DS 1991: A Look Back

[Zahir]

Just had this article published and I'm showing off.   

http://www.vampires.com/looking-back-dark-shadows-1991/

[Uncle Roger]

Great article! I thought that the show might have had a better chance if it had been done on a couple of years later on one of the "minor" networks.

[Brandon Collins]

Nice article, Zahir. I think you adequately described some of the most noticeable problems that the 91 series had during its run. One thing that I would add to your well thought out points is that usually in the first season of a television series, the goal is to be good enough to trap viewers in your world so that the ratings are enough to garner another season. Then, in the coming seasons (if the show is so lucky), they really can begin to develop the characters and the relationships in a way that is meaningful and lasting.

Though, all excellent TV shows do begin to do this in the first season as a way to serve the plot and overall story arc.

[Gothick]

Great essay, Zahir!  I'm far, far from being an authority, or even a fan, of the 1991 DS, but as I understand it wasn't just the heavy hand of Dan Curtis that sabotaged the show; there were other factors at play:

(1) The Gulf War, and the cupidity of NBC programmers, meant that the series episodes were shunted all over the place in the schedule, to the point where you'd have needed David's crystal ball to know when the next installment was going to air.  As well, the initial Friday night slot was a notorious "death slot" in the NBC schedule so the series was already being given short shrift by programmers.

(2)  NBC suits (Brandon Tartikoff, perhaps?) apparently insisted that the 1790 flashback and scenes set in the present interweave in the latter weeks of the series, resulting in a hodgepodge effect in some of the episodes and an unnecessarily speeded-up retelling of the original 1795 story.  (I still wince whenever I think of that last episode.)

I personally found the art direction to be very erratic--sometimes great, othertimes unwatchable--and the same for the writing--Curtis needed to hire someone of the calibre of Sam Hall to be a script editor.  My impression is that DC himself was the script editor.  This in general never proved to be a scenario resulting in greatness (yeah, I know the Curtis worshippers out there will disagree--just giving *my* opinion here).

I'm sure I've already written more than anyone cares to read, but the final thing I have to say about this show is even though everyone always talks about the lavish production values, something about it just looks somehow tawdry to me.  I don't know whether it is that clashy color palette they kept reverting to (see note above about art direction) and the network trying to cut corners on post production (I have no idea about the technical side of things, but the series always looks so grainy and poorly-developed in the film stock sense of the word). 

I still think that if the network had supported it more, it would have lasted at least one more season.  I have the impression that there was backstory and personality conflicts behind the abrupt pulling of the plug.

cheers, G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

NBC suits (Brandon Tartikoff, perhaps?) apparently insisted that the 1790 flashback and scenes set in the present interweave in the latter weeks of the series

It was Tartikoff who insisted on that. Though the interesting thing about Tartikoof is that he was a big supporter of the show, and if the things in his personal life that caused him to resign his position at NBC hadn't happened, I honestly believe the series would have gotten a second season. The cancellation was more political than anything else because when Warren Littlefield took over he cleaned house of several of Tartikoff's pet projects, including a show that consistently placed in the Top 10, and all because he didn't like them, not because they weren't doing well or at least holding their own. One thing that gets overlooked much of the time when it comes to the '91 DS is that nearly every week it was on it came in 1st in its time period - and more significantly it was #1 in the all-important 18-49 demos. And the later fact is the reason why Littlefield eventually came to realize the error of his ways and approached DC about bringing the show back as a series of Made-for-TV movies similar to what NBC was doing at the time with Perry Mason. But DC being DC, he told Littlefield, in what I'm pretty sure was very colorful language, that, uh, he wasn't interested.

Also, having watched the entire series over again last year for its anniversary slideshow, I can't say that I recall any instances when sunlight was streaming into the basement room in the Old House where Barnabas kept his coffin (though lightning did flash in the secret room of the mausoleum, which I thought was very bizarre - though probably just about as bizarre as candles often being lit in the original show's secret room even though no one had been in there  ). In what ep did you see the sunlight, Zahir?

And BTW, I have no idea why this topic was locked. I didn't lock. And I can't imagine why Midnite would have. But I'm going to leave it locked just on the off chance that she did. However, if she didn't, I'm sure she'll unlock it once she reads this...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Hmmm - I just had the thought that I could check the forum's moderation log to see it there is an entry for this topic being locked - and there is:

Locked "DS 1991: A Look Back"    Yesterday at 11:13:04 PM    Mysterious Benefactor

But I swear I did not intentionally lock the topic. I did, however, read Gothick's post at around that time, so perhaps my cursor passed over the button to lock it and my finger was putting more pressure on my mouse button than I realized. But that doesn't seem likely because the button to lock topics is really nowhere near where my cursor would go on a page unless I was specifically going there. Though, as many of you probably recall, there have been incidents in the past where a topic has gotten locked and the person the log says was responsible has no knowledge of actually having done it. As I often tell Midnite, I swear some days that this forum is haunted because unexplainable things happen - most of which we don't tell you about - but they do happen. 

But anyway, the topic is unlocked now. 

[tragic bat]

And the later fact is the reason why Littlefield eventually came to realize the error of his ways and approached DC about bringing the show back as a series of Made-for-TV movies similar to what NBC was doing at the time with Perry Mason. But DC being DC, he told Littlefield, in what I'm pretty sure was very colorful language, that, uh, he wasn't interested.

It's a real shame that DC would turn down an oppurtunity to continue the series.  Those films could have been great.   

I think one of the biggest problems with 91 is that someone couldn't convince DC to leave 1790 out of the first season altogether, or vastly strip it down to the essentials (i.e. the love triangle between Angelique/Josette/Barnabas that led to his curse) instead of trying to cram every OS element in, even though they were all thereby rendered meaningless by the lack of context.  Less 1790 episodes could have been more.    I think the real potential for 91 lay in the present time (after the HODS storyline ended), not the flashback.  I thought the triangle between Maggie, Roger, and Laura was more interesting than any of the recycled Barnabas material. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's a real shame that DC would turn down an oppurtunity to continue the series.  Those films could have been great.

Well, around the same time DC and Barbara Steele were trying to produce two theatrical films based on the '91 DS - the first to retell (yet again) the present day/Barnabas released from the coffin story, and a sequel to retell (yet again) the 1790/Barnabas origin story (though to be fair, Steele had said that they'd come up with some great new twists and turns). So they were more interested in those than doing Made-for-TV movies. However, no deal was ever made for the films - and DC had already burnt his bridges with NBC - so that was the end of it. But as we know, oftentimes DC was his own worst enemy.

the triangle between Maggie, Roger, and Laura

I would have loved to have seen that played out. But alas...

[neiljohnson]

Does anyone know if Laura and Angelique were going be end-up being the same character in the present?  There certainly were hints of that. 

A criticism I have of the 91 series is that is wasn't scarey enough.  There should have been at least one truly frightening moment in every episode.  I think the program focused a bit too much on romance, and not enough on the horror elements.

[Nicky]

Kathy Resch's 1991 Concordance indicates that Laura and Angelique might have been different people, though they did plan to incarnate Angelique somehow.  If I remember correctly, the notes for season 2 report making an homage to the Laura film, as well as "a war of the witches" between Angelique and Laura.

[michael c]

i'm not a great fan of this series but i think one of it's most fundamental flaws was cramming the entire 1790 arc into just 6 episodes of the first season. they blew their wad so to speak.

granted a second season was never a given but they'd have been better served spending the first season fleshing out the 'present time' characters and situations and saving 1790 the season two.

it all felt too hasty and rushed.

[tragic bat]

Well, around the same time DC and Barbara Steele were trying to produce two theatrical films based on the '91 DS - the first to retell (yet again) the present day/Barnabas released from the coffin story, and a sequel to retell (yet again) the 1790/Barnabas origin story (though to be fair, Steele had said that they'd come up with some great new twists and turns).

I see; certainly I would have chosen the tv films to continue from where they left off instead of remaking the first 91 season for the cinema (of course they could also have continued from where they left off in the feature films), but then I'm not DC.  Interesting that Barbara Steele had a role behind the scenes with Curtis.  I'm sure she would have contributed something original if those theatrical projects had ever come to light. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I think the program focused a bit too much on romance, and not enough on the horror elements.

Well, when the main tag line for the series was "A love story beyond time," I suppose it wasn't too surprising that they focused more on the romance angle. Though something that has always struck me as quite funny is that KLS has said she doesn't think there was enough romance in the '91 DS. Who knows what version of the show she watched?! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

they'd have been better served spending the first season fleshing out the 'present time' characters and situations and saving 1790 the season two.

The writers have said they didn't really want to do 1790 during the first season. I'll give everyone three guesses as to who insisted on it - though I'm sure no one will need more than one. 

[Joeytrom]

They also had Barnabas in the sunlight way too quickly (ep. 2 or 3) that we didn't get his problem at being  a vampire long enough for his cure to pay off, it didn't mean anything.  The OS waited a full year to do this, and it happened after his origin was told.

They should have had the seance as the final scene for season one with Victoria appearing in 1790 as the cliffhanger.