Destruction/Fall of Dark Shadows?

Some of the storylines that many disliked actually werent as bad as everyone said. For example, the Leviathans, 1840, and 1841PT. When I started watching these SLs, I went into them thinking that they will be bad. But they werent. And I remember on the scifi message board, people were actually saying that their 2nd or 3rd time watching the leviathan story was actually entertaining.

Ironic that the DS movie seemed to lead in a way to the ending the daytime show (parents freaked out over violence, kids getting bored with the 'other' actors). . just like the XFiles movie signaled the end of that shows reign of uber-coolness. . .

Hi VictoriaWintersFan!  Whenever the 1897 storyline comes out on DVD, I would highly recommend getting it.  This is one of DS most interesting and entertaining storylines, and it showcases several of the actors (in particular David Selby, Grayson Hall, Thayer David and Nancy Barrett) at their best.  1897 kind of has a different feel to much of the rest of the show, and it's totally engrossing.  Don't miss it!

Some of the storylines that many disliked actually werent as bad as everyone said. For example, the Leviathans, 1840, and 1841PT. When I started watching these SLs, I went into them thinking that they will be bad. But they werent. And I remember on the scifi message board, people were actually saying that their 2nd or 3rd time watching the leviathan story was actually entertaining.

I have watched the Leviathans, 1840 and 1841 and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked these stories despite the negative feedback I have heard about them. Some stories will appeal to some people while being a total disappointment to others. This is true on every show.

It has been said the Leviathans was "the beginning of the end" of Dark Shadows....while that may be true, I still think it was an interesting storyline.

Actually I wonder whether the show wasn't already starting to decline in the ratings due to the overlength of the 1897 story (as brilliant story as it was).

If Dark Shadows had been canceled in mid-to-late 1968, everybody would have said that the Adam storyline killed it.  But it wasn't canceled.  Instead, it proceeded on to the the Quentin's-ghost storyline and to 1897, considered by many to be the show's finest hour.  Gothick has said many times that Dan Curtis pulled the plug on Dark Shadows.  If that isn't correct, I still figure that when Curtis heard that ABC was planning to cancel, he could, if he wished, have pulled a rabbit out of a hat to save the show.  But after five years, Dark Shadows was been-there-done-that-wore-out-the-T-shirt for him, so it died.  (And then, as was only appropriate, it refused to stay dead.)

It's pretty hard to tell you which DVD sets to buy because everyone has different tastes in story lines.  Personally, I thought the whole post-1795 pre-1897 period was pretty slow.  The Dr. Lang stuff was good, and later on when Nicolas Blair and Angelique show up, I absolutely loved that.  The Adam storyline wasn't bad at the beginning, I really liked the concept, I just didn't care for the execution towards the end.  Most people seem to like the Quentin huanting Collinwood storyline, but I couldn't stand it. 

So, assuming your tastes are the same as mine, I'd recommend skipping ahead to DVD set 13 where the 1897 storyline starts.  I just finished watching set 14 and it was absolutely outstanding.