Strange Paradise

[Josette]

I don't recall if there has ever been any mention here of a show called "Strange Paradise."  I had never heard of it.  Every week in the local newspaper there is a Q and A column with our TV critic answering questions about shows, etc.  Today, there was this one:

Q: I seem to remember a supernatural  serial  that  ran  concurrently  with “Dark Shadows” in the late ’60s named “Strange  Paradise.”  Do  you  know about this series or if it might be available on DVD?

A: “Strange Paradise” was a syndicated, daytime drama in 1969-70 and sold to stations  as  a companion  to  the  ABC  series “Dark Shadows” (1966-71). The book “Total Television” directly calls it “an imitation of ‘Dark Shadows,’” with storylines about “voodoo, communication with spirits and family curses.” While I do not know of an authorized release on DVD, I did find many episodes on YouTube.

[MagnusTrask]

Somehow I have it in my head that Dan Curtis made the show, but that has to be wrong!

I remember watching the first episode. I didn't stay with it...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

There are many topics about Strange Paradise on the forum, probably more than a dozen of them started by Gothick, who's a huge fan, and who's kept us abreast of a lot of the things happening on SP's Web sites.

And SP has some close connections to DS because after they stopped working on DS, Ron Sproat wrote for the show and Robert Costello produced it...

[Uncle Roger]

Tudi Wiggins, who played the Angelique counterpart Erica Desmond, was later involved in a romantic triangle with Jerry Lacy's character on Love of Life.

I think that DS writer Joseph Caldwell also wrote for the show.

[Annie]

Hi Josette glad you are back missed you on here. I too never heard of the show either .
Take Care Love , Anne 

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Anne,

I remember that “Strange Paradise” was on Channel 5, a local tv station in NYC back then during the early 1970s. One bearded actor on the show resembled DS’s own Louis Edmonds, as I recall. There’s an informative page on “Strange Paradise” over on Wikipedia if you’d like to learn more about the show.

Bob

[Uncle Roger]

That's where I watched it, Bob. At least until Channel 5 moved it to a 3am time slot.

And I think that the actor that you're referring to is Jack Creley, who played Laszlo Thaxton. Laszlo was a warlock or at least a member of some sort of coven. I can't be sure. It's been decades since I saw any of those episodes. Mr. Creley had an interesting career. He had a small part in Dr. Strangelove and played Brian O'Blivion in Videodrome (with my girl Deborah Harry).

 

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Yes, Uncle Roger, I think Jack Creley (Laszlo Thaxton, a great name, by the way!) was that actor; he was as articulate and even as grandiloquent as DS’s own beloved patrician/snob, Roger Collins.

Weren’t they all Canadian actors on that show? I loved how they said, “Eh,” at the end of a sentence and how they said, “Oooot” for “out.” Come to think of it, KLS would have fit right in with all of those Canadian actors on SP, like whenever KLS would say, “Old Howwse” with her winsome Minnesota accent.

Bob 

PS I think two of Jersey girl Debbie Harry’s back-up musicians were from Bayonne, NJ.

[patrickm]

Strange Paradise was released on VHS but stopped a little past half way. It was never released on DVD ( although Pierson told me he tried to obtain the rights  for MPI but failed.) Nearly all the episodes are on you tube and someone is selling a bootleg set on ebay.

It ran for 39 weeks and had 2 storylines. The 1st ran 13 weeks and resulted in nearly all the cast being wiped out. A couple of DS writers  and producer Bob Costello joined for the 2nd storyline reboot but by then several large markets dropped the show due to low ratings and it was cancelled. I heard it did better airing in reruns and was shown over the years in Canada.

There is a website strangeparadise.net that has good background on the show but it hasn't been updated in a long time.

I would say it didn't match Dark Shadows for sure but it had similarities and was a good try.  Check them out on you tube and I think you will prolly like it.

[Josette]

I figured it had probably been mentioned here previously!  Not being familiar with it, I probably just glanced at those posts and didn't remember the name.

[KMR]

I watched Strange Paradise back during its original run--that is, until it was no longer shown in my area, I think. I enjoyed it a lot, even though not nearly as much as DS. I liked the eerie "other-worldly" Caribbean setting, and the ways that the supernatural phenomena differed from those on DS. Paperback Library published a series of three novels, like the Marilyn Ross DS novels, and I bought all of them. (I had always wondered if Dorothy Daniels was really Marilyn (Dan) Ross, but nope, Dorothy Daniels was her real name--even though she also wrote under pseudonyms.)

[Uncle Roger]

Cosette Lee, who played Raxl, the housekeeper who's kinda a composite of Mrs. Johnson and Hannah Stokes, played the mother of Roberts Blossom in Deranged, Confession of a Necrophile. It's loosely based on the story of Ed Gein, who was also the inspiration for Norman Bates. If the title and theme doesn't put you off, bear in mind that Psycho is a much better movie.