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On Hulu they have every episode of DARK SHADOWS starting with the first appearance of Barnabus Collins. I been watching it- the early episodes are in black and white. The show was real good! In the late 60's it got so convoluted I had no f**king clue what was going on.
Back when these shows first aired I never got to watch it, because I was in school! And this was a daytime soap!

http://youtu.be/vgBMZOHZVLo (http://youtu.be/vgBMZOHZVLo)

Then they are not showing every episode, because Barnabas Collins (the late Jonathan Frid) did not start appearing in the series till 10 months into the series, which gave a big boost to the popularity of the series.

In fairness Ronny did say every episode "starting with the first appearance of Barnabus Collins." Every episode from there on was how I read it.

It's been years since I watched, but if I recall correctly, I think for like 30 episodes (I'm exaggerating) before Barnabas Collins shows up, there's a guy trying all these Wile E Coyote type tricks to get into Barnabas' tomb.  It's kind of funny watching all the episodes together, but I could imagine how boring it would have been having to wait to watch each episode and seeing the same thing every time, one day it's a crowbar and the next it's an axe, and the next he's rigged up a chain and hammer..

^  Yeah. But Willie (That was his name in the show! Real close to Wile E.!)  did a good Renfield imitation!
The whole thing is drawn out contrived bulls**t. But it was better than all other soaps, and game shows!

I remember the original broadcasts, in the afternoon, of this soap.  Suddenly, everybody (whoever that must have been) said to watch Dark Shadows at 4 o'clock... and me and my brother and sisters would run home from school in time to do it, always on time!  Now, I understand Barnabas was introduced to prop up sagging ratings.  The tomb was opened by the "handyman" Willie Loomis, who got a surprise when he found Barnabas alive in his coffin.  Willie then became Barnabas' slave.  Many years later, in the early 1980s, my brother and sister and I watched many of those early episodes again, and the swift segway to color, on late night TV, two episodes in a row each night, starting about 2 or 3 AM!  You will see scenery move, people moving behind it, revealed by stumbling cameramen, and boom mics, watch out!!!  The best though, is when they forget their lines!  Barnabas: "Hominahominahomina...and so, Julia, what was it you just said...?!"   It's really quite cheezee. 

^ I think I still have a VHS tape with all Dark Shadows bloopers!  :cheers:

I was aware of Dark Shadows! I seen the movie at the Strand in 1970, it was in Famous Monsters, I had the Barnabas model kit- (first model kit I ever got!), they had comic books-it was like a craze!

I had this magazine in 1971! I still have a copy!

(https://i.imgur.com/7aEyiTw.jpg) (https://lunapic.com)

My mother watched it during it's original broadcast and I often watched it with her. HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS was the first horror movie I saw in a theater. I made my dad take me when I was about 6 years old.

I was 8.  :thumbup:

i was 9 and CRUSHED that quentin wasn't in it, i had such a crush on him, lol! the sequel did though, i think i saw that at least a dozen times at our local theater.

they (abc) had changed the time from three thirty to four o'clock. the show was pre-empted a few times by apollo splashdowns. I started watching I think in late 1967 and watched the show to the end but by that time the storylines had gotten so convoluted it didn't matter anymore. the writers Gordon Russell and Sam Hall never should have taken their eyes of the fangs...BARNABAS COLLINS.
as for the nbc 1991 primetime revival which wasn't too bad they got a few things wrong however. they botched the casting of Angelique. lara parker with those eyes is unforgettable. but Barbara Steele must be acknowledged as having surpassed Grayson Hall as Julia Hoffman.

nbc pulled the plug too soon.

^ It would have been swell to see Barbara in all her glory every week on prime time TV!

on that we agree, gentlemen, NOBODY holds a candle to barbara when it comes to the peepers! :cheers: 

oh hell i think it's episode #210 where Barnabas joins the show, i have the entire series on dvd and i'm currently watching it off and on i'm on episode #91.

that would be the end of october of (1966) i dunno why no one ever starts with episode number #1 it's a great show before they started to do supernatural/horror.
it just starts out pretty slow and it can for first timer take some time to get into the show that's all. David though in the early days was a kid that needed to be spanked quite a bit cause he was a terror. thankfully later on he wasn't, DS is a show you have to see all the episodes or else you don't know what the hell is going on.

i just started watching from day one about a 2 weeks ago, and agree with you. and what got me was that i totally forgot that the sobbing lady was there right from the beginning too! david, yeah, a total brat, but he grew up fast in some ways, where as carolyn DIDN'T. she always annoyed me as a kid watching, she was just TOOO much like the so called grownups in the younger generation in my little town. rude, entitled, bratty, immature and took everyone for granted, i despised people like that at the age of 5 and still do.

i think later on she did do some growing up but i agree early on she is very immature. did you know that Florence Stanly which i think i spelled her name wrong? she was the sobbing woman that you heard. when first watched the start of the early years ago in the early 2000's it took me what felt like forever to get into it cause it starts off so damn slow. but once they stop introducing the characters around the #30th episode or so or 30 something i forget the number it starts to get good. for me Burke is a really good character and it breaks my heart that he later was fired from the show due to his drinking.


but i do think the early years are vastly underrated

i did NOT know that, and i love trivia, i'll put that tidbit in the DS vault. i read somewhere recently that burke( mitchell ryan) passed away, but i haven't seen any more info.
  i've gotten to the point where we first actually SEE the ghost of josette, interesting cinematography there. and the guy who plays the older mr garner, he's got the BEST scary stare!

harvey Keitel also dId a couple episodes but He was just an extra and he Had no dialog at all.  Susan Sullivan also apparently was on it too but i forget who she was suppose to play and i'm not even sure when she was even on it. what i find really funny is that David Hensey spelling? used to smoke with the other kids in Joan Bennett's dressing room cause it smelled of her perfume. though i cant' see David do that but apparently he did.

the only reason we even got Quentin at all is cause J. Frid was having a hard time with remembering his lines so he wanted a lighter load so they created Quentin who is my favorite Character. in fact check out IMDB trivia it's amazing how when i first started checking that out there was like 2 or 3 things and that's about it now if you look at it now it's got a LOT of trivia in there.

oh, i ADORED quentin and had the worst crush on him ! and i love david selby forever, he has beautiful eyes.  :cheers:

it's hard to believe he's gonna be i think 80 this year, check out the audio plays by Big Finnish those are so worth it

That's a great show. I finished the whole thing a few months ago.

One of the best parts for me involved John Hall playing the first Willie Loomis.

Why, hello, Carolyn!

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you know the only reason he left the show & was recast was because he just could not read the teleprompter he was having trouble with it & in fact that's why some of them left. David Ford had the same issues which was why he was made blind and why his ghost had glasses on. Mark Allen the first Sam Evans also had the same issue & i think the first Matthew Morgan as well i believe. oh i'm sure there were others as well but those are the ones i can think off at the top of my head. & i think that's why Frank Schofield  also was killed off and why they didn't just replace him i dunno?  he played Bill Malloy.

i had to look that one up cause i forgot who played him or the characters name for that matter. we lost Alexandra Isles really only for one reason she got knocked up & she wanted to come back after she had her son but she said if i come back i want to play another character a Villain like everyone else seems to be doing cause the entire cast was playing different characters but her so it made sense that she'd want to do that but for some stupid ass reason they said no.
as she got tired of how stupid Vicki was and how her character was pretty bland if you think about it. there was no depth or any challenge to play her at all and she wanted that and i can't say that i blame her.

the reason given was they didn't want the audience to get confused by her playing a different character i believe they said but than they had everyone else do it, actually now that i'm thinking more about it Vicki was in their eyes the character we as an audience who is relatable and who asks the questions we can't ask. which i do get don't get me wrong but there no doubt could have been a way to work around that i'm sure. no doubt we would have found out she was Liz's daughter at some point i think had she stayed