Reminiscing About Watching DS

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This blogger reminisces about his school days and being part of a "secret society" that watched ST and DS reruns:

[Gothick]

Yeah, and Night Stalker too!

Fun little article.

G.

[michael c]

contemporaries of mine often remember DS from it's syndicated runs in the 1970's but i actually have absolutely no childhood recollections of it. perhaps it was not syndicated in the new england area where i grew up.

it's sci-fi channel runs in the late 1990's were my first exposure to it.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm thinking that the only station in New England that ran DS in the '70s was Boston's Channel 56 - and of course, its signal wouldn't have carried to all of New England - and they only showed it for a year, starting in April of '76.

[The Doctor and K9]

Channel 9 out of Vermont ran it from approx. the fall of '77-78.  Although well out of even our fringe reception area, their listings were in our TV Guide (Newport RI).  One weekend when my parents were away, I tried to rig my father's TV with various makeshift antennae made from various pieces of wire and foil. The best I could do was rein in a very snowy picture of the episode in which Joshua confronts Barnabas in the Old House. I recorded the almost totally garbled soundtrack on cassette. That episode aired on August 28th 1978.  Jeffrey Aresenault, who I blieve hailed from Cumberland RI (he was based somewhere in RI), wrote about seeing the first year of syndication again, on this channel after having watched it out of Boston. WLVI TV 56 had indeed carried it from the spring of '77-78.  From my best recollection, it probably premiered in early April and of course went off in April of the next year. WLVI cancelled it partway through the run, but relented and finished the syndication package. It ran without a gap; the calls started when TV Guide announced that it would be replaced by the "Best of Groucho".  Soon after it went off, the Providence Journal's TV insert carried a piece that stated that DS had a small but "vocal minority" and that it never got above a 1 in the ratings for 11:00 PM.  They also reported that World Vision had pulled the program from its syndicatoin offerings.  I think that Channel 9 was the last US station to offer the show in the '70s .  Can anyone confirm this?

[The Doctor and K9]

I need to point out some things I may have remembered inaccaurately about the syndicataion of DS in New England. I just looked up stations in Vermont and cannot find a Channel 9. It is possible that I identified the wrong state. I'm quite confident I got the numerical designation, 9 correct, but wouldn't bet much on it. Those are details that I could have wrong. The dates are correct. I still have the tape, why I don't know!!!!  Also, I tell those newer fans who Jeff Aresnault is. He edited and wrote much of The Collinsport Call, a fanzine that was my introduction to DS fandom. Jeff moved from RI to NY. I lost track of him  soon after I finally met him at the Manhattan Shadows convention.

[petofi]

Somewhere around 1982-83, WMTW out of Poland Spring, Maine ran at least the first year of syndication.  I couldn't get decent reception way up in Bangor, but I taped the audio track to several episodes, including the sequence when Barnabas catches David coming out of the mausoleum.

Petofi

[Mysterious Benefactor]

DS definitely began its run in Boston in April of '76 - and the reason why I'm certain of that is not only because I watched it, but because I have a full page ad from Weekly Variety that Worldvision placed about it just starting its run in Boston, and it's dated Wednesday, April 14, 1976.

Wow - I'd forgotten all about the Providence Journal's article - though I probably have it around here somewhere.

And you're right about Channel 9 - I'd forgotten about that, too. Channel 9 (WMUR-TV) was out of Manchester, NH, and even on a good day I was barely able to bring it in. DS was on Monday through Friday at 4:30pm (at least according to the TV Guides I just checked.) (Yes, I still have TV Guides from back then.  ).

And I went to high school with a Jeff Arsenault who lived in RI and who was active in fandom. Could that be who you're referring to? Wow, I haven't been in touch with him in years and years and years. But I remember how I found out he was a DS fan like it was yesterday: we had gym class together, and one day I saw a copy of Barnabas, Quentin and the Frightened Bride on the top of his books as they were sitting on a bench in the locker room.  

After the Channel 56 run ended, I didn't get to see DS in syndication again until I discovered in '85 that WCVX- TV58 from Vineyard Haven/Hyannis, MA had begun running it. In fact, that discovery was the very reason I bought my first VCR.  

[Taeylor Collins]

The only thing I can reminisce about with the original is listening to the album at my grandmothers. I was ten years old and  the music and back cover creeped me out so much.  I loved it but knew nothing about how to find DS. Then it wasn't on home video and I know that it wasn't carried anywhere in my town. It took us years to get SCI FI or SY FY...whatever they call it now. I remember when Sci Fi was cool and played The Bionic Woman, Six Million Dollar Man, DS, etc.  Oh sorry for getting off topic.  Thankfully I found that album because that is what lead me to DS 1991 and to the original show and to fandom and to this wonderful board! 

[michael c]

we totally got channel 56 where i grew up. spent many a saturday afternoon with "creature double feature". wasn't "dale dorman" the continuity announcer.

somehow DS escaped me.

it's funny trying to explain to anyone under 35 what the pre-cable world looked like: the three major networks. a regional PBS station for sesame street and upstairs,downstairs. and a few crappy local/regional "UHF" stations that aired bowling tournaments, old movies and old television shows like DS.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Some people couldn't even get all three major networks. Back then I had family in CT who lived so deep in some valley that they could only bring in two out of three - and their ABC affiliate was actually a UHF station rather than a VHF like most.  Though for the most part New Englanders were luckier than most because the states are smaller so we often had the luxury of choosing major network affiliates from the neighboring states if the signals from our own states were too far away/weak. I have no idea how people in other parts of the country where the states are so huge managed to cope...

OT but: Ah, Upstairs, Downstairs - do you know that PBS is producing a sequel - and Jean Marsh will be appearing in it as Rose?!  

[Taeylor Collins]

I remember those days; however, I am 33 so I am pretty close to 35.  We lived in the sticks so we got everything late.  That is why my Dad finally bought one of those GIANTIC Satellite's so we would actually be able to have some good channels.

[The Doctor and K9]

Somewhere around 1982-83, WMTW out of Poland Spring, Maine ran at least the first year of syndication. 
Petofi

DS was reportedly removed from syndication some time soon after WLVI TV 56 ended its run in '77. There was a piece in either the Providence Journal, or the Boston Globe, or Herald or whatever that stated that. In spite of that claim. WMUR ran it in '77-78. I assume they ordered it before the deadline. In '82 or it might have been '83 WNBC relaunched a DS into syndication, although World Vision was claiming it was part of the same run that had ended some 5 years earlier, so they wouldn't have to pay more residuals. They offered it only to stations in markets where it  had not already run or was it only excluding stations that had not run it???  I know that after WNBC ended, another NY station picked it up years later and they were compelled to tart where WNBC had left off, even though years had passed!!

[The Doctor and K9]

we totally got channel 56 where i grew up. spent many a saturday afternoon with "creature double feature". wasn't "dale dorman" the continuity announcer.

somehow DS escaped me.

YES!!! TV 56 had that guy acting very kid friendly, enticing them to watch The Flintstones, Batman, and whatever else was on during the after school hours.  I remember the on air announcement he made about Star Trek. It had been off for a few days and he alluded to them being on "summer vacation". I presume the station had been deluged with calls!!  I spent that summer reading a Blish adaption every day to fill the gap!

It's not surprising that DS escapetd your notice; it was on at 11:00 PM. I had a friend who had parents who let  him go to bed  whenever he wanted to; he's the one who told me it was on. Otherwise I doubt that I'd ever have noticed it. He also lent me a Ross novel, which got me interested in DS in the first place.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

In '82 or it might have been '83 WNBC relaunched a DS into syndication

It was '82. In the summer of '82 Soap Opera Digest even did a series of articles about DS - one focusing on a party that was held at Manhattan's Magique disco with Frid in attendance.

another NY station picked it up years later and they were compelled to tart where WNBC had left off, even though years had passed!!

I don't know about the part about being compelled to pick up where WNBC had left off, but you're probably thinking of PBS station WNYC. On rare occasions I could actually pull that in and would check to see what was going on. Even though at the time I was still taping DS on WCVX, and WNYC was behind where WCVX was storylinewise, it was still fun to watch the earlier eps on TV knowing that other fans were doing the same at the same time, as opposed to me watching eps on tape hours after they'd aired.