It's A Little Scary...Even Now

The Colonel and I are currently watching episodes of Dark Shadows on Netflix Instant Watch. We are hooked.

Dark Shadows ran on ABC from June 1966 to April 1971. There were 1,225 episodes made for the Gothic soap opera.

The soap opera was on every week day at 3:00 PM.

I remember my sisters and I coming home from school (I was almost five years old when the show first aired) and watching Dark Shadows. The next day at school, all the kids would talk about what was happening at Collinwood in Collinsport.

"Don't come crying to me when you can't sleep because Dark Shadows has given you nightmares", our mom would say to us.

The soap opera was scary, especially for elementary school-aged children. I jumped in bed with one of my siblings on more than one occasion because I was frightened.

Watching the soap opera now, I see that my young mind did not grasp all of the intricacies and nuances of the show. It is somewhat campy and I can see why it has an intense cult following now.

The actors on the soap had rigorous schedules. The scenes of the daily, half-hour shows were usually taped in just one take. Imagine trying to memorize your new lines on a daily basis and having to do them in one take. Many mistakes were made.

The Colonel and I like watch to see when the errors take place. Many of the actors often look to the side at cue cards as they are delivering their lines. It is also fun to see the microphone boom enter the shot. I have seen the stagehands wandering onto the back of the sets and a fly land on Barnabas Collins' face.

Despite the mistakes, the soap opera is fun to watch and it sucks (no pun intended) you in. The Colonel and I watch a few episodes each night to see what will happen next (we have forgotten some of it, but it is amazing how much we do remember, in spite of how young we were when we first watched the soap opera).

I haven't had any nightmares from watching Dark Shadows...but it sure is comforting, knowing The Colonel is only an arm's length away from me when I am asleep at night.