It was exactly 50 years ago begining - Monday 6/27/1966 – that “Dark Shadows” premiered on ABC. It would be the first soap opera to have an intense cult following and have all episodes survive, in one form or another (except one) and be available complete on VHS and DVD. Many episodes can also be found on youtube and hulu.
Even in the beginning, “Dark Shadows” wasn’t the typical “coffee in the kitchen” type of soap opera that TV audiences of the day were accustomed to viewing. It began as a gothic soap opera dealing with such things as murder, mystery, revenge and blackmail with just a small touch of the supernatural to add interest. It was videotaped in black and white to keep with the gothic tone of the show and produced on a low budget of just $70,000 to tape 5 half hour episodes a week.
But due to low ratings and desperation, show creator Dan Curtis slightly changed the format. His children always wanted him to make the show "more scary" so Dan changed the show from being less gothic to adding stronger supernatural elements to help improve the ratings. The change worked but not enough to avoid cancellation so Dan Curtis decided to go all out and made the risky decision to add a vampire. Although the initial reaction from the cast and crew ranged anywhere from “A WHAT!!!” to “Oh, really?” Dan plunged ahead anyway with adding the new character. Still, the actors bulked at the idea of doing a show about a vampire. That’s not the kind of show they were hired to be in. Others members of the crew felt it was a hardly a class act to do something like that in daytime television where cancellation would be assured as a result.
But vampire Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid, was added by the end of April of 1967 and according to Jonathan, Barnabas had become the most talked about character in all of television by the end of May, just one month later. School let out in June and the low rated “Dark Shadows” shot up in the ratings even more to the surprise of everyone. Curtis’s risk had paid off. The incredible success of the show even had staff writers scrambling to come up with story ideas on how to propel the storyline for a character who was only to last about 3 months before getting a stake through the heart. With the “gothic” element completely gone, the show went into color in August and a series of ghosts, zombies, werewolves, leviathans, etc. would now take the show to new levels never dared by anyone else before. Ironically, the actors who originally bulked at the idea of a vampire now wanted to play parts that were of supernatural origin.
The premiere episode stars: Joan Bennett - (The first major movie star to do a soap opera.) Alexandra Moltke - (During the early 1980s, she was subpoenaed, and testified, as a witness in the trial of Claus von Bulow for attempted murder of his wife, Sunny. According to newspaper accounts, Moltke and von Bülow had been having an affair.) Mitch Ryan (Who according to fellow actor John Karlen, was let go after being on the show for a year due to his drinking.) Kathryn Leigh Scott (Began the show wearing a short blond wig and without explanation appeared three weeks later using her own natural long redish brown hair.) Louis Edmonds (Would later appear in “All My Children” playing the notorious part of Langley Wallingford.) and also features other recognizable actors who would go on to do better things.
The shows music was composed by Robert Cobert and was the very first soap opera to use an orchestra. The opening title music did not utilize a theremin as frequently suggested. According to Cobert, a Yamaha Synthesizer was used. It’s interesting to note that Cobert’s music had a spooky tone to it even before the decision was even made to make the soap more supernatural.
I've added episode #2 because it's fun to see people who don't know how to dance having to dance in 1966.
When I was a kiddywinkie in high school, I DID run home from school every day to watch "Dark Shadows"! I think what Kathryn is doing is a wonderful thing.
I turned seven in June 1966, and I remember that I first heard of "Dark Shadows" from other kids at school. When I finally checked it out, on WABC channel 7 in NYC -- I lived on Long Island then -- I didn't like it. I was already into watching old movies on TV, and could see the difference between film and videotape, and I didn't like the "look" of videotape on the black & white TVs my family only had back then, AND I didn't like soap operas, and so, guess what?
Despite the subject matter -- because I was already a Universal Monster movie fan by the age of seven -- I didn't like "Dark Shadows."
However, in the decades since I have come to a certain appreciation of it and, as I said, I have the first movie they did right after the series ended, on Blu-ray. I've only watched it once, though. Maybe again this Halloween.
Oh, yeah.... I did rent a few of the "Dark Shadows" DVDs over a decade ago back when I was heavily into renting discs from Netflix, so I have indulged in it to a bit -- but I still don't like soap operas.
I just finished watching the entire series a couple months ago and wanted to go to the fiftieth anniversary reunion in Tarrytown this past weekend, but by the time I found out about it the hotel was already booked. I looked into other hotels but do not know the area or how easy it would be to get a rental car and drive if I had to stay someplace that was not close by, so I finally gave up. It would have been an expensive trip for me, but I wish I had gone because there probably will not be many more chances to do this. Did anyone go, and if so can you post pics or information about how things went?
It was exactly 50 years ago begining - Monday 6/27/1966 – that “Dark Shadows” premiered on ABC. It would be the first soap opera to have an intense cult following and have all episodes survive, in one form or another (except one) and be available complete on VHS and DVD. Many episodes can also be found on youtube and hulu.
Even in the beginning, “Dark Shadows” wasn’t the typical “coffee in the kitchen” type of soap opera that TV audiences of the day were accustomed to viewing. It began as a gothic soap opera dealing with such things as murder, mystery, revenge and blackmail with just a small touch of the supernatural to add interest. It was videotaped in black and white to keep with the gothic tone of the show and produced on a low budget of just $70,000 to tape 5 half hour episodes a week.
But due to low ratings and desperation, show creator Dan Curtis slightly changed the format. His children always wanted him to make the show "more scary" so Dan changed the show from being less gothic to adding stronger supernatural elements to help improve the ratings. The change worked but not enough to avoid cancellation so Dan Curtis decided to go all out and made the risky decision to add a vampire. Although the initial reaction from the cast and crew ranged anywhere from “A WHAT!!!” to “Oh, really?” Dan plunged ahead anyway with adding the new character. Still, the actors bulked at the idea of doing a show about a vampire. That’s not the kind of show they were hired to be in. Others members of the crew felt it was a hardly a class act to do something like that in daytime television where cancellation would be assured as a result.
But vampire Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid, was added by the end of April of 1967 and according to Jonathan, Barnabas had become the most talked about character in all of television by the end of May, just one month later. School let out in June and the low rated “Dark Shadows” shot up in the ratings even more to the surprise of everyone. Curtis’s risk had paid off. The incredible success of the show even had staff writers scrambling to come up with story ideas on how to propel the storyline for a character who was only to last about 3 months before getting a stake through the heart. With the “gothic” element completely gone, the show went into color in August and a series of ghosts, zombies, werewolves, leviathans, etc. would now take the show to new levels never dared by anyone else before. Ironically, the actors who originally bulked at the idea of a vampire now wanted to play parts that were of supernatural origin.
The premiere episode stars: Joan Bennett - (The first major movie star to do a soap opera.) Alexandra Moltke - (During the early 1980s, she was subpoenaed, and testified, as a witness in the trial of Claus von Bulow for attempted murder of his wife, Sunny. According to newspaper accounts, Moltke and von Bülow had been having an affair.) Mitch Ryan (Who according to fellow actor John Karlen, was let go after being on the show for a year due to his drinking.) Kathryn Leigh Scott (Began the show wearing a short blond wig and without explanation appeared three weeks later using her own natural long redish brown hair.) Louis Edmonds (Would later appear in “All My Children” playing the notorious part of Langley Wallingford.) and also features other recognizable actors who would go on to do better things.
The shows music was composed by Robert Cobert and was the very first soap opera to use an orchestra. The opening title music did not utilize a theremin as frequently suggested. According to Cobert, a Yamaha Synthesizer was used. It’s interesting to note that Cobert’s music had a spooky tone to it even before the decision was even made to make the soap more supernatural.
I've added episode #2 because it's fun to see people who don't know how to dance having to dance in 1966.
Actually "Dark Shadows" was taped in B&W because all of A.B.C.'s daytime schedule was broadcast that way until the late summer of '67, when their entire schedule finally made the conversion to color.
I would have just finished second grade and turned seven on June 22nd. Can't really recall that much of the beginning of the summer. Sure wasn't watching a soap opera.
It must have been the Fall of 1967 that I started hearing of "Dark Shadows" at school from other kids that had been watching it that summer. I remember not looking at the show until I came home after school and told my mother I had to put it on to see what the thing was.
