MovieChat Forums > Dark Shadows (1966) Discussion > DARK SHADOWS debuted 58 years ago today

DARK SHADOWS debuted 58 years ago today

posted 5 months ago by jriddle73 (363)
9 replies | jump to latest

Anniversary Dept. - Premiering on this date--27 June--in 1966, Dan Curtis' magnificent soap opera DARK SHADOWS.

Born as an effort to bring to daytime television the then-quite-popular literary Gothic romance genre, the show took off when it brought in a ghost for a storyline then rocketed to immortality when it introduced tormented vampire Barnabas Collins. The next few years would see the show evolve into an incredibly addictive brew of witches, werewolves, ghosts, time-travel, dimension-hopping and Lovecraftian terrors, with the melodrama jacked up to 11, everyone playing it totally straight, and a shot-live-on-tape aesthetic that preserved for the ages all manner of bloopers, blunders and boners that, far from detracting from the proceedings, only made it even more endearing (the rule on set was that if the stage-hand caught stumbling around in the background of a shot still had his pants up, the tape kept a' rollin').

DARK SHADOWS ran for an incredible 1,225 episodes, and has been shown in syndication ever since, hooking new generations. It led to 2 contemporaneous feature films starring the tv cast, a really good but short-lived revival series in the '90s and a misguided Tim Burton movie in 2012.

[–] jcnyclv (1557) 5 months ago

I still remember running home after school with my friends to watch it. We were all devastated when it was cancelled.

I have the complete original series and still love it.

I won some type of Dark Shadows contest as a kid and received a call from Jonathan Frid as the prize. I don't remember the name of the contest or how I entered as I was maybe 9 or 10 at the time. What I do remember is Jonathan Frid getting annoyed and telling me to lower my TV because it was interfering with the reception on the phone. I think I remember being mostly tongue tied and I wasn't on the phone with him for too long.

[–] jriddle73 (363) 5 months ago

I'm not old enough to have seen it in its original run but I got hooked on it in re-runs when I was a kid (which was also on after school). I've definitely come to appreciate it even more.

[–] jcnyclv (1557) 5 months ago

I didn't even know there were reruns. I would have watched them.

[–] jriddle73 (363) 5 months ago

It was syndicated many times. The Sci-Fi Channel--back when it was still called that--ran it for years. May still run it.

[–] jcnyclv (1557) 5 months ago

Wow, I never knew the original series was syndicated. I knew the remake was, but not the original. The only service/station I knew about that ran it is Amazon Prime. Before purchasing the entire collection, I watched a couple of seasons on Amazon.

It's good to know there are still people out there who appreciate this wonderful show.

[–] DoctorThirteen (13920) 5 months ago

I see there are some DVD compilation sets, The Best of Barnabas kinda thing (not sure if that's the exact title).

[–] jriddle73 (363) 5 months ago

The entire series is available on DVD. The original run of sets began with Barnabas' introduction, then the 2nd filled in the show up to that point.

[–] millsey72 (10241) 5 months ago

Stop lying. Barnabas Collins never called you

[–] DoctorThirteen (13920) 5 months ago

Happy Birthday, Dark Shadows!