Hulu to receive Dark Shadows transfusion

My instinct was to spend 200 words wallowing in more blood-related puns here, but instead lets cut to the chase: More episodes of DARK SHADOWS are headed to Hulu later this year.

Late last month, Hulu viewers might have noticed that a great many episodes of DARK SHADOWS were labeled as "expiring," which is a tag given to episodes that will soon be leaving the streaming media service. These episodes would essentially clean out DARK SHADOWS larder, so to speak, leaving us with just the first two DVD "Barnabas Collins" collections available.

As it happens, this is part of a strategy by MPI Home Video to keep new episodes of DARK SHADOWS constantly available online.

"There isn't room to allocate all 1,225 episodes at all times on Hulu – no other show has that kind of inventory on Hulu," said Jim Pierson, the marketing director for Dan Curtis Production. "So, what we're doing is keeping the first one-two volumes of Barnabas introductory episodes on at all times as a foundation for new viewers, and then every couple of months the other four volumes change sequentially so that viewers can binge/watch 80 episodes ... and then the next batch appears."

"It's a compromise to keep things moving, as well as have a starting point for new viewers," Pierson said.

This means that the next batch of episodes should pick up at episode 982, during the "Parallel Time" storyline. But wait! There's more! Pierson said Hulu will be adding the first-year episodes of DARK SHADOWS to Hulu later this year, as well. A surprising number of fans haven't seen these first 200 episodes, which showcase some of the best writing and acting that DARK SHADOWS has to offer.