Downfalls of DS

[dvlvan26]

Hello to All Cousins!
I got through last weekend, spending time with my boyfriend. I cooked him a home-cooked dinner, he spent the night at my house last night, I made him a home-cooked breakfast, and I satisfied him like Barnabas and Willie satisfied Vicki when she spent the night at the Old House. He is a chatterbox like Roger Davis, LOL.

All right everyone, please name some of the downfalls of the original DS. You can list certain persons, storylines, fashions, places in Collinsport,characters, episodes that were pre-emptied/lost/stolen/never aired, etc.

Have A Great Day!
dvlvan26, who sacrifices for others

[Gothick]

Probably its biggest downfall was its own success.  That success led to the movies, which really over-taxed the resources of the cast and production team; the first movie, because it was so violent, led to a lot of Parents groups around the country to demand that local ABC affiliates drop the series because it was perceived as too violent for children's viewing; as more affiliates dropped the show, the ratings also fell; finally, the experience of working on the movies made Dan Curtis decide he wanted to do other things besides helm a soap opera, and (in my opinion) led to his pulling the plug on the show.

btw just so you know, there really aren't any missing or never aired episodes of DS, incredible though that seems.  There's one episode that exists as a montage of stills and an audio recording because the original tape disappeared (apparently back in 1971) and no back-up existed (I think they had stopped making the filmed kinescopes).  It's kind of amazing that that is actually from the very final weeks of the series.  Up until that point, every episode exists in some form or another.  Some episodes were skipped during the 1980s syndication of the series which may be where you got the impression that there were missing shows.

G.

[Ian]

Some episodes were skipped during the 1980s syndication of the series which may be where you got the impression that there were missing shows.

Another source that they may feel some episodes were skipped were from DarkShadows.com in the episode synopsis section. There are some episodes where the cast or the synopsis is missing for that episode.

1108, and 1179/1180 are two examples.

[Brian]

The first movie, because it was so violent, led to a lot of Parents groups around the country to demand that local ABC affiliates drop the series because it was perceived as too violent for children's viewing; as more affiliates dropped the show, the ratings also fell;

This type of comment amazes me--no offense meant to Gothick, please--because I saw HODS two times in 1970, and my parents never complained about the violence.  I first saw it at an "indoor" theatre within the first week of opening, with a friend my own age.  Subsequently, I saw it at a drive-in in the middle of winter (I remember those silly heaters you could put in the car in Ohio) with my uncle and cousins on a double-bill with DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE (a Frank Sinatra western--with Lois Nettleton as a prostitute!)  Of course, it was cancelled in early 1971, but Mom and Dad sometimes watched the show with me, and up until the day he died, my Dad remembered "Barnaby" Collins.  

Mom still likes the show and remembers it.  So, I guess my parents were a little more open-minded and liberal about the show and movies that some of those who wanted it taken off TV.  Thank my atheist-self that I didn't grow up in a right-wing, conservative Republican "my-way-or-the-highway and the rest of you are going-to-hell" family.

Brian (who is still mourning the 2004 presidential election and wishing the brother Jeb would leave Florida yesterday so he doesn't pull another Shiavo on us!)

[Brian]

BTW, I was 12 years old when I started watching DS in June, 1969--I'm 48 now.  How time flies. . .

[PennyDreadful]

Brian (who is still mourning the 2004 presidential election and wishing the brother Jeb would leave Florida yesterday

 You aren't alone in mourning the election results.  

 As for Florida, with a name like "Jeb" ..well, let's just say that  macabre breathing sounds were recently heard emanating from a locked room in the Florida State House...

 

[Mary]

Thank my atheist-self that I didn't grow up in a right-wing, conservative Republican "my-way-or-the-highway and the rest of you are going-to-hell" family.

Cool -- niether did I, thanks to my Christian parents!    Hey, nobody's ever said a word against DS at my church and I never hear anything but encouragement when I go to the Fests each year!    Woohoo!!

[Gerard]

One downfall for me, as a viewer back then, a kid growing up in The Wonder Years, plodding through junior high school, was that it was the pre-VCR era.  Well, technologically speaking, it was the pre-everything era.  Although flashy goods like color and remote-control (remember those big, boxy remotes that you had to hold with both hands, and when you clicked it a huge ka-chung sound indicated that channels had changed?) TV sets existed, they were just for the more financially secure set ("fancy people" as my dad called 'em).  The very concept of home VCR's was something relegated to science fiction.  We made do with black-and-white televisions that aired, at least where I grew up, only three channels (a few more if you had an antenna with a rodor).  With no way of taping an episode, if you wanted to see the latest spooky thing, or follow the plot, you had to watch the show directly, each and every day.  It was a one-shot deal, and if you missed it, you missed it forever (or so we thought back then).  Some extracurricular school activity?  You missed seeing the show.  Music lessons?  You missed seeing the show.  Dentist appointment?  You missed seeing the show.  And when you went on family vacation, you missed days, if not weeks, of seeing the show.  By the time you got back to it, you were totally confused about what was going on, and if you didn't have friends who also watched it and kept you informed as to what you missed, that was it.

With VCR's, DVD players, high-tech cable and all that whizzamabang stuff, we're spoiled now.

Gerard

[Gothick]

Believe it or not, Gerard, I've read that prototype VCR's did exist already by the mid Sixties.  I've read about very wealthy people having them in the UK at the time.  I do not know whether these were available in the US or not, nor do I know what kind of playback the recordings offered.

This was mentioned in a couple of discussions I read about missing episodes of Dr. Who back in the early 90s.  There were rumors--legends, really--that a wealthy collector had made these kinescope-like recordings of every episode.  From what was written, it appeared to be something different from a home movie camera pointed at the TV set (some people did attempt those, the pickup was usually lousy however).

I wish I had more info, but it doesn't change the fact that none of us back then had access to such technology, so if we missed the day's episode, we were screwed.  I used to dread it when the school bus took an alternate route to deliver us home as it usually meant that I would miss at least some of Dark Shadows...

G.

[Luciaphile]

Not that it has anything to do with DS, but one of the running threads through AutoFocus is the development of A/V technology. Of course, you also have to wade through some more controversial themes, but it's rather interesting viewing. Early on the Bob Crane character gets introduced to an early incarnation of the VCR.

[michael c]

gerard,

that's an interesting point.i never thought about that.viewing a show once and then never seeing it again?that's such a strange concept today.i've watched some of my favorite eps. so many times i know the lines verbatim.
with a standard soap you could miss a few days(or weeks)and catch up pretty easily.but d.s. had so many dramatic plot twists if one missed more than 3 or 4 shows you'd be sunk.

considering that they thought the show would only be seen once the "cheap" special effects don't seem so bad.