Oops - I forgot to post that the March 6, 1990 issue of Soap Opera Digest included this short article:
DARK SHADOWS RETURNS |
With the forthcoming debut of ABC's TWIN PEAKS, and NBC commissioning producer/director DAN CURTIS to do a TV movie revival of DARK SHADOWS, it's evi- dent that prime-time soaps are far from dead. In fact, DAVID JACOBS, creator of both DALLAS and KNOTS LANDING, in- sisted in an interview recently that serial- ized TV formats are "the only way [the net- works] can compete in the nineties." Take a look, he said, at LA LAW and other night- time dramatic shows that may not be soap operas per se, but definitely use serialized construction. His thoughts get some indirect support from NBC's programming chief BRANDON TARTIKOFF, whose network has long been frustrated in its inability to launch a suc- cessful prime-time soap, but still keeps try- ing. In fact, Tartikoff is considering running his upcoming PARENTHOOD series -- a spinoff from the feature film -- in twice weekly installments because that seems the only way to handle such a large group of characters and stories. And it's Tartikoff who is pushing Curtis to return to SHAD- OWS, explaining that this show will be a "prime-time Gothic serial," and noting that some of the original characters will return. (Of course, the launching of DARK SHAD- OWS as a regular nighttime series will de- pend on how well the TV movie does.) |
(* the
Parenthood series referenced here shouldn't be confused with the one that recently ended on NBC because they're completely different. And at the time this article was written it was intended that the DS TV movie would run earlier/separate (likely around Halloween/October 1990) from the series - but later it was decided to hold the movie to run as part of the series...)