#art wallace

[gregorygalloway]

Dark Shadows premiered on 27 June 1966.

Created by Dan Curtis, veteran TV writer Art Wallace was hired to develop the series and he used a 1957 episode he had written for Goodyear Television Playhouse ("The House") as the basis for show.

The show failed to gain much of an audience until the introduction of the vampire Barnabas Collins (played by Jonathan Frid) in April 1967 and then took off with a storyline based in 1897 that began in March 1969. Airing at 4 P.M. (eastern time), the show caught on with teenagers coming home from school, but the series ended in 1971 after 1,225 episodes.

[whatithinkaboutdarkshadows]

Episode 940: You had dark hair

A shape-shifting monster from beyond time and space has assumed the form of a young man and decided to marry heiress Carolyn Collins Stoddard. Carolyn’s distant cousin, old world gentleman Barnabas Collins, knows all about the monster and wants to prevent the wedding. The other day, the monster mentioned to Barnabas that when he is not in human form, nothing can kill him. That would seem to…

View On WordPress

[collinsportmaine]

While watching an episode of Space 1999 I noticed that it was written by Art Wallace. Wallace helped develop Dark Shadows and wrote over 110 episodes. Curious, I checked IMDB and saw he had written for Star Trek and the Planet of the Apes TV show. So many of my favorite shows are connected through Art Wallace. Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie) appeared in an episode of Space 1999 and James Storm (Gerard) was in an episode of POTA.

[whatithinkaboutdarkshadows]

Episode 618: Long goodbye

Well-meaning governess Vicki Winters came to the great house of Collinwood in #1, called to take charge of the education of strange and troubled boy David Collins. Vicki’s attempt to befriend David was the only theme that consistently generated interesting scenes in the first several months of Dark Shadows, largely because Alexandra Moltke Isles and David Henesy were able to overcome weak writing…

View On WordPress

[whatithinkaboutdarkshadows]

Episode 805: The shocking condition of your face

The 150 year old evil sorcerer Count Petofi has taken possession of twelve year old Jamison Collins. Jamison/ Petofi has been casting spells to make the various residents of the estate of Collinwood reveal their true selves. Jamison’s distant cousin, Barnabas the vampire, has locked Jamison/ Petofi in the prison cell in the basement of the Old House on the estate. When Barnabas says that he will…

View On WordPress

[whatithinkaboutdarkshadows]

Episode 330: bat by Bil Baird

Dangerously unstable ruffian Willie Loomis spent a week staring at the eighteenth century portrait of Barnabas Collins in the foyer of the great house of Collinwood back in April, then tried to rob Barnabas’ grave. That turned out to be an awkward situation when Willie found that Barnabas wasn’t entirely dead. Barnabas was a vampire who bit Willie, turned him into his sorely bedraggled blood…

View On WordPress

[whatithinkaboutdarkshadows]

Episode 273: Why is there nothing there?

For sixteen weeks, starting with the introduction of seagoing con man Jason McGuire in #193 and ending today, Dark Shadows has subjected its viewers to a storyline about Jason blackmailing reclusive matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Thirteen times in those sixteen weeks, we saw iterations of the same dreary scene- Jason makes a demand of Liz, Liz resists, he threatens to expose her terrible…

View On WordPress

[whatithinkaboutdarkshadows]

Episode 271: A secret you had no right to keep

A wedding is being held in the drawing room of the great house at Collinwood. Matriarch Liz is marrying seagoing con man Jason. Carolyn, Liz’s daughter by her first husband, Paul Stoddard, has a pistol in her purse, which she is planning to use to shoot Jason before the ceremony can be completed. Well-meaning governess Vicki is distressed, because Liz confided in her in #259 that she is marrying…

View On WordPress