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" takes on both elements of the classic cinema serial and the traditional daytime soap opera, utilizing plot devices of the chapter plays of the 1930's, 1940's. and 1950's. 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, the basic story took some time to develop. Initially low rated, 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 as Quentin, 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. When Hall appeared a decade after the show's cancellation on "One Life to Live", gothic elements of her character reflected memories of her on "Dark Shadows", ironically reuniting her with several fellow cast members including Nancy Barrett and Anthony George.
As the modern drama began to make the writers run out of story ideas, they tried to take it into Collinwood's past to explain much of the background that set up the initial years of plotlines. 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. Louis Edmonds, who went on to play con man turned alleged professor Langley Wallingford 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.
"Dark Shadows" takes on both elements of the classic cinema serial and the traditional daytime soap opera, utilizing plot devices of the chapter plays of the 1930's, 1940's. and 1950's. 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, the basic story took some time to develop. Initially low rated, 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 as Quentin, 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. When Hall appeared a decade after the show's cancellation on "One Life to Live", gothic elements of her character reflected memories of her on "Dark Shadows", ironically reuniting her with several fellow cast members including Nancy Barrett and Anthony George.
As the modern drama began to make the writers run out of story ideas, they tried to take it into Collinwood's past to explain much of the background that set up the initial years of plotlines. 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. Louis Edmonds, who went on to play con man turned alleged professor Langley Wallingford 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.