I think the DS finale kinda sums up the show's rep theatre vibe perfectly - no great show-stopper or twists to be had, but instead a smile to the audience saying "Hey, that was fun, wasn't it?"
I would agree with that if Dan Curtis had been the one pulling the plug on the show himself, but Dark Shadows was canceled by the network. So I know that when a show is canceled by the network. They cancel them in the middle of stories. The parallel time storyline was not originally written as the way to end the show. That just happened to be the storyline they were involved in when it got the ax.
Now I have read that everyone wonders why since Dan Curtis knew, months in advance, that the show was definately going to be canceled. Why he chose to end in parellel time. Perhaps he didn't. I mean in reality the network saw Dark Shadows as a waste of money and wanted it off the air. For me it is much more in the realm of reality that the network would not allow him to do another storyline. He was more than likely told. Wrap it up with the storyline you've got planned out already.
When a show is being canceled. The network could care less how it is resolved. They want it gone as quickly as possible.
I understand that most of you believe that the final episode script was written as the end of the show. But since I know what it is like when a show is canceled. I think the script that was used was more likely only written as the end of the parellel time storyline. They had to take that script and make it work as the end of the series.
Of course it all depends on how far in advance the storylines were planned out and just how much of the scripts were written in advance to the storyline being played out on screen.
Most shows these days plan their storylines out months ahead of time and the scripts are already wrote. I can't believe that Dark Shadows didn't do something similar back then. So it goes to say that what we saw as the end of the show, with the network pulling the plug, and what the end of the show would have really been had Dan Curtis himself been the one who pulled the plug on the show is something that remains never to be seen.
I guess basically having watched so many shows get canceled over the years without realistic resolution. I'm skeptical that the final episode of Dark Shadows was what Dan Curtis would really have planned out as the end had he been the one who was choosing to end the show himself.
He was forced to end the show by the network... He didn't choose to end the show himself and based on that fact. To me the final episode comes across as a forced ending that didn't quite fit. Maybe it is just me who is seeing that and I am reading more into it than I should.
But you do have to wonder if it would have had a different ending had Dan Curtis himself had been the one to decide it was time for the show to end instead of the network making that decision for him?
FireRose
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