Dark Shadows Discussion Thread

[Soaplovers]

I'm surprised that the show had positive ratings at that point according to the article.

I do think moving Maggie out of the diner was probably a good idea though she did have that busybody diner persona down.  It is a shame that the Eve Arden element was abandoned a few episodes into the show instead of maintained up through Barnaba's arrival.

[Paul Raven]

As they said it had higher ratings than the lead in 'The Nurses' and lead out 'Where The Action Is' but they were low rated themselves so ...

[Soaplovers]

I found an archive of the bible.  The vibe I got from the bible is a gothic Edge of Night/Peyton Place with Victoria winters as the Nancy Drew.

Interestingly, Maggie is never really mentioned except as a sounding board.  No indication she would have a romance with anyone, or a life outside of being Victoria or Carolyn's sounding board.

https://archive.org/details/shadows-on-the-wall-1/page/n96/mode/1up

[Vee]

I've had a hard copy of the bible since they used to sell them (reprinted in new binding) at DS cons. Mine is probably in storage back home now. I don't remember the bizarre ending of the proto-Jason McGuire (Walt Cummings) plotline, which was clearly (and understandably) designed here just to tread water and keep churning story.

I had thought the "B. Hanscomb"/butler angle with Vicki hinted at in early episodes originated in backstory in the bible, but I can't find it here skimming it again. Maybe I've missed it or they invented it later.

[Sapounopera]

What if Dark Shadows never switched to the supernatural stuff? 

I read the bible and found the original stories fascinating. The ratings were not good, but all shows had lousy ratings at first. The first episodes feel like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre meet Peyton Place. Can you see the show changing for the more modern 70s? 

[Melroser]

How come there's always a thunderstorm in Collinsport? Like always. I mean, it's Maine (where I live) and I've yet to notice it snow! 

I'm trying to watch the whole run on Tubi and I'm at ep 553. I have to say I'm getting tired of this Adam character.

[danfling]

Why is so little posted about Lee Beery?

Edited January 12, 2023 by danfling

[Vee]

Why would much be? She had a fairly minor, strange role.

[DRW50]

 

I did find her work fascinating - very ethereal. I think she isn't more talked about because she wasn't on the show very much, and the wrapup to the Samantha story was rushed and poor. Another "oh we forgot to get rid of this character" moment, which the end of 1840 was full of. 

[Melroser]

As someone that lived in Bangor, ME, for fifteen years, the mispronunciation of Bangor makes me cringe every single time. 

I wonder if DS had better ratings in ME/the northeast than the rest of the country. 

[Broderick]

I tend to forget she was on the show.  Didn't she last about 3 weeks?  

[Vee]

I honestly don't remember the timeframe. She played the long-lost Joanna Mills, who IIRC was the 1840 iteration of Quentin Collins' dead lover. She came back seemingly alive and well to screw with his jilted wife Samantha and then turned out to be a ghost after all (I think) and drove Samantha off Widows' Hill, which tended to be the next bus out of town for much of the cast in the later years of the show. It was a very strange storyline.

[Broderick]

lol.  I remember Joanna Mills, but I swear I don't think she was on the show even a month.  

[DRW50]

The story, IIRC, was that Samantha had let her die. There was a tease over whether or not she was actually dead. She then was revealed as a ghost and caused Samantha's death. The whole story came out of nowhere and similar to other rushed decisions at that point like Gabriel killing his wife Edith (which would have wiped out the Collins timeline and led Barnabas and Julia to return to a whole different world), seemed to just be panic mode to try to wrap up a plot (similar things happened with the end of 1897 and the really really lousy "return to 1795 96 97" mini-story)

Edited January 20, 2023 by DRW50

[Vee]

Yes, I remember. Didn't Beth Chavez and/or Gabriel also go off Widows Hill? Like I said, that cliff turned into the town bus depot at the close of several storylines.

I'd forgotten until Googling today that Joanna actually has several more scenes after being revealed as an undead revenant and killing Samantha, where she heads back to Collinwood to chat people up and help Daphne and Quentin like she's a regular person. Bizarre.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Vee