The science fiction blog Io9 has a chart up at their site that tracks the themes that have been used on sci-fi TV shows since 1970. How many shows have been about time travel, robots, aliens, space travel, and/or mutants? Is there a trend to the themes of sci-fi shows over the years? (Here's the complete list of shows they looked at to create the chart.)dark shadows-related stories
Io9's sci-fi chart: possibly the geekiest post ever
The science fiction blog Io9 has a chart up at their site that tracks the themes that have been used on sci-fi TV shows since 1970. How many shows have been about time travel, robots, aliens, space travel, and/or mutants? Is there a trend to the themes of sci-fi shows over the years? (Here's the complete list of shows they looked at to create the chart.)Continue reading Io9's sci-fi chart: possibly the geekiest post ever
Today In Boob Tube History: Dark Shadows premiered
Since there's news today that Johnny Depp and Tim Burton will make a big-screen version of the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, I think it's appropriate that the TV show premiered on this day in 1966. It ran for around 25,000 episodes. It's weird to think about what this show was, a soap opera that happened to include vampires, werewolves, creepy mansions, and thunderstorms. I was mesmerized by this show as a kid. The theme is still haunting, and forget Barnabas Collins. I was freaked out by Quentin just sitting in a chair, staring ahead into the air. And those sideburns!
Here's the color opening from the late 60s/early 70s.
Here's the color opening from the late 60s/early 70s.
New TV on DVD releases this week
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.Wow, if you bought all of the complete series sets being released this week you'd have a great start for your TV DVD collection: NewsRadio, The Flintstones, The 4400, Sanford and Son, and several others. The NewsRadio set doesn't have anything that wasn't in the individual sets, but it's a great buy if you don't have all of the seasons. The Mystery Science Theater 3000 set (the one with the collectible Crow and lobby cards) might already be sold out, so I'd check on that. I used to watch Zoom back in the 70s, though I can't imagine buying the DVD set.
I don't think I've ever seen The Doris Day Show, but it looks like something I might have to have.
- The 4400 - Complete Series
- Cathouse - Complete Series
- Dark Shadows - Vol. 6: Episodes 179-209
- The Donna Reed Show - Season 1
- The Doris Day Show - Christmas Memories
- Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman - Complete Series
- The Flintstones - Complete Series
- Girlfriends - Season 5
- Good Times - Complete Series
- The Little Rascals - Complete Collection
- The L Word - Season 5
- Millennium - Complete Series
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 - 20th Anniversary Set
- NewsRadio - Complete Series
- Sanford and Son - Complete Series
- Sister, Sister - Season 1
- War and Remembrance - Season 1
- Zoom - Back to the 70s
New TV on DVD releases this week
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 3, Vol. 4
- Beverly Hills, 90210 - Season 5
- Centennial - Complete Mini-Series
- Dark Shadows - The Beginning, Vol. 5
- Freakazoid - Season 1
- Girlfriends - Season 4
- The Hills - Season 3
- Inu Yasha - Season 5
- Law and Order: SVU - Season 7
- Masters of Horror - Season 2 (Collectible Skull Set)
- Naruto The Movie 2 - Legend of the Stone of Gelel
- Robin of Sherwood - Complete Collection
- Stargate SG-1 - Continuum
- Tiny Toon Adventures - Season 1, Vol. 1
- Two Fat Ladies - Two Fat Ladies
- Witchblade - Complete Series
- The Wizards of Waverly Place - Wizard School
TV Squad Soap Report: Evil abounds
It was big news in the world of daytime when Joseph Mascolo exited Days of Our Lives a few months ago. After all, Mascolo's Stefano Dimera was hailed as the number one villain of all time in daytime by Soap Opera Digest. His return to Days was supposed to be long-term, but it didn't work out that way. In a surprising, some would say typical, soap way, the phoenix will rise again. Stefano Dimera, in the form of Joseph Mascolo, is coming back to Days of Our Lives. His reign of terror will commence once more -- in early August. Meanwhile, the other big time evil-doer on the show, Victor Kiriakis, will become more moderate and good by comparison.
Evil on the soaps is, well, a necessary evil. You can't have characters who are happy and blissful all the time. You need the selfish, the greedy, the vengeful, all those evil types to keep the stories interesting.
Gallery: TVS Soap Report - Evil
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Evil abounds
Dark Shadows comes to the big screen
We've kind of been conditioned to have lowered expectations when a TV show makes the jump to the big screen. It's usually an iffy proposition at best. For every Mission Impossible, The Fugitive, or The Untouchables there is a Bewitched, Wild Wild West, or Starsky & Hutch. With that in mind, I was a little hesitant when I got the email from a friend announcing that Dark Shadows was headed for the silver screen. That one could go wrong in so many ways. But then I clicked the link he sent along...According to our friends over at Cinematical, the rights to the show now belong to Johnny Depp's Infinitum-Nihil production company. And now comes news that Tim Burton has signed on to direct the movie adaptation. It's a short, and quite logical, jump to finding Depp playing Barnabas Collins. It also doesn't hurt the argument that when asked about the possibility of doing this film during the Sweeney Todd press junket, Depp said, "If that comes to fruition, that's a dream come true, man. Barnabas Collins - when I was a kid I wanted to be Barnabas." Depp, Burton, and Dark Shadows have all the makings of a great movie.
New TV on DVD releases this week
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
- Are You Afraid of the Dark? - Season 6
- Beverly Hills, 90210 - Season 4
- Burke's Law - Season 1, Vol. 1
- Cheers - Season 9
- Dark Shadows - The Beginnings Collection 4
- Desperate Housewives - Seasons 1-3
- Grey's Anatomy - Seasons 1-3
- I Spy - Seasons 1, 2, and 3 (Remastered)
- Joey - Season 2
- Lost - Seasons 1-3
- Roswell - Seasons 1, 2, and 3
- Sabrina The Teenage Witch - Complete Series (Animated)
- Scrubs - Seasons 1-6
- The Waltons - Season 7
- A Touch of Frost - Season 13
- The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles - Vol. 3: Years of Change
Passions is dead...for real this time
Usually when you talk about death on soap operas, you have to know that like science fiction, death doesn't mean the end of the story. After all, many characters have come back from the dead thanks to mistaken identity, bizarre abductions, switched coffins, et. al. But when I tell you now that the NBC soap opera Passions is dead, I really mean it. Really.There is no chance that Passions is coming back to NBC. The soap was yanked from the daytime lineup last year, but in a deal with DirecTV, Passions has remained in production. The satellite provider has been showing episodes of the bizarrely-plotted show for months. However, in a recent development, DirecTV has decided to pull the plug. Universal Media Studios, which produces the one-hours, has been trying to find a new place on the dial for Passions without any luck.
Continue reading Passions is dead...for real this time
TV Obits: Minghella, Clarke, Dixon, Williams, Ebbins, Bloom, Smith
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Anthony Minghella: He was best known for his movie work, writing and directing the Oscar-winning film The English Patient, as well as Cold Mountain,Truly, Madly, Deeply, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, but he also wrote for a lot of British television in the 80s and 90s, including several episodes of Inspector Morse and Grange Hill, and he later was a writer for Jim Henson's miniseries The Storyteller. He was also a producing partner of Sydney Pollack, co-producing such films as Michael Clayton and The Interpreter. He had just finished writing and directing the film The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which will debut on BBC1 on March 23. He died of a hemorrhage in London at age 54 after undergoing surgery to remove a growth on his neck.
Continue reading TV Obits: Minghella, Clarke, Dixon, Williams, Ebbins, Bloom, Smith
New TV on DVD releases this week
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
- Are You Afraid of the Dark? - Season 5
- B.L. Stryker - Season 1
- Comanche Moon - Complete Mini-Series
- Dark Shadows - The Beginning: Vol. 3
- Extras - Extra Special Series Finale
- Family Affair - Season 5
- The Fugitive - Season 1, Vol. 2
- Ghost Hunters - Season 3, Part 2
- Highlander: The Source (movie)
- Hotel Babylon - Season 1
- The Invisible Man - The Complete Collection
- The Jackie Gleason Show - The Honeymooners: Collection 2 (color)
- The Justice League - The New Frontier and New Frontier Special Editions
- Newhart - Season 1
- Punky Brewster - Season 4
- The Red Green Show - 1999: Collector's Edition
- The Smurfs - Season 1, Vol. 1
- State of Play - Complete Mini-Series
New TV on DVD releases this week
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
- Angel - Collector's Set
- Arrest and Trial - Best Of
- Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 3
- The Benny Hill Show - Thames Years 1969-89 Megaset
- Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes - Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 5
- CSI: Miami - Season 5
- Checkmate - Best Of Season 1
- Cimarron City - Best Of
- Dark Shadows - The Beginning, Vol. 2
- Everybody Loves Raymond - Complete Series
- Family Affair - Season 4
- Family Guy - Freakin' Party Pack
- Hardcastle and McCormick - Season 3 (Canada)
- Laredo - Best Of Season 1
- Magnum, P.I. - Season 7
- The Mickey Rooney Show - Hey Mulligan
- My So-Called Life - Complete Series
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Vol. 12
- October Road - Season 1
- The Outer Limits - Vol. 3
- The Real McCoys - Season 2
- Riptide - Season 2
- Riverboat - Best Of
- Scrubs - Season 6
- Sgt. Preston of the Yukon - Complete Collection
- Tate - The Complete Series
- Twin Peaks - Definitive Gold Box
New TV on DVD releases this week
Beyond Belief - Season 1 - Dane Cook - The Lost Pilots
- Danger Mouse - Complete Series
- Dark Shadows - The Beginning
- Flight 29 Down - Vol. 2
- Friday Night Lights - Season 1
- Heroes - Season 1
- I Shouldn't Be Alive - Season 1
- Masters of Horror - Season 1 Limited Edition Set
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide - Field Trip Edition
- The Odd Couple - Season 2
- The Outer Limits - Season 1, Vol. 2 (original series)
- Samuari Jack - Season 4
Charles Lane dead at 102
I think most readers are going to be stunned that this guy was still alive in 2007.
Lane was one of the most famous character actors in TV history, appearing on such programs as Petticoat Junction (where he was a regular), I Love Lucy, Dark Shadows, L.A. Law, St. Elsewhere, Little House on the Prairie, The Odd Couple, and...oh, way too many to list here. He was also in the films It's A Wonderful Life, The Road To Singapore, 42nd Street, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and many others. His career spanned over 60 years, his last role as the narrator in the short film The Night Before Christmas in 2006.
Lane passed away quietly on Tuesday in Santa Monica, CA.
New TV on DVD releases today
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3 - All Creatures Great and Small - Series 3
- Animaniacs - Volume 1
- The Boondocks - Season 1
- Chappelle's Show - Lost Episodes
- Dark Shadows - DVD Collection 3
- JAG - 1st season
- La Femme Nikita - 4th season
- Miami Vice - Seasons 1 and 2
- Pinky and the Brain - Volume 1
- Punky Brewster - Season 3
- Rawhide - 1st season
- Tales From the Crypt - 4th season
- Three's Company - 7th season
New TV on DVD releases today
Every Tuesday here on TV Squad , we will highlight the week's TV-on-DVD releases. Some noteworthy releases today, May 30, 2006:
ALF - Season 3- ALF: The Animated Series - 20,000 Years In Driving School
- AlfTales - Alf & The Beanstalk
- American Muscle Car - Season 2
- Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 1: Water, Volume 3
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 1 (new package); Season 2 (new package); Season 3 (new package); Season 4 (new package) buy Season 5 (new package); Season 6 (new package); Season 7 (new package)
- Dark Shadows - DVD Collection 24
- The Doris Day Show - The Doris Day Special; Season 3
- The Dukes of Hazzard - The Complete 6th Season
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - Vol 3
- Gimme a Break! - Season 1 (Canada)
- Joey - The Complete 1st Season
- The Kids in the Hall - Season 4
- Night Stalker - The Complete Series
- Numb3rs - Season 1
- Queer as Folk - Season 5 (Final Season)
- Rollergirls - The Complete Season 1
- The Tomorrow People - Set 3
- The Venture Bros. - Season 1
- Will & Grace - Series Finale
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
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