But What About The REAL Dark Shadows?

[Raineypark]

It's all very nice to read about the NEW DS....who's directing....who's playing which parts......what characters will or won't appear......

But what about the "real thing" and why hasn't there been a hint of it coming back on a different channel?  If Soap Net's working on bringing it back, they're certainly being quiet about it.

I fear my suspicions regarding keeping the original off the air, while the new one tried to make a name for itself, might have been right. 

Does ANYONE out there know ANYTHING??

[Mysterious Benefactor]

But what about the "real thing" and why hasn't there been a hint of it coming back on a different channel?  If Soap Net's working on bringing it back, they're certainly being quiet about it.

I could be wrong, but I've pretty much given up on DS showing up on Soapnet in the near future. If they were supposedly as interested as we'd been led to believe, I'd think they would have worked out a deal with Worldvision by now - particularly when one considers that, since DS ended on Sci-Fi, Soapnet has actually worked out deals to bring two other soaps (Day of Our Lives being one) to the network. (Although, the stumbling block, if there is (was) one and it's not simply a case that Soapnet is waiting to make some big announcement at some point down the road, could be (have been) on WV's end. Before they inked the first deal with Sci-Fi, they'd been asking such a humungous amount of money to release the final year of episodes that even when several different stations tried to band together to get them released, they couldn't even collectively afford them. Of course, that was back when WV still had to pay out residuals for those episodes, but who knows if they might not be pulling the same sort of tactic?)

I fear my suspicions regarding keeping the original off the air, while the new one tried to make a name for itself, might have been right. 

Possibly. But the thinking back at the time the '91 DS was in the works was that the deal to bring DS to Sci-Fi would help both versions. Unfortunately, though, it took so long for Sci-Fi to get off the ground (they announced DS as their first acquisition on May 28,1990, with a hoped for launch on December 31st, but Sci-Fi didn't actually launch until September 24, 1992 and DS didn't debut until the 25th) that the '91 DS had already come and gone...

[Annie]

Hi RaineyPark and MB  i was so hoping that
the old DS would be on WB or Soapnet.
At least thats what i thought the plans were.
              Love Anne

[Patti Feinberg]

Well, I decided to try; I went to world vision/CBS whatever (NOT the religious affiliation).

It mentions  Dr. Phil alot, and Jeopardy, but nothing about DS.

Also, there's no e-mail contact listed,,,,and I'm just too lazy to W R I T E a letter!! (Sorry!)

Patti

[Julia99]

Well with all the fanfare about the **new** DS.  .we've seemed to lost track of if, or when, the old show would be picked up by another Network??? Any news?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Julia99,

Now that your topic has been merged with this one (I'd just moved it to Curret Talk IX yesterday), you can probably see that we didn't completely lose sight of whether DS will find a new home. Unfortunately, on the surface at least, it *seems* as if a deal with Soapnet isn't going to come through. Who knows about other options? I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. 

[Philippe Cordier]

TV Land would seem like an obvious choice, even moreso than SoapNet, IMO.

[TERRY308]

This makes me sad.  DS was part of my morning 'wake up call'.  And I find it hard to know that no one is going to take it and run.  There's alot of stations that could take it....Hallmark, A&E, Bravo, Oxygen is just a few.

Come on.  I know you want DS.

[Connie]

This makes me sad.  DS was part of my morning 'wake up call'.

I hear ya.  Clicking on the Forum was part of my "morning" wake-up routine -- trying to become somewhat coherent, having something to eat, reading some posts....I also used the Forum as sort of a distraction or a break from things, ya know?
Now I feel like a refugee out of the loop 'cause the only real topic on here is the "new Dark Shadows" and other TV shows.  I'm totally lost.  All these shows being mentioned, like Buffy, Angel....I don't know - there's a whole slew of them.  I've never seen any of these shows having seen little to no TV in the last 10 years or so.  I'm unable to participate in the talk about networks, directors, actors, etc.  I don't know who any of these people are.  Last month I had to ask someone what the WB was.  Yep - I confess.  I don't like television.  (My most commonly uttered phrase in this house - "Turn it DOWN!!!")  The ONLY person mentioned with whom I am vaguely familiar is Blair Brown -- I remember seeing her in a couple of things a long time ago.

The few shows I HAVE seen certainly don't fit in here!  LOL
These shows are determined during the nightly argument between 3 kids about what's going to be watched during dinner.  Let's see.....there's The Daily Show (my preference), then there's a show that seems to be from Japan with a bunch of people competing in this outrageous obstacle course and getting bashed around all over the place, then the newest addition -- something called "Pimp My Ride".  Oh yeah....and I do catch some Queer Eye.  Hmm.... how do I apply any of this??  "Pimp My Barnabas" 

Is there ANYONE on here in the same boat??  Or am I the only uninformed misfit?  Help!!  I've got nothing to do on here.  Plus the thing I love to do (screen grabs), I can't 'cause I haven't had a VCR hooked up to the computer in about 9 months. 

My big accomplishment of the week:

"Hey Mommy.... Pimp My Desktop!"



(Yes folks.  The new "long-awaited" Aerosmith CD just came out) 

Signed,
Fading into the DS woodwork with nothing to say

("Yes, but Connie, you say this like it's a BAD thing.") 

[Raineypark]

I hear you Connie.

While we watch more TV in this house than you seem to, it's still considerably less than we ever did before...even my 17 year old has no "must see" programs anymore...just things she happens to catch once in a while...or movies she loves and doesn't yet own on DVD.  Otherwise, the box is set on one of the news channels, like my Mom used to have the radio on all day..."for company".  It's just background noise.

Regarding the new DS....I'm also completely unfamiliar with any of the performers named as cast members.  I don't watch the shows they've been on, I've never heard the names mentioned anywhere.  And while I never for a moment thought they were shooting for OUR demographic, it's disheartening to see that the cast will play as young as it appears to be....never mind how old the actors actually are.

Most of all I'm sorry that they seem to have chosen to "remake" DS....rather than expand upon the original concept, as they did with Star Trek's "Next Generation".  I've never in my life seen a remake that did justice to the original version of anything.  Maybe that's just MY issue, and not the fault of what I'm looking at...but there it is.  I really don't think I WANT to see a re-creation of Willie Loomis.  What's the point?  Show me someone completely different being Barnabas' minion.....and make me forget the original.

If the pilot makes it on the air, will I watch?  Of course I will.  I'll give anything DS related a shot.  But all the "stuff" that's been leaked out isn't doing anything to make me believe it's going to work for me personally.

As for the Forum....yes, the new DS is all we seem to talk about.  MB is still providing the Robservations and images from the episodes chosen, but it appears no one has anything to say about them....hardly anyone posts anything there.

But I'm still here.....and I hope you'll stick around as well....you still hold the record for making ME spit coffee on my monitor for laughing. 

[stefan]

I think DS is best seen on either DVD or Video.I got interested in it from Sci-Fi but admit the constant commercial interruptions in such a short program WAS distracting. AND, since I barely watch TV anyhoo AND since Johnny Depp is not playing Barnabas (a girl can dream), I doubt I'll watch the new show. I like the original DS and look forward to many videos to come.

The reality is that DS has become a very interesting antique but its age, in my opinion, only adds to its allure.

[jennifer]

i really only watch any Law and Order rerun(all 3 shows)  [The Mystery Channel) or been watching Helen Mirrren in Prime Suspect(Jane T is my here}  I guess Sci Fi has no plans to bring the old show back 


jennifer

[onyx_treasure]

     Well, Connie and Rainey,  I too have not seen any of the new cast in anything with Blair Brown being the exception.  I was grateful that links to pictures were posted so I could at least get a look at the new faces.
     I would have loved to follow the series through my new DVDs but it was voted on to have the "Frankenstein" episodes and I can't afford those yet.  I was hoping that the soap channel would pick it up but I guess thats a bust.  I will just have to wait until we discuss the "Intro to Barnabas" episodes.
     I am looking forward to the WB Dark Shadows.  I enjoyed the last remake and was disappointed they took it off the air.

[scottd]

I literally don't watch anything on tv anymore! I still have cable because I tape Gunsmoke on The Westerns Channel and Bewitched on TVland, but that's it. I know my priorities are completely not in order, but I buy a lot of tv shows on DVD. I just make up my own prime time viewing schedule. The few new shows I do like (24, Alias, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under) I've just decided to wait until they come out on DVD and then I'll either rent or buy them. That way I can watch them when I want, as many as I want, and best of all--no commercials! I've been buying all of the Dark Shadows sets, and Saturday night is Dark Shadows night. I'll check out the new DS, but I just don't get into too many new shows. I'm just more and more hopelessly drawn to old shows.

[Cassandra]

Is there ANYONE on here in the same boat??  Or am I the only uninformed misfit?

   Im in THAT same boat too Connie!  I hardly every watch TV anymore except for my MPI video tapes of DS and an occasional Twilight Zone if Im lucky enough to find it on.  I just don't find anything on that's interesting to me anymore. Im either on the computer or out.  Well, at least no one can confuse us with being  "couch potatoes!"  LOL!!


RaineyPark Wrote:

  Otherwise, the box is set on one of the news channels, like my Mom used to have the radio on all day..."for company".  It's just background noise.

 LOL!!  Sounds like my house Rainey!  If Im not watching DS then the TV is usually left on the CNN channel.  And now that you've mentioned it, my Mom use to keep the radio channel on the News station all the time too, I never thought that I would follow in her footsteps someday, LOL!!


Cassandra