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Current Talk '08 II / Re: Review Of Dark Shadows: The Beginning, Vol. 5
« on: July 07, 2008, 08:11:47 PM »
The short version is that ABC preserved the DS tapes because they apparently saw the syndication possibility in the show. Where things get interesting is that DC believed he owned the master tapes and he thought that ABC was supposed to turn them over to him. He sued ABC over ownership/possession, but he lost. Due to some legal restrictions back in the '70s, ABC had shifted ownership of the master tapes to WorldVision, but it was actually the resolution of the suit that paved the way for DS to be released into syndication. And the rest is history...
It's amazing how many people simply assume that because DC held the rights to DS, that meant that he owned the master tapes and they were in his possession - but that has never been the case. Though the myth lives on. But then, it's often the case that some people prefer to believe the myth rather than the truth...
There are topics on the forum that go into all this in greater detail (including one in which I transcribed a report from Variety about the suit), which is why I'm not doing it here.
It's amazing how many people simply assume that because DC held the rights to DS, that meant that he owned the master tapes and they were in his possession - but that has never been the case. Though the myth lives on. But then, it's often the case that some people prefer to believe the myth rather than the truth...
There are topics on the forum that go into all this in greater detail (including one in which I transcribed a report from Variety about the suit), which is why I'm not doing it here.