Question about Quentin and ratings

[Nancy]

Maybe MB knows the answer to this question or someone else -

When the character of Quentin came on and started to "catch on" with the DS viewers, did more people start watching DS as a result of the new character?  Was there a ratings bump at all? Anyone know?

nancy

[Janet the Wicked]

I know I felt a "bump" when Quentin came on.

[Nancy]

The one on your head doesn't answer my question.

I know I felt a "bump" when Quentin came on.

[The Doctor and K9]

The online encyclopedia ireference.ca reports that DS " became one of ABC's first daytime shows to actually win its timeslot" and that the show had an 8.4 rating at its peak in '68/'69.  That's compared to the 5.3 it had at the time of its cancellation.  http://www.ireference.ca/search/Dark%20Shadows/

It seems likely there's a connection between this hike in viewers and the introduction of Quentin.  I'm doubtful that he's the sole reason the ratings went up.  I'm sure they were on the incline the moment Barnabas came on, continued to rise with Angelique, and kept attracting new viewers as the show progressed. 

I'm also certain its not coincidental that Quentin is the only other character besides Barnabas to be heavily featured in the licensing.  It became Barnabas, QUENTIN, and the Horrible Monster of the Month, not Barnabas, Angelique, and the Deadly Whatever.  Quentin is featured in 18 of those novels; Angelique is only in one.The werewolf was the only other model kit aside from Barnabas.  There were Quentin postcards.  Notice David Selby gets top billing in Night. 

I'd say you could make a pretty solid case for the notion that Quentin was a large factor in the show's ability to attain its peak rating. 

[michael c]

dan curtis seemed keenly aware of how to "brand" certain elements of this series in immediately identifiable ways.

with barnabas it was the onyx ring,the wolfhead cane and that inverness cape.he's wearing them in virtually all of the publicity photos even though much of the time the character was just seen wearing a suit.they're part and parcel of the character's "brand".

with quentin it was those sideburns,the gramophone and that funky victorian room.one of the many things that irritated me about quentin after 1897 was that they stuck him back in that room.it never made any sense plotwise but it was part of the character's "brand" and curtis seemed to want to market the character in as an arresting a way as possible and that was it.so i'm not surprised to hear that he was the second biggest player in the marketing juggernaut.

i think that's why david selby's characters were always called "quentin" whether or not series continuity backed that up.it's also interesting that the character was continually marketed in the werewolf guise given that after 1897 he was never in that form again.

julia appeared in far more episodes that quentin ever did and was more important to several plots but i guess a middle aged suit wearing lady doctor is harder to market and not as easily identifiable...especially to those kids that you know what.

are we talking about the ross novels here?i'm very surprised to hear that angelique only appearred in one.she was a pretty major player but thoses novels were pretty loosely connected to what was actually happening on the series itself.

[MagnusTrask]

Q was wildly popular.  I remember.

[Nancy]

how many of those DS novels were there that featured Quentin in the story? I don't remember.

[The Doctor and K9]

how many of those DS novels were there that featured Quentin in the story?

There were 18.  Books 1-13 featured Barnabas or Vickie in the lead role. Quentin premiered in 14, Barnabas Collins and Quentin's Demon.  He was absent again in book 15, but was there in all subsequent books in the main series.  The title changed to Barnabas, Quentin and the... He was not in the adaptation for HODS of course. 

[Gothick]

Don't forget all of Quentin's "as played by Engelbert Humperdinck" appearances in those dreadful Gold Key comic books.

Quentin looked Tasmanian, Julia resembled a retired drag queen badly in need of chin surgery, Prof. Stokes appeared to be semi-batrachian...  I'm not sure what to say about Barn's portrayal in those comics, except that as I recall it, he was drawn looking more like Tony George than Jonathan Frid.

For some reason, Quentin never appeared in the vastly superior (artistically and story-wise) newspaper comics--I suppose because DC Prod had only licensed the characters of Barnabas, Liz, Carolyn and Angelique, and the setting of Collinwood (which was the movie Collinwood, not the actual estate we all know and love) for appearance in those comics.

G.

[arashi]

I wish I had the book here with me, but I swear Quentin did appear in a portrait in the background in one of the newspaper panels.

The more I crack open those Gold key comics the more I am dismayed by the art inside. They are so bad it's almost criminal. I bought a lot recently and got a good look at the artist's rendition of Julia. It made me want to travel back in time and slap them. Really.

[Gothick]

Thanks, Arashi.  I gave my copy of that book away (wasn't the artist's name Baldwin?), even though the strips were excellent--I've been getting more draconian about what I keep in my old age.

But now that you mention it, I do seem to recall Quentin popping up as a portrait...

cheers, Steve

[Midnite]

The newspaper comics did use Seaview Terrace as its model before it morphed into Lyndhurst.  And in a really, really weird bit of foreshadowing, the interior of Collinwood eventually started to resemble Greystone in Beverly Hills.

[The Doctor and K9]

I swear Quentin did appear in a portrait in the background in one of the newspaper panels.

The Sunday March 21st strip has a panel that contains a portrait that appears to be Quentin.  It's small enough for them to probably deny that they are using Selby's likeness.  It seems almost certainly to be intended to be Quentin though.  I've not had the patience to go back and check every panel, so there may be others. 

[David]

B & Q were both wildly popular in their own right.
Each contributed to the ratings jumps when they came on.
The show climbed in popularity in part because of them, in part because 1795, 1897, & the Quentin/Beth ghost story were so well written.

The 1970 decline was caused by bad writing.
Period.
Both PT stories were alienating & had nothing to do with the show's history.
1840 made no sense.

DS could easily have lasted longer with better writing, but in 1971 mostly all the involved parties wanted out.
I just wish they had brought the show to it's 5 year anniversary & tied up all the loose ends.

David    

[Gothick]

Thanks for that info, Doctor and K9.  How intriguing that it was almost exactly 38 years ago!

G.