenix too.

At that point the show was still reliant on a mysterious atmosphere, and the occult seldom got full exposition.

They exploded that atmosphere with the glorious time travel back to 1796.

R189 I watched the entire, original Dark Shadows series. Laura Collins was a shadowy, mysterious figure who had a habit of burning up/dying in the past. When she came back to Collinwood she told Roger Collins, her husband, that their marriage could not be worked out but that she had come back for the sake of her son, David. It became evident that she wanted to turn her son into Phoenix creature like herself and take him away with her forever but her plans were foiled at the last minute. It was really a good storyline and a foreboding of more eerie things to come, including Barnabas Collins rising from his coffin.

If there was one scene that stands out in your memories from Dark Shadows, what would it be? For me, two stand out. First was the scene where Barnabas walls up Rev. Trask alive. Frid was notorious for screwing up his lines, but when he had little dialogue, and could just concentrate on being menacing, he was very effective. The second scene was the climax of the 1795 storyline, where Victoria Winters was hanged as a witch, but switches bodies with the girl in the present-day seance.

When Angelique curses Barnabas. I can remember the dialogue word for word.

R192 Yup, I liked that scene too where Victoria Winters is going to be hanged in 1795 - very suspenseful and well done - but at the last second she and the other girl exchanged places and Vicky is screaming on the floor in the drawing room back in the present. She came out of the whole thing alive.

The Viki time-warp switch was fun and suspenseful. Of course, she came back to the present remembering little about Barnabas, which was frustrating.

One line I will never forget is Liz, at her wedding ceremony with Jason, saying "I killed Paul Stoddard -- and that man was my accomplice!" Then Carolyn, drops her gun!

R195 I remember that scene too, so dramatic, when Elizabeth Stoddard was about to marry Jason McGuire and then bailed out at the last minute. It was a highlight of DS black and white era.

When Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins the vampire) died, they pounded extra nails into his coffin, just in case........

I believe the coffin was chained as well.

The b/w era really did have some golden moments.

I am thinking of how sociopathic little David was at the outset, tampering with his father's car in hopes of causing a fatal accident.

Then he locked up Vicki in a cobwebby room in the abandoned wing (which we seriously needed to explore more), where she was haunted by the ghost of the recently murdered Bill Malloy, who serenaded her with "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?" - a question I imagine most of the male cast had a ready answer for.

When it's discovered that handyman/groundskeeper Matthew Morgan is Bill's killer, Matthew captures Vicki and locks her in a tiny secret room behind a bookcase in the Old House. Then the ghosts of the widows of Widow's Hill (all those suicides!) chase Matthew around until his heart expires.

That show was almost off the chain even before Barnabas showed up.

Link is for fans of the aborted wedding. Points of note:

They busted the budget with eight actors. They almost always maxed out at five speaking parts.

Also, the guy in the flashback who played Paul, the NOT-murdered husband, was the same actor who would go on to play the King of Moldavia in Dynasty. He became part of television history with the Moldavian Massacre!

It must have killed Joan to go from being the center of a lead story to being the least important character post-Barnabas.

R200 Joan Bennett was always important and relevant on Dark Shadows. She, along with Louis Edmonds (Roger Collins) and Nancy Barret (Carolyn Stoddard), were the only actors to be with the gothic soap during its entire run.

I'm not sure if it was this ep, but there's one scene I saw when it first aired that has always stayed with me. One of those endearing DS bloopers. Liz has a voiceover as she's recounting something horrible and dramatic. Her voice says something like, "and I ran from the room!" Meanwhile on screen she calmly walks out of the drawing room into the front hall. Being the young child that I was at the time I figured it was because she was too ancient to run at all.

I also thought that once you hit 30, you were ancient, and you had to give up sex, whatever exactly that was.

Days of Our Lives had a Dark Shadows feel during the mid 90s for a few years.

I wish I could remember where, but I read about some guy (an old director or agent?) visited the DS set and sat down with Joan Bennett, who was in make-up with a wig and 18th. century costume.

He tried to get her to look on the bright side, feeling that she must have felt humiliated acting in a vampire soap opera on a low budget, having to wear uncomfortable costumes and wigs.

She told him she loved every minute of it.

I'll see if I can find where I found this account.

Lots of actors get tossed away and forgotten. This was an instance of one who was resurrected and got to participate in a national sensation that was largely youth driven.

I imagine many actors would have welcomed a chance to play on Dark Shadows, especially once it really took off.

For R202, re; aging.

I recall an old "Peanuts" strip where Lucy is nagging Linus to give up his blanket.

Lucy-"What are you going to do when you get to be ten years old? Or twenty? Or thirty?"

Linus-"Don't be ridiculous, people don't live to be that old!"

Her Co stars loved Joan Bennett.

The Old House was on the Hudson River, It has been gone since the70s, Collingwood is in Newport, R.I. It was a private home and part of it came from France and then it was moved from DC to Newport. It is now private property. Don't go snooping around.

R207 is right.

You'll be VERY sorry if you do.

Barnabas' vampirism was astonishingly parallel to homosexuality, at least at the time. The unstoppable desire, the guilt, the attempts to cure.

Interesting observation!

Very similar to my young thinking, R205. I really thought sex was only for hot people in their 20s. Brainwashed by Hollywood!

DS was an allegory for many things, homosexuality, loneliness, fear of death/unknown. Enduring themes. May be reading too much into it, but isn't that what we do with literature? DS provided fun and thrills for kids, teens, housewives, and certain sections of it hold up 50 years later. I loved the series up until they returned from 1897, which may have been its' zenith. After that, either they ran out of steam or changed writers. Some of the actors were GREAT; Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott-as well as "David" and "Amy" are standouts. Loved Joan Bennett and John Karlen. When Kate Jackson came on, I thought, this one is not up to the acting standards of the others. Also loved "Beth" and "Eve" and of course, the great Grayson Hall. I bet she would have been great fun to know. It is said she had a wonderful sense of humor. When actors saw a script where their character would die, Grayson is said to have said: "Don't worry about it honey. You're going to come back as a ghost! I've fixed 'em up lots of times!"

Lightning in a bottle with most of the cast...the music...the exteriors...this was like live theatre on TV

DS is missed by its' fans.

Love you, R212. But there is no construction in English of its'. You want its. Its is the possessive of it.

It's, another construction, is the contraction of it is.

But there's no its'.

But I love your comment on DS!

Joe Haskell was seriously dreamboat material.

But I kind of liked Joel Crothers as Lt. Nathan Forbes even better. I like trouble.

Well I learned something. Thanks for the grammar lesson. Grammar is sorely lacking today, especially in schools, while the students read obscure world lit and the classic authors are pooh poohed as dead white males. As an alive white male, this offends me. (borrowing a quote from Sunny, one of the View people.)

Morgan Collins' bulge on display.

Wasn't the actor who played Morgan Collins a cast member of "Boys In The Band"? What storyline was he a part of? I confess that after the Leviathan storyline (which I actually liked!), I started paying less attention to DS. Parallel Time is what really killed the show for me.

R217 Yes, Morgan was played by Keith Prentice from "Boys." Morgan was part of the DS 1841 story. He was mainly played in a triangle with Catherine Harridge and Bramwell Collins. He's said to be based on Edgar Linton in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.

I watched the show as a kid. Loved the first back in time storyline to 1795. I vividly remember Trask being bricked up in the wall. My little brother and I would watch the show on an old tv down in our basement (Mom thought the show was crap and didn't want to see any part of it). Watching in the basement with just the tv on made it even scarier for us. I know we waited for Barn's vengeance on Trask. We thought oh he's just going to kill him. I remember saying well he can't bite him or Trask will then be a vampire, too. The lead up to the bricking was good. Trask goes into the Old House - a woman's voice is saying Traaaask, Traaaaaask.... a book flies open with a note, something about when the bell rings or the clock strikes 3....basically you're in deep shit Trask. When we saw the final scene where the last brick went in - we were just yelling, saying go Barnabas! Trask was just such a nasty asshole. Of course it was on a Friday.

I also remember when Angelique cursed Barnabas, when Josette jumped (well looked like she just ran from Barn or tripped) off of Widow's Hill, when Barn decided to raise up Josette from her grave so they could still be together (forgetting that she was smashed on those rocks below Widow's Hill), plus another storyline where Barn has Sam Evans repaint Angelique's portrait so it looks like she's 200 years old, using a steel brush. Of course, Angelique stops him before it's too late.

"Barn", R220?

Who are you?

Lt. Wojohowicz?

R220 Just about all of Trask's ancestors ended up in a bad way. In the 1897 time period Joan Bennett's character, along with Don Briscoe's character had him bricked up in a deserted room in an unused part of the Great House. Her character phoned up Trask to torment him and tell him that he would never get out. It was creepy and funny at the same time. Yup, Trask got his just desserts and died in that room.

If all the Trasks kept getting killed, how were there other generations?

I've wondered that myself, R223.

Spontaneous generation!

I believe the Trask progenitors were married with sons before dying.

Didn't any of the Trask widows or orphans wonder or care where the Reverends Trask had gone?

They were probably glad the Reverends Trask were gone.

aren't there ANY TV INDUSTRY QUEENS ON HERE, WHO COULD LAUNCH A REBOOT, OR TALK TO A CABLE/PAY CHANNEL, ABOUT DOING A good REBOOT AND NOT BADLY ACTED CAMP COMEDY, LIKE THE HORRIBLE MOVIE?

damn caps lock

The problem is that there are too many other vampire/werewolf/witch shows on TV. A rebooted DS could have led the pack, but the opportunity was lost.

I remember one episode when a grip was clearly visible laying on the floor behind a credenza. That made me laugh out loud. And the time when someone knocked over a head stone then picked it up and set it straight while delivering their line. So great!

Then they could make it mystery/suspense; maybe Vicky dates the hot town cop; maybe Elizabeth has some psychic abilty to solve crimes? Intrigue about family/ancestors who were criminals? Add the supernatural eleements slowly. Have wonderful sets and estates, make it very atmospheric.

R232's idea is kind of how the original series was in its first months.

They did just about every scary thing they could on Dark Shadows - or at least they tried. Toward the end of the series there was a headless man wandering around the estate grounds for awhile. It was simply a man in a long coat with his head covered up with a too high upper coat and it made him look too tall - it ended up looking unintentionally humorous. When the women saw him they would run away and scream. Me, I laughed. "Oh no......it's the headless man again.........!!"

I was about nine years old when I saw a headstone wobble and the fake cemetery grass rumple under some actor's footsteps. I had done children's theatre by then, and just laughed!

Here is my idea for a new Dark Shadows using the bones of the original.

Victoria is hired to home-school David Collins after he sets the town school on fire and is expelled permanently because they think he is a pyro, secretly he is being controlled by his dead mother, Laura, in an effort to destroy Roger and Elizabeth.

Victoria begins dating local boy and bartender at the Blue Whale -- Joe Haskell. Joe used to be involved with a girl named Maggie Evans, whose father runs a fishing fleet, but secretly has mob ties and is running drugs and Czech Republic hookers from his boats. Maggie plots and schemes to get Joe back, but nothing works. Then one night she runs into Barnabas who uses her as a secondary blood source and as a means to breakup Joe and Victoria. Maggie, under Barnabas' spell lures Joe to Widow's Hill. Maggie accidently falls to her death and Joe is accused of pushing her. Sam vows revenge on Joe and Victoria. Luckily, Maggie comes back as a vampire and begins killing folks and goes after Victoria.

Closeted Roger Collins has a young boy boytoy named Will Loomis. Will is secretly working for Burke Devlin. Burke wants revenge on Roger for framing him for the murder of Laura Collins years ago. Neither of them know that Laura is a Phoenix. Through Roger, Will learns the legend of Barnabas Collins and that his jewels are hidden somewhere on the estate. Will goes searching for treasure and riches, but ends up unleashing Barnabas and becoming his slave.

Barnabus does all of his classic Barnabas shit. Rehabbing the Old House and lusting after Josette's reincarnation, Victoria. While also biting random men and women all over Collinsport.

Carolyn Collins Stoddard returns to Collinsport after living in New York for a few years. We find out that Carolyn, while in New York, was possessed by a succubus demon. She is sweet innocent Carolyn by day, but at night she becomes a sex starved man eater named CC who sets her sights on Burke, who is has been dating her mother. We also learn that Carolyn has something of a daddy fetish, since her father left before she was born. The man she was involved with, the scientist turned sci fi writer, Elliott Stokes, comes to Collinsport to try and get Carolyn to return to New York with him. Once Elliott is in Collinsport he gets mixed up in all the strange goings on.

Meanwhile, Dr. Julia Hoffman, Burke's half sister, returns to town after being kicked off the faculty at Harvard for conducting unauthorized experiments in reanimating dead corpses and time travel. She discovers Barnabas's secret and promises to cure him. Julia, a lesbian, has fallen in love with Victoria and wants Victoria for herself. Then she finds out that Barnabas wants to be cured so that he and Victoria can be together.

Meanwhile, little David is roaming around the house talking to ghosts, seeing dead people, being controlled by his supernatural mother and setting shit on fire.

R236 has given this a LOT of thought.

I think Dark Shadows held the record for scenes of actors running to answer phones before they actually started to ring.

I loved the Mad Men episode when Megan was trying to get an audition for Dark Shadows.

The charm of DS is that it is so cheap, rushed, and uncynical.

No show could be produced like that today unless it were the TV equivalent of dinner theater.

[quote][R236] has given this a LOT of thought.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I have. DS is one of my favorite shows of all time. I hated that the Gulf War killed the first reboot, hated Tim Burton's movie. I would love AMC or Netflix pick the show up, make it edgy and fun.

Love you R226! The only thing I might change in your ideas is not have our beloved Maggie be a vampire. With a concept of Gothic intrigue and suspense, the story possibilities are ifinite. The movie w/ Depp was ridiculous; NBC killed the 1990 revival. The NBC President at that time was a loser who did not like the show, did nothing to promote it, and changed the time constantly. It was well done--maybe too much a repitition of the original storylines--but I like to think it was a set up for future different storylines.

Many of the current crop of supernatural dramas seem kid/teen oriented. If DS was doner with CLASS and on a more adult level, sort of PBS or British style, some network could really have something special.

I think DS finally just ran out of supernatural ideas. They did ghosts, vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, the phoenix, the devil....the only thing I never saw was a mummy. What else could they have done?

Zombies--a whole storyine with Angelique and Martinique.

Other were animals, but that would have to be done carefully or it could be stupid.

Psycho old lady murderess.

Someone claiming to be a Collins up to no good.

Angels.

"Someone claiming to be a Collins up to no good."

In addition the actual Collinses up to no good.

They DID try to "reboot" this series. They did something with Ben Cross as Barnabas, but it didn't work. And of course the movie was godawful. This is one series that shouldn't be "rebooted." Just watch the original shows; there's no point in trying to redo it with actors who could never live up the to original actors who are so closely associated with their roles.

I never read any of them, but I wonder if any of the stories in the "Dark Shadows" paperback novels published during the show's original run might be suitable for a new series.

What else could they have done? An evil twin is always a good story. They could have had a benevolent character like Victoria or Maggie or Elizabeth Stoddard have a twin sister that suddenly pops in from nowhere but she actually is evil (pretending to be good) and has supernatural powers. Watch out for evil sister!

There used to be full episodes on youtube, but now they are blocked on copyright grounds, which really sucks. How can I get my fix?

I got this when it came out about five or so years ago.

Not sure of a better way to get the 1200+ episodes.

bad linky

They never did cannibalism

Many of the episodes are on Hulu.

I can't get the share button to copy a link properly from Amazon on my tablet.

The box set of dvds that comes in a coffin will put you back about $350.

Lara Parker's four novels are great fun, and film-worthy; different stories that tie in to the original TV show quite well.

A friend told me that he would always just consider the stagehands that occasionally popped into view as some more of Collinwood's ghosts.

Frid famously asked for a bidet to be installed in one of the bathrooms. It was a blind item about a younger actor who was waving his bum around.

Who owns the rights to DS? Jonny Depp? Dan Curtis is dead with no immediate family survivors. If Depp owns the rights, he needs to sell it to someone who could reboot.

R258 Dan Curtis Productions owns all the rights to Dark Shadows. The producers of the Johnny Depp DS movie asked permission from Dan Curtis Productions to do the movie and had to give them a share of the profits.

R258 The late Dan Curtis has 3 children so his estate and the rights to Dark Shadows are alive and well with his children and lawyers.

They did zombies in the 1897 story.

As much as anything else about the show I loved the eerie, dramatic music on Dark Shadows. It wouldn't have been the same without the suspenseful, haunting music. Love it!

Hello!! Right, R262.

Did anybody else go out and buy "Quentin's Theme" at the time?

R264 I remember that my brother bought the 45 vinyl single of Quentin's Theme, and I bought the Dark Shadows music album pictured above R263

I had both.

The music was superb.

Check out this initial visit to the Old House, where they actually went fucking OUTSIDE.

VIcki and David seem to be trudging around forever, later joined by groundskeeper Matthew Morgan. It would have been pretty intolerably boring save for the creepy music.

R267 I liked the exterior shots that they did on DS for about the first year or so. And at night you could almost always hear crickets chirping which added to the evening atmosphere. And sometimes an owl softly hooting in the background. Good, realistic stuff.

I had no idea until Buffy that all these shows just trotted out the same old tropes:

Vampires

Wolf-men

Ghosts

Zombies

Mummies

Ceiling fans

And so forth.

"Trading Spaces" tried to put a stop to the ceiling fan trope.

Was Frank their mummy or their wolf-man?

Was Doug the vampire? Or was Ty?

Is anyone else a fan of both Dark Shadows and Buffy and Angel¿

Ever wonder how "Dark Shadows" got its name? Here's what happened.

In the early days when they were putting the show together they were also trying to come up with a name for the gothic show but nothing really stuck. They started to experiment by filming semi-scary things such as gargoyles, etc. as an intro to the show.

One day just out of the blue someone remarked, "Look at the dark shadows that the gargoyles cast". And eureka, a lightbulb went off, everybody got it, and a legend was born -" Dark Shadows".

The show's original bible was called "Shadows on the Wall".

I remember my sisters and friends and I being so excited about this show during the buildup and promotion before its premiere.

The title was a big part of its appeal-so mysterious and evocative.

R274 I remember the promotion of the show too. They would advertise it by showing a spider web and in the center of it was a headshot of Victoria Winters, and then the name of Dark Shadows! As a kid I thought that was really cool and exciting so I made a point of watching it from the very first episode and really enjoyed it.

Do the initial promos still exist? I have the box set, but I don´t recall them in any of the extras.

I would imagine people may have felt rather let down for a good while after seeing such promos. It´s mostly boring as fuck, save for the music. I still love it, but I could easily use the first 100 episodes in place of the sleep hypnosis recording I use when I go to bed.

[quote] R270: "Trading Spaces" tried to put a stop to the ceiling fan trope.

The "Trading Spaces" crew hasn't seemed to have been very successful at this. Maybe they would have more luck summoning the tides, or stopping the rain. Something easy like that, to start.

I remember a group of us kids in the neighborhood gathering around the tv in one kid's house waiting for this new, scary show to premiere. We were all so excited and then there was that music, just a few bars, but so evocative. Imagine how disappointed we were when the episode ended just as the door to Collinwood opened ,and Victoria Winters met Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Disappointed but hooked.

"Stoddard" has been my secret alias name for decades and I'd forgotten where I got it from.

"I killed Paul Stoddard....and that man was my accomplice!"

As someone who admired handsome men and lovely women, I was astonished at the beautiful women on DS. I used to think Roger was sexy. Few adults seemed to watch it originally, but every so often you would encounter one who did, and you had an instant rapport. I used to dream ofhaving a mansion like Collinwood, not necessarily owning it, but just living in it. It was so easy to fill in the blanks with your own imagination too. What other businesses were in Collinsport? What hundreds of unshown rooms were in Collinwood? How big was the cemetery? My sister and I drove our parents crazy playing DS when we went to decorate graves. There was a locked big mausoleum and several mini ones. Stupid kids, but we did have imaginations at a very young age.

Thayer David (who played the roles of Matthew Morgan, Ben Stokes, Professor Stokes, and others) was the first major star on Dark Shadows to die, back in 1978. He was quite an accomplished actor appearing in movies before and after DS, including both Dark Shadows movies. In 1977 he appeared in a made-for TV movie that was supposed to be made into a TV series but then it was shelved and the movie wasn't shown until after he died. He was only 51 when he passed away - one of the best multi-layered actors on DS.

The Thayer David characters were my favorite set of male characters, not including Sandor. Professor Stokes and Count Petofi were erudite and spoke elegantly. They brought some class to Collinwood. Ben was a little rougher.

R283 Ben Stokes, from the 1795 period, was a diamond in the rough. Loyal and honest to a fault. He was taken advantage by Angelique and Barnabas but managed to outlive them all. One of the very down-to-earth good guys. I liked him.

But Matthew Morgan was not so nice.

A testament to Thayer David's talent that he could play both threatening and murderous as well as sympathetic.

I read somewhere that Thayer David died an "actor's death" in that he dropped dead on stage after finishing a performance. Massive heart attack. I always liked him and was surprised that he was only 51; the weight made him look so much older.

After the show ended, Louis Edmonds and his lover, Bryce, hosted their own farewell party out at The Rookery. Keith Prentice brought marijuana brownies and everyone got stoned.

Is that the party where Don Briscoe is rumored to have had a freak-out?

R288 Don Briscoe left Dark Shadows in 1970, probably because of emotional problems which escalated and caused him to go back home and live with his parents for good.

Louis Edmonds said that Don wasn't tough enough for the cutthroat world of show business and with his bipolar(?)condition he left show business permanently.

There was a story going around on the net that Briscoe had attended a DS bash and had a breakdown from drugs or what sounded like a rape attempt(on him). I happened upon the chat board years ago.

Grayson Hall and Joel Crothers both passed away in 1985.

Grayson died from lung cancer (a heavy smoker) at age 62, and Joel died of complications from AIDS at age 44.

Rest In Peace Dr. Julia Hoffman and Joe Haskell. And it's hard to believe that they've been gone for 32 years now. But live on forever on the eerie soap opera.......

After Dark Shadows, Joan Bennett did one more theatrical release movie (and her last), the horror movie "Suspiria" in 1977. It's been remade (aren't they all?!).

R292 Tilda Swinton is going to play the Joan Bennett role in the new version of Suspiria.

Anymore Lara Parker novels forthcoming?

Watched or half watched the Depp movie version of Dark Shadows the other night. The sequences back in 1795, before the titles ran, were more interesting than the modern day scenes. They went through the set up of how Barnabas became a vampire, Josette dying, Angelique being the woman scorned so quickly that the viewer had no time to empathize with or get connected to any of those stories. Would have been so much better without the attempt to be campy; the jokes were tired and fell flat.

Why not start out with the present, with some backstory about Victoria, as in the original series? We still don't know who she was related to, if anyone in the Collins family. Go onto the séance, get back to 1795, and let us get to know the characters a bit.

And Barnabas just reveals oh he's a vampire? That was the suspense of much of the show, how Barnabas would keep his secret hidden. No old house. Not like anyone couldn't see Barnabas wasn't human with the awful makeup job on Depp. Then they had Julia double cross Barnabas. Julia LOVED Barnabas; if she double crossed him, it was always due to jealousy. And the portraits in the house - who could see them - perched up so high? The Barnabas portrait was what everyone saw immediately upon entering Collinwood. Then they tried to thrown in elements of the Phoenix and werewolves. Let's just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

Just such a waste. They didn't get that the camp element from the original series was totally a coincidence; everyone was playing it straight, not for laughs.

R295 I saw the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton version of Dark Shadows and while it had its moments it was too campy and lapsed into comedy. The original Dark Shadows was deadly serious and took everything quite in a grave (no pun intended) manner. Any camp in it was unintentional.

I hope that someday a new Dark Shadows movie is made, based much more closely on the original series, with a serious gothic/horror background, and if so then the magic will be back.

Yes, R296, someone with brains and quality needs to do this. Ideally a Showtime or Starz could do it with high production values.

You can't recreate such flawed perfection as the TV show.

I saw this very arch yet sincere stage adaptation of a few episodes, back in 1988 at DTW. It was very interesting.

"Dark Shadows" has survived with a cult following for 50 years. That in itself is a testament to the great impression it made on people. At some point it will once again rise from the grave as a Broadway show, a new movie, possibly another TV series, etc.

About 10 years ago it was being considered as a possible Broadway show production. I can see that and then some. "Dark Shadows" again in all it melodramatic, somber glory (cue the eerie music)........

just keep Linn Manuela or whoever he is away from it!

I would love a high quality premium channel series or even PBS.

Why do I think of the Ridiculous Theater Company as staging a DS-themed play?

That would work, R302.

The DTW play linked above was sort of serious.

But lest we forget; another awful vampire musical...

I offered to give Burton and company a hand to get the DS movie right. But they just gave me the finger.

"Dark Shadows" is ripe for the picking for a new incarnation somewhere. All the key ingredients are in the series to bring back the legendary show in one form or another.

"Dark Shadows" is ripe for the picking for a new incarnation somewhere. All the key ingredients are in the series to bring back the legendary show in one form or another."

Not really. A tv revival failed. The Tim Burton movie was awful. There's no point in trying to redo it again. It would just be another flop.

R306 Sooner or later another good try would hit it out of the ballpark. Yes, it's worth trying again.

Agreed, R307

"Sooner or later another good try would hit it out of the ballpark. Yes, it's worth trying again."

Oh, come on. It's been redone TWICE. You think somebody will come up with something good on the third try? Not likely.

R309 The third time's the charm. Be more optimistic. Or else go back in your coffin and close the lid.

I miss DS too, but the high-budget remakes miss the point. Besides the once in a lifetime cast, it was endearing precisely because of its low-budget sets (who didn't love wavy tombstones?) and the every day suspense of fly by the seat of your pants hastily learned last minute dialogue. Will they get through it without off-camera prompting? And bless those troupers - they usually did.

Both Grayson Hall and her husband Sam Hall worked on Dark Shadows. She was there first playing the role of Dr. Julia Hoffman and somewhere along the way they hired her husband to be one of the writer's for the show. That's probably one reason why she ended up on so many episodes!

Sam Hall was from Carrollton, Ohio, a small, picturesque country town about 100 miles southeast of Cleveland. zthey had a son who also wrote for soaps though unsure of what he does now.

Lara Parker who played the pivotal role of Angelique was no spring chicken when she joined the show. She was 29 and it was her first big break in show business. Born in October 1938, she is now 78 years old.

She was incredible as Angelique. She conveyed Angelique's penetrating love for Barnabas and, after he rejected her, her passionate pursuit for revenge. I've always thought the Angelique-Josette-Barnabas triangle was classic. Through in the thwarted love of Dr. Hoffman and the central plot was combustible.

I meant "throw" not "through," of course.

I loved Lara Parker - when her career went nowhere after DS, she got her teaching license and ending up being an English teacher in California, I think. I also adored Grayson, who was on One Life to Live for a while playing a character named Euphemia - I watched every episode - and soon after died of lung cancer, in her 60s I think. Jonathan Frid kept his website active till his death at 80-something, he had retired back home to Hamilton, Ontario, still curious and active and he kept his marbles - great guy.

Love the breathtaking Lara! She should have gone on to movie stardom. She is a far better actress than many of her peers, Talia Shire and the other Godfather actresses and ugh Jill Clayburgh. Love Lara's novels too. Lost in Space's Mark Goddard also became a teacher rather late in life. He is Lara's age, I think, and also looks damn good. I've met both of them--very nice and down to earth.

R318 Lara said that she thought that she would become the next big thing in Hollywood but it never happened. She made a couple of movies including the acclaimed Save The Tiger with Oscar winner Jack Lemmon in which she played a sympathetic prostitute. By chance, Thayer David was also in the movie.

Suspiria was an incredibly creapy movie in 1977. Don't know how it would hold up.

R320 They're remaking Suspiria and Tilda Swinton is playing the Joan Bennett role.

Back in 1971 they were going to remake The Postman Always Rings Twice and Lara's name was right in there for the lead role. It sat on the shelf for years and next thing you are hearing is Jessica Lange would be the one.

I was a kid who loved Angelique and was thrilled to see her on an ep of Kung Fu with Brandon Cruz from Eddie's father. Her role was tiny and she was billed behind Brandon Cruz(!) Ouch. Lara signed for five years with Universal and she worked continuously. She just never got a meaty part. She did play a witch again for Dan Curtis in an ep of Kolchack: The Night Stalker. As usual she was great in that.

I hated Angelique and that hideous cackling laugh.

I think her biggest post-DS role(or roll for DL) was in RACE WITH THE DEVIL. Lara, Peter Fonda, Warren Oates and Loretta Switt played vacationers in an RV who stumble upon satanists who are conducting a sacrifice. They're then on the run for their lives!

The career of Kathryn Leigh Scott, who played Barnaba's doomed love Josette and her doppleganger Maggie Evans also went nowhere after the series ended. It was understandable; she wasn't much of an actress. She went on to found a publishing company called Pomegranate Press. She worked as a Playboy Bunny before she got her break in "Dark Shadows" and she put out a book called "The Bunny Years", which was a blatant attempt to discredit Gloria Steinem's damning article "A Bunny's Tale", which recounted her degrading experience working as a Bunny in New York. Leigh Scott disagreed with Steinem's assumption that it was an exhausting, degrading, tough job that didn't pay nearly as well as it was advertised; Leigh Scott that being a Playboy Bunny was great and she made "a good living" doing it. Her book featured the reminiscences of other Bunnies who felt the same way, but I don't think most women believed that a waitress job where you were required to wear a skin tight costume with your tits and ass hanging out, three inch heel, bunny ears on your head and a white cottontail on your ass was so fabulous. Leigh Scott's Bunny book didn't make me come away thinking that Steinem's depiction of Bunny life was inaccurate. It just made me think she's kind of a dimwit.

KLS worked a LOT after DS but I didn't recognize her. Her look changed most of all the female stars. I would always know Nancy Barrett or Lara Parker.

"KLS worked a LOT after DS but I didn't recognize her. "

It was all MINOR work. She really wasn't a good actress. I think she has more aptitude for publishing books than acting.

This is a good DS site.

Joel Crother bulge in yellow pants. What a handsome, butch man.

Kathryn Leigh Scott appeared in The Great Gatsby (Robert Redford and Mia Farrow). She played a drunken airhead in a few of the party scenes.

KLS wrote a book a couple of years ago titled "Return to Collinwood" that told all about her years on the series. It's a great book for any fan of the original series. LOTS of photos and information not published anywhere else.

I've met her at a DS convention, and she is a lot of fun to talk to. She and Lara Parker both look great and appreciate that people still talk about the series and their performances.

As I understand it, all ABC soaps that were taped in NYC (and that was ALL of them back then) had to share the ABC tape bank. DS was taped daily from 3:30 until 4:15, so there was NO time for retakes. The show had to be on tape in that 45 minutes. In fact, the show was taping during the time it was on, so a lot of the actors couldn't even watch themselves on the show.

At first the show was taped at the ABC Studios, then it moved to a newly built studio of its own at 433 West 53rd St.....where the Wendy Williams show is now taped.

There are several You Tube videos of the pictures kids took when they hung around the studio after school!

Book of poetry for the beginnings of DS.

Craig Hamrick who helped to keep the legend of Dark Shadows alive after it was cancelled published a book called "Big Lou: The Life And Career Of Louis Edmonds" who played the role of Roger Collins. I saw today at our big bookstore that it can be ordered so I am going to do so next week. Louis was gay so it should be a fascinating book.

So I've been watching Dark Shadows on Amazon. This guy, mad scientist Dr Lang, is a hoot. He is the most over-the-top actor imaginable.

LOL Addison Powell was great as Dr. Lang.

Instead of another reboot of Dark Shadows, I'd rather see a sequel, Dark Shadows: The Next Generation.

A young woman shows up in town, trying to uncover the mysterious past of her now deceased grandmother, Victoria Winters. Victoria had no memory before she was woke up in a hospital in New York City as a young woman. However, as she developed Alzheimers in her older years, she started talking about witches and vampires and the Collins family, triggering her granddaughter's curiosity.

David is now in his sixties and is willing to open his home to the young woman, who starts prying into family secrets, much to the discomfort of David's family. Shortly afterwards, the family receives a letter from London... cousin Barnabas' "grandson" is coming home for a family reunion.

A sequel or reboot could never have the charm of the original.

I love R336's idea and I've always thought Hart Bochner would make a great modern day David Collins. He's exactly the right age.

I am absolutely convinced that the reason Jeff Clark hated Doctor Laing so much is because he was being sexually harassed (forced to put out).

I liked Ben Cross as Barnabas Collins in the 1990's night-time version of Dark Shadows. Very elegant but more bloodthirsty and nasty than the original Barnabas.

Classic Dark Shadows scene - a severed head in a glass case with 2 DS characters next to it, talking casually.

Victoria Winters looking patrician and pretty - those cheek bones! And the 1960's bow in her hair.

Typical Dark Shadows hysteria - Maggie Evans screaming. Shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!

I loved all the candles on Dark Shadows.

Maggie's questionable fashion sense.

Louis Edmonds looking very debonair.

The evil Cassandra ( Angelique) sticking pins into a voodoo doll.

Vickie was a pretty boring character. After Barnabus became the focus of the show she didn't have much to do. The series improved by her leaving.

Classic Angelique look from 1795.

Laura the Phoenix - burn, burn, burn!!!

Cassandra's questionable fashion sense. For some reason she was frequently costumed in lime green.

The climax of the 1795 time period - Victoria Winters about to be hanged as a witch. Still looking so pretty with a noose around her neck.

Handsome Joe Haskell comforting girlfriend Maggie.

Maggie comforting Joe (who has been bitten by a vampire).

Abigail discovers that Barnabas is a vampire (I love the look on her face!).

Towards the end of the 1795 period - Vicky and Daniel hiding in the secret room in the mausoleum.

[quote] As I understand it, all ABC soaps that were taped in NYC (and that was ALL of them back then) had to share the ABC tape bank.

Not all were in NYC, R331. Even then, General Hospital was produced in Los Angeles, just as it is today.

Kate Jackson got her big show business break on Dark Shadows.

The bat got him! Barnabas becomes a vampire.

Not DS but very appealing.

Grayson Hall was no slacker when it came to over-acting. She could chew the scenery with the best of them. Hilarious compilation:

Grayson Hall and Jeanne Cooper are the 2 hammiest actresses I've ever seen on soaps.

Dr. Julia Hoffman with her handy-dandy medallion that she hypnotized people with on DS.

"Look at the medallion, watch the sparkling lights......you are under my power........."

The Great Hypnotist!

The two main women competing for Barnabas's affections were Maggie/Josette and Angelique, but Barnabas had another love: Roxanne Drew. She was played by Donna Wandrey, and I thought she was prettier than both Kathryn Leigh-Scott and Lara Parker: red hair, blue eyes, a peaches and cream complexion. She was lovely. They ended up turning her into a hideous gray-faced vampire and killing her off. What a shame; I was hoping she and Barnabas would live happily ever after.

The actress who played Maggie got her own wardrobe credit on the show. It was called Junior Sophisticates.

That's Miss Scott to you R365.

Loved Donna Wandrey too and like Jerry Lacy, once DS ended she wen to World Turns to play Barbara - and the red head whose tv mother was always played by a redhead (Geraldine Court and Gillian Spencer) had to dye her hair brown! Probably because her rival for Tom Hughes was red head Rita McLaughlin.

I vaguely remember Roxanne, but only because she had this really ugly 1970-style haircut. It must have been fashionable back then, because Carol Brady and Jane Fonda both had something similar.

Jerry Lacy was appropriately horrible as the ancient Trasks, but kinda hot in present day scenes.

Wandrey got the role in DS BECAUSE of her "ugly hairstyle." This is how she got the role of Roxanne Drew:

At the audition, surrounded by blondes and brunettes, Donna realized her pixie-cut, red hair made her stand out. When the casting agent asked her why she should get the part, Donna knew her limited TV experience -- she'd done a few commercials -- wouldn't help.

"I thought, OK, you've blown it by now, you might as well go for it," she recalled later. "I said, 'Because I have short hair and there aren't many short-haired women working on TV.' I was cast the next day."

R357 you are 100% correct and I am wrong. GENERAL HOSPITAL has always been taped in Hollywood....one of the first soaps to be done there......

And in the first few months the Supreme Bitch Priscilla Longworth was played by Alliison Hayes - the 50 foot woman herself!

Speaking of "Roxanne Drew," there was also the "Claude North" character who was attached to her, played by actor, Brian Sturdivant. He's said to be gay as well and a close friend of Jonathan Frid's, with Frid having helped him get the job. Were he and Frid lovers?

Decades will be airing the beginning of the Barnabas story this weekend, beginning Saturday afternoon. Can't wait to see Willie Loomis!!

R372 Thanks for the heads up.

Also, my schedule shows that TCM will be airing the two Dark Shadows movies with the original cast on Saturday, October 28 (Pacific Time):

1:15PM - House of Dark Shadows

3:00PM - Night of Dark Shadows

On what network is the original Dark Shadows airing? (with the Barnabas story starting this weekend)

Thanks in advance!

R374 It's on the "Decades" channel. In many markets, this is a digital sub-channel.

Here's a link to the Decadesr website to locate your TV market and see what channel it might be on.

Also, if you click on "Schedule" the times listed there are Eastern. My TV Guide for Los Angeles shows the Dark Shadows marathon starting at 10AM PT.

Earlier, someone mentioned that Donna McKechnie of "Chorus Line" fame, started out on Dark Shadows. What was her storyline?

R376 She played a character named "Amanda Harris," who'd been "created by" artist, Charles Delaware Tate in his painting of "the ideal woman." This wiki article explains:

Thanks R375. Unfortunately not available in my area. I've got some old dvr's around here somewhere...

When will someone reboot this and do it PROPERLY. 1990 revival was excellent, that moron NBC exec Warren somebody was not bright enough to get it and cancelled it. Doesn't a gay guy have the rites now? Does he realize the cross generational plus gay fandom that would embrace this show? It's perfect for F X Or SHOWTIME . And Why aren't the originals easily seen on tv .

The best of the original show starred J Frid. Whether he was with John Karen, Lara Parker, or Grayson Hall, he always entertained.

R379, the early 1990s reboot was terrific, but the gulf war news coverage killed the show. I remember turning on every Friday evening and for several weeks, there was no Dark Shadows--and then a cancellation notice. I eventually bought the DVD and saw some episodes that were not aired. It was well done. The writing, cast, and acting were great.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

....and another Angelique, Eva Green also spoke out about dear Harvey.

Johnny Depp unfortunately has the rights to DS. That 2011 comedy he did was HORRIBLE. Insulting.

That movie was a mess. The series needs rebooted. Netflix, time for you to step up.

Ahhh...I remember the long trysts I enjoyed with Dr Julia Hoffman at Rose Cottage. The scent of our love making and aged red wine...still lingers on my mind...

Who today has the natural beauty of Alexandra Moltke and Lara Parker, the graceful class of Joan Bennett, the middle aged hilarity and drama of Grayson Hall, or the childhood intelligence of David Henesy? An effective well done reboot would be hard to cast. You don't want a buck of whores or hams or politically correct casting.

Remember Mrs Sarah Johnson's wig? It looked like it weighed 10 pounds.

R382 I thought Warner Bros. bought the film rights, and they teamed up with Depp? In any event, film rights for subsequent movies for theatrical release may not exclude some other entity obtaining the rights to do a television series for broadcast/streaming, etc. .. I mean, no one would want to replicate or take off from that dumbass movie.

Such a dumbass movie, everyone was horrible and we didn't get to see johnny Lee Miller's ass or dick.

Reboot Cast for television:

Oliver Jackson Cohen as Barnabus

Nina Dobrev as Victoria/Josette

Madeleine Stowe as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard

Matt Bomer as Roger Collins

Ashley Benson as Carolyn Collins Stoddard

Lucy Liu as Julia Hoffman

Zoe Kravitz as Maggie Evans

Blair Underwood as Sam Evans

Steven McQueen as Joe Haskell

Michael Pitt as Willie Loomis

Matt Lanter as Burke Devilin

David Anders as Dr. Dave Woodard

Jay Hernandez as Sheriff Patterson

They're showing the Dark Shadows movies on TCM now. The first one I liked, the second one (the one without Barnabas), not so much. Thankfully, they're not showing the godawful reboot with Johnny Depp.

And whom would you have play Angelique, and Mrs Jackson, the house keeper, r390?

Angelique must be a voluptuous. Blonde. The new characters must share looks with the originals. Madeline Stowe is excellent

R29, the show was never filmed. First live , then recorded on two-inch video tape

I know that I saw both movies when I was a kid in a theater. I do remember liking the first one very much, but not the second. After watching both on TCM, I know why. The first condensed the whole Barnabas saga in a neat little package (minus the TV show flubbed lines). The second had no Barnabas and was extremely ponderous. It was interesting, though, to see that "Introducing Kate Jackson" credit.

[quote]And whom would you have play Angelique, and Mrs Jackson, the house keeper, [R390]?

I'm trying stick with actors who would do TV

AnnaLynee McCord as Angelique

Deborah Ann Woll as Laura the Phoenix

Jamie Lee Curtis as Mrs. Johnson

Hugh Laurie as Bill Malloy/Joshua Collins

"Night of Dark Shadows" was really lame. Too bad Jonathan Frid didn't want to play Barnabas again. There probably could have been a successful Dark Shadows franchise.

Joan Bennett had memory problems. Wrote her lines in coffee cups, on her arms, and anywhere out of camera range,

Everyone on the show hated me.

Willie is helping Barnabas prepare for his dinner party where everyone is supposed to dress like a Collins ancestor. IIRC, this will end with a seance!!

The casting for the original tv series was brilliant. Lara Parker, Nancy Barrett were my favorites. But no one was really bad. David Ford as Sam Evans was hilarious and could never remember his lines. They made the character blind and put him in sunglasses so his obvious reading from the teleprompter wasn't so obvious. Blessedly it still was!

Joan was not used to the fast pace of soaps. She had been a movie star. ,they took more time taking movies. There was nothing wrong with her. Jonathan also had trouble memorizing all those lines. And he was relieved Selby took up some of the slack, he couldn't take any time off till they had Quentin.Lonnnie

David Selby was the best actor on the show. He created a real person instead of a soap opera, over-the-top character.

R395. I am definitely on board with casting Jamie Lee Curtis, but I would cast her as Dr Julia Hoffman. . I would cast Kathy Najimi or perhaps Edie McClurg as Mrs Sarah Johnson

Personally, r402, Mr David Selby's appearances caused me to snooze and lose interest in the show. He was great looking, perhaps better than Jonathan Frid.

From the second Frid appeared on Dark Shadows, he had my full attention. I felt his pain, I felt his great loss. I thought his characterization of Barnabus Collins was exquisite and very well played. It is this same Barnabus Collins that I yearn to see again. I think Selby wanted DS to be more like the other soap operas. The issue with David Shelby was that I never felt his pain or his situational anxiety. I think Selby was on his way to bEcoming great when he was on DS. I am glad you liked the show and I am also glad you liked Selby. The show still has a legion of fans.

Selby and Kate Jackson are absolutely gorgeous in Night of Dark Shadows. Both in jeans - which you never would have seen on the daytime show - they play a loving couple bedeviled by the ghost of Angelique. I thought NODS was superior to HODS for the story alone. Yeah it didn't have Frid but it had great atmosphere.

WHET the restored Night of Dark Shadows they were working on for so long. Supposedly it was just about finished restoring the hour that had been cut by the studio, or they told Dan Curtis to cut so if would fit theatre run time better. Also you can tour the Lyndhurst mansion they used in the movies in Tarrytown, New York.

They released it a few years ago, remastered, but didn't restore the cut footage, R406

To all the Amazon Video subscribers, they now have all 1,225 episodes of Dark Shadows streaming.

Thanks, r407. I have the full DVD collection, but watching on streaming is easier than poppin in the discs. I still have never seen the last story arc, in the past parallel time. Circumstances when I was a child prevented me from seeing the last months of the show.

As much as I love Dark Shadows, the series ran out of steam after the 1897 sequence. The magic was missing, it didn't seem exciting, and storylines made no sense, still wish someone would reboot and do it right. 1990 was great...but the idiots at NBC didn't get it. I recall the stupid NBC announcer voiceovers like it was a sitcom.

I wanted Sky Rumson inside me, deeply

Twenty years ago, David Hennessy was running a restaurant in NYC, but I've heard nothing about him since.

It was ABC, not NBC.

Lara Parker's novels are well written/plotted and great fun reads. Is she going to write anymore of them?

If you have an Amazon Prime membership...

I agree that 1897 was the best.

1795 was great fun because of the originality of going back in time, and the notion that we were going to witness ourselves, with Victoria Winters, how Barnabas became a vampire. 1897 was fun in a different way -- the show had become campier. You had Magda and her husband traipsing around with tons of make-up and you had Quentin arriving with all of his worldly cynicism and hotness. Wasn't he juggling have the young women as his suitors in that story -- Beth, Charity, and Angelique!

have = half

David Selby was a hot man. Too bad there are no nudes. He still is quite handsome.

Tiger Beat and 16 Magazine used to feature shirtless David Selby and shirtless Jonathan Frid.

Never read those, darn it!

A shirtless Jonathan Frid scares me (I did see that photo of him and Louis Edmonds on the beach). But David Selby, that's a different story. Wasn't there an episode in which some dastard was nearly castrating Quentin with a saw just above his cock?

1795 was my favorite storyline. Alexandra Moltke couldn't act for shit, but somehow that made her the perfect ingenue. Josette jumping off Widows Hill, Nathan Forbes getting his just desserts, Angelique turning Barnabas into a vampire, the (almost ) hanging of Victoria Winters, the walling up alive of Reverend Trask....it didn't get better than that!

It didn't get any better than Magda and Sando Rakosi. Priceless. Plus Count Petofi.

R423, it doesn't get hammier than that. Was there any unchewed scenery left?

Bump

Yes resident sadist Michael Stroka played Aristede who kidnapped Quentin, tied and gagged him to a table ala The Pit and The Pendulum. The blade was made of cardboard - painfully obvious and hilarious.

Later Stroka came on as camp classic Bruno who kidnapped werewolf Chris Jennings(Don Briscoe - so handsome and stoned) at knifepoint and gleefully looked like he was going to rape him when he got him alone in the 'cottage'.

Time for a reboot. Get quality actors and writers. Beautiful sets. Cameos from original actors.

You could re-boot this show 52 years after it originally aired. Aged David Collins would be about 62 now and his family could encounter Barnabas. David would remember what he thought of Cousin Barnabas and how he was terrorized. Carolyn would be batshit crazy and in her early 70's. This is one show that could easily re-boot.

Julia could be trans, there could be a gay vampire and Joe mangello could reprise his werewolf schtick. Roger could be bi and run The Lavendar Whale.

[quote]Time for a reboot. Get quality actors and writers. Beautiful sets. Cameos from original actors.

I just rewatched the 90s reboot. I liked it better this time around. The best thing they did was reuse the great Robert Cobert music.

Yes 1990 was great. The head of NBC then was like a nasty girl to cancel it.

Can someone explain the appeal of Barnabas to me? I'm on Episode 317 of the original series so Barnabas/Jonathan Frid has been around for roughly 100 episodes at this point. First off, Frid is a terrible, terrible actor. Any authority he attempts to command as Barnabas is completely undone by the fact that he never knows his lines and fucks up constantly. Yes, many other actors do the same, but in a commanding presence such as Barnabas is supposed to be, the fact that he can't even get a line out without mauling it doesn't make me fear him or worry about the safety of the characters who he threatens. He's such a fucking weak sister.

Second- Barnabas is an asshole. There's nothing compelling about the character. Nothing dangerous. How is he surviving? There hasn't been a blood draining in weeks. He's also insufferably whiny and whenever he walks into a room, my first thought it- Uch, not this guy again.

So how is it he became so popular?

The Gulf War helped kill the NBC 1990 version.

Was there a single straight actor on the original show?

My explanation for Barnabas...his vulnerability appealed. His bad acting added to his vulnerability. Not really good looki g.

Interesting. I guess I haven't gotten to his vulnerability yet. I hope it kicks in soon because all I'm getting is complete incompetence. He reminds me of a Scooby Doo villain. All he does is stand around, shaking his fist, making idle threats and looking foolish.

I think you need to remember the context of the show. It was the 60s and a lot of teens were feeling lost and like outsiders and they were searching for something. And here comes Barnabas who sort of personified all of that. And like has been said in articles, Jonathan Frid was busy looking for teleprompter and the audience at home interpreted that as Barnabas was looking into their souls and connecting with them on some deeper level.

I loved the Dream Curse. The little chant that would precede the dream was so memorable:

Through sight and sound and faceless terror,

Through endless corridors by trial and error;

Ahead a blazing light does burn,

And one door leads to the point of return.

And then it was so scary because if you had the dream you were driven nearly mad with terror, and you could only rid yourself of it by telling of the dream to the person who beckoned to you in it, so it worked its way through all the characters, working its way to Barnabas (whom it was designed to destroy once he had it). By the end, and the time he knew about it, it was afflicting the younger members of the Collins family he would never want to hurt (Carolyn, and then little David), so he had the horrible moral dilemma of wanting to kill them to protect himself from the curse (because it would stop with their deaths), but being unable to bring himself to do it nor to want to see them suffer from it.

The only trouble was when they showed the dream itself it was so cheesy even as a child I laughed at the cheap props and effects.

When I watched the re-runs, probably my favorite plotline was the first genuinely supernatural storyline, the return of David's mother (the phoenix)--in part because it was not as derivative of old Gothic novels as the later storylines were.

But one I also really liked involved the ghosts of Quentin and Beth Chavez contacting and then controlling David and his friend (played by the little girl who played Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka) through the old telephone.

I loved Laura the Phoenix. The only thing that I never understood and still don't understand was if David was going to be a sacrifice or by burning him up she was turning into another Phoenix. And is Laura the same Laura throughout the centuries.

The Laura/Phoenix story made zero sense and the actress was really annoying. The thing that's made me laugh (and irritated me) most about this show so far is they seem bereft of ideas so they keep relying on the same plot device over and over and over. Someone comes to town to make trouble for the Collin family. It started with Burke, then it was Laura, then it was Jason, now it's Barnabas. Who's next? It reminds me of a gothic Three's Company. Every week the plot revolved around someone overhearing a conversation and misinterpreting it and then hijinx ensued.

And yet, I can't stop watching it. So it must be doing something right.

Also- Joel Crothers is fucking sexy as hell. Even with the acne scars. And in color, his eyes are amazing.

Decent actors who rarely, if ever flubbed: Nancy Barrett (Carolyn), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie), Joel Crothers (Joe), John Karlen (Willie), Anthony George (Burke #2), Dana Elcar (Sheriff), Clarice Blackburn (Mrs. Johnson), Robert Gerringer (Dr. Woodard),

Decent actors who flubbed their lines a LOT: David Henesy (David), Joan Bennett (Carolyn), Louis Edmonds (Roger), Mitchell Ryan (Burke #1), Dennis Patrick (Jason),

Terrible actors (both talent-wise and line flubs): David Ford (Sam), Thayer David (Matthew), Diana Millay (Laura)

The WORST actors on the show: Jonathan Frid (Barnabas), Grayson Hall (Julia), James Hall (Willie #1), Sharon Smyth (Sarah)

I've not gotten to the Quentin/Angelique era yet, so I haven't seen David Selby, Lara Parker or Roger Davis yet.

Count Petofi was a great character and performance.

Grayson Hall is everything! I love her. Julia Hoffman is my spirit animal.

It's a shame that MItchell Ryan was drunk, because he was so much more interesting as Burke than Anthony George. The entire first season of DS was very film noir and Mitchell Ryan and the glorious Joan Bennett were perfection.

Mitchell Ryan was very good, but I wonder if they neutered Burke because they were changing actors or if they would have done so even if Ryan was able to continue with the show. I feel bad watching Anthony George because he's not untalented, but he's so miscast as Burke and the Burke/Victoria relationship is so unsatisfying because they have no chemistry. Then again that could have been on purpose so that the audience wanted to see Victoria and Barnabas together. If Mitchell Ryan had stayed on the show, Jonathan Frid would have wilted in his presence.

Mitchell Ryan's Burke had chemistry with Elizabeth, Victoria, and Carolyn. I even think Roger wanted to secretly fuck him too. He was just so dynamic and a true presence. Could you imagine Ryan's Burke and Angelique teaming up. Yowsa.

A reboot would be a bad idea. It could never have the charm of the original, so everyone would just be disappointed.

During the Leviathan story Angelique was wed to Sky Rumson, wealthy publisher/entrepreneur and I thought it would have been better to find her married to a back from the Jungle dead Burke Devlin. That could have carried a lot of story.

Jake Jaxson at Cockyboys should do a (nearly) all-male rendition of the story in a mini-series. "Young warlock, Angelo Bouchard, puts a curse on one-night stand Barnabas Collins for rejecting him in favor of his true love, Joseph du Pres. But while under a hex, Joseph and Barnabas' hot brother, Jeremiah, fall in love. Can Barnabas win Joseph back? Oh wait! Barnabas is a vampire now as several men in the village have discovered. Meanwhile, Barnabas' opportunistic army buddy, Lt. Nathan Forbes, begins using naive twink, Milton Collins, in his scheme to get some of the Collins vast fortune. What happens when time traveler, Victor Winters, enters the scene and closet-case Trask insists on putting him on trial for sorcery and buggery?"

Jonathan Frid was awful when he had lots of dialogue, but when he just had to be a menacing presence, he was wonderful. I always remember when the show went into the past the first time, and Barnabas was about to be chained in his coffin. Before he did, he dealt with his enemies, Nathan Forbes and Reverend Trask. Two really effective scenes for Frid.

Poster 442 nailed it when he said the girl who played Sarah was the worst. I have never seen anybody screw up as much as her. I don't remember Louis Edmonds flubbing much, though. If he did, he covered it up well.

What I loved about the young actress playing Sarah, Sharon Smythe, was that this little New England Colonial girl had a really thick Long Island accent.

[quote] What I loved about the young actress playing Sarah, Sharon Smythe, was that this little New England Colonial girl had a really thick Long Island accent.

No, it's a really low class Baltimore accent, coupled with a speech impediment. She sounds like a reject from a John Waters movie.

Christ, Frid is such a fussy little queen as Barnabas. He reminds me of Niles Crane, only humorless.

To fully appreciate Dark Shadows you have to embrace the badness. Frid and Grayson Hall were hilarious...in fact the whole show was. I recommend this website. The author, who loves Grayson Hall, nails it.

darkshadowseveryday.com

I am totally embracing the badness and I agree with you. The problem (for me) is that it's become The Barnabas Collins/Julia Hoffman Show and Barnabas is not an interesting enough character and Frid nowhere near a good enough actor to sustain this show. And Julia is a fucking moron. Before he showed up, there was a core group and they each had their stories and some would go away for a while or take a backseat and others would come to the forefront and then step back. But w/ Barnabas and Julia, I feel like I'm watching a Saturday Morning kids show like Krofft used to do. Dr. Shrinker or ElectraWoman and DynaGirl. And you can't sustain that for too long before it gets really irritating.

Hang in there. Shortly, they will bring in Quentin, who will take some of the attention away from Barnabas. Quentin was sexy, debonair, sarcastic...much more fun than Barnabas. In 1897, he had half the women, including Angelique, in love with him at the same time.

Thank you. Yes, I am only hanging in for Quentin and Angelique, who I very much want to see, and for the time shifting storylines, which haven't yet happened. I truly loathe Barnabas and Julia and I'd love to have more of a conversation with DS fans about it, but I feel like saying that is like telling a fundie Christian that God doesn't exist.

It's okay if your don't like Barnabas and Julia. I love Julia. But I get why they may not be your cup of tea.

Grayson Hall aka Julia is a good actress you can see in other films. DS was filmed quickly and on the cheap, with no retakes and little rehearsal.

I've never seen Grayson Hall in anything else, but you cannot possibly blame her ridiculous histrionics on no retakes and little rehearsal. I've seen better acting in Oh! Streetcar.

[quote]but you cannot possibly blame her ridiculous histrionics on no retakes and little rehearsal.

You can a little bit. In those days they were basically doing live to tape. Also, you have to look at the material and the genre. The material was over the top even by soap standards and soap opera has always trafficked in big emotions and larger than life portrayals. Soaps don't do subtle.

She was in some other stuff where she is not hammy and also pretty. Lashes for days.

Grayson Hall was in The Night of the Iguana.

Grayson Hall's best character is Magda the Gypsy from the 1897 storyline. I loved her sarcasm and attitude. She didn't take any bullshit from anybody. They could never in a million years get away with having her play that role nowadays. People would throw a fit and call it racist and offensive I'm sure. But I personally consider her one of the top 10 best characters on the show.

Yes R464. She also was very nice and popular with the cast. Loved MAGDA. I WOULD HAVE SNIFFed Don Briscoe hole.

Apparently Grayson and her husband Sam loved to entertain and threw great parties. I would have loved to have gone to a Grayson Hall party. Can you imagine.

When I was a kid and watched it with my siblings, we loved the original parallel time story (with Josette's death), but then we would get confused by the other ones. They went back to that well too often. But it must have been fun for the actors to play different characters in each parallel time storyline.

R466, I read their son's blog once m(he is an author who did some writing for the 1991 Dark Shadows) and he said that his parents would also have people over to play cards. Apparently Grayson was fiercely competitive and did not take losing well. One time she threw the entire deck of cards out the window because she was so annoyed by her loss. She sounded like quite the character.

Why did they kill Burke Devlin off?

Probably because Anthony George wasn't working as a recast, r469.

R468, thanks for that tidbit. I can imagine Grayson in a colorful caftan and lots of smoke and scotch and lots of talk about the legitimate theatre at those events.

I am LOVING the trip back to 1795.

Another good thing about having the actors play multiple roles is that it creates a sense that these souls have somehow been cursed in the far past and they are reincarnated over and over again and drawn back to Collinwood to keep experiencing the torment.

"n 1897, he had half the women, including Angelique, in love with him at the same time. "

Ahem!

R473, that raises an interesting question. Did the any of the queer men of Collinsport get their hands on David Selby? And was Don Briscoe gay? Who was doing whom on Dark Shadows?

Gay: Anthony George, Louis Edmonds, Jonathan Frid Straight: John Karlen, David Selby, Jerry Lacy Fluid: Don Briscoe

Far more than three in the gay column.

OMG, Joel Crothers' VPL in those 1795 breeches is positively obscene. If I had traveled back in time like Victoria did, the first thing I'd do is drop to my knees and suck it.

Anthony George (Burke Devlin) always reminded me of one of the Thunderbirds puppets.

Anthony George was never very believable as Burke Devlin, especially after his predecessor who was, well, cooler. His romance with Victoria seemed pretty bland. Two bland characters does not a romantic spark make. As Jeremiah, he was better, but the character had little to do but be manipulated by Angelique to fall in love with Josette and then to be in mortal conflict with his beloved nephew Barnabas. The ghost of Jeremiah made lots of appearances but, although Jeremiah wasn't shot in the head, the covered the ghost's head since Anthony George was long gone. He was better as Dr. Will Vernon on OLTL because there he could have a tortured love for ex-nun Jenny, who was in love with his wayward son tennis-player Brad.

Magda was absolutely my favorite character. Runner-up goes to Pansy Faye.

I am on the episodes after Jeremiah gets shot and have been laughing my ass off that they have his face covered in bandages when he was shot in the chest. Josette is wailing- I feel death near me! Jeremiah is going to die soon! I keep yelling back at her- He is if you don't take that fucking bandage off his nose and mouth and let him get some air!

I just watched the first episode and loved it! I was reading that it gets really good when Barnabas is introduced in episode 211. Would it be better to jump straight to that episode or just carry on from the beginning?

You'll have to have patience to get through the pre-Barnabas episodes, but they may be worth it. I was drawn in (at age 11) by the ghost of Josette who was lurking and communicating with David and Victoria, long before the name Barnabas was mentioned.

Loved the pre-Barnabas stuff. It actually set up his arrival perfectly. I already cared about the characters on the show and now there is a REAL supernatural threat to them. The location shots of what passed for Collinsport were great too. Newport and forget the city that the Inn was shown from. Black and white was a great look for the show too.

[quote] I just watched the first episode and loved it! I was reading that it gets really good when Barnabas is introduced in episode 211. Would it be better to jump straight to that episode or just carry on from the beginning?

If you start with Barnabas, you might find yourself dumping it quickly. He is one of the most irritating characters on the show. The actor himself, Jonathan Frid, is terrible. He fumbles his lines so much that it takes all the bite (no pun intended) out of the character. You're supposed to fear Barnabas or be impressed by his power, and Frid is so namby pamby and unsure of himself that he comes off like a whiny housewife.

I agree that Frid was not a great actor (and certainly had trouble remembering his lines). But you had to admit he had SOMETHING, because the show became a phenomenon once he appeared.

Well, I know it happened, but I can't understand why. Frid was ugly, untalented, terrible in front of a camera and totally unsexy.

I always liked that creepy foggy establishing shot of the Newport mansion they would use for the opening establishing shot of Collinwood when the narration would begin.

Frid got thousands of letters a week from women who wanted him to bite them. Some sent nude photos or photos of bare necks(!). David Selby was younger and sexier and he didn't rate the fan mail Jonathan got.

I'm surprised people here hate Jonathan Frid. That is considered blasphemy in some Dark Shadows fan groups. Most of the other fans I've seen and met believe he IS Dark Shadows. You'd be hard pressed to find fans who wouldn't put Barnabas in their Top 5 favorite characters. Some people forget there were even cast members here besides Jonathan Frid.

I think it's interesting how much the show changed once he was added. The episodes before Barnabas feel like a different program. But I suppose it was bound to change once Laura the Phoenix was a storyline. After an exciting supernatural plot like that there was no going back.

Thanks for all your answers, guys. I'll keep on watching it from the beginning! I'm really looking forward to getting to Barnabas and the change in direction his character brought, but I'm enjoying it so much at the moment that I've no need to rush through. Thanks again x

I love the pre Barnabas episodes because I'm a huge film noir fan and those episodes read like film noir to me .

Now you've got me thinking. Who are my top 5 characters:

1) Elizabeth

2) Roger (he's such a cunt in the early days)

3) Angelique/Cassandra

4) Julia

5) Magda

Did Frid ever taste Joel Crothers penis?

It's amazing that a film star like Joan Bennett did Dark Shadows and even more so that not one of her cast mates expressed anything about admiration for her. Bennett carried herself like Queen Elizabeth in her scenes, even in the silly ones that had her character possessed or acting nuts. The show really needed her to steady things.

[quote] I'm surprised people here hate Jonathan Frid. That is considered blasphemy in some Dark Shadows fan groups. Most of the other fans I've seen and met believe he IS Dark Shadows. You'd be hard pressed to find fans who wouldn't put Barnabas in their Top 5 favorite characters. Some people forget there were even cast members here besides Jonathan Frid.

I think it all depends on when people watched it. I'm the guy who posted above how awful I think Frid is and how much the character of Barnabas is a total snore, but I'm coming into it as a 2018 first timer, so I don't have nostalgia on my side nor am I looking at it with 1966 eyes. I'll admit he's not the only terrible actor on the show, but I hold him to a different standard because he's always been the main reason the show has endured for 50 years and I find it baffling. I will say this- I find his 1795 Barnabas much more tolerable, and he even seems to be flubbing less. Frid does better as a sad sack. He's just not menacing or charismatic enough to pull off being a villain or a vampire.

I wondered if I'd feel the same way about Angelique, because by and large, I've really disliked the "villains" on the show so far. Hated Laura and couldn't wait for her to go away (the character was a fucking snore and the actress did nothing to help), could not stand Jason (though the actor playing him was talented), loathed the original Willie (but only had to put up with him for a brief period and adored John Karlen when he took over) and you know how I feel about Barnabas. So I was fully expecting to hate Angelique, but Lara Parker knows exactly how to play her to make you dislike the things she does but still find her fascinating to watch. I also felt the same way about the original Burke Devlin. Mitchell Ryan was a very good actor (when he could remember his lines) and the show lost something after he was fired.

I also want to say it's a pleasure watching Lara Parker because she knows her fucking lines. I don't think I've seen her flub once yet. Whereas Joan Bennett (who I do like) takes me out of every scene she's in because she never gets a line right. The few actors who had their lines down pat are a pleasure to watch, no matter how ridiculous their characters or dialogue because they're immersed in what they're doing. When you have laughable (and slow) dialogue and silly characters, it's hard to engage an audience when the actor keeps breaking the spell (so to speak) by searching for lines. At least when Louis Edmonds does it, he tries to improv and make a snide remark and it's in character.

Jerry Lacy - -

As 1800s Rev. Trask he's incredibly creepy, but sexy in his modern-day roles as a butler, and I believe an attorney (?)

After all these years, no one has come clean about who was fucking who on Dark Shadows. Certainly someone is willing to spill the beans.

+1 year and 496 replies, and it still looks like "Ceiling fans of "Dark Shadows"

I think it's done some sort of imprinting thing to my brain...

R495 I went to a Dark Shadows Reunion many years ago at the TV Academy in LA, (in fact, I think the Q&A is on YouTube). Lara Parker told a funny anecdote about Jonathan Frid. It was obvious she felt a lot of affection for him, but more than implied it was difficult to work with him specifically for the reasons you mentioned. He was universally praised for the passion he brought to the character of Barnabbas, the fear in his eyes was thought to be vulnerability. Parker thought this was a riot because, according to her, all he was doing was attempting to remember his lines... thus, the dramatic pauses.

It is now streaming on Amazon Prime and I have watched 4 episodes. How long will it take to finish the entire series?

What happened with the WB re-boot? They were going to continue on from the end of the original show. COVID has to be a factor. I always hoped they'd use some of the still living actors in the reboot. Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Selby still could play Maggie and Quentin.