This is fascinating.  I never knew there was a week-and-a-bit period where the show went dark completely.

I had also not know until some years ago that Lela Swift had to help out in T'town as DC's unofficial AD. 

All this adds fuel to my argument that one of the most pressing reasons to pull the plug on the series for good was the imminent beginning of the NoDS shoot.  But I'm sure that no documents exist to ever prove such a notion...

G.

Thanks for that frank review, Janet.  I was completely uninspired by the trailer for the very first audiodrama (the name escapes me) because the writing just seemed so cookie-cutter, even though the voices and the music were of our beloved show.

Even with utterly banal writing, however, the thought of hearing Steele, Frid and Karlen's voices in a drama is just too exciting to turn away.  As far as I'm concerned, those three could read aloud from the Manhattan phone book and it would be fascinating.  If the story is rotten, however, this will definitely be a one-off for me. 

In general, real writers don't seem able to get jobs now-a-days.  Anyone out there see the "remake" of Clash of the Titans?

G.

hmmmmmm.  I think I can definitely see what Hilton "loves" about him...

the question "but can he act?"  really does seem superfluous.

Thanks MB!

So, remind me who played Carolyn in this one?

G.

Ironic indeed.  What he really meant was how glass-cuttingly astute she was being in refusing to buy into his "alas, poor Willie" act and instead throwing his real motives back in his face.  Grand stuff.  I'm still not sure just why she caved, on this particular occasion, except for the fact that the writers needed Willie back in the OH (and we fans rejoiced indeed at John Karlen's return!).

G

I think if Paris Hilton had ever watched DS, she might have paraphrased to Ellen:  "I have but one love, and her name is Hilton.  and that's HOT."

reaching now for air-sickness bag...
g.

Fans,

A short (all of 3 pages!) chapter on DS is included in a new academic publication, The Cult TV Book, edited by Stacey Abbot and published in London and NY by I. B. Tauris (not a press I had previously heard of).  The volume is part of a new series which will include both monographs and edited volumes devoted to such specific series as Farscape and Dexter.  The DS chapter is written by the volume's editor, Stacey Abbott, and leads off a section of the book entitled "The Cult in Cult TV." Embarrassingly, Abbott mis-spells the series protagonist's name as "Barnabus" throughout her short chapter.  I did like this comment towards the end of the short piece:  "Although less visible than Star Trek fans, Dark Shadows fandom rivals the Trekker community for its commitment and endurance, reminding the modern cult TV scholar that longevity remains the ultimate test of cult fandom."

G.

I would love more info about Barbara Steele's participation in one of these.  Looking forward to hearing details.

G.

What an odd capture of Barnabas today.  He looks like Mr Rogers about to tell a story to the kids about his own special neighborhood... heh, heh.

I call this the "pointless" look because of what's going on--or rather, not going on--with the hair...

G.