fangoria article

i'm not sure if this is already old news to everyone but while browsing the magazine rack at "border's" today(kls and her book club not in sight) i saw the january issue of "fangoria" magazine and it had a cover story on the ill-fated 2004 version of d.s..i never buy the mag($7.99!)but of course i bought this issue.
for those who haven't read it it's pretty interesting and has a few good pics..it's such a shame that we'll never see this show!

I enjoyed it too.  Darren did an outstanding job.  Angelique looks so ghastly, especially with those black eyes, brrrr.

it's such a shame that we'll never see this show!

<sigh>

(Speaking of forum cousins with DS-related articles in current mags [what a segue, heh!], David's review of Bobubas' CD of the Ron Barry interviews is in the current Filmfax.)

While I was out tonight doing the last of my Christmas shopping, I picked up the magazine and I just finished reading the article. I swear, the more I see/read about the pilot, the more upset I get that the WB didn't have the foresight to see a good thing when they had it. (Though, karmicly speaking, they're really paying the price for that now. For example, one of the shows they picked over DS and that they were very high on, The Mountain, was recently beaten in the weekly ratings by its competition on PAX. (Yes, I said PAX!!) It only pulled in a measely 1.35 million viewers!!) And combining the article with the synopsis of the pilot (located on Darren's restoration Web site) is almost too much to bear. 

my goodness! i just realized that the article was written by our fellow member darren gross.nice job darren.i love the "access" you had to the show...there has been so much blind speculation.

i could swear i posted this in the "calender events" section.

You did post this topic on CE/A '04, mscbryk. I moved it over here because all the other topics dealing with articles about the WB pilot have been posted to Current Talk.

I normally leave a redirection topic whenever I move something, but I guess I must have accidentally unchecked that option. My only excuse is that I was practically asleep at the time and I probably didn't even realize half of what I was doing. 

I finally managed to pick up the January Fangoria issue. (The store I was in had many copies available-hopefully everyone here will pick one up along the way as a sign of support). I was really impressed with the 5 page article four of which has some real cool color photographs.The article is well written and very polished, filled with interesting information on the pilot that I was not aware of. I like Verheiden's idea of a new 12 hour Dark Shadows mini-series on the Sci Fi Channel and Dan Curtis' statement that a new (DS) "would make a great feature film..." Let's hope this article generates additional interest in a new DS. Actually, I am hoping that Darren has enough material to write a book on the 2004 pilot. I think the fans will eat it up. Great job Darren!

I'll definitely pick up the magazine.  I've made my hotel reservations for the fest.  $139 plus tax even after mentioning DS!  . 

I hope I can remember to look for it. I never buy magazines anymore, never even hit that isle in the store, but I would love to read it and see the pictures (especially the pictures). I should have asked for a copy for Christmas...oh well. I am going out shopping today, I hope I remember to look for it. ...maybe a x-mas present to myself? 

(Though, karmicly speaking, they're really paying the price for that now. For example, one of the shows they picked over DS and that they were very high on, The Mountain, was recently beaten in the weekly ratings by its competition on PAX. (Yes, I said PAX!!) It only pulled in a measely 1.35 million viewers!!)

Perhaps I'm easily amused because as I just read this on Zap2it.com I was LMAO:

"What The WB lacked in quality, the network made up for in dreck. The five lowest rated programs on any of the networks last week were on The WB. Worst of all was "The Mountain" at No. 104 with a 0.8/1 and fewer than 1.1 million viewers."

And that wasn't even a repeat - it was a *new* episode. Can anyone honestly believe that a WB DS wouldn't have done better than that?!

Can anyone honestly believe that a WB DS wouldn't have done better than that?!

So...is it too much to hope for, that the people responsible for the gawd-awful choices made by the WB will be shown the door?

Perhaps then the decision to change the line-up so drastically will be re-considered...and something like DS will look better in retrospect. 

So...is it too much to hope for, that the people responsible for the gawd-awful choices made by the WB will be shown the door?  

Actually the person who was in charge at the time that nixed the DS pilot and staked Angel was replaced a while ago... and there's already been a lot of talk that they know they made a mistake getting rid of Angel so I'd be very surprised if they weren't having similar feelings about DS04 (not to mention Lost In Space).

to tell the truth i'm glad it didn't make it only to be  yanked after a few weeks
they did that in 1990 after much hype and i was so p...ssed!

jennifer

The bottom line is how much damage did the WB do the the Dark Shadows franchise and what impact if any that will have to a future DS project? The WB in essence told the media that the DS producers (collectively) did not present to them a salvageable pilot-poor directing, poor casting,etc....Because of this perceived bad publicity (and unwarranted), I am afraid that another network will not want to look at another DS project for a long period of time. Hopefully, the media now realize how incompetent the WB executives are and the stench over the failed 2004 DS pilot will fade quickly.

Hopefully, the media now realize how incompetent the WB executives are and the stench over the failed 2004 DS pilot will fade quickly.

Not so long as reports like this one (from the Relish Now! Web site) continue to appear in the media:

Tim Clodfelter's picks
Thursday, December 30, 2004

By Tim Clodfelter
relish staff writer

It was another interesting - and at times infuriating - year on television in 2004. Viewers finally started rejecting the increasingly slimy reality shows and turned back to TV dramas. Sitcoms continued to flounder with no reprieve in sight. Censorship reared its ugly head after America went absolutely nutzo over a distant glimpse of a nipple. And Howard Dean killed his political career with a rebel yell that became one of the most-repeated video clips of the year (excluding that nipple shot, of course). Here are some of the best and some of the worst moments of the year that was....

...

Ten bad things about television in 2004

...

4. The cancellation of Angel: WB foolishly decided to snuff producer Joss Whedon's classy vampire-with-a-soul drama in favor of a revival of the old angst-ridden-vampire drama Dark Shadows. Then when Dark Shadows proved to be a fiasco (trust me, I've seen the unaired pilot), the network was left without either show. On a bright note, Angel's "never-ending-battle" finale was first-rate.

...


(And thank god that, not only does this article get to diss the pilot - it continues to spread the false notion that Angel was canceled to make way for DS.    One has to wonder when and how he managed to see the pilot when it's been reported that the only people who've seen it are the people who were involved in its production and the WB execs? 
Granted, I've only seen the excerpts that were shown at the Tarrytown Fest - but what I saw was far from a "fiasco".)

Well MB so much for my wishful thinking. At the moment it almost seems unimaginable that a network will now invest 6 million dollars on a new DS project after the "recent" fiasco. Wonder if DCP has done enough, if any, damage control to offset the negativity surrounding the failed pilot. Hopefully, the networks have not been scared off by the failed pilot. DS needs some positive buzz and it is up to DCP to try to create it. The failed pilot should not permanently tarnish the legacy of Dark Shadows.