Do We Have the Power to Bring About A DS Revival?

[David]

My Save the WB DS Petition is STILL getting signatures after all these months.
It now has an amazing 697 signatures!!!

I want to send it to the WB again, AND to UPN & Showtime, but I want to see three more signers first.
700 signatures would be impressive.

Let's make it happen!
We, the audience & fans have the power to bring about a full scale revival of DS, IF WE MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD!!!!!

to sign, go to:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/DrkShdow/petition.html

also sign my petition to get Tim Burton/Johnny Depp interested in doing a big scren DS:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/BurDepDS/petition.html

WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!
   

[Gerard]

Not Showtime!  Lots of us can't afford subscription cable channels like Showtime, HBO et. al.  I've never seen an episode of The Sopranos or Sex In the City.

Gerard

[DStoDA]

I dont think 700 sigs would be enough. I've seen other petitions get 3000 signatures.

[David]

Gerard: I think a non-commercial network like Showtime is our best bet. I'll send it to WB, but I think that's beating a dead horse.
I'm sure, if DS ever got onto Showtime, fans will tape it for each other, as we did during the PBS DS boon in the 1980s.
I'll tape it for you, Gerard, if it ever come to Showtime.

DStoDA: I think I could have gotten over 1,000
signatures if DS fanzine publishers & webmasters
supported the petition instead of speaking out against it as they did(God only knows why)
Though Midnight & Victoria Winters were very supportive at this board, I was surprised at the hostility the petition got elsewhere, from people who claim to love DS!!!!
(But then, Midnight has always been among fandom's BEST people)

Still, for the small cult item DS is today, 700 signers might be enough to get it on Showtime, where the cult could grow. 

[Raineypark]

If you really hold out hope that Showtime might be the right home for a new Dark Shadows, may I suggest that you not publically discuss the fact that DS fans share taped versions of the show on a large scale.

Why would Showtime, a cable network that needs subscribers to exist, want to get involved with a show with a cult following that shares tapes of the episodes with one another?

The only reason for offering a new program is to increase viewership.  If they don't think they'll attract a substantial new audience, they have no reason to consider it.

It couldn't have mattered less to PBS stations because no one had to subscribe to see DS on their stations.

I'm still holding out hope for the original DS to end up on the (still in the works) Horror Channel.  But being a brand new channel, it would be unrealistic to expect them to be able to underwrite a new version of DS.

[David]

Good point, Rainey, though I think helping out poor fans on a small scale might be OK.
Not too many, just a few.

So what's up with Horror Channel?
Why no Halloween debut?

When will it start up?

 

[Raineypark]

I haven't really kept on top of it...but they did issue a statement before Halloween that it would not debut on that date because they were negotiating with additional cable providers. 

[DStoDA]

has anyone ever thought about bringing it back to ABC?
With Desperate Housewives being so HOT right now, the major networks have already over 25 new primetime soap pilots in development.

[Raineypark]

has anyone ever thought about bringing it back to ABC?

Well, they DO say what comes around, goes around...

[David]

Well, nothing ventured, as they say.....

I'll send it to ABC as well.

BTW, Showtime is releasing a lot of it's weekly series in season by season DVD box sets.
Queer as Folk & Stargate SG1 have sold well for them.

Showtime could make a ton of money doing the same for a new DS.
And people who don't get Showtime could get an entire season on disc for less than half what a year of Showtime would cost.

[Connie]

Oh hell -- lol   

On the petition page to view signatures there was an ad for "Book of Shadows Secrets".  Here I thought...."Goody -- I'd really like to read about some juicy DS secrets."
YOU know -- stuff like an illicit, tawdry affair between Clarice Blackburn and Karlen, or a Roger Davis confession like, "I used to be a woman" -- that sort of thing....

It's just a dumb ad for a book on witchcraft - Book of Secrets.   :-
Imagine my dismay.   

I've heard of that book.  Is anyone familiar with it?

-CLC
Learning to live with disappointment   

[Connie]

No -- it's Book of Shadows.  Not 'Book of Secrets'.

(I really hate this time limit on modifying posts.  I really screw posts up and it takes me awhile to realize it.  By then, I can't fix anything).

    

 shit

[Gothick]

Hi dear,

"Book of Shadows" was the title Gerald Gardner (founder of Wicca, which started out life as a lineaged Witchcraft Tradition and now is a popular teen role-playing game spreading amongst fans of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD releases) gave to his book of spells and ritual lore.  At one point, he had titled it "Ye Bok of ye Arte Magical" and then he spotted a title in a catalogue of books published in South Asia, "The Book of Shadows."  He decided it would be the perfect title for his own workbook.

It's an ironic title since so many of today's tele-Wiccans reject "the dark side" as something evil and ugly... sigh.

Steve (sure he's boring everyone to tears with this latest recital of arcana)  PS Dear hope you are feeling better!  When I get bored with DS I usually switch to another of my cults, such as "Dr. Who," "The Avengers," or "Blake's 7," or "UFO."

[Misa]

David,

It would probably be a good idea for you to send your petition to ABC. Do you send it with a cover letter? That way you can remind them of what a hit DH is for them and of all the people out there that love Buffy, Angel, Charmed, and shows like that and that they could use the fact that they were the network that first showed Dark Shadows.

I already signed your petition, or I'd sign it now. If everyone that signed it could get just one other person to sign it, it would have 1400 signatures.

Let's all try and get a network interested in Dark Shadows, it would be such great fun to have a new show to talk about in addition to the original.

Misa

[jtfolden]

You know... I'd almost recommend sending it to just about any and every outlet that might be appropriate. You really never know where it might stick or who might read it and pass it on.