Halloween, 1969: Barnabas Collins, the reluctant vampire from the ABC-TV soap opera Dark Shadows, appears at the White House to attend Tricia Nixon’s Halloween party for underprivileged children. Which just goes to show that the past is stranger than you might expect.
Dark Shadows‘ original run only lasted for five years, from 1966 to 1971. I’ve loved it for 30 years, which means that I’ve had enough time to watch every episode six times. (Note: I have not actually watched every episode six times.)
Now, I’ve heard some people say that Dark Shadows is not actually the greatest television show ever made. Those people are boring and not worth listening to.
Dark Shadows was an extraordinary use of the television medium, in the sense that if someone gave you 1,225 half-hours of network television, it would never occur to you to make anything even remotely like Dark Shadows. Even the people making it didn’t understand what kind of show they were making, until it suddenly became a huge success and it was too late to do something more sensible.
Dark Shadows used the daily soap opera format to create an insane, interwoven mash-up of gothic novels, monster movies, fairy tales and science-fiction. Characters inspired by Frankenstein, The Turn of the Screw, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Call of Cthulhu would meet, fall in love, betray each other, and then travel through time to save their werewolf cousin.
And this nonsense was broadcast on network television, at 4:00 in the afternoon, to an audience composed largely of housewives and teenagers.
Dark Shadows was romantic and funny and occasionally baffling and even more occasionally hauntingly beautiful. These are stories that could only have been told in this medium at this particular moment, because nobody who had any sense of responsibility or taste was paying attention to what housewives and teenagers were watching on television.
After it was all over, the show went into reruns on public television, which was just another item on the list of things that soap operas don’t do. Then it was on the Sci-Fi Channel for a while, and after that people basically forgot that Dark Shadows existed. These days, people mostly know it as the Tim Burton movie that they didn’t see.
But at its height in the late ’60s, it was a national sensation — watched by 18 million people, mostly on purpose. Jonathan Frid, who played Barnabas, received thousands of fan letters a week, many from women offering him their throats.
There were Dark Shadows trading cards, comic books, board games, joke books, jigsaw puzzles and glow-in-the-dark model kits. One of the songs from the soundtrack hit #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, holding its own against Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Plastic Ono Band. A Christian comic-book tract claimed that Dark Shadows was Satan’s favorite TV show.
And so, in 1969, Richard Nixon’s daughter invited a moody, 45-year-old Shakespearean stage actor from Canada to come to the White House, wearing fangs and a cape, so he could frighten underprivileged children. This is the story of how that could ever possibly have happened.
Monday: Opening the Box.
How to Watch Dark Shadows
Sometimes people ask what’s the best way to start watching Dark Shadows, because they know that the early episodes are boring, and they don’t want to give up on it before it gets good.
Here’s my advice: Start with episode 250. It’s the first really exciting episode — Barnabas has kidnapped Maggie, and he’s planning to kill her so that she can become his vampire bride. 250 is the episode where she decides to fight back; it’s fantastic.
After that, skip ahead and just watch the Fridays. They save up the interesting twists for Friday, in order to get people to come back next week. Friday episodes always end with a five or a zero, so next up is episode 255 and episode 260, big turning points in the Barnabas/Maggie storyline.
Episode 265 is Julia’s first episode, and it’s a must-see. Episode 270 is the exciting climax of the boring blackmail wedding story that you’ve skipped over. Episode 275 is the official last normal day at Collinwood.
Episode 280 is a big family costume party at the Old House, and they hold a big family seance. You should start watching every episode from here. Julia arrives at Collinwood in 284, and things really start to get crazy. I hope you enjoy it.
Dark Shadows Every Day 
I was 13 when Dark Shadows first aired. I have been a fan since. I still watch it daily. This is a great blog.
I first watched “Dark Shadows” in the early-mid-1980s when it ran on ABC weekday afternoons @ 3:30 CST. I was a young teen then. Now I’m 50 and I watch it every night on Decades Television at 11 pm CDT. This show never loses its magic. I just wish I could have met Mr. Frid. From what I’ve seen, he was always kind to his fans. A video on YouTube shows even little kids 4 or 5 who love Barnabas Collins.
I saw Mr Frid walking in NYC with groceries in his arms. My sister and I (we were quite young) yelled out the car window at him, but he ignored us. I imagine he was tired of that sort of thing LOL especially since I’m fairly certain we yelled ‘Barnabas!’ 🙂 he was one of a kind!
Loved DS then love it now and I’m 66 now
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Frid and ushering at a few of his one man shows. I also wrote Robservations, detailed synopses of every episode of the show, for $20 on CD.
Traveling through time back to the first post–
During all that Dark Shadows merchandising of the 60’s and 70’s, where were the Alladin, or Thermos metal lunchboxes and coloring books?
Am I the only creature on the planet who actually LIKES the pre-Barnabas DS?
No, there are some ’66ers in the comments. You’re not alone.
This site with your observations is the best. I love your humor and can tell you are a true fan even when you wonder what the hell is going on with whatever storyline. I used to run home from school everyday to watch DS. I recently found the entire series free on Tubi and started watching it again to see why I used to love it. I mainly only remembered Barnabas, Angelique, Julia and Quentin so it’s been nice seeing great characters I’d forgotten about. I haven’t gotten Quentin far yet but can’t wait, I had major a crush on him. Your site and the comments help me through when Barnabas, the it’s all about me vampire is on my last nerve. I guess it was mostly about him but geez, his wants and needs superseding everyone else to the point of mind control is a bit much to say the least. I can see why I didn’t remember Victoria much at all. Her character is written rather bland and some of the things they have her say in the 1700’s make you wonder why they didn’t give her a shovel along with the dialogue to dig her own grave. The actor that played her had a pretty interesting life back in the 80’s. She believed she was Claus von Bulows motive for the attempted murder through insulin of his wife Sunny. She was Mr von Bulows girlfriend. His two trials were huge at the time, OJ of the 80’s. He was aquitted in the second trial. His poor (very rich) socialite wife Sunny was in a vegetative state from 1980 when it happened to 2008 when she finally died. One of the commenters has probably mentioned this already, I just haven’t seen it yet. It’s an interesting side note, to say the least. This site is such a great companion piece to DS that I sometimes don’t know which I like best, DS or you trying to explain it lol. Thanks for this!
No, those are my favorite episodes! They just feel like home to me.
Woohoo!
I love the first-year episodes! There were lots of fantastic outdoor shots and the characters hadn’t become fully developed – many diverged from where they started out. And Joan Bennett, one of my favorites,
has a great blackmail storyline.
The Phoenix was great and without her there would have been no Barnabas-Angelique-Julia show.
Not at all. They have an appeal all of their own. Sure a lot of it is like watching paint dry, but its moodiness and relentlessly dour demeanor is kind of enveloping and oddly involving.
The pre-Barnabas storyline was very Gothic Romance Novel. I thought that was the way it would go.
No you’re not. I was born in 1990 and i’m 28 and enjoyed the early 200 episodes as much as i enjoyed the other 1000.
Especially that great thriller storyline of Matthew who killed Bill Malloy. That was entertaining as hell with little David involved..
Don’t skip anything is my advice. Fight through the whole thing 😀
I absolutely agree. Just found the website today and I wrote to the moderator recommending it-other than that he has done an awesome job.
I love it!
ah, I love ALL the episodes. Many times over :):)
Those episodes are my favorite, also.
I’m new to the genre, and am addicted to the first 200 some odd episodes. Have yet to start with #210.
Great stuff How could anyone not be intrigued by the drama and complex weird human behaviors and interactions that correctly reflect how complicated we humans can be?
Amen!
No! I was a little girl in rural southeastern NH, and sometimes in the summer we’d go up to Ellsworth, which is where Collinsport is supposed to be. Anyway, I loved all the stuff about the fishing fleet and so on. I was a weird kid.
When I first got into Dark Shadows in the nineties due to the Sci-Fi channel airing it I never got to see anything of the pre-Barnabas episodes except for the first episode (when Vicki arrives on the train to Collinsport) and the tail end of the Phoenix story arc, around the time Jason MacGuire arrived. But I had heard from other fans that the earlier episodes were boring. Still, I was curious, so finally this last year I decided to watch them since they’re now all available on Tubi, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good they were. It was, of course, a very different show then. More serious, brooding, and less campy. But I wasn’t expecting it to be what it would eventually become, so I wasn’t at all disappointed. I enjoyed watching them and will definitely watch them again.
Yay! Vicki wasn’t shrill and retarded back then. And Burke Devlin was the Real Thing.
I love Dark Shadows, watched it in the 1980s and 1990s. I had no chance of getting to see it when it was first aired (unless in another life) my mother was only 8 in 1966 so I had no chance of even being thought of yet. 🙂 Anyways, I am a writer and have the whole series in a coffin shaped box, I use Dark Shadows as a kind of motivation and inspiration for stories I create. I love the older movies and shows they feel somewhat more creative then what is being produced today. Just wanted to post my feelings that’s all. Thank you.
I love how someone who is too young for the original airing still likes it. I don’t know how much of my interest for the series is from strong childhood nostalgia.
I enjoyed “True Blood,” so I decided to loop back and give “Buffy” a try on Netflix last year, having never watched it. Maybe I gave up too early, but I only made it through a few episodes (I know sometimes shows get off to a rough start before really settling in). But it seemed too jokey and self-aware to me.
Buffy didn’t actually get good until the middle of season 2. I didn’t start watching it till it was on FX in 2001 and I was typing and deleting until that point. then I had to go back and rerecord them. in the end we just got the DVDs. They were the first DVDs I bought, other than one Scott Bakula movie. I was 7 in 1966 and I didn’t start watching the show until 1969 and I didn’t watch it for a long time. but when I finally wanted to seeit again I wanted to see it from the beginning. & I like Vicky.
and I have finally made it to episode 210.so now I can read along, I hope
Great blog! Been a fan since the show began in the 60s and still in love with Angelique almost 50 years later.
Mr. Horn,
I’m now on Episode No. 92. I sure do hope you loop back around and provide your insight and wit into the pre-Barnbas episodes as well. I’m delightfully surprised how much I am enjoying them. I really like seeing Elizabeth, Roger, Carolyn, David and Victoria at the forefront. I also like the mood they create and the interesting camera angles. The black and white just adds to the mood.
And I’m one of those rare DS creatures who liked the ghost stories best (though I am a fan of Barnabas and the vampire saga too). So this slow emergence of ghosts is fun to watch.
I’ll be interested in seeing when they “corrected” their history of things. They clearly did not have time travel and 1795 in mind at the time, with their repeated statements that “Jeremiah Collins” founded the dynasty and Collinwood. They don’t seem to set him back all the way to the 1700s.
They did give their first little hint of ghostly Sarah Collins, when David told Vickie that he talks to Josette and a little girl.
Danny, Yippee! Whoo-hoo! Hulu just added more DS eps! As of at least today (10/26/15), Hulu added what appears to be another 40 eps of DS, episodes 493-532!!!! (It looks like 532 combines 532/533 somehow?) Anyway, I can now go back to my DS binge and your blog, just in time for Halloween! (You may want to update your site accordingly with what Hulu now has available!) Thank you for your great blog! Tim
Oh, fantastic! That’s very good news. Thanks for the heads-up, I’ll update the info!
I just started Season 1 and it’s really not going anywhere. I don’t dislike it but it certainly doesn’t live up to the hype. What’s the best place to start?
Yeah, the early Barnabas episodes are slow, and the vampire story is mixed in with a blackmail story that drags on. Things pick up when Barnabas kidnaps Maggie (ep 236). In general during this period, the big events happen on Fridays, so episodes that end in 0 and 5 are the most exciting — 240, 245, 250 and so on.
Craven — Here’s my recommendation for someone who would like to give DS a good try and just isn’t feeling the slow pace of the pre-Barnabas episodes but would still like the background before going full vampire. I love the pre-Barnabas shows myself (I’ve never seen them until the past six months), but I can see why someone would find them very plodding.
Anyway, you can kind of CliffNotes your way through with this — or go episode by episode if any of these start to intrigue you:
Watch Episodes 1 and 2, just to get the relationships and the early mood/feel. If you’re not feeling it, read the synopsis of what happened to this point and …
Skip to Episode No. 50, which kicks off the murder mystery. The story will still evolve quite slowly at first. If you’re still not feeling it, …
Skip to Episode No. 70, which gives us our first bona fide supernatural event. I recommend everyone watch this episode, even in isolation. It’s a great moment in DS history. Now if you’re still not feeling it …
Skip to Episodes Nos. 84-86, where the show once again ups the spooky/supernatural factor. These three episodes are not as momentous as No. 70, but it’s just fun viewing and this is where Collinwood itself starts to evolve as a “character.” If this is still moving too slowly for you …
Skip to Episode No. 108. This is where the show starts to pick up the pace again and ups the ghost factor again. You’re now in the final stretch of the murder mystery. Plus you get a great performance by Thayer David as Matthew Morgan. If you watch a few of these and still aren’t convinced that the wrap-up of the murder mystery will be worth it …
Skip to Episode No. 128: This is the beginning of the The Phoenix storyline. I can’t tell you how much I like it. Diana Millay gives a great performance. And you only have roughly 80 episodes to get your vampire fix. However, if a few episodes of this story arc and Laura Collins don’t do it for you …
Skip anywhere from No. 202 to 208 and get ready …
I realize that’s a lot of watch/skipping, but those are all the early key points where the show takes it up another notch each time. For someone impatient to get to vampire action, it’s only 10 episodes or so of your time and can give you a lot of good background.
Nope. Start with Barnabas. You don’t need to watch boring episodes just to get used to the feel of the show. It’s a soap opera, it’s designed for continuous onboarding. You don’t need background; start anywhere you like.
The Phoenix story line is great. It really sets up the family, ancestors and present day.
Dark Shadows before Barnabas was NOT the least bit boring. In fact, they are integral to fully understanding the series. When I found out they existed, I purchased the DVDs and thoroughly enjoyed them.
That’s a great primer. I’m watching the early episodes for the first time, and it’s a bit of a slog. I’m glad to know there’s something pre-Barnabas to look forward to.
Hey William- Thanks so much for the detailed episode-watching guide! I’m on it!
I just saw this 3 years later, but I hope you enjoyed it!
Great way for a person to start watching it, William. Good starting guide!
Wow. It’s amazing people are reading comments from five years ago!
I’m reading them in March of 2021! I remember running home from elementary school to watch the original airing back in the 60s. Loved it then and am watching it again now (have watched it at various times throughout the years)! I even dragged my husband and young daughter to one of the cast reunions around 20 years ago.Thanks so much for your summaries and comments. Much appreciated!
This is more of a generic post to explain how I got into Dark Shadows, which was fairly recently (I started watching it last year on home video).
Basically, I started to watch a lot of classic horror movies around 12 years ago — I bought a lot of public domain DVD sets of the genre. From there, I found that I really loved Gothic horror movies, especially the ones that starred Barbara Steele (Nightmare Castle, Castle of Blood). I proceeded to read the entire works of Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley’s iconic Frankenstein, horror comics (mostly DC’s House of Mystery series). I simply cannot get enough of those tropes of dark corridors, paintings of beautiful women and creepy atmosphere.
I made it a point to binge watch Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee movies (along with the works of Mario Bava, and much of Hammer Films’ repertoire) until there was nothing to watch that were made by them anymore. Being someone who grew up in the 1980s when the slasher genre dominated the horror movie market, gothic horror movies from 1957 to 1974 (that I call the AIP/Hammer era) seemed like a breath of fresh air to me.
So reading horror movie magazines (like Rue Morgue and Horror Hound), I came across a lot of references to Dark Shadows. I did track down a few episodes around the time that the Johnny Depp movie about DS came out, and I liked what I saw (of the series, the movie, not so much).
So, to get my gothic horror fix (which shows no signs of abating, but sometimes I’ll take a breather), I have been watching the show fairly regularly now. As much as people like to make fun of the show, I find it better than a lot of bad horror movies that came out around the same era that it was made in.
“Those doubts I have no longer.” Barnabas sometimes delivers a line perfectly, other times he stumbles. This line was perfectly delivered.
How neat is this. I just started watching Dark Shadows and thought I’d see what was online for it. Nice blog!
Danny, I discovered your blog nearly a year ago and gradually became addicted, thanks to your extremely humorous posts and all the fascinating trivia you include!
My very first memories of Dark Shadows are vague; I was in first grade, and my after school babysitter (stay-at-home mom) tuned into DS every day. All I can recall is that there was a vampire and a witch on “that” show.
Years later in 7th grade, my best friend and I discovered DS in syndication, which was broadcast at 3 pm Monday through Friday. We would run home as fast as we could when school let out at 2:45 to see Barnabas, Julie, Willie and gang. And then it all ended abruptly one day when the station cancelled.
Almost 40 years later, DS crossed my mind. I thought to myself, “I bet that’s on Youtube or Netflix.” Sure enough, I was able to watch the first 210 episodes free of charge on Youtube. Then I picked it up on Hulu, and just finished episode 735 two weeks ago. As of this writing, Hulu has still not added additional episodes.
In the meantime, I’ve been rewatching episodes 211 and up. After reading your blog for nearly a year, I have a whole new perspective when I now view these earlier episodes.
Thanks again!
Thank you for this great blog! I just discovered it at the same time I have been watching the series again and you start right where I am with the introduction of Barnabas.
I have started the series a couple of times, first when the DVDs came out, then started over when the Beginnings came out, then started both over when my girlfriend got hooked. Have not ever got to the end, but I am enjoying it again and I am so glad to have your posts and trivia to follow along.
Are you planning on ever going back and writing from the beginning episodes? There is so much great stuff in the early days, even if it did lag at times I always found something to admire in those early episodes.
After all these years I am still amazed a show like this ever made it to the mainstream. I appreciate all the superb acting and sets- really everything about it more and more each time I see it.
Thanks again, excellent work here!
Hey Danny, love the blog! It’s one of the most witty, insightful and well-written things on the internet. Have been following along, but haven’t commented on individual entries because I’m about 50 episodes behind. I was wondering if you were going to write about the 2004 unaired Warner Bros. pilot. It’s available on Youtube and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Cheers, Liam.
Hi Liam: yes, I’m definitely going to cover the 2004 pilot. I’ve been using the pre-emption days for the 1991 revival episodes, and once those are done, I’ll get to 2004 and 2012. I’m glad you’re reading!
I am ecstatic that I found this website! I’m a 20-year-old fan of Dark Shadows. “But, how can that be?” you ask. “You’re so young; you weren’t alive when Dark Shadows was a successful TV show.” Well, one day, a couple of years back, my mother was listening to the radio and she heard the host mention Dark Shadow, and that it had a similar storyline to Jane Eyre — governess comes to a creepy mansion to look after a strange masters’ children. From there, she ordered the first set of Dark Shadows discs from a video magazine and, well, the rest is history! I naturally got hooked as a child (I was probably 15 or 16 at the time I started watching it with my mother for the first time) and we’ve been fans ever since! My mother had been living in the US for 20 years (she was born overseas), so she had never heard of Dark Shadows before — even though she was born in the 70s when the show took off! I will forever be grateful for that (literally) 5 seconds of radio airwave that my mother heard because, otherwise, we would still be oblivious to Dark Shadows and all of its glory. Guess it was fate! 🙂
I have recently been watching the show in its entirety again. The last time I watched was when I was 11-14 years old, rushing home after school to draw the drapes and watch in the darkness. I am loving everything about watching again. Remembering the storylines, the fabulous music, the clothing, the gentility set amid incredible circumstances; but also the ridiculous responses, the goofs, the hideous attempts at monster make-up, and so much more. The biggest surprise is how much I want to slap Quentin now when I thought he was dreamy when I was 12. I had sheet music to Quentin’s theme and played it with 11 year old romantic abandon. Now I think he is obnoxious and stupid. And, seriously, what did the writers have against Maggie, that she was repeatedly locked up in strange places?
Ooh, I wonder why your thoughts are on the most repeated cliff hanger at the end of an episode? Was it a smirking Angelique or a close-up of a hammer raised high waiting to strike a wooden stake?
Your site is brilliant and every episode post makes me laugh. You hit the…er, um…nail right on the head every time.
I’m on episode 1038 right now and kind of slowing down because I don’t want it to end. Thanks for sharing a fun diversion. You’re my kind of fan: you love it for all of the great memories and see it as a classic, iconic time capsule in the uniqueness and flawed wonder that is Dark Shadows.
I’ll tell you a funny story about Quentin’s Theme (Shadows of the Night). Back then as a 13 year old my mom took me to Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY every summer as my grandmother rented an apt there. They had bungalows back then, though this was a small apt building where old timers rented an apt right on the boardwalk in this old building (looked like it went back to the 1920’s with the antique furniture in the parlor, wooden drawstring toilets one to a floor, etc). In 1969 I played the accordion as a kid and took it to the parlor where the old folks were having a party. They wanted a waltz; only one I knew was Quentin’s Theme. I had a good ear for music and practiced at home. So I played it. Around 20 couples started to dance the Viennese Waltz to it. It was memorable. That was my tribute to DS. LOL
Hi Danny!
I’m not sure how I stumbled on this blog (I was researching Australian sketch comedy) but when I got here, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
For once, I find a web page/blog that is perfectly laid out with white space, intuitive navigation, clear headings, and body type large enough that I don’t have to hit Ctrl+ to read it with my bad eyes.
Then I noticed the copy. Unlike the dross on so-called professional media sites, here is perfectly punctuated, correctly spelled copy, mixing both simple and compound-complex sentences which have actually been proofread. The mechanics inherent in all the above are the work of a highly creative and professional writer.
Then there’s the wealth of original content, so finely wrought that unlike mindless recaps, each entry becomes a performance–perfectly conceived, magnificently executed.
Finally the tone and great humor here are spot-on.
In case it wasn’t clear from the above, you’ve done a thorough, superb job of which you should be very, very proud.
Just a bit about me. My first memory of Dark Shadows was my baby sitter running outside screaming and crying that “Josette just jumped off Widow’s Hill!” This would have been during the original run and I started watching after the baby sitter calmed down. The first thing that grabbed me was not spooky Barnabas (to a 7-year old), not the terrifying witch, not the threatening screaming Trask, but that amazing weird woman with the deep voice who electrified the screen.
That would have been Grayson Hall as Natalie but once we returned to 1968 DOCTOR HOFFMAN ruled, especially when she got the chic hair cut. I’VE GOT THE DOCTOR! I’VE GOT THE DOCTOR!
I totally agree with you that Frid, Hall, Parker, and Selby are the cores of the show (especially Hall), but having seen the DVDs forty years later, I’ve got to put Thayer David up there too, somewhere. He’s awesome.
So thanks for this great blog and thanks to all the wonderfully informed people writing the comments here with nary a note of trolling, showing off, or tearing down others.
It’s nice to be among friends who share my love of Dark Shadows. Boy have I been mocked and insulted and criticized when caught watching it, but so have I been when listening to Wagnerian opera. Their loss. (Speaking of Wagner, I could swear that in the initial episodes sold as Dark Shadows: The Beginnings there is a picture of Wagner in the area between the drawing room and the entry which is later replaced by a picture of Barnabas.)
And to think that just five years after Dark Shadows ended, we’d get Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman to Dark Shadows the soap opera genre from another angle.
OK. Enough. Thanks again, Danny. I’ll be spending lots of time here.
i realise it’s a bit late to be mentioning it, but that was utterly lovely, heinrich773; you spoke for my sentiments most heartily.
I love your blog! I was in high school when DS began & was one of those kids that hurried home from school to watch it. After I graduated & started college, my viewing was spotty & there were holes in a lot of the story lines. Barnabas was a vampire, then he wasn’t, then he was, then he wasn’t. I didn’t know how they got to all the different time periods and what was the deal with the staircase?! A few weeks ago I was scrolling through some of the Roku channels & found all of the Dark Shadows episodes on Tubi. It has saved my COVID lockdown life! It’s even better than I remember it. I love the poor lighting, props falling over, Julia’s dramatic overacting, Barnabas & Elizabeth’s frantic search for the teleprompter (learn your lines!), & their attempts at special effects. What a great show! Your blog has magnified my enjoyment of the show. I love your snarky comments!
I was part of the 90’s sci fi channel reruns crowd. My mum had found it and switched it on in the early 90’s. I must have been all of maybe 8 or 9 then. The first time I saw Barnabas, I wasn’t scared. I was, well something else entirely. Lol I was instantly drawn to watch this weirdly wonderful show. My dad, he wasn’t real thrilled. Mum n I bonded over it. (We would later bond over several other programmes as well) I remember Jonathan being the first prototype of a dream man ideal for me – a thin, gentlemanly man, well groomed, humble, incredibly well read, well educated, hygienic. Mysteriously self controlled around women (I knew of the rumors, didn’t care. Still don’t.), he was a guiltless pleasure. He was t attached to a woman that we were aware if, and seemed quite happy to be unattached to anything. This made him extra thrilling. (Take not of that men!) He was something that was surprising for any recent number of decades. Jonathan got me into educational stuff. I had an ‘everything vampires’ phase too, but on a grander scale, to look up to Jonathan, and hope to grow to b a woman who would attract a man like that required education. I got into Shakespeare, Poe, and had a secret love for being well read because of this. I grew up in a lower class home (in every sense of the term!), but dark shadows gave me an escape. Jonathan gave me a surprisingly healthy role model, despite my family’s ignorance. Even now, I’m nearly 40. I’m about to graduate from Queens College with my batchelor’s degree in film. I’d never in my life at that age thought I’d be doing this. Maybe some part of me hoped so, but never expected I’d b anything close to it. Mind you, I’ve dealt with quite a lot of personal crises to get that education, but Jonathan valued education, and so do I. There is much to be said about educating yourself, and being bold enough to stick out from the crowd in positive ways! I remember running home from the local day cam early to catch dark shadows hour. (Usually 2 back to back episodes!) I hated going to school as I missed the episodes. I used to pretend I was sick sometimes so I could have a break and enjoy some ‘shads’. I had a big Barnabas poster next to my bed. I had a dark shadows shirt and cassette. The tape allowed me to hear Jonathan’s sweet smooth voice anytime my heart damn pleased to do as such. It was like slowly enjoying some rich dark chocolate, in a warm bubbling bath tub, surrounded by candles, as cares melted away. That man and the show were special. I recently acquired the entire dvd set. You can’t imagine how it feels now, as an adult! Hoh boy! I can enjoy any and every bleeding episode, whenever I so wish. I can enjoy the show as much as I damn please, no one telling me how much I’m ‘allowed’ to enjoy it. I can enjoy it HOW I wish – wear whatever I want, eating whatever I want, when I watch it. My best friend is sci fi obsessed. I like it occasionally. I volunteer at the sci fi convention in NYC when it comes around. I finally have something to hunt for among the other nerds lol. Maybe I’ll dress up as a colonial or Victorian dark shadows lady. I usually enjoy the convention for the fact I’m not as serious as most ppl there, and I can have some great laughs. (My friend runs the publisher’s weekly booth) The happy childhood memories flood back. It feels good. It feels right. My escape is back, and boy do I welcome with with wide open arms. A lot has gone on since I had gotten to enjoy it last, but I feel like it’s an old friend who I’ve reconnected with, and who wants to keep that strong connection again. And, perhaps, maybe it is. This site is very comprehensive! I will enjoy using it as a viewing guide!
I started watching DS in 1990, I was in high school. It was the remake with Ben Cross, and I loved it. But never looked for the original, didn’t even think it was possible. Well this past November 2020 I found myself bored with Netflix so I got on Amazon prime video and found The og Dark Shadows. The beginning the episodes before Barnabas, and i binged them, then still on prime video I found that IMBDtv had all the other episodes with ads but at least they were complete. I just today found your blog. Will follow along am only at Adam and Eve. Will be seeing you..
It’s also free with just a few ads on Tubi on the Roku.
but the order.. it starts at episode 210.. is that even thee beginning?
I love this, but I must take exception. I just purchased the complete Dark Shadows collection, all 1200+ episodes, and I started watching from the beginning. And I have to say, it was never boring!
Roger’s brakes failing, Matthew Morgan trying to kill Vicky, Laura Collins and her witchcraft, the ghost of Josette Collins, I’ve been addicted from episode #1.
I’m up to March, 1967, and I believe Barnabas arrives in April. I’m sure the show will get even better, but it was great from the very start!
I cannot resist the vision of satan, including horns and pitchfork, in a smoking jacket, feet up in a Barcalounger with a remote control, watching Dark Shadows.