Dark Shadows Commentary

Episode 857: Champagne for Wanda Sorcerer Count Petofi is wearing the body of rakish libertine Quentin Collins as a disguise, while Quentin is trapped in Petofi’s own aging and pudgy form. I will call the villainous Petofi p…

In which Wanda Paisley, a young lady of professionally agreeable disposition, encounters a series of surprises, some more to her liking than others. darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/10/07/e...

Episode 856: Like a new man Evil sorcerer Count Petofi has cast a spell causing his mind to take over the body of rakish Quentin Collins, while Quentin is confined to Petofi’s own body. So David Selby begins playing a y…

In which Petofi and Quentin trade bodies: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/10/06/e...

Episode 855: The winds of change The Point of Return Barnabas Collins went into a trance at the end of February 1969 and came to in March 1897, a time when he was a vampire. Barnabas took the audience with him, so that Dark Shadow…

In which Petofi is about to swap bodies with Quentin, and the show has to figure out what comes after 1897: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/10/03/e...

Episode 854: Substitute for will Ever since she came to the estate of Collinwood in #844, Kitty Soames, the dowager Countess of Hampshire, has been having psychotic breaks. Regular viewers know that these are supernatural in origi…

In which the writers trust Kathryn Leigh Scott with a simpler line than they can usually bring themselves to give anyone: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/10/02/e...

Episode 853: Strange and horrifying spirits Kitty Soames, a young American woman who is the dowager Countess of Hampshire, is gradually turning into Josette DuPrés, who has been dead for 101 years. Kitty is staying at the great house on the …

In which they take a moment out from time travel and black magic and raising the dead to show us something truly amazing: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/10/01/e...

Episode 852: All kinds of spells on people From November 1967 to March 1968, Dark Shadows was set in the 1790s. The cast included Kathryn Leigh Scott as the gracious Josette, Louis Edmonds as haughty overlord Joshua Collins, and Lara Parker…

In which Josette's ghost knows what the living Josette never did, and she is hopping mad about it: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/09/30/e...

Episode 851: Common cause Rakish libertine Quentin Collins races to the train station to meet his fiancée, the lovely and mysterious Amanda Harris. He thinks he sees her, but it is actually another young woman wearing a rem…

In which we add David Ford to the list of actors who would have made a better Charles Delaware Tate than did Roger Davis: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/09/29/e...

Defining 'Gothic' A brief introduction to Gothic art and literature

What is a "Gothic romance"? culturedump.substack.com/p/defining-g...

I have seen his name many times, and am glad to report that I still have no idea who he is or why he is famous.

Episode 850: That’s your train, lady In June 1966, Dark Shadows opened with a train carrying well-meaning governess Victoria Winters and dashing action hero Burke Devlin from New York City to Collinsport, Maine. Vicki and Burke first …

In which the train that brought Vicki and Burke to Collinsport from New York in 1966 takes Amanda back there in 1897: #darkshadows darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/09/26/e...

Considering that Mrs Isles worked for the Museum of Television and Radio, it's ironic that her only non-DS screen acting credit is a lost film.

Episode 849: You wouldn’t expect me to forget a vampire Once upon a time, an American girl named Kitty moved to England, where she joined the household of the Earl of Hampshire as a governess. The Earl married her, and she became his Countess. Now it is…

In which Kitty introduces Quentin to the concept of "learning," and Julia makes a half-hearted attempt to pretend she has been poisoned. #darkshadows darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/09/25/e...

Episode 848: You have no mortality The year is 1897, and the mythological world described by the ancient Greeks seems very far away. The story of Pygmalion, the sculptor who loved a statue he had made depicting an imaginary woman so…

In which three guys take turns bursting into Amanda's room and telling her what to do, and she decides to leaves with the one who isn't a total jerk about it: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/09/24/e...

YouTube video by To Tell the Truth (CBS) To Tell the Truth - Prolific writer; Matador; Frog expert (Jan 31, 1966)

The first contestant in this 1966 installment of TO TELL THE TRUTH opens with "My name is Marilyn Ross." Yes, he is THAT Marilyn Ross! #DarkShadows #BarnabasQuentinAnd www.youtube.com/watch?v=be3u...

Episode 847: Some new and astounding piece of information Julia Hoffman, MD, has followed her friend, vampire Barnabas Collins, on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past. They are now in the year 1897, where Barnabas hopes to prevent disasters…

In which I let first-time viewers in on a secret Julia is keeping from Petofi and from them, but not from the rest of us: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/09/23/e...

Episode 846: Advantage of an unfortunate creature Tim Shaw was a poor put-upon fellow when first we met him in #731, an episode set in April 1897. He had spent his childhood among the pupils imprisoned at Worthington Hall, a dungeon masquerading a…

In which a bad break damaged Tim Shaw's moral character, and a lucky break annihilated it: darkshadowscommentary.com/2025/09/22/e...

Table of Contents and Episode Guide I started this site as a collection of links to comments I’d made on other Dark Shadows themed sites, principally Danny Horn’s Dark Shadows Every Day and John and Christine Scoleri&#821…

My blog, Dark Shadows Commentary, has a page called "Table of Contents and Episode Guide." That's one place to start reading it. There are others, all equally good. darkshadowscommentary.com/table-of-con...