http://scifibulletin.com/us-tv/dark-shadows/
I hope I typed the link above correctly. It leads to some reviews of the DS CDs. I could not figure out how to paste in the link. If it doesn't work, let me know.

Actually I think these audio dramas fit into DS continuity fairly well. Yes there are the occasional problems and contradictions, but these were evident on the show itself. It's hard to keep track of EVERYTHING that's established in 1225 episodes. The 8 full cast dramas take place a decade or so afte the series ended. I'm guessing, but that seems about right. They also take place before Return to Collinwood. The "dramatic readings are like puzzle pieces that fit in whereever the author wants them to. Some take place during Quentin's wanderings, one is set during the later life of Charles Delaware Tate, etc. In terms of the "Cassandra" and Tony one that's already been released (Death Mask), it concerns a chance encounter between Tony and "Cassandra". He happens to see her and remembers her. As I recall she was using the guise because being the former wife of Roger Collins could give her opportunities that other women could not have access to. There's no contradiction between the Rumson moniker she was using .She's like many shady people. She has many aliases she can use and picks the one that best fits the moment.  I'm sure if she wanted to infiltrate a modeling studio, she'd go back to being "Mrs. Rumson".  I think if you give them a listen, you'll see that they are a valid continuation of DS. In fact, with the exception of the new comic, they are the only licensing that's ever been a valid continuation of the original show. I'm lumping Return to Collinwood in with them because it serves as a sort of "backdoor pilot".

It was odd, but I had a crush on Kate Jackson months before I knew she had been on DS. I'd seen her on "The Rookies" but really noticed her on "Charlies Angels". This show came around about the time WLVI TV 56 showed the reruns in the '70s.  I was watching at the time and was surprised to read in a TV Guide article about Angels, that Kate had been on the show as a ghost! I kept waiting for her, and Quentin to turn up! But in the long term, my biggest crush has been on Angelique.

I believe that there is an appendix that gives a brief synopsis of each ep and the air and tape dates.  That is something they would have omitted on the audio version.

As an English teacher I probably shouldn't admit this, but that book put me to sleep. I'm sorry; there are whole chapters where NOTHING HAPPENS. I should say that I got into English because of a longstanding interest in knights and the Middle Ages. My love of the horror field also fed into that. I love books, the classics I mean, that have action and adventure. Many of the 19th Century novels were ponderous and a torture for me to get through, so my uninformed opinion would have to be that adding zombies can only help.

Gene had these ideas about the ultimate perfectability of the human race, and didn't want any non-Boy Scouts in his crew. 

Yeah we can't have a bad apple on the Enterprise.  It's OK though, for its sister ship, the Exeter to have a captain who sells out and is willing to commit murder for near immortality in "The Omega Glory". Ron Tracy was as bad, if not worse than Beckwith, and the script in question was written by Roddenberry!  I guess I won't dwell on Merrick of the SS Beagle. He sold his crew to the Romans in "Bread and Circuses", but he was a "spaceship commander" not the master of a starship. They went to great pains to make the distinction.  Still, he should certainly be consdidered more reliable than say your average yeoman.  Either Roddenberry changed his mind, or he was just being silly.

Yes, thank you!  I listened to the audio of the pilot while reading it.  It comes off much better.   The problems were not with the writing but with the casting and filmography.  Newman is perfect and others were ok.  Thee casting of Julia and Liz were disasterous though.  I leave room for the possibility that Blair Brown might have worked if she played it differently.  The fault could have been the directot's. 

His research is also somewhat sloppy. Varney the Vampyre from the 19th Century penny dreadful serial was conflicted and an anti-hero who often behaved in a noble manner.