re: #83 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus

Tubi does not have the 1966 episodes.

Amazon Prime has the 1966 episodes under a separate title: Dark Shadows, Beginnings.

Hulu has 1966 episodes, but only beginning at Episode 201.

When “Dark Shadows” launched, it was a Gothic Romance soap opera. It didn’t do well in daytime ratings, and the supernatural arc of the story was added starting with Episode 201.

According to various accounts on the Internet, the reason the show was cancelled was due to a disconnect between sponsors of the show and viewers of the show.

Soap operas were primarily financed by domestic product companies, and tobacco companies. When the show took off with its supernatural arc, it became hugely popular with teenagers and pre-teens, who didn’t buy domestic products like dishsoap.

That wasn’t a problem for the show until the US Government banned cigarette advertising on television on 1 April 1970. With that, the show became unprofitable.