Dark Shadows has arrived!

[Daniel Avery]

@Sarah, I was appalled by the movie. I'm not a total DS purist (I'm one of the champions of the DS reboot they produced in 1991), but what Burton did to DS would be akin to having JR and Sue Ellen played by Benny Hill and Phyllis Diller.

Like others have said, Joan Bennett really makes the early episodes. Nancy Barrett is the unsung heroine of the show's later years, showcasing a lot of talent and range when given the chance as the plots get really nutso. The line flubs and prop mistakes only makes it more fun to watch, IMO.

 

[darkshadows38]

for me i think Nancy Barrets is when she's scared she does some pretty awful acting there. not that's not all her fault though because they rated each well Lela Swift did i dunno about the other directors, would rate the actors with grades, and they wanted them to go over the top and some of the actors i think were really awful at it. some werne't. some episodes Joan Bennnet very good in. others she was brilliant in. my favorite one of her forgetting her lines. was when she got a phone call and i'd say when it was but she hasn't reached it yet. so i will just say it's on the color years and she can't remember her line. and so she stomps on the floor and than it comes to her.

after the DS flm came out and i knew what type of film to expect when i did see it i was able to change my tone on how i would watch it. since i found out it more or less was a comedy i choose to watch it like that. kinda like the Original Buffy movie is a comedy and that's how it was advertised and that's what the trailer promotes it as and that's what it is. yes i know the studio tampered with that, but i enjoy the hell out of that film and i saw it when it 1st hit video in my guess (1993) that was. the DS film is how you have to view it. the look of it Tim Burton got done right but the tone is all over the place. he needed a better script and it just amazes me that on purpose pissed the DS fans off since he claims he is a DS fan an i just don't get that

 

[Sarah]

@Sarah, but what Burton did to DS would be akin to having JR and Sue Ellen played by Benny Hill and Phyllis Diller.

Sweet Jesus. My EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Say no more!

 

[darkshadows38]

i never said it was a great film did i ? as for the Original film series, the 1st one is okay. but it's badly edited i think and it hurts the film because he was forced to cut the film by the studio. and Dan Curtis may have done it himself on both films but he did a piss poor job on it for both of them. though i do wish they'd put the extended cut for the 2nd film out on blu-ray. they didn't want to spend the money on getting it remastered you know the deleted scenes put back in. even though fans WANT IT! and the film may actually make some damn sense if they did release it. but that what the hell do i know ya know?

 

[bmasters9]

Sam Evans' house is so Alexis' Art Studio. That sloped window, the white brick, the half finished paintings and the easel.

Pretty much one and the same, outside of changes in the set decoration when Dynasty rolled around, especially when it was used for that first big catfight between Krystle and Alexis.

 

[Alexis]

Pretty much one and the same, outside of changes in the set decoration when Dynasty rolled around, especially when it was used for that first big catfight between Krystle and Alexis.

It's a bit spooky isn't it? And they are both ABC shows. I also noticed weird little similarities between Dynasty and Peyton Place, also by ABC.

Dark Shadows is on hold now as I somehow started watching Star Trek TNG and have been making my way through that.

 

[bmasters9]

It's exactly what I thought it would be, a daytime soap that feels like I'm watching a play every time.

I felt the same way about Barney Miller, albeit that wasn't a daytime serial. It was an ABC police comedy that was much the same way as you described with Dark Shadows; it was on one set (the 12th Precinct set at ABC Television Center in Hollywood), and was described as being something like watching a play every week (at least from what I've heard).

 

[Daniel Avery]

The 'live-to-tape' method certainly helps in giving that "play" feeling. Due to the special effects the show had to add in, DS had to tape its episodes as opposed to sending it out live as most soaps did in that period. Live-to-tape had the actors performing as if it was going out live (stopping for commercial breaks, etc. but not cutting once a scene starts). The great side-effect of having to tape the episodes meant that most of the series ended up being preserved. Hardly any other soaps pre-1980 are preserved in any large quantity because no one thought we'd want to re-watch the stuff. Another great side effect is that all those fun (and funny) goofs and accidents were left in because they simply didn't have the time or the money to edit. They'd perform an episode and it would air within the week. The only time they would do a re-take would be if someone uttered an expletive or something unsuitable would happen that the censors would not allow to air on TV.

 

[Alexis]

The 'live-to-tape' method certainly helps in giving that "play" feeling. Due to the special effects the show had to add in, DS had to tape its episodes as opposed to sending it out live as most soaps did in that period. Live-to-tape had the actors performing as if it was going out live (stopping for commercial breaks, etc. but not cutting once a scene starts). The great side-effect of having to tape the episodes meant that most of the series ended up being preserved. Hardly any other soaps pre-1980 are preserved in any large quantity because no one thought we'd want to re-watch the stuff. Another great side effect is that all those fun (and funny) goofs and accidents were left in because they simply didn't have the time or the money to edit. They'd perform an episode and it would air within the week. The only time they would do a re-take would be if someone uttered an expletive or something unsuitable would happen that the censors would not allow to air on TV.

Even in the few episodes I have watched there have been so many times that actors have used the wrong names for a character. And they just shrug and then say the real name, sometimes after multiple attempts. It makes it feel real, when it probably shouldn't. Like when you are having an argument with someone and flub what you want to say.

 

[bmasters9]

What do you think about the packaging? Do you like that all the discs were contained within that coffin package?

 

[Alexis]

What do you think about the packaging? Do you like that all the discs were contained within that coffin package?

LOL That's a nice design choice but not one I have experienced in person. I may or may not have obtained my discs by somewhat nefarious means.

 

[Daniel Avery]

You found them in the Collins family Mausoleum? I hear there are many other nefarious secrets hidden there.

 

[Alexis]

You found them in the Collins family Mausoleum? I hear there are many other nefarious secrets hidden there.

Yea, that's it. In an old bootleg I found down there.

 

[Canon]

Dark Shadows is on hold now as I somehow started watching Star Trek TNG and have been making my way through that.

Oh! And here was I thinking that David had locked you up in the unused wing of Collinwood.

 

[Alexis]

Oh! And here was I thinking that David had locked you up in the unused wing of Collinwood.

I wish he did lock me up in the unused wing of Collinwood. I need a holiday. A solitary one, just me and Dark Shadows.

 

[Daniel Avery]

As you plow through the 1225 episodes, you will learn that "unused" areas of the estate are where the most action occurs. You would not get a moment's peace, what with the parade of ghosts, Phoenixes, witches, werewolves, vampires, alternate-reality versions of your relatives, and other curiosities moving down the halls.

Maybe you should head over to the Blue Whale to watch your episodes. There never seems to be more than three people in that dump at any given time.

 

[Canon]

I wish he did lock me up in the unused wing of Collinwood. I need a holiday. A solitary one, just me and Dark Shadows.

Well, you might not be alone...nobody has heard from @Afton in months...

 

[darkshadows38]

well the kitchen is last used after Willie enters the show and i forget which set they turned that into. it's always made me laugh also that you never see anyone eat on the show at all. not that we need that either. i just find that funny that's all

 

[Daniel Avery]

I seem to recall most of their 'diet' came from Dr. Hoffman's Great Big Bag O' Sedatives. Though ol' Barn was known to have a light nosh now and again.

I was shocked SHOCKED I tell you when David was seen listening to that transistor radio. They were some of the least-connected people you'd ever see. I can count on one hand the number of times I saw a 'modern gadget' on DS. I doubt Collinwood had a TV! Which is a shame, because I could just see them invent a plot where Angelique returns to cause havoc by emerging from a TV set every time someone turns it on.

 

[darkshadows38]

when the show 1st started they showed for like the 1st year they showed them go into town and walk around it a bit. but than they stopped showing it and paid more attention to the plot rather than show them walking into a building and that's fine with me. well than when they stopped doing that the next time they showed them even going into a store was in like (1970) in the levithan storyline when we 1st meet the Todds. i know the radio remark was a joke but i do get what you are saying. after all it did show some bitching tunes in the early days and some afterwords of them dancing to a juke box at the blue whale and i forget what they later called it. i know it's libary music they more or less used or rather music made for the show but it wasn't music nobody really would dance too especially Caroline who was suppose to be like 18 or 19 when the show started i think? though

i know they prolly could not afford better music it just makes me laugh that's all