**‘Dark Shadows’ Gets New Blood As CW, Warner Bros Television Set Pilot Script Deal**

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I do have to say it's a bit frustrating that here we are exactly one year after the pilot deal announcement, which was made with great fanfare and which generated a great deal of attention, particularly on sites like TV Line (where for several days it remained their most commented on article), and we basically don't know any more info than we received in the announcement from Mark B Perry. There's hold things close to the vest and then there's complete and total radio silence. If it wasn't for the occasional tidbit that the project is still in development, the latest of which we received via the Saturday Evening Post article that I posted a link to the other day -

Vampire Soap Opera Dark Shadows Crept into Film 50 Years Ago
Television horror pioneer Dan Curtis turned a dream into a surprise hit series, and then took it to the movies.

Since the fall of 2019, Warner Bros. Television and The CW have been developing a sequel to the original series, tentatively titled Dark Shadows: Reincarnation. Dan Curtis passed in 2006, but his daughters Tracy and Cathy hold the rights to the series and are involved in the production of the potential new version.

- we wouldn't have heard anything over the past year. And that seems odd given the fanfare and the online support the project would seem to have. But who knows, apparently TPTB are keeping tight lipped for whatever good reason(s) they may have and despite how odd it may seem to us. Though having a good deal of the development occur during a pandemic most probably doesn't help...

[patrickm]

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2096721149854/dark-shadows-restart-series-no-longer-in-development-at-the-cw


Despite what the "reputable" sources kept saying, I was right months ago that the pilot project was a goner and that the so called "in development" was nonsense. Hope we can finally put that to bed.  Like I said previously, the CW greenlighting Lost Boys to a 2nd pilot was bad enough, but picking up a rejected project like Kung Fu  from another network rather than greenlighting a pilot from an in house CW project like DS spoke volumes. I don't take any pleasure in being right though. Hopefully, Mark Perry will eventually put the script out there so fans can judge for themselves what his vision was like.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This has actually been posted about in the "Halloween night DS Cast Reunion - The Quarantine Theatre Company" topic because Gothick posted there about how the subject of the CW passing on the pilot came up during the reunion. And then shortly thereafter the TV Line article that the linked article you posted used as a source came out and I posted the link to it over there in that topic as a follow up. However, we don't really know when the CW ultimately completely passed on the project. We can assume it was back in December/January, but we can't know that for sure because, with the pandemic, the CW was still deciding the fates of projects long after that, so that doesn't necessarily mean that even the report that DS:R was still in development at the CW as late as back in May was wrong. By example, one of the CW's proposed series which also never made it to the pilot stage was only passed on a few months back. But be all that as it may, the project may be a goner as far as the CW is concerned, however, it doesn't seem as if it's a goner entirely because Gothick also shared that during the reunion Ansel Faraj made the claim the project is still being worked on. By whom and in what form? Who knows? Like everything else concerning the project after that initial announcement back in September of 2019, details are lacking. I mean, as far as that original deal goes, we don't even know if Mark Perry even completed a script. 

[patrickm]

Well, I wanted the reply to be under the proper post.

Say what you will about the pilot being "in development", if you look back at those respected sources, every article said the same thing almost word for word verbatim. Like one printed it and all the others went with it without fact checking or developing their own sources. Call me cynical, but I believe someone in CW program development fed it to one of them as a CYA measure and the rest ran with it. Network bosses don't like outside projects getting approved over in house developed projects they themselves invested in. It's like they have no faith in their own network program developers judgement - especially if the outside projects turn out to be hits. If Kung Fu is a success, look out. That results in what Major Hochstetter says ... Heads will Rolllllllll.

So I firmly believe it was all over when CW passed on greenlighting a filmed pilot. Same as NBC in 1991 saying no decision had been made on renewing the DS remake series . WRONG. Warren Littlefield head of NBC programming hated the show and it was cancelled - they just didn't announce it.

And yes, I do believe there is a complete pilot script. It is sitting in Mark Perry's crammed file cabinet with all his other "rejected babies." Look back at the article written by Perry farther back in this thread for reference. It is very illuminating on the actual pilot process.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Network bosses don't like outside projects getting approved over in house developed projects they themselves invested in.

Warner Bros Television is in house for the CW. 

Check out: The CW

And Bradley Gallo's Amasia Entertainment was working in conjunction with WBT - Amasia Entertainment wasn't working as an independent production company. Though the point is moot now...

[patrickm]

I get that the C is CBS and the W is Warner Bros.  I know it is one thing to pick up a rejected project like Sarah from CBS or a cancelled show years ago like Supergirl from CBS - they might consider it a step up in quality getting a show from the parent network. But it is something else to pick up even a Warner project like Kung Fu from the Fox network. It wasn't developed at the CW.  The DS project was also a Warner Bros. proposed production developed in house at the CW. I realize every show on CW is CBS or Warner produced.
I meant picking up a project from a competing network as the outside project. We just seem to be butting heads over the when's of a rejection decision and how's of "in development". Like you say, in the end it doesn't matter now anyway.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm not trying to butt heads. I'm just saying we don't know what we don't know. And when it comes to this project, what we don't know is a hell of a lot.    (And we're not the only ones frustrated by that because just look at the comment from TV Line that I posted yesterday in the "Halloween night DS Cast Reunion - The Quarantine Theatre Company" topic...)

If the project really is still alive in some form as per Ansel Faraj, I'm holding out even less hope of learning what's going on. At least when it was connected to the CW there was a likelihood of getting a status report whenever they publicly update their slate of projects. But it would seem whatever may be happening now is happening independently of any network and that type of project doesn't necessarily get a status update. Or at least it doesn't get something like a yearly status update like the networks normally give for their projects.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Warren Littlefield head of NBC programming hated the show

It can never be said often enough that Warren Littlefield acted like a complete idiot when it came to the '91 Series. 

We've talked about this before and it's definitely OT for this thread but quite possibility the worst thing when it comes to Littlefield is that once he finally saw the error of his ways, it was too late. For several seasons after the '91 Series' cancellation everything Littlefield scheduled on Friday's in DS' slot did terribly. That finally made him realize that despite his dislike for the show, DS had had great demos, and he approached DC about reviving the show as a series of made-for-TV movies, similar to what NBC was doing with Perry Mason. But DC's response, in the rather colorful language that DC was known for, was that he wasn't interested. And beyond the fact that DC felt Littlefield had already screwed him and DS over, DC also felt DS is best done as a continuing serial and wouldn't work as a series of self-contained movies. Perhaps. But, sadly, and mostly because of DC's rightful resentment of Littlefield, we never got the chance to know...

Another sad thing which is also OT for this thread is that the WB also came to see the error of their ways when it came to passing on the '04 pilot. But again, it was a realization that was too late in coming. Though unlike the situation with Littlefield, the exec who had passed on DS had been fired, and it was a totally different regime that realized the error of his ways.

But bringing things back to being on topic, will we hear down the road that the CW might one day regret passing on DS:R? Well, that's anyone's guess... 

[Gothick]

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend who was involved in the production of the 2004 pilot. (Due to the need for confidentiality, I am unable to say more about the person's identity.) He told me that the original director assigned to the production had to bail at the last minute, and the new director they brought in knew REALLY, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about Dark Shadows--or seemingly anything horror related. To give examples, the new director, who evidently had not read the script, was under the impression in an early production meeting that Willie and Angelique were both vampires. When brought to a meeting with Alec Newman in costume, the director snapped "get rid of that stupid cane and that ring." It was the task of some supremely tactful individual to explain to the director the significance of these accessories in the Barnabas costume.

My friend said that working on the pilot was very frustrating--and the director was not good even in what he demanded of Blair Brown (and we've seen the results of that). On the up side, my friend did quite like Alec Newman, both as a person and what he did in the role.

He also shared some insights into the makeup and costuming of the 1991 series--he agreed to me that the Barnabas makeup was awful, both Vampire Barnabas especially in the 1790 scenes, and Old Barnabas. He said the makeup people assigned were not up to date and did not know what they were doing.

G.

[Uncle Roger]

One of my friends made the observation that when the Ben Cross Barnabas went into vampire mode, he looked remarkably like Al Bundy on Married With Children. And perhaps someone should have told Ben that it's difficult to hiss like that and still try to come across as masculine.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The hissing and snarling was all DC's idea. Supposedly DC felt it made VampBarn look more animalistic. I've always thought it was more ridiculous than animalistic (and as I've often commented before, it's one of the very few things I dislike about the '91 Series). But how often has it been mentioned here on the forum that many of us believe DS was successful in spite of DC, not because of him...

[Gothick]

The unacknowledged truth about Dan Curtis's career may have been that SUPERTRAIN was the most characteristic embodiment of his unique vision. Grayson did tell the radio interviewer in 1968 that Dan had "a unique genius for spook." I personally think Dan's best film was BURNT OFFERINGS.

G.

[Robot_Quentin]

Dark Shadows Reboot Reportedly Dead at The CW

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/dark-shadows-reboot-reportedly-dead-at-the-cw/

Again, as discussed earlier in the thread, not sure of their track record of accuracy on these things... 

[michael c]

Covid shut down production of most film and television around the world for months on end. perhaps this attempted revival fell prey.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The 4400 Reboot Gets Straight-to-Series Order at The CW

Apparently some DS fans can't let go of the CW dropping DS:R.

"Michael Bailey says:
February 9, 2021 at 11:04 AM
After pulling the rug out from under fans TWICE announcing Dark Shadows projects, this is the best they can do? What’s next a bold new imagining of “my mother the car”?"

Though I'm sure many of us can relate - though we're trying to move on...

I was a big fan of the original The 4400, so I have to admit I'm really curious to see what the CW will do with their version. And note that the article says this project had been in development for more than two years. Plus this version is even moving forward with a different creative theme. Not that we should read anything into that concerning DS:R. But recall we were told that in some fashion still left to our imaginations DS:R is still being worked on, so who knows if one day we may get a shock that the CW is giving it a second look like they have The 4400, which was also supposedly dead there...