WB ORDERS FILMING OF NEW DS PILOT

OT...

In case anyone wondered, I really wasn't logged in to the forum for 12 straight hours yesterday ... must have forgotten to log out ...   

No worries.  Even if you leave the forum open on your screen, once you're inactive for a period of time your name disappears.

Since we've discussed location shooting for our favorite pilot here, thought I'd mention that the L.A. papers are reporting today that a record was set in March for TV series and pilots shot on location in Los Angeles instead of chasing cheaper costs to Canada, with figures for overall filming rising nearly 22% from a year ago.

If you're interested in reading more about it, here's a link to the Daily News article, which is available to everyone:

TV shooting boosts production stats

DS is not mentioned, but the WB is.

(Although, who knew Barn was played in the "original" by an actor who was only 19 in April 1967?!  :-   Hopefully that bit didn't originate in the Hollywood Reporter because it's amazingly sloppy reporting...)

Well. Reuters sent out a correction:

"...a role played in the original by Jonathan Frid.

Wouldn't want to be in the shoes of whomever was responsible for that having to happen. 

I had a nice discussion with Mark Verheiden, Co-Executive Producer of the new Dark Shadows on Sunday, March 28 at the 12th Annual Creation Sci-Fi Summit.  Notes of our discussion and pictures are here.  Note: also contains other materials since it was not an exclusive Dark Shadows convention.

Wow!  Thank you, victoriawinters!!  Such nice accounts of the whole event and the DS information sounds really good and promising! 

OK - first off, vw, I have to say that I am SOOOOOO jealous of you having met Robia LaMorte. I loved Jenny and have yet to get over her death back in Season #2 of Buffy - and that scene when Giles discovered her body. "Passion" ranks as one of my all-time favorite Buffy episodes.

As for your talk with Verheiden, very interesting and thanks for informing us. I love your advice that long time fans should keep an open mind (but then, I suspect you might know that I would  ).

Per a few other remarks:

• Please no KLS on the show! Well, at least not in the first season (if there is one). The WB DS should create its own identity before any former DS stars might be brought in!
  
• David Fury as a potential writer? I respectfully disagree with that idea. In fact, the mere idea of it practically sends me into cardiac arrest!! (Think 100 times more than Gothick dislikes Marti Noxon's work and you'll come close to an approximation of how much I dislike the vast majority of his contributions to Buffy/Angel. Much of it continues to give me nightmares - but for all the wrong reasons.  ) The man wouldn't recognize subtlety if it up and slapped him in the face - and subtlety is a major prerequisite to write a show like DS. (There's no surprise to my mind why publications like Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide rate many of his episodes with some of the lowest grades possible.)
  
• Shame on you for not asking what house would stand in as Collinwood!    (But honestly, I doubt he might have told you because they most probably wouldn't want curious fans showing up.)

Thanks for that.  Season-long arc sounds good.

Seriously, though, I just figure that given this is the WB network, the casting director is obligated to make a few non-acting choices and must keep the target audience in mind ...

Vlad, you seem to think that there are insufficiant numbers of stunningly beautiful people out there who also happen to be talented, well trained, professional actors.

Did I say that?

I hardly think that can be true, considering how many young people today are enrolled in serious Film and Theatre programs.

No doubt!

That being the case, why on earth would  a business enterprise like a film studio stoop to hiring untrained talentless  models to be performers in TV pilots....which surely must be among the most expensive new "products" produced  by any business in America?

In other words...who in their right minds would risk the money it takes to make a pilot, by hiring a kid who can't act, just because they're cute......when cute kids who CAN act are lined up around the block?

It's 4 in the morning as I read this, so I can't really put myself in the mind of a TV exec and explain why they might do this, but, hmmm ... seems rather obvious that this DOES happen ...

Actually, I wouldn't want to deny the possibility of talent -- there are many who seem to "have it all" -- I'm reminded of an art opening I attended at a trendy gallery some years ago -- the guy's exhibit, which showed a creative and puckish mind, was also a model (no surprise when you saw him) AND the v.p. of an investment firm.  (He was my age, late 20s).  Life's just not fair!*

*And did I mention, he wrote his dissertation on "Finnegan's Wake"?**

**OK, that part I made up   

Check out www.collinwood.net for a glut of news on the pilot, including that Jonathan Frid has just turned down a cameo role...

Too bad... that could have been amazing 

Check out www.collinwood.net for a glut of news on the pilot, including that Jonathan Frid has just turned down a cameo role...

Too bad... that could have been amazing 

Frid' s appearance would have blown all of us away. What a pity.

What I like about the NY Post article was that when the source was referring to Dark Shadows website's and says, " We read the Web sites to get their feedback- a lot"....

You mean the higher ups are actually looking at our ramblings. lol

Interesting NYP article, Stuart - thanks so much for calling our attention to it.

As for Frid, it's no surprise whatsoever that he declined an appearance. Anyone who payed attention to almost anything he said during various 1990 interviews that were done when the '91 series was in production knows that he feels VERY strongly that he's past contributing anything more to DS. (His exact wording in one such interview was: "No, I have no interest in being part of it again. No, no, no. In that sense I've done what I could do for Dark Shadows. I have no interest in returning to it at all." ) And while I'm sure that many fans are extremely disappointed that Frid won't make an appearance - I, however, am not one of them. As I said in my response to vw, I don't think any former DS actors should appear on a WB DS' first season because I feel that the show should create its own identity before "paying tribute," if you will, to any previous version.

What I like about the NY Post article was that when the source was referring to Dark Shadows website's and says, " We read the Web sites to get their feedback- a lot"....

You mean the higher ups are actually looking at our ramblings. lol

As I've mentioned a few times, DCP did read some of the postings on the old Prodigy DS BB and even contributed occassionally. There's no reason not to believe that they still might check out what the fans are saying today. (Whether they pay attention to anything we say here, might be a different story entirely, though.    There are a lot of other venues with higher profiles. But let them have their spotlight - Midnite, dom and I are quite content with the small niche of fandom we've carved out.  )

According to a recent interview in the UK's "Guardian" newspaper, John Wells makes it policy on all his shows to have a production member monitoring fan-sites.  So yeah, we're all being watched.



 

But did the article have to appear in that fish-wrap rag of a newspaper?  Having to go to a "NY Post" site makes me want to go wash my hands, and wipe off my monitor screen......

As I've mentioned a few times, DCP did read some of the postings on the old Prodigy DS BB and even contributed occassionally. There's no reason not to believe that they still might check out what the fans are saying today. (Whether they pay attention to anything we say here, might be a different story entirely, though.    There are a lot of other venues with higher profiles. But let them have their spotlight - Midnite, dom and I are quite content with the small niche of fandom we've carved out.  )

I was of course being factitious in my last comment. We all here should be very honored that our opinions are being heard. It makes posting on this board even more worthwhile!