Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production Announcement

[The Doctor and K9]

This has puzzled me for years. As I'm sure everyone knows the DS eps used to have that announcent that DS is a DCP. It stops during early Barnabas. I was at a Fest and I'm pretty sure I heard a clip where that announcement came on after a Leviathan episode!  Does anyone remember if this was done on air during the original run? If so, why was it on the tapes for the first year or so and not later?  It's a very trivial question, but I've wondered about it for a long time.

[Joeytrom]

I think you may be right about that, I sort of remember something like that happening.  The DCP logo was also changed in a few episodes around that time.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

And when the ABC announcer stopped doing the DCP spiel in the early episodes, Hall and Moltke picked it up for a bit, but that didn't last long.

[The Doctor and K9]

This doesn't answer the question about how I could have heard that announcement over in an episode from late 69 or 70. I wonder if they continued it, but did not record it on the master in favor of having it go out live on the broadcast date. I'm certain I heard it at a festival, but it came from what looked like a BW kinescope instead of one of the color masters. I could be wrong, which is why I'm checking to see if anyone has similar memories. All my old audio tapes are not of any help. They don't have the end credit music.

[joe integlia]

i think part of this question is covered in 1 of the kls books maybe the almanac but im not positive. the reason for the end announcement being stopped is because 1 of the station breaks was eliminated at some point and they didnt need the announcer to say "dark shadows will return in a moment" or "dark shadows is brought to you by" so i guess they fired the guy. the other part of your question where the dcp spiel is heard on a 69 or 70 episode, i dont know the answer to that.

[The Doctor and K9]

After what Joe said, I'm beginning to think I heard it wrong at the Fest. Memory is a tricky thing.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm not sure about whether or not the DCP announcement was ever heard at the end of a Leviathans ep. I don't recall ever hearing it - but I haven't watched Leviathans in years. However, one thing that I do know is that they didn't continue it by doing it live.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Which was exactly my point about Hall and Moltke filling in.  The ABC announcer no longer did it live, so if you heard his voice, I doubt it was there originally.  Since he had stopped in 1967, I can't imagine the announcement being picked up later on especially just for one episode.  Maybe they added it just for fun at the fest, but idk. 

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I have noticed something really weird.  The announcement happens quite frequently on episodes that are in kinetoscope format!  What could this possibly mean?  I heard it in 1795 and now I just heard it in 1969 - Episode 683.  What could this mean?

Was the end title music redone on the regular color episodes at some point, thus eliminating the DCP announcement?  There wouldn't be a point to redoing the music on the kinetoscope episodes due to quality clash, though I think I recall one instance in which the music was clearly restored.  This is really intriguing.  Just thought I'd bring it up.

[The Doctor and K9]

As I stated in an earlier post, I was pretty certain I heard that announcement over a Leviathan episde (you could see the altar). I'm pretty sure the clip was in BW.

[MagnusTrask]

We just heard it in PT episode #1021.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

That's very interesting. And I just checked my VHS tape from the '97 Sci-Fi broadcast of Ep #1021, and it's on there too, which isn't always the case. (Some of the music cues had been changed for broadcast on Sci-Fi.  )

[Cousin_Barnabas]

So I am thinking that the announcement was always there on the original broadcasts.  Somewhere along the lines, the audio was redone for the end titles and the announcement was lost.  This is really weird, considering that the announcement is present in all of the early episodes.  I don't understand the logic behind this, but this is one of the few conclusions that we can draw about this interesting phenomenon. 

[MagnusTrask]

The sound during the closing credits of #1021 was strange too, distorted or noisy or something.   I figure that someone pressed a wrong button or something, though it seems odd that a bit of tape would have stayed poised and ready to be played that they'd abandoned years earlier.

No one would have gone through episodes after broadcast and eliminated that announcement... I'm not even sure it would have been possible.   Anyway, no one would have had any reason to bother.    I think I'd remember if during my childhood, that announcement had always been there.   I'm sure it wasn't.

[joe integlia]

1 reason for rerecording the end music credits would be to cover up the abc announcer promoting other abc shows but i agree with the previous poster because i remember watching the show originally (although not on a regular basis) but never hearing that "dark shadows is a dan curtis production" in later episodes.