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Ended

Dark Shadows

1966–1971TV-PGABC
Dark Shadows is an American gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements. It was unprecedented in daytime television when ghosts were introduced about six months after it began. The series became hugely popular when vampire Barnabas Collins appeared a year into its run. Dark Shadows also featured werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles; indeed, as actors came and went, some characters were played by more than one actor. Major writers besides Art Wallace included Malcolm Marmorstein, Sam Hall, Gordon Russell, and Violet Welles. Dark Shadows was distinguished by its vividly melodramatic performances, atmospheric interiors, memorable storylines, numerous dramatic plot twists, unusually adventurous music score, and broad and epic cosmos of characters and heroic adventures. Now regarded as something of a classic, it continues to enjoy an intense cult following. Although the original series ran for only five years, its scheduling as a daily daytime drama allowed it to amass more single episodes during its run than most other science-fiction/fantasy genre series produced for English-language television, including Doctor Who and the entire Star Trek television franchise. Only the paranormal soap opera Passions, with a total of 2,231 episodes, has more.Read more
Seasons
12
Episodes
1225
Runtime
30m
Rating
Rated 6.8 out of 10

This show has ended, so there are no new episodes to remind you about.

Latest episode · aired

DS-1245

S12 · E46 · Aired Apr 2, 1971

Episode guide

Seasons

13 total

Behind the camera

Creators and crew

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The fine print

Details

Status
Ended
First aired
Jun 27, 1966
Last aired
Apr 2, 1971
Created by
Dan Curtis
Networks
ABC
Country
United States
Original language
English
Seasons
12
Episodes
1225
Community rating
6.8 / 10 from 61 votes

IMDb (opens in a new tab)