Will DS come back???

[Josette]

Oh well I am back, and just getting back into the swing. Hope to finally be around more!

Welcome back, Liz!  Glad it finally worked out for you. 

[Cassandra Blair]

Yes, welcome back liz_collins, hope to see you around more often!

[Dr. Eric Lang]

The last time it began, did it start from episode one?

Originally, Sci Fi paid DC Productions for the right to air the entire series (starting w/episode #1) three times. They aired it twice in a row then took it off their schedule for about a year and a half. Then they began their third run with the first Barnabas episode, ran the series from that point on, then followed up with the early, pre-Barnabas episodes beginning with episode #1. By the time they got to the end of the 1966 Phoenix storyline, they had exhausted their original contract to run the series three times.

Apparently, however, they paid DC Productions to run the show at least one more time, so there was no break between the end of their third run and the beginning of their fourth (which we are into now). Whether they paid to air the series more than four times, I don't know.

Hell, I'd be fine even if they run it in the middle of the night.

Sci Fi goes off the air about 1:00 am ET and turns into an infomercial station until the next morning.

[Raineypark]

Personally, I think it makes sense for the show to move to Soap Net (apologies to all who might no longer be able to see it) because it's a whole other audience....including MANY of the original fans who either don't get Sci Fi, or have no idea that it's available there.

I've lost count of the number of friends I've told about the show, who are astonished to hear that it's on Sci Fi...even if they GET Sci Fi.  Many of us aren't actually Science Fiction fans and hardly pay it any attention.

But Soap Net is different....it has already established that old fans will tune in again to watch something they haven't seen in years

If they advertise it sufficiently, they might actually reach a whole new/old group of DS fans who are thrilled to be seeing it again for the first time in decades.

[Patti Feinberg]

I've lost count of the number of friends I've told about the show, who are astonished to hear that it's on Sci Fi...even if they GET Sci Fi.  Many of us aren't actually Science Fiction fans and hardly pay it any attention.

Agreed Raineypark...I've gotten the "Oh, that's on?" But, out of these people, I really don't think anyone watches Sci-Fi at all 

If they advertise it sufficiently, they might actually reach a whole new/old group of DS fans who are thrilled to be seeing it again for the first time in decades.

What's that saying....BIG little word that 'IF'.

(I don't really see them advertising Ryan's Hope, although a couple of times, I may've seen spots for oops...can't think of which NBC soap....but...this may've been spots on Soapnet!!)

Patti

[Birdie]

I know quite a few people who watch Sci-fi but not DS.  Than again I don't watch any of the reality TV show either. Dark Shadows is the only thing I watch on Sci-fi.  I get both Soapnet and Sci-fi so it won't effect me if it should switch.  I don't watch anything on Soapnet either though.



Hate to think it not airing at all though.

Birdie

[liz_collins]

 
Thank you Josette and Cassandra for the welcome back.  I have truly missed coming here.  I have learned more about DS here then anywhere else. 

And like several other here I have written and called and asked for Soap Net but still nothing.  I just don't know how bad the withdrawal will be when it is not on Scifi.   
But I will just have to start the DVD collection and go from there.
Liz

[VictoriaWintersRox]

My reaction would be mixed if Sci Fi dumped it and SoapNet picked it up. I have SoapNet, but I have gotten some friends into the show since I started watching, and some of them don't have SoapNet. However, I do think that SoapNet would make a great home for DS.

(I don't really see them advertising Ryan's Hope, although a couple of times, I may've seen spots for oops...can't think of which NBC soap....but...this may've been spots on Soapnet!!)

SoapNet has been running many promos recently for Another World (which joined the line-up at the beginning of July) and Dallas (which is joining next month). I think that they'd air the same amount of promos for Dark Shadows, if it joined SoapNet.

As for Ryan's Hope, the ratings haven't been that great from what I've read. SoapNet even skipped the last 7 years of the show (they stopped after December 1981, and the show went off the air in January 1989.) this year. RH used to get more promotion - the show had a week long marathon at one point in 2000 or 2001. It also gets an annual St. Patrick's Day marathon.