MovieChat Forums > Dark Shadows (1966) Discussion > End of the Chris storyline?

End of the Chris storyline?


What was it? It's like Adam, one day he just stopped appearing on the show? Was he cured? Did he move away? Did he take Amy with him?

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Don Briscoe was ill.

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Possibly on extended detox.

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Is it just me or was he a bad actor? He was likeable but seemed so stiff. Maybe he was asked to play the chris part stiff...being a werewolf ...hanging over his head.

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I'm sorry to hear he was ill. But you don't dump a year-long story without resolution. Get a recast.

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Don Briscoe left during the Parallel Time storyline. When they returned to the present, there was an episode where Quentin was in the drawing room looking out at the full moon. Julia asked him if he was all right and he said he was thinking about Chris; they briefly talk about Chris having moved away with Sabrina and Amy. Chris is mentioned one more time, in passing, during 1840, when Angelique finds Hoffman's appointment book and asks who several of the people listed in it are.

Other than that, we get no resolution - unless you count Sam Hall's article for TV Guide on what might have happened to various characters. Chris kills Sabrina while transformed, then commits suicide, and Amy is taken in by Carolyn.

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Thanks for the info. Maybe shows didn't worry about continuity or conclusions back in those days.

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Missed Don Briscoe so much when he left the series. Others left for considerable lengths of time and came back. Too bad he didn't. Missed him almost as much as Joel Crothers.

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All the more reason I always thought the second movie should've been a werewolf story. Would've been better than the convoluted ghost story that they made.

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The second movie was edited so poorly. I keep hoping for a Director's cut.

Losing Joel Crothers was biggest loss in casting, IMHO.

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I recorded it off of a movie channel, so I have the whole thing, such as it is.
It always seemed to resemble an elongated Night Gallery episode to me. Nothing special. A disappointment, actually, after how good the first movie was.

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"Losing Joel Crothers was the biggest loss in casting, IMHO."

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I couldn't agree with you more!

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I thought Mitchell Ryan was biggest loss to the show.

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Mitchell Ryan was a big loss to the show, Fletcher. And a good actor. But, for me, the biggest loss was eye candy Joel Crothers. He was so good as Mr. Nice Guy, Joe Haskell, and as the man you love to hate, Nathan Forbes.

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Burke's tough guy persona was lost with Anthony George, and balanced out the cast with all of those "nice guys".

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Oh, Anthony George just managed to give the show a soap opera feel. Whenever he was on, I felt like I was watching "General Hospital" or any of the other soaps.

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Virginia Vestoff had that effect on me, also, and don't get me started with that Joanna Mills character. How completely unnecessary 1840 was, between the repeated storylines and Quentin miraculously having a relative bearing his name born a few decades before him that he supposedly never heard of.

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1840 was another here we go again, folks, storyline! It does get boring when storylines are repeated. For those who had just started watching the show, when 1840 was happening, it might have seemed fresh. But, to others...

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Right after Barnabas and Julia returned from 1995 to Collinwood, circa 1970, the DS writers placed great seeming importance on the gradual possession of David Collins and Hallie Stokes by the ghosts of Tad Collins and Carrie Stokes. (And, a very boring storyline, imo.)

Anyway, when Julia and Barnabas are back there in 1840, we hardly ever see Tad and Hallie at all. In fact, David Henesy, who portrayed Tad Collins, is only seen in a few of the 1840 episodes before David left Dark Shadows for good. And Kathy Cody, who portrayed Hallie Stokes in 1840, isn't seen in many of those episodes, except to pine over Gerard Stiles.

I guess as Dark Shadows was nearing its conclusion, the show's writers were essentially winging it with the storylines. And, I will refrain from commenting on the concluding and dreadful 1841 Parallel Time plot. Ugh!

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For me, 1970 PT was really the highlight of the later part of the series. Nosey and bossy Hoffman the Maid is very memorable. I'm sure Grayson was relishing the role.

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I still have only seen very few 1841PT episodes, and even that's too many.

Starting with 1795, a genuine soap opera aura started seeping into the show, growing stronger with each new storyline. 1840 was really borderline watchable at times, and as soon as Barnabas, Julia, and Stokes return to 1970 and Desmond destroys the "stairway into time", the series ended for me.

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Starting with 1795, a genuine soap opera aura started seeping into the show, growing stronger with each new storyline.


Was Dark Shadows not a soap opera? I always assumed that it was.

In any case, I agree that 1970 PT was the last good storyline. As I mentioned in another post I fast forward over much of the Leviathan debacle. Then I watch 1970 PT and when they go to 1995 I go back to 1966 LOL

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I've always thought of the show as a "serial". That's really what it was when it started out.
It's been over a decade since I watched it. I still have it on VHS recorded off of the Sci-Fi Channel. Of course it doesn't include 1841PT.

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A serial is an amusing way to look at it, Fletcher. Serials (AKA: cliffhangers) normally had to do with science fiction, horror, sabotage, etc. "Dark Shadows" does feel more like a serial. I never cared for other daytime soap operas. "Dark Shadows" does fall into the soap opera catagory. It's a series that Dan Curtis called a Gothic soap opera. But, I like "Gothic serial"...it sounds better! LOL!

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And less housewife-ish.

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As a housewife, myself, I must say I disliked the other soap operas; "All My Children", "As the World Turns", "The Days of Our Lives", etc. I preferred watching the afternoon movie which was usually a 1930s or 1940s movie.

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I never understood the popularity of those type of shows.

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They went on and on...YAWN! They moved at a snail's pace. You could tune in a month later and not have missed a thing. They're becoming a thing of the past. Yet, I still do enjoy a good afternoon movie on TCM.

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Movies are fine. I think that was the channel I recorded Night of Dark Shadows from about 14 years ago.

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A friend made me DVD-Rs of "House of Dark Shadows" and "Night of Dark Shadows". He did it through cable TV broadcasts. I didn't buy the official DVD releases because there was talk about missing footage being reinserted. Didn't happen!

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I ordered the VHS version of House of Dark Shadows from Columbia House, as well as another video that I can't even recall what it was. A "best of" from the series, I think.

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