Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows was a TV soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. It added a gothic vampire story to the standard "soap" plots and stories, and it won a cult following that mirrored that of another long-running other science fiction TV series, Doctor Who.

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The series' beginnings

Originally conceived with a gothic twist on the usual afternoon soap, Dark Shadows plodded along during its first year garnering a small following who were weary of the everyday love libations offered by the plethora of other soaps of the time. Set in the small fishing village of Collinsport, Maine and revolving around the rich and powerful Collins empire, Dark Shadows developed several mysterious kernels during its initial offering. With the Vietnam War raging and racial discord commonplace on the early evening news, the show's viewers were ready to escape the reality of their own situations and involve themselves in the remote and foreboding problems of this troubled family whose own Pandora's box seemed far removed from the social revolution going on outside their front door.

The original story bible, "Shadows on the Wall," came from the creative partnership of writer Art Wallace and television producer Dan Curtis. However, Wallace deserves the credit for establishing the Collins family and its mysterious relationship to Victoria Winters, who leaves her orphanage to become the family governess. She becomes embroiled in a web of conspiracy, murder, and dark secrets reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock pictures. The earliest subplot involved Burke Devlin, an innocent man ruined by businessman Roger Collins Louis Edmonds. Cleared of his dark past, Burke Devlin later became Victoria's love interest. With the departure of Alexandra Moltke, Victoria's relationship with the Collins family would never be fully resolved -- although it is implied she was an illegitimate daughter of the family's matriarch, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (played throughout the series by actress Joan Bennett).

As each of the mysteries began to come to light in Collinsport, the producers struggled to hold the interest of its steadily declining audience. The show needed something to give it the added dimension that would set it apart. According to Dan Curtis, Executive Producer of the series, ABC was ready to drop the show because of faltering ratings. Acting on a suggestion from his children, and desperate to save his brainchild, Curtis decided to give the series an extra dimension with the introduction of Josette Collins, a ghost from 1795 who had come back to save Victoria Winters from a deranged killer. Immediately the show's ratings began to climb and Curtis figured he must have been on to something.

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Supernatural storylines

Another supernatural development came when Roger Collins' estranged wife, Laura, returned as the Phoenix bent on taking their son David into the flames. Once more, the ghost of Josette Collins intervened to save both Victoria and David. Although Laura would return to plague the Collinses, she would be superseded by the popularity of three characters debuting in 1967-68: the reluctant vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid), the beautiful witch Angelique (Lara Parker), and the brooding Quentin Collins (David Selby).

Barnabas Collins is resurrected from the grave by Willie Loomis (John Karlen), a small-time thief who becomes Barnabas' henchman. Collins is obsessed with finding the reincarnated Josette, his brother's wife whom he loved and lost in the past. The original timeline indicated this occurred in the 1830s, but the 1795 Flashback transported Victoria Winters to witness the events leading to Barnabas Collins' corruption.

Barnabas is supposed to marry Josette Dupres (Kathryn Leigh Scott), but he spurns the attentions of her maid, Angelique, with whom he shared a dalliance in the West Indies. Using her witchcraft, Angelique slowly unravels Barnabas' world to convince him of his wrong. In the end, Barnabas succumbs to her curse of vampirism, and his father entombs him in the family crypt. However, in the future, Barnabas overcomes his undead nature, with the help of Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall, wife of script editor Sam Hall).

The series peaked with the ghostly return of Quentin Collins, whose own troubled past as a werewolf would be explored in the 1897 Flashback. David Selby became a star overnight in this role, with the other principal actors taking different parts in what now amounted to a supernatural costume drama. In this sense, the show parallels the BBC series Doctor Who, although the latter show gradually abandoned historical shows in favor of science fiction and fantasy. Dark Shadows changed from black and white in 1967, but much of its gloomy, evocative atmosphere became lost in the transition to color.

During its last years, Dark Shadows used, and sometimes abused, classic stories with wild abandon. Revisiting such literary masterpieces as Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Turn of the Screw, the series expanded and contracted these stories into an unusual and sometimes fascinating venue. No author of the macabre was exempt from inclusion in the masterful melding of subplots. Poe, Jackson, Wilde, Stoker, Shelley, Hawthorne, James and others were all explored, exploited and exposed in a history of the Collins family that would put any genealogist to shame. Small wonder then, why renowned horror writers Anne Rice and Stephen King have admitted to being Dark Shadows fans during their formative years.

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Series production

Working within the restraints of the live on tape format -- with everything done in one take -- Dark Shadows exhibited extraordinary and sometimes truly masterful use of costuming and special effects. Plot expanding trips into the past or future via tape cut and splice became commonplace. These excursions created the opportunity for actors killed off in earlier sequences to return in the guise of characters from another era, resplendent in period clothing of exceptional detail. Seances held in the old mansion were often visited by ghostly apparitions of quivering ectoplasm. Dream sequences hypnotised the viewing audience with colorful psychedelic spectacles superimposed over ethereal, fog filled fantasies. Individuals of normal appearance were transformed into hideous creatures of the netherworld.

Keeping up with the demanding schedule of a daily half-hour show was sometimes evident in a minor verbal blooper or misplaced stagehand. Microphone boom shadows helped the program live up to its name. In retrospect however, the ability of the troupe of actors who participated in the development of this everchanging panorama of gothic visualizations was particularly commendable, especially considering a new script every day, a brief and demanding rehearsal schedule or the fact that many of the actors often appeared in nearly all of a day's taping.

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Cast members

Notable actors among the cast included Joan Bennett, Louis Edmonds, Jonathan Frid, Thayer David, Grayson Hall, David Selby Kate Jackson and Lara Parker. During the past thirty years, Dark Shadows has developed a large and loyal fan following. This is due largely to the willingness of former cast members to participate in several gatherings each year, notably the Dark Shadows Festival held alternately in California and New York and a Halloween fright fest centering around the mansion used in taping the stock outdoor footage.

The serial, though on the air for only five years, put enough of a dent in the audience of fellow supernatural soap The Secret Storm to eventually drive it off the air (both shows were usually scheduled opposite each other in the 4PM timeslot).

In 1991 a shortlived primetime remake was made by NBC, and ended with Victoria (played by Joanna Going) learning that Barnabas Collins (played by


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