Dark Shadows on Mad Men
It’s almost like the late 1960’s all over again – apparently the Dark Shadows craze knows no limits, at least for the moment – the Tim Burton reimagining of the 60’s cult classic daytime series starring Johnny Depp opened this past Friday and has swept the nation in anticipation – yet under delivered on promises made.
Tonight’s episode of Mad Men – titled Dark Shadows – features a scene in which a young actress is going over lines with Megan (Jessica Paré). The script, apparent to any fan of the classic series, is an earlier pre-Barnabas Collins episode.
Unfortunately, Megan didn’t have the kindest things to say about the writing featured in that particular Dark Shadows script – referring to it as “crap.” It was not apparent as to who Megan’s friend Julia was supposed to be – or if she was just fictional, but whoever she was, she had won a role on the daytime soap.
For Mad Men fans (like me), the mention of Dark Shadows is nor here or there – for Dark Shadows fans (also like me), the title and the one two-minute mention leaves one wanting for an additional frame of a reference to the classic series, whether it lie in a plot similarity or even ending the episode with the iconic Dark Shadows theme song.
Although Megan herself does bare a passing resemblance to the Dark Shadows series character Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke). Also, Megan’s friend Julia – like the character of Julia Hoffman on Dark Shadows – was a redhead. Just reaching for straws here folks…
I could just be nitpicking, but isn’t this season of Mad Men in 1965? Dark Shadows did not actually hit the airwaves until 1966. Megan and Julia were clearly speaking of the series as though it were already on the air.
Am I in error? Please feel free as you always do to correct me in the comments below.
Mad Men airs on Sundays at 10/9c on AMC. Dark Shadows, for the moment, is in theaters everywhere.
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