One of the quirkiest shows ever to hit the airways and definately one of the best. The pilot alone earned director/producer David Lynch a Peabody Award. The story begins with high school prom queen Laura Palmer washing up on the lakeshore in her hometown of Twin Peaks. Special agent Dale Cooper is brought in to solve the crime, but the more they inquire into Laura's life, the more they start to realize that Laura had been a completely different person than everyone thought she was. Among her shenanigans were drug use, prostitution, etc. Though the story completely revolves around Laura, we hardly see much of her with the exceptoin of flashback scenes. The search for Laura's killer ultimately reveals a town filled a ton of secrets. The show ran for two seasons with 30 one hour episodes and a prequel movie. You really have to pay attention and watch the episodes in order if you're to make heads or tails what's going on (and even then it's hard to figure out). Something will happen in episode 5 and not explained until episode 27. A little confusing but it's well worth it. Top notch entertainment!
Probably one of the greatest T.V. shows of all time. Definately worth a mention as it totally captures the cult fiends eye, due to it's completely unintentional humour. This daytime soap opera began in 1966 with the premise of a gothic romance but the ratings were terrible and it was facing cancellation after only 6 months. The writers assumed that cancellation was inevitable and decided to write the last few episodes with some flare by adding a vampire to the mix. Barnabus the vampire was on the scene and the show became a huge hit and has many many dedicated fans. The show ran for six years, and like most soap operas, the plot twists and turns in every direction untill nobody really knows what's going on. Also, Dark Shadows didn't just take place in the modern time, but in multiple time streams and dimensions. The story mostly centers around the Collins family, a wealthy family that pretty much owns the entire town of Collinsport. Of particular interest is Barnabus Collins, his curious reappearance and uncanny resemblance to his ancestors picture that is hanging in the foyer of Collinwood. We learn slowly that he is a vampire and is obsessed with the past, and in a strange way tries to recreate it with people from the future. Lots of people get bit, brainwashed, etc. After the first year, the story jumps back to the year 1795 and all the modern character actors change names and relationships to expain what was being experienced in the future. All the ghosts from the future get to be live characters for a change. In addition to vampires and ghosts, the Collins family is also riddled with witches, werewolves and whatever else they could think of with a ring of supernatural to it. It's truly campy though. The show was filmed live so there were lots and lots of bloopers. Props fall, flies land on the actors faces, they forget their lines and often called the character by the actors real name. The show began in black and white, therefore certain things had to be changed like using blue candles instead of white, because the white candles caused too bright a glare. Unfortunately, when the show went color, they forgot to ditch the blue candles. So for most of the show, there would be nothing but gothic everywhere you looked... except for the neon blue candles that were everywhere. With over 1,225 episodes, it's a large collection to want. But now that they've been released on DVD, Dark Shadows lives on for it's old fans from the past as well as creating a whole new fanbase for all those cult lovers out there.
