Dark Shadows (1966)

Dark Shadows was a daytime television serial which ran from 1966 to 1971 on ABC. It spanned 1225 episodes and saw several off-shoots including a series of novels, comics, and audio dramas in production from 2006 to the present.
== Episode list ==
== Storylines ==
* See full article: List of Dark Shadows Storylines
# 	Title 	Episodes 	# 	Pre-emptions
1 	Victoria Winters 	1 to 127 	125	109; 110
2 	The Murder of Bill Malloy 	46 to 126 	79 	109; 110
3 	Laura the Phoenix 	123 to 192 	69 	131
4 	Jason McGuire 	193 to 275 	82 	226
5 	Barnabas the Vampire 	205 to 290 	85 	226
6 	The Search for Barnabas' Cure 	291 to 365 	75 	
7 	1795 	365 to 466 	100	369; 391
8 	Creation of Adam and Eve 	466 to 636 	169	533; 634
9 	The Dream Curse 	477 to 536 	59 	533
10	The Werewolf 	627 to 700 	73 	634; 653
11	Quentin's Ghost 	639 to 700 	61 	653
12	Return to 1796 	657 to 667 	11 	
13	1897 	700 to 885 	184	802; 824
14	The Hand of Count Petofi 	778 to 883 	104	802; 824
15	The Leviathans 	886 to 980 	91 	895; 914; 920; 921
16	1970 in Parallel Time 	969 to 1060 	92 	
17	1995 	1061 to 1070	10 	
18	Gerard Stiles - Summer of 1970 Haunting	1071 to 1109	39 	
19	1840 	1110 to 1198	85 	1135; 1155; 1175; 1180
20	1841 in Parallel Time 	1186 to 1245	59 	1208
== Subplots ==
* See full article: List of Dark Shadows Subplots
#	Title 	Episodes 	# 	Pre-emptions
1	The Revenge of Burke Devlin 	1 to 201 	198	109; 110; 131
2	Jeff Clark 	465 to 650 	184	533; 634
3	Elizabeth’s Premature Burial	513 to 672 	157	533; 634; 653
4	The Phoenix in 1897 	728 to 761 	34 	
5	Quentin and Amanda 	812 to 934 	118	824; 895; 914; 920; 921
6	Chris Jennings’ Lycanthropy 	889 to 978 	86 	895; 914; 920; 921
7	Cyrus Longworth’s Experiment	978 to 1035 	58 	
8	Roxanne Drew 	1081 to 1150	69 	1135
== Behind the scenes ==
=== Concept and creation ===
* See full article: Shadows on the Wall
Creator Dan Curtis had a dream in 1965 of a mysterious young woman who was on a train. The following day Curtis told his wife of the dream and pitched the idea as a TV show to ABC. Network officials greenlighted production and Curtis began hiring crew members.
Art Wallace was hired to create a story from Curtis' dream sequence. Wallace wrote the story bible Shadows on the Wall, the proposed title for the show, later changed to Dark Shadows. Robert Costello was added as a line producer, and Curtis took on the creator and executive producer roles. Lela Swift and John Sedwick agreed to be directors for the new series. Robert Cobert created the musical score and Sy Thomashoff designed the set.
Curtis then set out to find the actress to play the girl who was on the train. Alexandra Moltke, a young actress with little experience, was discovered and cast in the role of Victoria Winters, an orphan who ends up in the mysterious town of Collinsport, Maine, to unravel the mysteries of her own past.
Veteran film star Joan Bennett was soon cast as Victoria's employer Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, a woman who had not left her home in over eighteen years. Stage actor Louis Edmonds was cast as Elizabeth's brother Roger Collins. Another stage actress, Nancy Barrett, was then cast as Elizabeth's rebel daughter Carolyn Stoddard. Child actor David Henesy was cast as Roger's troubled son David Collins.
Dark Shadows had a rocky beginning. Critics were quick to deem the show rather boring for its heavy use of unknown actress Alexandra Moltke and the slow progression of the legacy of the show. The earliest episodes consisted of introducing the troubled characters and did not show any of the supernatural elements that later made the show a hit.
As production on the series continued, the introduction of many new and mysterious characters and various unknown actors and actresses was prevalent on the set. Most actors also ended up playing multiple characters, and those same characters would often come back from the dead in the unprecedented use of parallel times and flashbacks.
=== Cancellation ===
* See full article: Cancellation
Beginning in the fall of 1970, several ABC stations across the country had taken the show off due to falling viewership. Within six months, ratings dropped from 7.3 to 5.3. Ironically, Nielsen ratings for March 1971—the last full month that Dark Shadows was on the air—revealed that viewership of Dark Shadows had risen in its final weeks.
== Home video ==
== See also ==
* Chronology (original series): A timeline covering the continuity of the original televised series.
* Dark Shadows (1966), Characters A-Z: An index of every character to appear or be referenced.
* List of works used in Dark Shadows: A list of novels, short stories, films, other sources that influenced the various storylines and characters.
* Firsts and Lasts: The first and last occurrences of actors, characters and any other events.
* Here's What Really Happened to Barnabas & Co: An epilogue for the series and its characters.
* Dark Shadows Birthdays: A list of the birthdays of individuals working on the series.
== External links ==
* 
* www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/bob-costello#
Category:Television