An Odd Day for DS Fans

[Gerard]

Today, April 3, was - indeed -at the most a tragic day for DS fans and at the least a somewhat difficult one. 

The day before, April 2, 1971, we couldn't believe that it was gone and we thought we'd never see it again.  We hoped on Saturday, April 3 as well as Sunday April 4, that it was a mistake.  But there it was, on Monday, April 5 - Password Plus.  It was a done deal.

On April 3, 1970 (and the ones before and after), during the PT70 plot, characters began to vanish and wouldn't be back for weeks or even months.  Barnabas was locked in a coffin by William H. Loomis.  Gone.  William H. Loomis was busy writing down and "oral history" of his captive.  Gone.  Carolyn Loomis spent her time drinking in the Loomis House drawing room so as not to face what Barnabas and William were doing in the secret room.  Gone.  Maggie Collins got all huffy about Alexis Stokes and ran back to NYC.  Gone.  Daniel Collins would be just, well, gone.  No explanation.  Siblings Elizabeth (Stoddard) and Roger Collins apparently went off to visit relatives.  Gone.  Housekeeper Hoffman also seemingly went away to visit relatives.  Gone.  Chris Collins and his little sister would also soon be gone with no explanation.  That basically left five major characters:  Quentin, Angelexis, Bruno, Cyrus/Big-Nose and Sabrina to carry the storyline.  Important minor characters were Aunt Hannah, Buffy, Trask-the-butler and the guy who sold Cyrus his dope.  Well, somehow, we continued to watch until the bulk of performers returned from Lyndhurst.  Still, it was an odd time.

Gerard

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Horace Gladstone (the guy who sold Cyrus his dope) and Dick Cheney: Separated at birth?

Hey, and let's not forget Steve-the-dock worker, who made the mistake of messing with John Yeager!

[Gothick]

This article was originally posted last year on Wallace McBride's DS blog, but I don't recall having seen it.  It was reposted earlier this week on a DS Facebook page that's on my roster:

http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2016/04/who-killed-dark-shadows.html

Interesting that the author found an interview with Jay Duffy where the latter took credit for axing our show.  That was new to me, though doubtless others are long familiar with this material.

Credit or no, it's been my personal belief for many years now that Dan Curtis took the initiative to get the show off the air.  A number of the lead actors also wanted to move on.  Curtis wanted to move into directing movies and, as we know, he was extremely possessive about DS.  "If I can't have you, nobody can!"  He did designate Lela Swift as Producer during the final months, and apparently she also took over his unofficial role as story consultant if not actually dictating how the plot went (I am not sure how this all played out--it was stated in one of the fan newsletters towards the end that Lela came up with the idea of the big reveal at the end of 1840 where Barnabas made a certain controversial declaration regarding another major character).

G.

[Uncle Roger]

I no longer have the fanzine but there was an article in the Grayson Hall newsletter that said that Lela was basically running the show during its last months. Nothing about 1840 and that revelation was mentioned but Lela was going to introduce aspects of a "classic love story", while maintaining a supernatural element. I assume that the former was the Catherine/Bramwell Wuthering Heights story. 1841PT was supposed to last a few months and then to an another setting. If the show had continued, it may have been a different show than what we were used to

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've often wondered if it was more often the case that DS had been just a bit more traditional and had balanced a typical soap story with a supernatural one, along the lines of running the Liz/Jason blackmail plot with the Barnabas introduction plot, it might not have lasted much longer than it did? Plus most soaps at any given time have three stories running at the same time: one that's wrapping up, one that's the current main story, and one that's just bubbling to the surface. But DS was rarely written those ways so we'll never know...

[Uncle Roger]

I don't know if any other serial has ever been written that way, with the central focus on one character, first Vicki and then Barnabas. Moltke and Frid both found the pace very grueling. No wonder she left and he was edging his way out of the door.
Other soaps have had their star attractions but have usually managed to survive when the performer chose to leave.
Would restructuring the show around Selby and Parker have brought the show some more time? Who can say now?

[Gerard]

From things I've read, the ratings actually started going up during the PT41 storyline, despite the fiasco of the 40/41 plot.  That's not to say there weren't some wonderful characterizations and scenes during the latter; some were the best of the entire series (especially when Samantha reveals to Quentin that he's not the father of their child - brilliant!).  Although, as a 14-y-old initially watching the PT41 story, I missed Barnabas.  I'm thinking more fans would've been favorable if Bramwell would've remained in that character be called "Barnabas, Jr."  He could still have the mullet and all that, but a name's a name.  Maybe the ratings would've gone even up more.  Quentin was always Quentin, despite being a totally different character.  Fans understood that.  He was a different Quentin. It could've been a different Barnabas. 

Yes, it was an expensive show and teens and just-teens weren't considered a targeted audience back then.  They didn't have the buying power back then that they do now.  It was a different economic time.  I wanted all the DS stuff, like the games, models, records, etc.  I could only afford the paperbacks and the comic books.  (I did afford the '45 single of Quentin's Theme with the flip-side of #1 At the Blue Whale.)  But from my own observations, housewives weren't glued to the boob-tube either.  My mom watched only three shows:  The Art Linkletter Show and The Galloping Gourmet (both of which eventually aired at the same time against DS and I had to fight with her, but because she was divided between her two favorites, she lost and I won) and Days of Our Lives.  She never watched the commercials so she wasn't impacted by them.  She was too busy running to the kitchen during the breaks to stir a pot or iron some bed-sheet.  The same with all my friends' moms.  By 4:00 EST (3:00 CST, where I lived), when DS was supplanted by PW, many if not most housewives were too busy trying to get supper up and ready.  None cared about being cajoled into buying Ivory Soap which was 99-and-9/10's pure so that it would float.  We kids saw those commercials during DS.  No mom did. 

It looks like along with other factors (such as performers wanting to move on since they were no longer given challenging stories) that "marketing" played into this by the standards of that time.  But I've learned that "marketers" are almost always wrong.

Gerard