Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Kitschy gothic soap is too spooky for young kids.
Parents Need to Know
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Dark Shadows
What's the Story?
Afternoon soap opera DARK SHADOWS was a struggling gothic snooze through most of its first season, featuring members of the neurotic and troubled Collins family in Collinsport, Maine. Things picked up when the show introduced Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid), a vampire who had been imprisoned in his coffin for 200 years. Upon his accidental release, Collins sets about trying to seduce young women into his vampiric lifestyle and wreaking revenge upon his enemies, while being tormented by the spirit of his sister and the memory of his true love, to whom he was unfaithful. The rest of the Collins family (tries to cope with Barnabas' actions and their own love lives. Each half-hour episode typically ends with some kind of shock, i.e. the reappearance of a character thought dead.
Is It Any Good?
Kitschy, cheap-looking, glacially slow, and silly as it is, the show still holds some appeal, particularly for those who either remember watching Dark Shadows on afternoon TV reruns, or for modern fans of vampire myths. Dark Shadows was utterly unique in its era and timeslot. Afternoon soaps of the day usually featured good-looking doctors and nurses in life-and-death dramas, or melodramatic love affairs. This weird show, with its spooky music and horror-movie happenings, was about as freaky as it got in the 1960s, and for that reason alone it still has a following.
That being said, things move mightly slowly in Collinsport, and there's a lot more talking about what just happened, or what might happen, than actual happenings. As Barnabas Collins, actor Jonathan Frid is hammy, sensual, and still sometimes menacing. Young kids may get spooked by his antics; older ones will probably tee-hee at how restrained he is compared with more bloodthirsty modern vamps. Nonetheless, things pick up whenever he's onscreen, and his twisty story of obsession, betrayal, and revenge is the best thing the show has going for it. Oh, and the abundant kitsch, the many technical flubs, and the overall cheapness of the production, which will amuse media-savvy young viewers to no end.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how soap operas have changed since the 1960s. Are there still soap operas on television? Have you ever seen one? Do you know why they were called soap operas? Who do you think such shows were meant to reach?
Barnabas Collins was one of the first vampires ever portrayed on television. How is he like other pop culture vampires, such as those in Twilight or The Vampire Diaries?
Why would a show want to have vampire, witch, or other supernatural characters? Do the supernatural characters on Dark Shadows act like people in some ways? What does the show gain by having characters who are immortal or who can do things that humans can't?
TV Details
- Premiere date : June 27, 1966
- Cast : Joan Bennett , Jonathan Frid
- Network : Syfy
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Fantasy
- TV rating :
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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