So...The new Dark Shadows movie with Johnny Depp comes out in May. I'm very excited about it. I've been watching the show in re-runs and on DVD for a while now.
I thought I'd take a sec, and tell you how I got hooked in to DS.
I was born in 1963, so I didn't catch the show when it was first on. I first saw the show, when it was being re-run in the afternoons sometime in the mid-1970s, on a TV station in Indianapolis. It ran for a few months over the summer, and I remember watching on a Friday as the episode ended with Willie's discovery of the secret room, and Barnabas' hand reaching up!!!
I anxiously awaited for Monday to arrive, and to my horror, they replaced DS with something else!!!! I called the station, and the answer I got was that they didn't like the quality of the prints for the re-runs, so they just stopped showing it!
Unbelievable!
Fast forward to 1990, I was working in Minneapolis, Minnesota for Stuart Anderson's Cattle Company Restaurant, as a store entertainment coordinator for the bar! I worked at the stores in Roseville, Bloomington, Fridley, and Minnetonka. When I first arrived, not having made friends yet, I was looking for something to fill the time. Suncoast Motion Picture Studio, a video store, became my second home.
This was before DVD. Everything was VHS. So I'm perusing through the racks, and I see that "Dark Shadows" is out on VHS!! What a concept! I was thrilled. I started snapping up the tapes as quickly as they came out. How devious that one tape would end with a pretty big cliffhanger, forcing me to wait until the next release to find out what happened!! I figured it was my version of waiting from Friday until Monday, with the wait actually being a little longer. :-)
I still have those tapes, up to the first time travel story.
Yes I watched the 1991 NBC show as well. I recorded them on VHS, and kept them until the DVD's came out.
When I left Minneapolis to return to Indianapolis for another career opportunity, one of my going away gifts was a copy of "The Dark Shadows Companion:25th Anniversary Collection" that had autographs from Kathryn Leigh Scott and Lara Parker (2 of the actors from the show) inside!
So that's where we are now. I break out the DVDs and watch them from time to time, with certain DVDs marked with my favorite episodes.
I have not yet made it through the entire series...but I plan on it! I've stopped and started three times! Once on TV, once on VHS, and now on DVD. Third time's the charm, right?
Today I had the opportunity to interview Kathryn Leigh Scott.
I did my best, to not go all 'fan boy'. I'm not sure I succeeded. Listen for yourself by clicking here.
The movie opens May 11th.
