CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

mark.waltz Unless you are referring to Grayson Hall by her real name of Shirley Grayson, do not call anybody Shirley here. The tongue is in the cheek, the gloves are off and the blood is flowing in this serial which used vampires, witches and werewolves to create conflict in the foggy Massachusetts town of Collinsport. repeated as both of brief 1990 TV series and a recent movie that failed to live up to the original success, this still has to the steps of time and is among the most rerun of daytime soap operas ever produced. Of course that is and rarity in rebroadcasting, but recently, other day time soaps has been brought back as well and with all of the vintage TV shows making comeback, the medium of soap opera which has pretty much disappeared anyway, is looked on now as a special form of art.Dark Shadows cakes on both of cereal and the soap opera, utilizing plot devices of the chapter plays of the 1930s 1940s and 1950s, and while those were certainly better made then this video taped TV show, there are definite influences of that mixed in with a continuing bedtime stories that has been popular for close to two decades by the time dark shadows made its premiere.Headlined by Hollywood veteran Joan Bennett as the matriarch of a wealthy family, this story took some time to develop and it was with the presence of vampire Barnabas Collins, played by stage actor Jonathan Frid, that it took off, and being broadcast late in the afternoon attracted a school age audience. Then there were many other creatures of the night who popped in and out, it was Barnabas and a werewolf named Quentin that attracted the bulk of the attention, with a witch named Angelique as the villainous who had influences on both character's fates. Future night time TV soap actor David Selby was first seen in this, while a beautiful blonde named Lara Parker was an excellent Angelique, the gorgeous which who unlike Bewitched's Samantha Stevens, had nothing but evil up her sleeve. But any supernatural story like this needs a mad doctor, from somebody to destroy them or to help them recover from their cursed lives, and that came in the presence of the very eccentric Dr. Julia Hoffman, played by Oscar nominee Grayson Hall who became like Frid extremely popular, and dominated the show by appearing almost daily. The story went into various time periods and even in two parallel time, allowing Hoffman's character to cross paths with a quite different version of her character. The quality of the video was often static, actors often fought to find their places on the teleprompter or had to deal with intrusions such as flies, noises from the backdrops and other minor annoyances, but this made it all the more fun to watch. Always expect the unexpected, that seem to be the rule of fun for Dark Shadows. Now 50 years since its original premiere, it is as popular as ever, and even though its only ran for a short five years, it has made it onto home video via VHS and DVD, and has been we broadcast on television over the years many times. Dark Shadows obviously was an influence for many soap opera writers who remembered the fun story lines from theirs youth and utilize similar themes in supposedly more realistic settings.The lovely Joan Bennett was still very glamorous when she made the switch from movies to television, and while not as hard as some of her film noir vixens, there is definitely something mysterious about her. Lewis Edmonds, who went on to play a con man turned alleged professor on All My Children, first one day time same playing for rather Stern brother. There were several young characters to mix out the veterans with newcomers, and while some of them seem to pale in comparison to the older actors, they certainly were attractive, a trend that has continued on daytime TV until this day. Dark Shadows remains a controversial show that people I do remember with fondness or with laughter or with the comment to that camp show. Yeah I remember that from when I was a kid, but isn't it rather juvenile now? The shows from the sixties that stand the test of time, and those who don't. Some are simply just fun reminders have any more innocent time in our lives, and it is a thrill to see that shows like this can still stay up memories of how great entertainment used to be. Television may indeed be a medium, but I will certainly call this a definite classic.

suctionmule Like many others here, I was originally introduced to Dark Shadows during its airing in the late '60's thru very early '70's. Unlike many D.S. fans, I was so much of an outdoor person that Dark Shadows mania never fully overtook me at that time. Given a choice, I came home from school and went fossil hunting, swimming, golfing, etc., rather than stay indoors and watch TV.That aside, I grew up loving horror classics at the movies, so Dark Shadows interested me considerably during the cold Midwestern months when I wasn't sledding or playing ice hockey.Fast forward to 2008.My wife and I got to discussing Dark Shadows, and that led to us ordering the series thru Netflix, starting with the first episode.Simply put, I am "A Serious Dark Shadows Fan via the Backdoor" in that my passion for the show has come from watching it over the past year. That I am a fan of the show is no surprise. Dark Shadows was that rare occurrence where acting, cast, direction, camera work, plots, lighting, etc., were far ahead of their time. And it scratched my horror itch.Horror is but one of many human emotions, however, and Dark Shadows tapped into all of the ones that appeal so well.I grew up in a photographic studio family, and want to mention one item seldom mentioned about the show that played heavily upon the subconscious of viewers favorably: lighting. The lighting on Dark Shadows sets were magnificent for the time period in which they were made. They are still outstanding even today. Hats off to the people who made that happen! In studio photography, we struggle to capture that one moment, using lighting to best advantage. But in film-making where angles and whatnot change constantly, lighting becomes far more difficult.Dan Curtis and his crew flat-out knew their stuff. I am awed by the lighting (almost) as much as all the great performances and plots.

JustJennings This has to be one of my all time favourite shows! It is true that it is somewhat dated in production, but when one considers that it was produced in the same manner of the soaps of the day, it is outstanding. There are some flaws such as the microphone appearing, the sets shaking, or a missed line, but they do little to detract from the total effect. Many of the lines have become memorable quotes, and I even found some tee shirts with some on them at Zazzle.com! The characters were great, and the writing was excellent. I would love to see a truly great remake of the series without the limitations of the previous filming era, but I doubt it will ever happen.

rcj5365 "DARK SHADOWS"-Produced by Dan Curtis Productions for ABC Television. The series ran for five seasons on ABC-TV from its premiere episode on June 27,1966 and ended its sensational run on April 2, 1971. A record of 1,225 episodes were produced. Season one episodes of the series were shown and telecast in black and white from June 27,1966 through March 31,1967. Seasons Two through Five were telecast in color and ran from April 2,1967 until April 2,1971. Executive Producer: Dan Curtis.**Even viewers who claim to despise soap operas will find a soft spot in their hearts for "Dark Shadows",which was television's first,unequaled great "gothic" soap opera and one of the most unusual shows ever to grace daytime television. In part,this soap had the others beat because if a character did die,there was no need to concoct a lengthy explanation to justify his or her return-he or she came back as a ghoul,zombie,vampire,or whatever creature the writers wanted. The series took full advantage of its supernatural milieu during its five year run,having werewolves,a monstrous couple,supernatural that came outta nowhere,and characters traveling back in time or "parallel time" at various periods. Along the way,it spawned a hit song(the 1968 light notable instrumental recording of "Quentin's Theme" by the Charles Randolph Greane Sound was a top ten hit cracking the Billboard's Top 20 singles chart,the first for a song ever from a soap opera),a successful line of books and comic books,two theatrical features based on the show("House Of Dark Shadows" in 1970,and "Night Of Dark Shadows", in 1971 by released theatricallly through Dan Curtis' production company and MGM),and a huge cult following which was still holding conventions with original members of the cast some 40 years after the show began. And during its successful five-year run on ABC,the show was a huge hit on television with the college circuit and older teenagers(which tuned in every weekday afternoon to watch). How many soap operas that are on daytime television can claim such distinctions? Only Dark Shadows. And it pulled it off brilliantly. Also noted,the show also became the first daytime serial to be revived for prime-time(nighttime)when NBC tried a belated recreation with the same title from January 13 through March 22,1991.Despite later claims to the contrary,ABC and Dan Curtis knew upfront that the show was going to be about ghost and goblins and other things that dealt with the supernatural from the start,and promoted it that way among the trade press. The eerie mood certainly was set in the premiere episode. The series itself gave viewers one of the fascinating and monstrous characters ever to grace daytime TV....Barnabas Collins-Vampire!-played to the hilt by Jonathan Frid. During some of the episodes as in some sequences,the actors on "Dark Shadows" usually played the ancestors of there characters,their ghosts,or whatever the plot required of them with terrifying results. However Dark Shadows was videotaped while many others were live and this was in part due to an array of special effects added in with some of the scenes to give it that eerie and spooky look for the show. Other actors that starred in the series were just starting out and went on to bigger and better things because of this show....actors like Dana Elcar,Louis Edmonds(later on for All My Children),John Karlen,and not to mention Kate Jackson(who also starred in one of the theatrical sequels to Dark Shadows and also went on elsewhere as one of the actresses of the Aaron Spelling variety of shows that emerge in the 1970's with shows like "The Rookies",and "Charlie's Angels" and etc.)The mystique of Dark Shadows that attracted so many dedicated viewers remained powerful right up to the end,even though the show's younger viewers were showing a preference for repeated episodes of "Gomer Pyle","Family Affair",or "The Beverly Hillbillies" on CBS or whatever was basically on NBC,which led to the soap's replacement by a revival of the game show "Password" not to mention repeated episodes of "Bewitched" during the 1971-1972 season for ABC Daytime which killed it. After its cancellation in 1971,repeated episodes aired of Dark Shadows aired sporadically in syndicated reruns during the 1970's and 1980's,the first network soap opera to air in that format. On September 25,1992 cable's the Sci-Fi Channel purchased the series and also begin airing episodes and to this day,repeated episodes of Dark Shadows are still running on the network.