1970 program announcement

[Gothick]

Had the show on this a.m. briefly and was reminded again of a fleeting memory that comes and goes in relation to this storyline.

I remember a voiceover from Jonathan Frid advising fans to tune in for a special episode that was going to explain the background and true motives of the Leviathans.  The voiceover played over the end titles of several shows during the week in Jan. (?) 1970, a week that, if memory serves, ended with the broadcast of the episode in which Barnabas spills the beans to Julia.  Fascinating if only because it rates as DS' only clip show, though some of the "clips" were restagings with new material.

I also remember a similar voice over leading up to the broadcast of the second show run yesterday (Tuesday) on Sci Fi.  Frid, or maybe the program announcer, advised fans to be sure and tune in for an episode that would have pivotal importance in the story.  The episode that resulted did indeed seem very exciting to me at the time.  I was pretty much unaware of the widespread fannish dislike of Leviathan; I thought it was a very cool storyline.

Does anybody else remember this second announcement regarding yesterday's show?  (You'd obviously have had to be watching back in 1970 to be able to remember it!)

Gothick

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Had the show on this a.m. briefly and was reminded again of a fleeting memory that comes and goes in relation to this storyline.

I remember a voiceover from Jonathan Frid advising fans to tune in for a special episode that was going to explain the background and true motives of the Leviathans.  The voiceover played over the end titles of several shows during the week in Jan. (?) 1970, a week that, if memory serves, ended with the broadcast of the episode in which Barnabas spills the beans to Julia.

Back in the day, I kept a record of all the DS promos I ever saw (most of which I also audio taped - not that I was obsessive or anything ). The text of that particular on was:

"On Dark Shadows Wednesday, Barnabas Collins reveals the actual story of his final day in 1897, the fate of Count Petofi, the tragedy of Josette, and the real story of the terrifying Leviathan plot here on ABC."

It was designed to lure back the fans who deserted the show in droves after Leviathans began ...

Fascinating if only because it rates as DS' only clip show, though some of the "clips" were restagings with new material.

... but it also had the unfortunate side effect of ticking off many fans who'd remained loyal viewers, a few of whom wrote in to the various daytime magazines' readers feedback columns to complain that Barnabas' revelations amounted to nothing more than what viewers already knew. (I'll have to see if I can locate those letters...)

I also remember a similar voice over leading up to the broadcast of the second show run yesterday (Tuesday) on Sci Fi.  Frid, or maybe the program announcer, advised fans to be sure and tune in for an episode that would have pivotal importance in the story.  The episode that resulted did indeed seem very exciting to me at the time.  I was pretty much unaware of the widespread fannish dislike of Leviathan; I thought it was a very cool storyline.

Does anybody else remember this second announcement regarding yesterday's show?  (You'd obviously have had to be watching back in 1970 to be able to remember it!)

Hmmm...can't say as I do, but I suppose there's always that chance that I'd missed it.

FYI, during this period of the show ABC began running all sorts of voiceover promos, many during their Saturday morning cartoon lineup, in the hopes of luring fans back. It all began with the following two voiceovers which played over the last several 1897 episodes:

"This is Barnabas Collins. On Tuesday, November18th, Dark Shadows returns to 1969, and one of the most exciting tales ever told will begin on ABC."

"On November 18th, Dark Shadows returns to 1969 where the most unusual tale will begin."

(I'll grant them this, Leviathans did indeed turn out to be a "most unusual tale" - but not necessarily in an entirely good sense. )

But most of the other promos that I have records of from this period were completely generic:

"Stay tuned as Barnabas Collins and his friends struggle with the supernatural in Collinwood Manor on Dark Shadows next..."

or merely vaguely specific:

"On Dark Shadows, the Leviathans are at Collinwood, waiting for the day when they will reign over all..."

[ClaudeNorth]

Wow!  It never occurred to me that ABC aired such promos, although it does make sense.  How fun to read about them!

This is the sort of thing that I'd love to see included on future DVD releases, that is, if they still exist.  Of course, the Collectors Series episodes have the original voice-over promos during the closing credits, so I imagine that these DS promos probably do exist.

Regards,

John

[Mysterious Benefactor]

... but it also had the unfortunate side effect of ticking off many fans who'd remained loyal viewers, a few of whom wrote in to the various daytime magazines' readers feedback columns to complain that Barnabas' revelations amounted to nothing more than what viewers already knew. (I'll have to see if I can locate those letters...)

Here are three (and a bonus):


(This first one is made reference of in the DS Companion)

COP-OUTS TOO

Dear Miss Znaida:
I'm writing to you because I have a complaint I want heard, and After Noon TV appears to be about the only way a fan can reach people on the shows he cares about.
Ever since November 18, 1969, when Dark Shadows returned to the present, the most frightening bomb ever told has been polluting the airwaves. The whole Leviathan routine is simply a deadly bore. That the same writers who scripted the 1897 flashback can be perpetrating this mish-mash is beyond credence. I can only assume the plots have been dictated from somewhere higher up.
As I write this, I am still burning from having been fooled again by a highly-touted-in-advance revelation episode that revealed only what anyone who'd been watching the show already knew.
In 1897, the plots raced along, the players initiated action as befitted their characters, the dialogue scintillated, and the time period was thoroughly charming. Now, the whole thing plods along as slowly as other soaps: poorly-conceived cop-outs abound, the majority of interesting characters were left in 1897, and the wittiest thing anyone's said in the past ten weeks was when Dr. Hoffman remarked that the totally-insane Charles Delaware Tate seemed "a little crazy" - and I'm reasonably certain that that wasn't meant to be funny.
To top it all, Quentin Collins has spent the last seventy-two years living on the planet Earth (enduring wars, A-bombs, Depression, Prohibition, and all that lot) and is currently going through a stage of swearing he's always loved Amanda Harris since 1897. To seriously believe that, the poor boy must've developed into a real sickie over the years. Better he should have been on the maiden voyage of the Titanic and died in peace.
This recent (and I stress recent) bad writing is driving me wild. Half the scenes look like the actors were told, "We have around five minutes more show to go, and since we've already run out of script, why don't you guys just improvise about how weird everyone at the Antique Shop is? Oh, and be sure and don't reveal anything that's going to hapen, sweethearts."
Like, what's there to reveal?
Somebody, please do something about this garbage. Fans are accustomed to giving Shadows willing suspension of disbelief, but this is getting ridiculous.

Jane Peyton
Richmond, Kentucky


What's happened to Dark Shadows? Where's all the edge of your seat excitement I used to rush home to watch? These days all there is is one boring show after another. For weeks we had no idea who the Leviathan people were, and by the time we found out part of their plan, who cared anymore? I sure didn't. ... I thought things might pick up after ABC began saying that there was going to be a special show on January 28th. Some "special" show - all we found out was the same things we already knew. What a rip-off!
I've been watching Dark Shadows since 1968, and I've really enjoyed it up to this point, but it's not only the Leviathan creature that stinks these days.

Keith Scarsdale
Dover, Delaware


Dear Teen Beat:
I never though I'd be writing to a magazine to complain about Dark Shadows but I can't keep silent any longer. What are the writers thinking? It used to be that I couldn't wait to watch - now it's like I don't care if I have to miss a day of two because I know I'm not missing anything except maybe another stupid scene at the antique shop. And about those two people that run the shop - could they be any worse? I've seen better acting from my high school's drama club. But my biggest disappointment came from a recent episode that promised that Barnabas was finally going to reveal the real story of what's been going on for the past three months. Huh? All that was revealed was things we'd already seen three months ago!
Dark Shadows, get your act together. A lot of my friends have already stopped watching the show because of how stupid it is now. I'm not sure how long it will be before I stop watching also - but if you don't shape up, it won't be long.

Catherine Levine
Medford, Oregon


And even though it has nothing to do with episode #938, I just had to share this one too:

Dark Stooges

First off, let me say that Dark Shadows was my favorite soap opera, but what's happened to it lately has me wondering if I'll be watching it much longer. After Jeb Hawkes brought the sheriff back from the dead, he looked more like Shemp, The Zombie Stooge, than something that was supposed to be frightening. Between the bad acting and the unintentionally funny sounding dialogue, I get more laughs out of Dark Shadows these days than I do watching the Three Stooges!

Pat David
Rhinebeck, New York

[DStoDA]

Man, the leviathans weren't that bad. I guess its becuz we watch 2 DS episodes a day and it goes by twice as fast as in 1970. Seriously, if you were a "real" soap viewer, you would never stop watchin your soap in sucha short time and the leviathans were on for like 4 months and it did get better as they showed less of the antique shop and more of the main characters. It's sad that so many people just gave up on DS. Patience is a virtue - (that was so trite but i had to say that)

 

[Cassandra]

To top it all, Quentin Collins has spent the last seventy-two years living on the planet Earth (enduring wars, A-bombs, Depression, Prohibition, and all that lot) and is currently going through a stage of swearing he's always loved Amanda Harris since 1897. To seriously believe that, the poor boy must've developed into a real sickie over the years. Better he should have been on the maiden voyage of the Titanic and died in peace.

ROTFL!!!!
I just had to laugh at that statement!  I guess we weren't the only ones complaining about the Quentin/Amanda relationship.  And 72 years? I guess I just never thought of it that way before, but it is an awfully long time to be searching for someone.   What the heck was he doing all that time?!

After Jeb Hawkes brought the sheriff back from the dead, he looked more like Shemp, The Zombie Stooge, than something that was supposed to be frightening.

LOL!!!  I knew he reminded me of someone!!


Thanks MB for posting these.

Cassandra

[Bobubas]

Gothick, you have a great memory when it comes to recalling original airing DS moments. Heck, I can't remember what I had for breakfast 20 minutes ago, let alone something that aired 30+ years ago!. Ok, maybe I can remember that bagel, but dinner last night is a blur.

MB, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to transcribe those magazine letters and original promo's for the show. Those promo's are priceless, and as suggested here in an earlier post, would make for a great addition as "extra features" to future DVD's. If Jim doesn't already have these audio promos, perhaps you could negotiate a free DVD or two for the use of them 

[ms._hoffman]

MB, thanks for posting the announcements.

Ms. Hoffman

[Debra]

I love reading these MB!  Thanks for posting them. I've never really read up on anything concerning ds back in the day so Im getting the chance to enjoy them now.

Deb

[jennifer]

Man, the leviathans weren't that bad. I guess its becuz we watch 2 DS episodes a day and it goes by twice as fast as in 1970. Seriously, if you were a "real" soap viewer, you would never stop watchin your soap in sucha short time and the leviathans were on for like 4 months and it did get better as they showed less of the antique shop and more of the main characters. It's sad that so many people just gave up on DS. Patience is a virtue - (that was so trite but i had to say that)

i totally agree!!!
some of my favorite shows have had lame moments
but you just wait for the next story!

also ROTFLMAO over the Shemp comment that was too funny and true!
and agree with The Quentin/Amanda observations!
If she was such a big star as Olivia why didn't Quentin find her
or was she a legend only in her own mind?LOL

jennifer

[arashi]

(I nearly died at that Titanic bit. That's great!)

Much ranting ahead.

And 72 years? I guess I just never thought of it that way before, but it is an awfully long time to be searching for someone.   What the heck was he doing all that time?!

What I'd like to know is what was Amanda doing all that time?! Considering the fact that Quentin was living a few miles outside Collinsport, where was Amanda looking all that time? (UGH! Sorry, I just can't buy Quentin's sudden infatuation with Amanda. Totally Bogus. For chrissakes! Beth tried to kill him one episode and the next he's dancing with Amanda)! And my God was Quentin *boring* after his near fatal wounding (MP ref. He's not quite dead!) It's like they HAD to bring him back because he was a fan favorite, but they didn't really give him much to do except get buried alive a lot and have spells cast upon him. (And get possessed by Ghosts)

[spoiler]
I really did like 1840 though. Despite the fact that you REALLY had to suspend disbelief on the whole witchtrial in 1840 thing) I thought the storyline was well written and well acted. The head of Judah Zachery was CREEPY. And I absolutely loved that John Karlen was given a serious role to play, he was so good as Desmond. James Storm played an awesome villan as well.[/spoiler]

~Arashi

[Taeylor Collins]

This is simply fascinating MB!  One day it would be amazing if you could upload the PROMOS!  I know Roxio has a great program to upload cassettes and make them into MP3's!! I use it all the time. I am so glad I am going through all these old threads.  They are great fun!

I especially enjoyed the RICHMOND KY letter since I live 30 mins from it.  Great place to shop!