Last night, here in my assisted living community, after one of the sessions where we're forced to make ashtrays and candy dishes out of popsicle sticks, as I rested in my apartment watching TV, the cable (Comcast - horrible stuff) went down all throughout this region.  Most residents here have to use Comcast for their viewing pleasure, unless they're streaming (something technologically over most of their heads) because there is no other cable alternative.

So while there were some anxious moments amongst my neighbors, I just plugged my computer into the TV and called up Pluto, on which I once again enjoy watching Dark Shadows.  I noticed something in the results for DS that I had either missed or was new - either way, I never saw it before.  It's an MPI documentary made, I believe, in 2019 about Dan Curtis and his life and times from the moment he entered the world all the way until his passing.  Of course, most of it was focused on DS and had scores of our favorite DS alumni offering commentary on what it was like working for him (which, all stated, could be very difficult - Barbara Steele even quit and walked off the set of DS-'91, but returned the following day).  It was a thoroughly enjoyable documentary to watch and I learned quite a few things I didn't know before.  It was long, but that's partially because Pluto has commercials which is what makes it a free streaming service (but the ads, other than during the first break, were rather few and would consist of only one).  The cable service was rather quickly restored (two hours ahead of the predicted repair time - that's shocking, considering it's Comcast) but I continued to watch the presentation until the end (and then, since I had it all plugged in and turned on, I grabbed some of my usual DS reruns). 

So, if you haven't seen this enjoyable and informative documentary, now you can, totally free, on Pluto.  You don't have to register unless you want to in order to have your own favorites library.  Just type "Dark Shadows" into the search and voila. 

Gerard

I was in the fifth grade, and I was watching the episode featured in today's historical montage.  I remember it vividly, because the disfigured, bloodied ghost of Jeremiah terrified me.  When he carried Angelique off and dropped her into the grave, dumping dirt over her from her bird's-eye view, I actually hid behind a chair.  That last time I did that was probably six years earlier when, watching The Wizard of Oz on TV (something really big back then, hosted by Danny Kaye), the Wicked Witch of the West's image not only filled her massive crystal ball, but the whole screen.  I have started doing that again, when I get my monthly bill for my housing and nursing care in my assisted living facility. 

Gerard

The other night, I was surfing on TV and on one of the many movie channels I found a film named Joe.  I had never heard of it before.  Made in 1970, it was about an upper-class, professional Manhattan man (Dennis Patrick) who accidentally kills the hippie-drug-dealer boyfriend of his addicted daughter (Susan Sarandon) after she overdoses from the opioids her boyfriend gave her (she survives).  He teams up with an extremely bigoted lower-class working man named Joe (Peter Boyle) and together they hunt down and kill hippie drug dealers. 

It sounds like a bizarre film and it somehow is while, at the same time, it is not.  You can't stop watching it.  The movie garnered positive reviews and was a box-office success.  If you run across it, give it a watch - you won't be disappointed.

Gerard

Am I the only one having this problem?  I can't see the daily episodes slideshow starting on page 2 of Roberservations.  Just the first shot appears with no caption and no back and forth arrows leading to the next slide.

Gerard

...as we who grew up watching our beloved DS, remember (often with tears, like me, at that time), went off the air.  We had other things to carry us through, from the continuation of the Ross novels, the horrible comic books, and the newspaper comic, and awaiting NoDS, but it wasn't the same.  It was gone.  They were gone. 

So please stand for a moment of silence while the theme song plays.  We will always love DS.

Gerard

Feud:  Bette and Joan, that marvelous mini-series, is now over.  Because of high ratings, the next one is starting in production about Diana and Charles.  What if they made one about the production of Dark Shadows?  It would be a "feud" since it appears that most got along, even when Dan Curtis acted like a tyrant.  That "drama" wouldn't be there.  But, still, wouldn't a miniseries about the most unique soap opera be interesting?

So who would play whom?  I could certainly see Jessica Lange playing Joan Bennett.  And Susan Sarandon playing Grayson Hall.  But who would play the others?

Gerard

I was looking at a site where they talked about when "swear" or "filthy" words were first used on television.  Words like "damn," "hell," "bitch," "bastard."  They started to become common-place by the late eighties.  The site talked about "damn," - not "damn," but "damn."  Some say it was in the '70's in All In the Family, when during a heated argument, Archie screamed it but it was barely audible because everyone was screaming and, therefore, the censors allowed it.  Edith chastised Archie for saying "GD." 

I say it was on DS.  Unless I'm suffering from DSFMS, it was in the episode where Barnabas was dying from the vampire bat bite and Angelique was arguing with Ben.  Thayer David, who was obviously an incredible method actor and immersed himself in a role, was Ben and acted accordingly.  If I remember, he went off-script somewhat and shouted at Angelique (paraphrasing here):  "I don't care about your damn..."  If that actually happened, how did they get away with it?  First, DS loathed to re-shoot scenes unless absolutely necessary because it was done live-on-tape.  Second, not wanting to re-shoot the scene, the DS PTB hoped the TV PTB censors wouldn't notice.  Third, because DS wasn't prime-time, no PTB would care.  Fourth, combine all of that together, and it aired with the banned "damn."  I haven't seen that scene since the Sci-Fi network stopped airing DS, but I saw it a multitude of times while it did.  Do I have DSFMS?  If any of you have that episode on tape/DVD, take a look.  Am I wrong?

I remember that Star Trek was the first show to use "hell" as a swear word.  It wanted to use it on previous episodes when people, especially Bones, wanted to say:  "go to hell."  It was changed to "go to the devil."  Finally, on the classic "City on the Edge of Forever," Kirk said, for the first time:  "Let's get the hell out of here."  It was almost as much as a cultural shock as when the first interracial kiss happened between Kirk and Uhura.  The censors allowed it because they were "forced" to kiss by aliens.

Today, censors are far more, shall we say, liberal.  Only non-cable networks still have some restrictions.  Cable networks have more freedom.  That's why we here words like "shit" on cable programming.  It's used on virtually every episode of The Walking Dead.  Well, like it or not, that's how people talk.  From what I've seen, the only prime-time, non-cable network that has really tried to push the envelope, is American Dad.  And it really pushes.  On an episode, where Roger worked with Francine in an enterprise, he was on the phone with a client when Francine started berating him.  He told the client he had to hang up because the "C-U-Next-Tuesday" was on his back.  I thought it was hysterical.  I couldn't believe the censors allowed it.  But then Roger has said so many outrageous things.  I could list them here.

So, did Ben/Thayer David say "damn" on that episode?  Those of you who have it, pop it in the player ans see if it's true or am I suffering from DSFMS.  If he said it, DS had another first. 

Gerard

Go to 14:55.  You'l love the photos.  But also enjoy the entire video; it'll bring back memories for many of us and provide history for the other of us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDRlpTYcjA

Gerard