Anyone know anything new on WB dark shadows pilot

I was quite excited to watch the NBC DS, as I recall it. Somewhere I may even still have the tapes I made of it. But it really didn't work for me. I liked certain angles that they explored and I liked some of the changes they made, but it was in the end, fairly stale for me.

It's not so much the WB that I'm wary of, it's DC. What worked in the 60s is not going to work now. I think the series will have a fighting chance if they do not choose to retell the girl on the train and the Josette/Barnabas tale yet again. It's not that neither weren't enormously important to the series, it's just that he's reheating left-overs for the umpteenth time and it really doesn't work for me.

It's not so much the WB that I'm wary of, it's DC. What worked in the 60s is not going to work now. I think the series will have a fighting chance if they do not choose to retell the girl on the train and the Josette/Barnabas tale yet again. It's not that neither weren't enormously important to the series, it's just that he's reheating left-overs for the umpteenth time and it really doesn't work for me.

You said it.

--Mark

Well i am sorry that does not work for you, but if barnabas in some form or another is not on there i and a lot of other ds fans will not watch the series because if there is no barnabas or any other of the familiar characters from the original series we will have no basis on which to go on or which to judge this new series pilot. Because if this new pilot is not exactly like the original series with the possible acception of different actors playing the familiar characters and maybe different sets for the familiar settings and locations and better special effects, but not overkill so that it takes awaya emphasis on the character, content and atmosphere of the show, i will not watch it past the first episode.

There's a marked difference between using characters from the original show and doing a carbon copy repeat. Obviously Barnabas is integral to DS, and as it stands, the vampire angle is probably the best chance they have for success.

But having some beautiful girl fresh from the orphanage traveling to the old dark house (which was a dated concept way back in the 1800s) to find the truth about her identity and to be menaced by the Byronic anti-hero? Well, it can work, I suppose, but it requires strong scripts with an emphasis on character, which has never been Curtis' strongest suit. They had some potential in 1991 with Joanna Going, but it's still one tired plot device.

I think we need too to look at 21st century audiences. The innocent young girl with the long flowing tresses doesn't have quite the same audience identification in a modern story these days.

It's not so much the WB that I'm wary of, it's DC. What worked in the 60s is not going to work now. I think the series will have a fighting chance if they do not choose to retell the girl on the train and the Josette/Barnabas tale yet again. It's not that neither weren't enormously important to the series, it's just that he's reheating left-overs for the umpteenth time and it really doesn't work for me.

You said it.

I sort of agree. But at the same time, as a few people have said in the past few years and as one of the comments I'd quoted from back in 1990 said "we must realize Dan Curtis is not recreating DS for us, but for the public at large, and their reaction to it will trigger everything that follows."

If this series does get a go, I don't relish sitting through the umpteenth variation of the introduction of Barnabas, the arrival of Vicki, or the whole Barnabas/Josette/Angelique backstory. But I do beleive that story needs to be told for anyone unfamiliar with it to understand what comes afterward. So, I'd be willing to sit through it all all over again so long as something newer comes along afterward.

The NBC series was planning to take the story in a different direction from what the daytime series did after Vicki's return from the past. Unfortunately, though, Warren Littlefield decided to pull the plug rather than allow them the opportunity. (Though if it's any consolation, that is a decision he came to regret. But it was a case of too little too late...)

Because if this new pilot is not exactly like the original series with the possible acception of different actors playing the familiar characters and maybe different sets for the familiar settings and locations and better special effects, but not overkill so that it takes awaya emphasis on the character, content and atmosphere of the show, i will not watch it past the first episode.

If the show is exactly the same the as the original, why would anyone want to watch a new one? Between the Sci Fi channel's run of the show and MPI's video releases, there have been more than ample opportunities for viewers, both new and old, to see the original series for quite a few years now. That's not to say that the original characters aren't important; there's an awful lot that can be done with them beyond the same old well-trodden ground. Rehashing a moribund story yet again isn't the answer.

--Mark

The new WB network's version of dark shadows has been committed to a pilot and if accepted it will most likely be put on the WB's primetime 2004-2005 fall lineup.

I just received a copy of Shadowgram and I am a bit confused about the entire proposed new DS pilot. First I wonder to myself who might have leaked the proposal to Variety and for what purpose and who had the best to gain by its release. Secondly the Variety report now appears to be inaccurate. Let me see if I have this correct. The WB as of this writing has not ordered a "put pilot" whatever put means in this context. Additionally, there is no script at this time. The WB will consider this script for a new DS pilot. It is a bit confusing to me what you mean that the WB is committed to a pilot. I mean is it your interpretation that the WB has not ordered a script to be written nor is financially paying for this script? I am just wondering what all this means and put it into perspective. Are we at the same stage with Fox ordering a pilot last year that went nowhere or are we at a more favorable position to see a new DS series? I find it in our favor that John Wells has a multi-million dollar deal with the WB to develop tv shows. It would be in his interest I guess to see this DS pilot become reality. Hope you can help me sort this thing through. Thanks

I'm a new fan to the original DS series and I want more new stories for the WB series.  I think it will be a mistake for the WB series to be a complete retelling of the original DS series.  I think the new series will be a complete waste if it's just the same old stories told again.

Jimbo, to clarify where things stand:

WB has ordered (and paid for) a pilot SCRIPT for a PROPOSED series. The script has not been finished yet. IF the WB approves the script, they'll go about casting and shooting the PILOT EPISODE ONLY.
IF that PILOT is approved by the WB< then they'll greenlight a TV series-  then and only then will there be  a new series.

We're exactly where we were with the Fox pilot only the script was written before it was leaked out.

The subject of the myth of Orpheus has been re-told continously since ancient Greek times.  It became a popular subject of many operas throughout the ages since 1600, plays, ballets, etc.   Thus, a third version of Dark Shadows is mere child's play in the big history of things.

Some stories, like Orpheus, can be re-told again and again and again.  Dark Shadows is no exception.  The myth of Dark Shadows is deeper then the story of a vampire.  It can be read on many different levels.  How do we struggle with our demon selfs.  What drives us to hate, to kill and redemption.  Who is truly evil and who isn't.

Mythology speaks to us in many deep ways and tells us the story of our higher selfs.  It becomes necessary for each generation to be told the same story again.  All the children that live in the darkness have not seen it.  Re-telling it for them will be new.  There are many new twists and turns it can take.

It's a truly timeless story or we wouldn't still be so interested in it.

Even if a script is written and a pilot is film.  We wont know anything untilspring time (April/May), thats the time when the networks announced their fall schedules. 

Jimbo, to clarify where things stand:

WB has ordered (and paid for) a pilot SCRIPT for a PROPOSED series. The script has not been finished yet. IF the WB approves the script, they'll go about casting and shooting the PILOT EPISODE ONLY.
IF that PILOT is approved by the WB< then they'll greenlight a TV series-  then and only then will there be  a new series.

We're exactly where we were with the Fox pilot only the script was written before it was leaked out.

Thanks Darren! That answers all of my questions. Hopefully the WB has been greatly impressed with the buzz in the media and will be supportive of the DS proposed series.

BUT thats my question if the scrift is not finish yet how can they finish all this in time for may when they decide on the shows for fall and mid season.the fact that the wb has not orderd the plot to be made yet,i don,t think is a good sign.they already orderd the lost in space remake and there in the stage of casting it.

Wouldn't we rather see it done well, than quickly?

After all, we've already waited 30-odd years....we're obviously very patient people.....we can wait a bit longer.

timer7,

As Darren pointed out, the script for the proposed WB DS is currently being written. And when one considers that the 2 hour pilot for the '91 NBC series didn't begin shooting until March 19, 1990 (and wrapped on April 11th), there's still plenty of time to finish the script and cast it if/when the WB gives the go-ahead.