For what it's worth, at the end of episode #126, which aired on Monday, December 19th, 1966, the closing voice-over states: "On behalf of our sponsors, we would like to wish you a very happy holiday season. Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis production."

Retzev,

Alas, even way back in December of 1966, the corporate sponsors of Dark Shadows could not bring themselves to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas instead of the more politically-correct "happy holiday season"!

As Collinsport's own answer to Ebenezer Scrooge, the one-and-only Roger Collins might have also put it: "Bah humbug!!!"

Bob

PS Maybe Liz, Roger, Carolyn, David, Barnabas, Quentin, Maggie, Dr. Hoffman (as if she was really going to go back to Windcliff for Christmas?), and maybe even Vicky (?), all just sat in front of the Collinwood drawing room fireplace instead of watching the annual "Yule Log" presentation on television?

Hey gang,

Did you think that the songs that director Tim Burton selected for his film, "Dark Shadows," were absolutely right on the mark?  I thought that Mr. Burton hit a grand slam in his selection, beginning with, of course, the great Robert Cobert's eerie "The Secret Room," and, then segueing into the classic scene of Vicky (or was that Maggie or Josette?) onboard the train on her way to Collinsport with The Moody Blues' Justin Hayward intoning, "Nights in White Satin." 

Mr. Burton perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the early 1970s with  such songs as Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" and Steve Miller's "The Joker."  (Didn't Johnny Depp sound like Sir Ian McKellen, so seriously reciting the lyrics to Steve Miller's seminal hit song?)

Certainly, humor played a great part in Mr. Burton's film version of Barnabas Collins & company.  And, we certainly were provided with much laughter with the great Alice Cooper's appearance and musical performance in the film.  "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "The Ballad of of Dwight Fry" (with the able assistance of young Carolyn Stoddard)  set just the right tone for Mrs. Stoddard's "ball," don't you think? 

Incidentally, I believe that Dwight Fry was a character actor back in the 1930s, who appeared in both the original "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi (Mr. Fry portrayed Mr. Renfield, who was Dracula's victim and who also ate spiders, if my memory does not fail me after all these years), and as one of Dr. Frankenstein's "slightly" demented lab assistants, who has a particularly nasty and fatal confrontation with Boris Karloff on the roof of the Frankenstein castle/laboratory in the original "Frankenstein."   

And, how about that oh-so-energetic love scene between Johnny Depp and Eva Green (as Angelique) with the late, great Barry White singing "Your're the First, The Last, My Everything"!?!    I don't think that I've seen such a "spirited" love scene since I saw Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland get it on in romantic Venice in the film , "Don't Look Now," if I correctly recall that erotic thriller's title.

I think the song that I enjoyed hearing the most in the film, though, was "Top of the World," performed by the late and eternally lovely Karen Carpenter.  To hear that truly angelic voice while Mr. Burton provided us with a series of scenes with Barnabas, attempting to cope with life in the 20th century, was masterful!  As I sat in the theater, the audience (along with yours truly) erupted into paroxyms of laughter, seeing Barnabas supervising the restoration of both Collinwood and the Collins Fishing Cannery, attempting to find "suitable" sleeping accommodations, brushing his fangs in front of the mirror (with predictable "vampiric" results!), and reading Erich Segal's sappy novel, "Love Story," together with a starry-eyed Vicky while sitting romantically at the beach.   That sequence was easily my favorite scene in the film.

After seeing "Dark Shadows," I logged onto Youtube to view some of Karen Carpenter's past  television performances with her equally talented brother Richard and the other musicians in the group, The Carpenters.  After having seen her perform way back in the early 1970s, it was wonderful to see and hear  Ms. Carpenter and the band perform again.  Although, in watching these old videos, I had a sense of sadness, remembering how tragic and untimely  Karen Carpenter's death was, and that she will have been gone for thirty years, come this February.

However, I was extremely pleased in reading some of the comments following the musical videos, that some of the younger people, after having seen the film "Dark Shadows," were interested in checking out Ms. Carpenter's past performances on Youtube.  Many of these younger people, who had never even heard of The Carpenters before seeing the film, expressed great admiration for Ms. Carpenter's musical talent.  In fact, one young woman posted that her interest in Karen Carpenter was piqued after having heard her mother sing right along with Ms. Carpenter as she sang "Top of the World" during that wonderful scene in "Dark Shadows." 

So, I am grateful that Mr. Burton included Ms. Carpenter's song in his film and for providing the younger generation with an opportunity to become acquainted with a truly great singer, of whom composer Paul Williams once said: "Karen Carpenter, she sang like an angel."   

Bob             

that he take Vicky out one evening to show her the many 'sights' and 'points of interest' in Collinsport

the advisability of a complete prostate examination

Uncle Roger,

Yes, Angelique's "strategic" planning did  leave a lot to be desired.  Then again, judging by how "well" both the Adam-and-Eve and Leviathan-comeback plans worked out, Angelique's boss, warlock Nicholas Blair, was hardly perspicacious or prescient in his long-range planning either.  (Did Nicholas think that having Angelique turn Tom Jennings into one of the "living dead" was really going to help his plans?)

Alas, if only Nicholas' "brilliance" could have equaled his unremitting narcissism.

Bob

Hey gang,

In watching the Adam-and-Eve DS storyline the other day, I was intrigued when Angelique "enlisted" the aid of Jeff Clark in an attempt to rid herself of warlock Nicholas Blair's vampire curse, by providing the "life-force" for Dr. Hoffman's creation and escaping Nicholas' curse in the new female body.

After Angelique had put the "bite" on poor Jeff (who, as an apparent man of the 18th century somehow knows all about wiring up and operating state-of-the-art 20th century electronic medical equipment, go figure!), she forces Vicky's fiancee to "rev-up" Dr. Lang's Victor  Frankenstein-like gizmos.

However, at up to this point, the female body had been fully wrapped in surgical gauze.   Maybe I'm just naturally suspicious or even cynical, but wouldn't the extremely beautiful Angelique have wanted to "check out the "merchandise," so to speak, before providing the "life-force" for the "new" Angelique?  I mean, I don't intend to sound to be too "superficial," but what if Angelique had discovered after  the, hopefully, successful experiment, that Angelique now looked like, say, Mrs. Lift, the odious and oh-so-repulsive "Momma" from the film, "Throw Momma from the Train," or even worse, Angelique now looked like that world-renowned singer Alice Cooper, whom Johnny Depp's Barnabas characterized as "THE ugliest woman I've ever seen!"?    

Wouldn't Angelique now have buyer's (or more to the point "life-force" donor's) regret?

Maybe Angelique just might have wished she had remained that drop-dead gorgeous vampire in that almost virginal white dress of hers?

Bob

PS Happy New Year!!!  We all made it past 12/21/12 and we're all still here to watch and schmooze about our beloved Dark Shadows for at least another millennium! 

actually holding a job and/or pursuing a degree in college.

this was Collinsport's answer to Greenwich Village's own annual Halloween Evening Parade