DS Addiction

[Countess]

Do you tell people that you're addicted to DS or keep it as a secret guilty pleasure?

Countess (who never tells.... )

[Gerard]

My friends wish I would shut up about it, so I guess I don't keep it much of a secret!

Gerard

[Barnabas'sBride]

I'm pretty open. My family knows I love it and so do my friends (a couple watched and liked it when it was airing on scifi). To anyone around me for any length of time, my interests are apparent, especially if they're in my personal space. My collectibles give it away.

[ProfStokes]

Nah, I openly boast about my affection for the show (partly in the hopes that someone will say, "Dark Shadows?  Hey, that's one of my favorite shows too!").  Also, DS is such a big part of my life--whether it's attending the Festival, posting on the message boards, or interacting with friends that I've met through DS clubs and events--that it would be counterproductive to deny it.  This is who I am, this is what I like to do. 

ProfStokes

[PennyDreadful]

 When I was a teenager I was pretty quiet about my DS interest because most people from my generation seemed kind of clueless in Jr. high/High School.  I figured they wouldn't "get" DS or understand or care about it.

  Nowadays I'm open about my interests.  Heck, I recently wore a Barnabas babydoll T-shirt to a rockabilly/psychobilly concert.  I made the shirt myself out of the Basil Gogos Famous Monsters cover painting.  Several of the people at the concert recognized the character and eagerly complimented me on the shirt.

 Most folks I've talked to who are familiar with the show think it's pretty cool, at the very least in premise if they hadn't actually seen it.  One friend, however, razzed me pretty viciously about DS a couple of years ago, saying the episodes made no sense and that the show was "old," "cheesy," "kind of stupid" and that it "sucks."  Of course, these nasty remarks (meant to irritate me no doubt) succeeded only in making my Portuguese temper flare.  Thus, I countered with my own derogatory references to his strong interests in juvenile one-dimesional teenybopper fare regarding some goofy, vapid valley girl who slays vampires, and a derivative yawn-inducing program about some moronic warrior woman (It was said partly in..uh.. self defense, so please don't kill me Buffy and Xena fans).  He got really[/i] mad at that point and actually started shouting "Hey!!  Why do you have to talk **** about Xena and Buffy?!!!  What the **** does that have to do with anything?!!!"  He was really POed! It seriously could have been a scene out of a Kevin Smith movie or something. 

  Once this War of Dorkiness subsided a few minutes later, we were both cracking up for geting so ridiculously peevish about our respective fave TV shows, and we hugged and made up. Hey, at this point my friends should know better than to diss DS when I'm around!  He deserved it.     

    ~Penny Dreadful~

[Ian]

Maybe I'm not the only one, but have any of your friends/family thought that you had some sick obsession with the occult or the dark side because you happen to like DS? My family seems to think that since I like to watch DS, watch fan-made videos of DS, and post on these DS boards that I have "some sick obsession with the occult or the dark side."

[Raineypark]

"Dark Shadows" is pretty tame fare in the general scheme of things considered occult, dark or evil.

Once you get past the supernatural stuff (again, pretty tame) it's just another soap opera about "she wants him, but he wants HER and SHE wants somebody else"

My kid would have to be into something much darker and stranger than DS before I'd start to wonder.

[PennyDreadful]

 My mom used to get on my case about being obsessed with "dark things," and in particular DS (since that was my favorite "dark thing").  She liked DS when she was younger too, but said I was TOO into it and that it wasn't good to like occult-related things so much.  So yeah, I got some flack for it too. 

  Raineypark, I think it all depends on individual beliefs.  Yeah, DS is tame compared to the Exorcist for example, but I hear a lot of people weren't thrilled when the show portrayed scenes like Nicholas Blair having his audience with Satan in Hell.  It all depends on the person I suppose.

 In the 60s there was some fundamentalist group decrying DS and had an ad which said: Dark Shadows: The Devil's Favorite TV Show and had a drawing of the devil gleefully watching a TV with the words "Dark Shadows" on the screen!  LOL!  I think they made a similar ad for Bewitched as well.  Anyone have a copy of the DS one they can scan?  I saw a copy years ago but have never seen it again.  It was pretty funny actually.

~Penny Dreadful~

[arashi]

Thankfully my family is as much into "dark" things as I am, my Mom bought me my first Edgar Allen Poe book when I was 9. (My favorite story was and still is The Black Cat). So I never got any flak for my obsession with DS.

The only time I ever had any problems with people was my first job up here in Maine at a bank. They actually gave me crap about reading Dracula on my lunch break. Thankfully I didn't work there long. I quit and basically told them to kiss my ass. I don't stand up for myself often, but I am proud of that time. I think it's hysterical when I go in there now to do banking for work and they act like we were all great friends. 

I never understood parents who give their kids trouble about the things they like. (Unless it was really dangerous or harmful or something). Parents should let their kids expand their horizons, it only makes them better people.

[Blue_Whale_Barfly]

My wife and kids already think I have issues so when I use to tape DS off of Sci-fi and watch it at night it never even fazed them.

[Barnabas'sBride]

My close family never gave me any trouble over my interests or any shows that I watched and loved. My mother was a fan when she was young, and we watched Buffy and X-Files together for years. My father just shakes his head at my addiction, but he loves sci-fi and fantasy so he's partly responsible for getting me into that.

I do have family members that would frown on my love for DS, but they would frown on almost anything I do or like, which is why I don't associate with them. 

[Nancy]

I often wondered why intense fans of DS get flak from anyone.  If you look at sport events, particularly football, many people paint themselves the colors of their team and do amazingly bizarre things on live television to encourage their team towards winning, particularly a championship.  Prior to the event itself, sports fans will wear costumes to symbolize the team they support and carry on quite publicly.  Why is wanting to be involved in a fandom any more bizarre than that kind of fan activity?

Nancy

[dom]

Because sports is current, DS is 40 years old.

Almost everyone I know doesn't understand my current involvement, but they don't judge me negatively for it.

And for the record, I'm not addicted. 

[Barnabas'sBride]

I don't think age has that much to do with it. Fandoms like Buffy, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc, etc....can be (and sometimes are) looked at as a "weird" thing. And they are all very current.

[Nancy]

Because sports is current, DS is 40 years old.

Fans have been wearing sports jerseys and other emblems of their passion for decades - quite publicly and even daily during highly visible games.  This is not a current activity on the part of sports fans - the tradition is long standing.

Nancy