Post 01 -- It begins! with the iconic Episode 210, where Barnabus makes his first appearance

First post, so let me try to give my manifesto: there are good episode guides out there, and I'm not trying to replicate them. So, instead, this is just for fun, watching the episodes from 210 and onward (they end at 1245!!!) and commenting on them... with perhaps a side order of tangent.
Dear reader, follow along with me, rewatching the episodes, or not, as you prefer. I am watching them using Netflix (nope, they're not paying me, I'm just giving the facts)... other than purchasing the episodes, for all I know they could be available somewhere else too. Chime in, if you like.
The show really had been on a long time before vampire Barnabus Collins showed up. I'd watched the show faithfully, in reruns, on the SciFi channel, and anxiously awaited his arrival. You may remember the weird story arc with the phoenix character? I do, and I actually liked the pre-Barnabus episodes. I wonder how many people are with me on this one? Evidently, when Netflix decided to put make DS available, they chose to go with starting at episode 210. So, here goes.
"My name is Victoria Winters..." Ah, the nostalgia of hearing that intro! Barnabus makes his debut on a dark and cloudy night (not storming, but it looks like it just might), and the Collinses are tense: Jason McGuire, as usual, making Elizabeth (Collins) Stoddard's life hell, her daughter out on the town to avoid the tense situation at home... and Elizabeth and Victoria Winters, keeping late hours, Elizabeth arguing (fairly wooden dialogue, I'm afraid) with Jason, wanting Willie Loomis out -- immediately!
Previous episodes reveal that Willie had been acting sort of weird, and Jason  is sure he's up to something; a sudden interest in Collins family history, visits to the graveyard, and Willie is mesmerized by the portrait of Barnabus Collins.
At the graveyard, it seems he hears the heartbeat, and is tormented by it, but sometimes he doesn't appear to hear it but the audience does (?!?). Odd. By chance, he finds the secret to how to open Barnabus's room, where Willie finds the coffin draped in chains, with locks. He manages to break them, and with cutaways back to Collinwood, the last scene shows him opening the heavy coffin, then displaying a look of total horror, as a hand with a large onyx ring shoots out of the coffin and firmly grasps Willie's jaw.
Now, there really is a lot of vamp entertainment available today; in 1967, not so much. But why look back? DS was a daily soap, and it showed (sometimes pretty obviously!) with its low production values, plodding plots, and befuddled actors. But it was something more: some of the characters (most notably, of course, dear Barnabas) were really well acted (most of the time) and interesting enough to hold our attention over long, sometimes very long, story arcs.
And what of Barnabas? Interesting halfway point in a way between the disturbing and frankly ugly Nosferatu of the silent film era, and the pretty sparkly vamps of Twilight. A disturbed vampire with class, a troubled past, and a troublesome conscience, who could be charming or creepy; Jonathan Frid played both quite well.
Even the first time it aired, it would have been pretty clear who Willie found: the hand, with that distinctive ring, had been shown to us many times, in the portrait displayed at Collinwood. So, what's next? they must have wondered? Is Willie destined to be Barnabas's first drink (in a long long time)? Apparently, Barnabas was originally a temporary character; but he was so popular, and the series had a dramatic ratings spike, so he became the focal character.
I hope you've enjoyed reading, and I hope to find others who'd like to post here and visit in this virtual space! more next time!

welcome to Earth, baby blog!

I'll admit right off there are people out there with much more Dark Shadows knowledge than me. So, what am I doing here?
Well, it occurred to me it would be fun to watch (re-watch) the shows, which is now easy to do due to Netflix. (I will say here and now that Netflix isn't paying me a dime or anything! I just mention it here since others may want to know how I'm accessing the episodes.)
Dear readers, you may know that the show went on for quite some time before dear Barnabus burst onto the scene. I actually liked those early episodes and the whole weird phoenix story arc (am I alone in that?), and the long anticipation as I watched the show years ago on the SciFi channel, knowing that eventually ... in time... no, wait, not yet ... yes! Barnabus would show up. As I said, my source for now is Netflix, which does indeed have DS, but starts with the emergence of Barnabus Collins from his coffin.
Watch this space... I will be posting on the episodes in order, and welcome you to join in, drop in, chat, whatever. Goodbye for now!