Dark Shadows Star Jonathan Frid Dead at 87

Evo

I used to watch Dark Shadows when I was little. I can still hear the music. RIP Barnabas.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Darks-Sh...t-1046239.aspx

Oooh, Johhny Depp as Barnabas, I can't wait!

daveb

The trailer paints the movie as a tongue-in-cheek (though well-made) campy movie.

Evo

I can't wait, sounds like a great tribute. The original Dark Shadows was a lot of fun to watch. I can't stop humming the theme song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbCqp_a3iE

Evo

The arrival of Barnabas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4OBq...eature=related

zoobyshoe

I used to watch Dark Shadows just about every day for a while. Unlike all other soap operas, they aired it late in the afternoon so kids could watch it after school. It started off great, but then the plot slowed to a snail's pace and whole episodes would go by where nothing cool happened.

Evo

Yeah there were some plot parts and characters I didn't care for towards the end. My favorite parts were where they went back in time to when Barnabas got cursed.

Ivan Seeking

I never got into watching the show but it was required watching for all the moms in the neighborhood.

I think this conflicted with Gilligans Island, which was mandatory watching for us kids.

Danger

I can't remember a damned thing about it other than the gothic aspect. It is the only soap that I ever watched, and I did so faithfully as soon as I was put onto it by a classmate. I didn't even realize that it was a soap; I watched just because it had vampires. It aired at about 4:00 pm, which was just in time for me to catch when I got home from school.
I've seen the teasers for the movie, and can't wait for it to show up here. If it were anyone other than Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, I probably wouldn't bother, but those two make magic together.

Evo

I think anyone that expects the movie to be anything like the show will be disappointed.

It appears to be a comedy as only Tim Burton and Johnny Depp can pull off. I love Johnny Depp.

Janus

Ironically, on the day the news broke, my wife got a flyer in the mail advertising a "Dark Shadows" convention. Jonathon was billed as making an appearance. Oddly enough, the thought that jumped into my mind that that he were to show up, it would be taking "committing to the role" to a whole new level.

Janus

Here's an interesting fact about how the show evolved. Initially it just started out to a straight Soap opera with a Gothic feel, nothing supernatural at all. Then they started a story about the return of the head of the household's ex-wife, and it turns out that she is something like a Phoenix, in that she dies by fire and is reborn again.

The ratings for the show, which had not been good, shot up. They started to go back to a normal story line, and the ratings fell again. They quickly cobbled together a new story line and introduced Barnabas. The rating went back up.

The Barnabas character was, like the Phoenix, only supposed to be a short-lived character. They'd play out his story (the one were he abducts a local girl to replace his lost love), and he would eventually be found out and destroyed. However, Barnabas became so popular that they decided that they couldn't get rid of him, so they made it a continuing character, and thus permanently changed the direction of the show.

Evo

That's very interesting.

I'm tempted to re-watch the series.

Ouabache

That's sad news about Jonathan Frid
I also watched Dark Shadows regularly in late afternoons. The attraction for me was its supernatural feeling with people who transcended time. More recently, I learned that a building that I frequented and enjoyed ambling around the grounds, was used as the exterior shot of Collinwood Mansion

Danger

I do regret the death of Mr. Frid. I never knew him personally, but I don't like to see anyone die (unless I caused it). He and his castmates afforded me hours upon hours of enjoyment through their show. The movie will be nothing like it, but it's one of the few remakes that probably won't offend me. I'll never watch the movie versions of Starsky & Hutch, The Mod Squad, etc. because those were not comedies originally and to make them such was an insult to me as a fan. (I made the mistake of seeing Wild Wild West, and shall not repeat the experience.)
This, on the other hand, is essentially a new show with the same title as an old one. Just as The Addams Family movies paid high tribute to the original series, which in turn had paid high tribute to the original cartoons, this seems to be an affectionate nod toward the series without bastardizing it.