“Do you know why I think Dark Shadows is so well-remembered?” he continues. “Every segment was approached as if it were a first-time production. We thought of ourselves as if we were a repertory company. There was that very sense of pride in what we were doing. And we all worked hard. It proves that an audience will appreciate and react to the effort we make to give the best we have to every performance.”
John Karlen would have a successful career in nighttime television, eventually winning an Emmy for his role as Harvey Lacey in Cagney and Lacey. As always, Karlen put it best: “It was one of the most fun jobs we ever had.”
Many enduring friendships were forged among the cast, crew and staff of Dark Shadows. Technical director Jake Lupatkin recalls that one of his great joys was the opportunity to work with film legend Joan Bennett, while Joan, who continues to attend Dark Shadows Festival gatherings, remembers that “the people we worked with made the show a joy.”
For some of the cast, this marked only the end of the series, for there was still another Dark Shadows film to be shot for MGM. And little did any of them know that Dark Shadows would not fade to black on April 2, 1971. It would continue to come back in one form or another for years to come. And at the turn of a decade then twenty years in the future, it would return again to television as a new series.
But to its viewers, the original Dark Shadows would remain a mystical voyage into an unknown world of fantasy and romance for one-half hour every weekday, for four years, nine months, and seven days.
EPISODE GUIDE
By Jim Pierson
The summaries included here cover all 1,225 episodes of Dark Shadows. The original episode numbers are listed. When the series aired on ABC-TV various preemptions occured due to holidays, sports, or special news events. For network numbering purposes, whenever the show was preempted the episode the day before or an episode shortly thereafter would be assigned two consecutive numbers. As a result of this practice, the final episode was numbered episode 1,245, but because the series was preempted 20 times during its five-year run, there were actually only 1,225 episodes total. All of the episodes were telecast by ABC, although some local stations may not have aired every show.
1. Victoria Winters’ mysterious journey begins as her train arrives in Collinsport, Maine, a small fishing village.
2. At the Collinwood mansion, Vicki becomes acquainted with the reclusive matriarch, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.
3. Vicki meets Liz’s teenage daughter, Carolyn Stoddard.
4. Roger Collins, Liz’s brother, nervously questions Vicki about her encounter with Burke Devlin at the train station.
5. Learning Vicki is an orphan, Carolyn convinces her to stay at Collinwood with the hope Vicki may learn her identity.
6. In the basement, Vicki is startled by caretaker Matthew Morgan, who warns her not to poke around.
7. Sam agrees with Roger that Burke has probably returned to get.revenge against Roger, but Sam will offer Roger no help.
8. Vicki calls the foundling home where she grew up and learns Liz’ story that Vicki was recommended to her is not true.
9. Collins Fishing Fleet Manager Bill Malloy warns Liz he thinks Burke wants to take everything the Collinses own.
10. An infatuated Carolyn visits Burke’s hotel suite and unsuccessfully tries to learn what happened between him and Roger.
11. Carolyn brings Burke to Collinwood, where he teases Liz by telling her it’s up to her to square things away.
12. Roger tells Vicki that her friendship with Burke is dangerous for the Collins family.
13. Burke tells Roger he wants to forget that Roger was responsible for sending him to prison.
14. Vicki meets Carolyn’s boyfriend, Joe Haskell, who works at the Collins Cannery.
15. After David tells Vicki he hopes his father dies, Roger loses control of his car and crashes.
16. As Roger recovers from his accident, Liz learns his car brakes failed and wonders if Burke was responsible.
17. Malloy informs Roger his car’s bleeder valve was removed.
18. Vicki tells Roger she caught Burke in the garage standing next to Roger’s car with a wrench.
19. Carolyn learns Roger testified against Burke in a manslaughter trial ten years ago and Burke has sworn revenge.
20. Worried about her father, Maggie tells Sam that she wants whatever happened between him, Roger, and Burke to end.
21. Vicki tells Liz and Carolyn she believes Burke is innocent.
22. Roger tells Carolyn he intends to have Burke convicted of trying to kill him.
23. David becomes nervous when Constable Carter investigates Roger’s crash.
24. The constable interrogates Burke, mentioning he remembers Burke’s threat he’d return and kill Roger.
25. After telling Liz about David’s strange behavior, Vicki finds Roger’s missing bleeder valve in David’s room.
26. Vicki locks the bleeder valve in her dresser, but when she goes to show it to Liz it is missing.
27. Burke’s private investigator, Stuart Bronson, gives him a report on the Collinses’ financial status.
28. Burke tells the constable he was released from prison after five years for good behavior.
29. When David visits his hotel suite, Burke discovers he has hidden Roger’s bleeder valve in Burke’s sofa.
30. Vicki tells Roger that David was responsible for his car crash.
31. Burke tries to cover-up for David, but Roger is convinced David caused his accident.
32. To protect David, Liz lies to the constable, telling him they’ve discovered the bleeder valve fell off by itself.
33. Vicki laments the fact that she is no closer to finding a clue to her identity than when she first arrived at Collinwood.
34. After a date with Vicki, Burke realizes he’s becoming fonder of her than he had planned.
35. David warns Vicki she’s going to be sorry she came to Collinwood.
36. Roger warns Sam not to associate with Burke. Liz convinces Vicki to stay on at Collinwood.
37. In the middle of the night, Vicki hears sobbing noises coming from the locked storage room in the basement.
38. Matthew catches Vicki trying to open the basement room. He believes Josette Collins’ ghost and other spirits inhabit Collinwood.
39. Roger tries to stop Sam from painting Burke’s portrait. Malloy tells Burke he doesn’t want Liz hurt by Burke’s attempts at revenge.
40. Malloy gets Sam drunk, and Sam confesses that he is the only thing standing between Roger and a prison sentence.
41. Liz is concerned that Carolyn might prefer Burke over Joe.
42. After Carolyn follows him to Bangor, Burke invites her to lunch and gives her an expensive fountain pen.
43. Malloy warns Maggie he thinks Sam possesses dangerous knowledge.
44. Malloy tells Liz he believes Roger framed Burke on the manslaughter charge and bribed Sam to back up his story.
45. Malloy warns Roger that Sam’s ready to reveal that Roger was responsible for the manslaughter incident, not Burke.
46. Malloy sets up a meeting for himself, Roger, Burke and Sam to settle the manslaughter case once and for all.
47. Roger, Burke and Sam gather at Roger’s office to meet with Malloy, but Malloy doesn’t show up.
48. After Burke gives David a crystal ball, David predicts to Vicki that Malloy is dead and that Roger killed him.
49. Burke investigates Malloy’s disappearance, certain that he has incriminating information against Roger and Sam.
50. Liz tells Vicki some of the legends of Collinwood and Widows’ Hill.
51. At Widows’ Hill, Vicki and Carolyn spot a dead man at the bottom of the cliff, but the body soon disappears.
52. Vicki feels a premonition that the dead man is Malloy.
53. Liz calls the sheriff after Matthew confesses he found Malloy’s dead body on the shore and pushed it out to sea.
54. Burke makes it clear to Roger that he owes him for the fiv
e years he spent in prison due to Roger’s perjury.
55. The Coast Guard locates Malloy’s body.
56. Roger tells Sam they must stick together on their stories or he and Sam might be charged with Malloy’s murder.
57. Burke tells the sheriff that Malloy had information he felt might clear Burke of his manslaughter charge.
58. Sam tells the sheriff he doesn’t know what the meeting with Malloy was to be about.
59. The sheriff questions Roger, suggesting Malloy was murdered.
60. Burke tries to convince the sheriff that either Roger or Sam is guilty of Malloy’s murder.
61. Vicki tells Burke that Malloy and Roger argued the night Malloy was killed.
62. When Sam pleads his innocence, Burke tells him Roger is the only other person who would benefit by Malloy’s death.
63. Matthew becomes upset when Liz tells him that Burke plans to drag the Collins name through the mud.
64. At the Blue Whale, the sheriff breaks up a fight between Matthew and Burke after Matthew orders Burke to leave town.
65. Roger unsuccessfully tries to bribe Sam into leaving town.
66. Convinced Sam isn’t involved, Burke accuses Roger of killing Malloy.
67. Burke challenges Carolyn to ask Roger what really happened during the manslaughter incident ten years ago.
68. David tells Vicki that when his mother and Roger were together they fought about Burke.
69. In an attempt to defeat the Collins Family, Burke decides to plant Malloy’s housekeeper, Mrs Johnson, at Collinwood.
70. Matthew finds David playing in the abandoned Old House on the property. After they leave, a ghost emerges from Josette’s portrait.
71. Roger and Burke anxiously await the coroner’s report on Malloy’s death.
72. Vicki tells Carolyn her loyalties lie with the Collinses, not with Burke.
73. Malloy’s death is ruled an accidental drowning.
74. David visits Burke and insists his father killed Malloy.
75. Roger admits to Carolyn he’s lost the pen which Burke gave her. Vicki finds the pen on the ocean cliff.
76. Liz refuses Burke’s offer to buy Collinwood.
77. David taunts Carolyn by telling her Burke likes Carolyn better than her.
78. Annoyed with Carolyn for standing him up, Joe suggests he should find a new girl and invites Maggie to dance.
79. To prevent the discovery that Mrs Johnson is spying for him, Burke has her pretend to dislike him in front of others.
80. Roger searches for the fountain pen he had intended to give back to Burke and is shocked to learn Vicki has found it.
81. Matthew tries to dissuade Mrs Johnson from working at Collinwood, but she accepts Liz’s offer to be housekeeper.
82. Aware Roger lost the pen the night Malloy was killed, Burke urges the sheriff to search for it near the cliff.
83. After David admires the pen, Vicki thinks he’s stolen it, unaware Roger has retrieved it and buried it in the woods.
84. David takes Vicki to the closed-off section of Collinwood and locks her inside a room.
85. While Vicki is trapped inside the locked room, Malloy’s ghost appears and warns her to get away before she’s killed.
86. Vicki desperately tries to escape from the locked room.
87. Searching the closed-off wing, Roger rescues Vicki.
88. Vicki tells the family about seeing Malloy’s ghost, pointing out seaweed on the floor as evidence.
89. Burke warns Liz he’s going to take over Collins Enterprises with a new competing business of his own.
90. Carolyn tries to convince Vicki not to leave Collinwood.
91. Burke gives Vicki a ride to Bangor so she can vacation for a few days, and warns her to stay away from Collinwood.
92. In Bangor, Vicki meets Collins lawyers Richard and Frank Garner, a father and son team, and tries to learn clues to her past.
93. Carolyn becomes jealous when she learns Burke is staying in Bangor on business while Vicki is there.
94. Vicki has dinner with Frank, whose father Richard tries to persuade him to remember Liz is their client, not Vicki.
95. Realizing she found the pen near the spot of Malloy’s death, Vicki fears Burke is the killer when she discovers he lost an identical pen.
96. After Vicki refuses to ride home with Burke, Roger retrieves her from Bangor and convinces her to never discuss the pen with anyone.
97. Liz reprimands Vicki for contacting the Garners to assist her in finding out her true identity.
98. Mrs Johnson moves into Collinwood and hears sobbing noises coming from the locked room in the basement.
99. Vicki is shocked to learn from Carolyn that Burke gave her the pen and that Roger lost it the night Malloy was murdered.
100. Vicki tells Burke about Roger and the pen and agrees to search for more evidence implicating Roger to Malloy’s murder.
101. Roger panics when he learns from Carolyn that Vicki knows he was the one who lost the pen at the cliff.
102. Roger tells Vicki that Malloy was already dead when he saw him at the cliff. Fearing Roger, Vicki slips out of the house.
103. Vicki’s terrified when Roger learns she doubts his innocence.
104. Vicki is almost run down by an unidentified automobile.
105. Burke and the sheriff catch Roger digging up the missing pen and seize it as possible evidence in Malloy’s death.
106. Carolyn tells Vicki it isn’t possible Roger could have tried to kill her.
107. When Vicki searches for David at the Old House, Matthew secretly tries to kill her by pushing an urn off the roof.
108. Holding Vicki captive in his cottage, Matthew admits he killed Malloy.
109. No episode assigned this number due to preemption
110. No episode assigned this number due to preemption
111. As the sheriff and his men search for Vicki, Matthew threatens to kill her, but her tears stop him.
112. Matthew runs away after telling Liz he killed Malloy.
113. David discovers Matthew in hiding at the Old House, but promises not to reveal Matthew’s whereabouts.
114. Vicki apologizes to Roger for thinking he was Malloy’s killer.
115. Searching the Old House for David, Vicki discovers Matthew.
116. Matthew takes Vicki hostage at the Old House, hiding her in a secret room behind the drawing room book case.
117. Joe fights with Burke after catching Carolyn visiting Burke in his hotel room.
118. Everyone searches the Collinwood grounds to find Vicki.
119. Liz lectures Carolyn on the subject of Burke’s lack of viirtues, and Joe tells Carolyn their relationship is over.
120. David brings food to Matthew and tells him he’s concerned about Vicki, unaware Matthew has kidnapped her.
121. Matthew fears David will reveal he’s hiding at the Old House.
122. In the Old House drawing room, Matthew sees an eerie light coming from Josette’s portrait.
123. An unknown woman visits the diner and asks Maggie many questions.
124. David discovers Vicki in the secret room and runs off leaving her still tied up, afraid he might get into trouble.
125. The ghost of Malloy appears to David and tells him to help Vicki.
126. Josette’s ghost protects Vicki from being killed by Matthew, who dies from fright after seeing Malloy’s ghost.
127. After rescuing Vicki, Burke and Roger return her to Collinwood. Vicki and Liz talk about the ghost of Josette.
128. Sam reveals to Roger that Roger’s wife Laura has returned.
129. Sam awakens to discover he has started to paint a portrait he barely remembers of a womand standing in flames.
130. Laura visits Collinwood, telling Roger she wants a divorce and to take David away with her.
131. No episode assigned this number due to preemption.
132. David tells Vicki of a dream he had about his mother before he was told she has returne
d for him.
133. Aware that Laura can clear him of his 10-year old manslaughter charge, Burke tries to get her to cooperate.
The Dark Shadows Companion: 25th Anniversary Collection Page 17
