Dark Shadows returns to television Oct. 29

It's been a long, long time since Dark Shadows has been on television in any significant manner. Following its lengthy run on The Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s, the show has made only fleeting appearances on television, usually around Halloween. That drought comes to an end Oct. 29 when Decades adds it to its weekday lineup, where it will appear every midnight like a ghostly wail \Monday through Friday.

The series will begins where it always does, with episode 210 and the arrival of Barnabas Collins. While I expect some of the old timers to gripe about this decision, it's as elegant introduction to the series as you could possibly ask. Those episodes from the spring and summer of 1967 represent Dark Shadows at its purest, when it was still a fairly traditional melodrama with a vampire lurking around the fringes. Decades plans to keep the show on its schedule until next spring, offering 260 episodes daily ... this will take viewers from Willie Loomis learning a hard lesson while graverobbing in #210, to #470, shortly before Adam is fully assembled by Dr. Eric Lang. That's a LOT of story.

If you don't get Decades in your area, don't sweat it right now. You can catch the first few dozen episodes streaming on Hulu and Amazon, and you're welcome to watch along with the rest of us every midnight. (I don't have Decades either, and this is my strategy.) If you don't already have a Twitter account, make sure to get one ... lively conversations during the broadcast will go a long way toward telling service providers what you want. If we can bring enough new fans into the fold we might even keep Dark Shadows on Decades long after #470.

DARK SHADOWS LIVES!

To find out where to how DECADES visit http://decades.com/