The New DARK SHADOWS?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Ooh! Barnabas could take a bite out of Lorelai Gilmore!

Exactly! And if Willie gets too far out of line, Barnabas could replace him with Kirk. 

[wes]

"That creepy Barnabas Collins is getting a new lease on undead life. The WB is resurrecting the classic ABC vampire sudser Dark Shadows for fall 2004," Variety reports.

[Dr. Eric Lang]

I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic and keep my fingers crossed about the new show.

[grayson67]

Exactly! And if Willie gets too far out of line, Barnabas could replace him with Kirk. 

Kirk would be a perfect fill-in whenever Willie has the day off. And, just think, instead of getting a drink at the Blue Whale, Maggie could take her Pop for a burger and fries Luke's 

grayson67 (Melissa)

[Philippe Cordier]

The Variety article that David called attention to in a separate thread, but which is being discussed here, makes it sound almost like a done deal.  Yet the show might not even be picked up after a pilot is made!  Unless WB is firmly committed to developing the show ... maybe a network commitment would make a difference, and it sounds like WB really wants to do it.

I was able to read the entire Variety article (not that it was very long) because I coincidentally have a temporary membership.  But I don't feel I should abuse that free membership by posting the article here (in addition to copyright concerns).  It says that Wells is the executive co-producer and Verheiden will write the pilot.

All parties have declined to comment as "a formal deal is still being hammered out."

[Nancy]

They should just let it alone.

I agree.

Nancy

[JWGucciEnvy]

To be honest, a new dark shadows would have the best chance on The WB.  The other networks dont let the show have a chance.  If WB really wants this show, they will keep it around for a bit.  Of course, its has to show some signs of viewers.  WB doesnt expect their shows to be top 20 hits, since none of thier shows do.  It really needs to do well in young demos.

Plus young demos which can be from 12-49.  Will promote interest in all of the forms of Dark Shadows to keep its legacy alive.

Look what Smallville did for Superman. Interest in Superman has been dying since the Superman movies. But with a new creative twist it work again.

And that is what new Dark Shadows would have to do.  Have a crative twist that isnt a retelling of the original series, revival, and The House of Dark Shadows.

Good things could come of this if its done right. 

[Raholt]

Here is what I get out of what I have read here about this new proposal for a DS project.  That is all it is at this point, another proposal.  This proposal is coming from the outside and probably not from Curtis.  They are negotiating to get permission to go ahead with it and that is why it is so hush hush.  Seen plenty of these proposals back in the 1980's.  None came to pass because Dan Curtis was not about to relinquish control of DS to anyone else.  I would doubt he would do that now, but it is always a remote possiblity.

That said, if the rights are secured and a deal hammered out with Curtis, then they have to develop their idea and then if the WB likes the new idea then they commission a pilot, which from what I'm reading has not yet happened and IF a pilot is made and that is a big if, then again if the WB likes it then they will have it go to series and put it on the air.  At any step along the process, the plug can be pulled and the whole idea go up in smoke as has happened many many times in the past.

I agree that it is interesting but I also know that the WB has commissioned a pilot for a new version of Lost in Space for next fall so apparently they are dabbling in classic tv concepts to see what they can resurrect, but ultimately may chose to do on none of them.

Frankly after the 1991 version and knowing how youth oriented the WB is, I kind of hate to see how DS might be monkeyed with this time around.  The 1991 version was okay but differed greatly in the feel of the show from the original. I can see a WB version being even more different and it perhaps even baring little resemblence to the classic we all love watching so well.  I think guarded is how all fans should feel about this idea, especially until more info is released on the proposed project.

Raholt

[Stuart]

I never will understand why fans get so skittish about talk of a new DS -- any production, no matter how good or bad, can do nothing to alter the reputation of the original.

Of all the pilot concepts mooted over the last decade, this one seems the most promising to me.  New blood (and before people start whining about dumbing down, bear in mind that John Wells' pedigree in TV drama is hardly for MTV-gen fluff...) and a network that will need retooling of the concept are its best chance.

A straight redux of the series won't work -- it's largely the reason all redux efforts have grounded since 1991, and Dan Curtis finally seems to be facing that fact, so fair play to him.

[Raineypark]

The first thing I'm wondering about is the effect this might have on the possibility of the Original being shown on another network now that Sci Fi is through with it.

If Dan Curtis is really up for a new production, might he decide that the original should not be showing at the same time...assuming the decision is now his to make?

[Patti Feinberg]

Very, very good points Rainey, Stuart and Raholt.

I've never seen the 1991 version, but I hear, oyevah do I hear.

Gianni, I fully agree about the WB; but, how can DS go towards 12 year olds?

This isn't circa 1967; these kids have been weaned on 'hack-em up type' movies...a 'possible' stranger from 'possibly' a different time wouldn't nay COULDN'T hold their 'interest' for more than two seconds.

(Stuart,,who is John Wells? If he's on MTV, I don't watch it).

But kudos to Rainey!!  [ideay]That's a brainstorm!!! Yes, seeing stuff on tv guide purportedly about Variety should, in theory, make other stations want to carry DS

Patti

[Stuart]

Why shouldn't it hold a young audience for more than two seconds?  The young audience is a smart one -- good stories, well told... that's all it takes to engage any viewer.

John Wells is a writer producer whose credits include ER and The West Wing.

[MsCriseyde]

Not only that but why can't Dan Curtis or others come up with another original idea?  Seems the notion of originality is at a premium anymore.  Move on already!

I've got to comment on this because we've hit the point of the semester in my fan-themed composition course when we discuss fan creations -- web sites, fan fiction, fan art, and fan music videos (aka songvids or fan vids). It all keeps coming back to this concept of originality and what is original and what is derivative.

As a product of ivory tower culture, I'm supposed to look down on all of this fan nonsense as derivative and unoriginal, but there is a very problematic double standard at play. How can I condemn fan creations as unoriginal when I've spent a great deal of time working with Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, much of which is derived from Boccaccio's Il Filostrato, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, and the work of Dante? Then Shakespeare had to go rework it again as Troilus and Cressida, and God forbid anyone call him unoriginal.

This whole idea of working and reworking the same storyline is central to canonical literature just as much as it is to fandom, and it's even more a part of Dark Shadows fandom because the source product itself, Curtis' series and films and the authorized novels, represent a working and reworking and revising and extending of the same storyline.

So "originality" is a very slippery concept within media fandom in general, perhaps more so in Dark Shadows fandom.

So is Curtis to be condemned for wanting to revisit this story again and again when so many of us do it in the various things that we as fans create? It seems problematic to hold him to a standard that we do not exactly feel held to ourselves.

[Charles_Ellis]

Well, I hope that DC and friends don't make the same mistake they made in '91 in not casting any of the old regulars.  My bold suggestion:

"Starring KATE JACKSON as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard"

She's practically the same age Joan Bennett was when Joan was on the original series.  As a big TV name and a cast member of the original series, this will be something to please everybody!  Since this is for the WB, don't be surprised if the characters will be younger than we remember.  A thirtysomething Barnabas?  Could be......

[wes]

  Yes -- they really should do a modern "Dark Shadows" -- that's exactly the idea in bringing in other (newer) writer, producer.

  Yes -- the original show was original... even though it collected mostly un-original ideas... because the sum of what it collected WAS original.  The sum of the parts was greater than the whole.  It became unique and original in the way noted by MsChriseyde (up there) so well.

  Yes -- Kate Jackson would be a great Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.  The best actress for the part would be Alexandra Moltke Isles, of course; but she'd turn it down.  They sould hire Jonathan Frid to be the narrator.  Johnny Dep wanted to play Barnabas.  Is he older?  I'm guessing he's in his 30s, but I don't know... Probably an actor in his 30s today would be like an actor in his 40s in the 60s.