Episode 1006: An Unexpected Landmark DS Episode

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

Bob,

I'm guessing that you watched DS on New Jersey Network.  I had the same experience, following DS every night, only to have it cancelled so close to the end of the series, and at such a great cliffhanger.

As it turns out, that final episode aired on the first night of that year's DS Festival in Newark.  I still get nostalgic for the Hilton Gateway, with its "covered causeway" leading to Penn Station, the coffee shop decorated in yellow and green, and that snack bar called "On The Double."

Thanks for the memories, Bob...

Regards,

John

I'm sure I've mentioned a number of times that many years ago, one of our local independent stations started showing it, claiming it was the most requested show.  They started with the arrival of Barnabas and went deep into 1795, when they suddenly canceled it.  They claimed this was a temporary change in schedule and it would definitely return, since it had been so highly requested.  It never did come back.

From that point to somewhere in Leviathan where I had begun in the original run, I had never seen, and I had certainly forgotten most of what I had seen.  It wasn't until the tapes came out and I found a video rental store that was getting the whole series that I finally had a chance to go back and see them.

I'm guessing that you watched DS on New Jersey Network.  I had the same experience, following DS every night, only to have it cancelled so close to the end of the series, and at such a great cliffhanger.

As it turns out, that final episode aired on the first night of that year's DS Festival in Newark.  I still get nostalgic for the Hilton Gateway, with its "covered causeway" leading to Penn Station, the coffee shop decorated in yellow and green, and that snack bar called "On The Double."

Dear ClaudeNorth/John,

Yes, the beloved Hilton Gateway at Penn Station in beautiful, downtown Newark, NJ (as Rowan and Martin used to say!).  I know it well.

Isn't it something that the New York-area Dark Shadows Festival has evolved/"progressed" over the years from Newark, NJ (the hometown of Jerry Lewis, Joe Pesci and Robert "Adam" Rodan) to Brooklyn, NY (the hometown of Gabe Kaplan, Joe Torre and John "William Hollingshead Loomis" Karlen)?  As PT Damion Edwards would have probably observed: "Whodah thunk it?"

Yes, good, old NJN, which featured a rather extensive interview with the great Jonathan Frid on an NJN Dark Shadows special.  At least, NJN was better than the now defunct NYC PBS station, WNYC-31, which pulled the plug on the show after only about a year or so.  (I took great delight in tearing up their pledge support letter after the WNYC Powers-That-Be abruptly cancelled Dark Shadows, especially in view of the fact that WNYC had supposedly  received great financial support from the New York-area Dark Shadows fans!

Josette,

I think we can all agree that the Sci-Fi Channel has been a Godsend for DS fans all over the country and the world.  We've been able to see Vicky's arrival in Collinsport to Thayer David's bittersweet  farewell/epilogue (and, of course, everything in between).

A Happy and Peaceful Fourth of July to Everyone!

Bob the Bartender

I remember that last episode on NJN as well, it was in 1986. They also didn't show the credits for that episode!
I didn't have cable and my reception was so-so for channel 50, though I watched it every day.  We just had one more year to go to...there was a point a year earlier where hope was being revived for the Pre-Barnabas episodes to be broadcast.

Fortunately, Kathy Resch published the 1970 Parallel Time Concordance and the 1840 Concordance around the time NJN cancelled DS, so it felt like the story continued on, though by print (they are an EXCELLENT read).  The Pre-Barnabas episodes were also summarized in a book by the DS Convention at the same time also.

I was ticked off when in 1987, channel 31 started the series from where WNBC-4 left off way back in 1982 with the murder of Dr. Woodard!  That made no sense to me.

I've read in one of Kathy Resch's books--it may have been in the PT1970 concordance--that Worldvision, the agency that still seems to handle the DS broadcasts for Sci Fi, had decided not to release the final year of DS' episodes for syndication back in the Eighties. I don't recall a reason being given for this decision. So, presumably, if the NJ network had continued running the shows, they would have gone back to the "introduction to Barnabas" 1967 sequence that used to be the starting point for every DS syndication.

It wasn't until the Sci Fi channel run that the final year of the show was rebroadcast for the first time since 1970-71.  Even more unusual was Sci Fi's decision to run the series from the 1966 start point, which I believe they first did on their second rotation through the episodes.  For years, most DS fans I met did not even express much interest in those shows.  Of course we now know what wonderful gems they are--many people regard 1966 as the high point for the series!

G.