Hey gang,
Episode No. 1006, the first episode aired Thursday by the Sci-Fi Channel, brings back almost wistful memories for me of the long ago decade of the 1980s (the so-called decade of "greed").
Back around 1983, many PBS stations across the USA began to air the Dark Shadows episodes, beginning with Willie Loomis' fateful opening of Barnabas' coffin in the Collins Mausoleum. I can't begin to describe how euphoric DS fans (including yours truly) were to finally see the episodes again after nearly twelve years.
My local PBS station ran one episode nightly around 7:00. (Of course, as good boys and girls, I'm sure that none of us ever committed video piracy by taping these wonderful episodes one by one every night!)
Everything was cool as we got to see the introduction of Barnabas to the very beginning of the Parallel Time story line. However, I can't begin to tell you how ticked off I was when (because of an abrupt change in the PBS station's top management and primarily because the new station GM was a pretentious snob, who looked down on soap operas on public television) the station announced that it was going to cease broadcasting Dark Shadows.
Well, it was an especially grim night (in 1985?)when episode 1006 rolled to the final grainy, black and white scene with Horace Gladstone declaring to Dr. Longworth : "That Cyrus Longworth is John Yaeger, and John Yaeger is Cyrus Longworth!" (And, to think that I had donated money to the PBS station so that Dark Shadows could stay on the air. Oh, the perfidy!!!)
What a bummer! I was desperate to find out so many things, such as, what happened to Cyrus Longworth/JohnYeager after Gladstone's blackmail attempt, if, in fact, Barnabas ever made it out of that "darned" coffin in Loomis House, and, most importantly, if, when Maggie Evans-Collins finally returned to Collinwood from New York City, did the lovely young lady bring a rolling pin from Lord & Taylor's with her, so that she could bash it over her brute of a husband's head, and over his doltish and inconsiderate sister-in-law's coconut too!?!
Thank the good Lord for MPI! While I think that their videotapes were overpriced at around $20.00 a pop (or per five episodes), I gladly shelled out the money to find out what had happened to everyone in Parallel Time.
So, there you have it, Dark Shadows Episode No. 1006, an episode that, at least, for me, will always have a special meaning.
Bob the Bartender