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Current Talk '03 I / Re:1970 program announcement
« on: June 04, 2003, 07:53:40 PM »Had the show on this a.m. briefly and was reminded again of a fleeting memory that comes and goes in relation to this storyline.
I remember a voiceover from Jonathan Frid advising fans to tune in for a special episode that was going to explain the background and true motives of the Leviathans. The voiceover played over the end titles of several shows during the week in Jan. (?) 1970, a week that, if memory serves, ended with the broadcast of the episode in which Barnabas spills the beans to Julia.
Back in the day, I kept a record of all the DS promos I ever saw (most of which I also audio taped - not that I was obsessive or anything ). The text of that particular on was:
"On Dark Shadows Wednesday, Barnabas Collins reveals the actual story of his final day in 1897, the fate of Count Petofi, the tragedy of Josette, and the real story of the terrifying Leviathan plot here on ABC."
It was designed to lure back the fans who deserted the show in droves after Leviathans began ...
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Fascinating if only because it rates as DS' only clip show, though some of the "clips" were restagings with new material.
... but it also had the unfortunate side effect of ticking off many fans who'd remained loyal viewers, a few of whom wrote in to the various daytime magazines' readers feedback columns to complain that Barnabas' revelations amounted to nothing more than what viewers already knew. (I'll have to see if I can locate those letters...)
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I also remember a similar voice over leading up to the broadcast of the second show run yesterday (Tuesday) on Sci Fi. Frid, or maybe the program announcer, advised fans to be sure and tune in for an episode that would have pivotal importance in the story. The episode that resulted did indeed seem very exciting to me at the time. I was pretty much unaware of the widespread fannish dislike of Leviathan; I thought it was a very cool storyline.
Does anybody else remember this second announcement regarding yesterday's show? (You'd obviously have had to be watching back in 1970 to be able to remember it!)
Hmmm...can't say as I do, but I suppose there's always that chance that I'd missed it.
FYI, during this period of the show ABC began running all sorts of voiceover promos, many during their Saturday morning cartoon lineup, in the hopes of luring fans back. It all began with the following two voiceovers which played over the last several 1897 episodes:
"This is Barnabas Collins. On Tuesday, November18th, Dark Shadows returns to 1969, and one of the most exciting tales ever told will begin on ABC."
"On November 18th, Dark Shadows returns to 1969 where the most unusual tale will begin."
(I'll grant them this, Leviathans did indeed turn out to be a "most unusual tale" - but not necessarily in an entirely good sense. )
But most of the other promos that I have records of from this period were completely generic:
"Stay tuned as Barnabas Collins and his friends struggle with the supernatural in Collinwood Manor on Dark Shadows next..."
or merely vaguely specific:
"On Dark Shadows, the Leviathans are at Collinwood, waiting for the day when they will reign over all..."