Remembering John Karlen – and TV Moments That Changed Everything

The passing of John Karlen was felt in particular by two TV fanbases: those who remember him from his Emmy-winning performance as Harvey Lacey on Cagney and Lacey, and those who first met him 15 years earlier, as Willie Loomis on Dark Shadows. 

Dark Shadows was unique in many ways, one being it was a rare example of a show that changed completely and irrevocably in a single pivotal moment. And John Karlen was the only actor on the screen when it happened.

That moment aired on April 18, 1967. Con man Jason McGuire and Willie, his sleazy sidekick, had blackmailed their way into the home of the wealthy Collins family. Willie learns of a secret room in the Collins mausoleum where the family’s ancestors have been buried in their expensive jewelry. He breaks in, cuts through the heavy chains wrapped around a coffin, and lifts the lid. From inside, a hand slowly emerges, and tightens around Willie’s throat.

It’s still a powerful scene, played unforgettably by Karlen. We never see what Willie sees when he opens the coffin, but his terrified expression is enough to sell the moment.

The rest is history. The character of vampire Barnabas Collins is introduced, wonderfully played by Jonathan Frid, and Dark Shadows went from a daytime drama on the brink of cancellation to a national phenomenon. It was as instant a reversal of fortune as was possible in the pre-internet age, when feedback on a series was gauged by ratings and fan mail.

How often did something like that happen in the Comfort TV era?

Sure, many shows evolve over their runs, often in dramatic and unexpected ways. We’ve seen supporting characters embraced by the public that became focal points for the majority of episodes – Fonzie on Happy Days, Alex Keaton on Family Ties – but those changes were gradual. 

Likewise, the death or departure of a major character (Henry Blake on MASH, Chrissy on Three’s Company, Tasha on Star Trek: The Next Generation) did not reset those shows in a fundamental way. 

I’m looking here for single, premeditated moments when a series was one thing before they happened, and something else afterward.

Any suggestions?

Eight is Enough might qualify, but the change did not originate with a writer or producer. The passing of costar Diana Hyland resulted in a show about a family with eight kids becoming a series about a single father struggling to raise eight kids, and how the Bradfords coped with a sudden, tragic loss. 

You could try to make a case for “Ricky the Drummer,” a 1957 episode of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet in which Ricky Nelson sang for the first time. Such performances became a featured moment in many subsequent episodes – however, everything that happened around those scenes was the typical delightful business as usual. 

The final scenes of the final episodes of Newhart and St. Elsewhere were indisputable game-changers. Here we have shows that fit the criteria of being one thing before those scenes, and something different after. But since both ended on those moments we only experienced the revelations, and not their ramifications. 

So perhaps that Dark Shadows scene featuring John Karlen is even more unique than I first believed. With an Emmy Award and that contribution to TV history, that’s a pretty impressive legacy. 

Television’s Most Beautiful Music

The most beautiful music ever written for television was composed to underscore a commercial for a Canadian tea manufacturer.

But before we finish that story…

One of the more interesting aspects of growing older is how it changes your perspective on any number of things. Some people change political parties. Some move closer to or further away from religion. Some discover the joys of golf after racquetball becomes too strenuous.

My change of heart concerns what used to be called “muzak,” particularly by me in my teenage years.

I used to hate it. Now the lush instrumentals of Ray Conniff, Percy Faith and Paul Mauriat have become a peaceful refuge from a world that keeps growing louder (Dear everyone: I have no interest in your cell phone conversations; why are you forcing me to listen to them?).

Sirius XM channel 69 (“Escape”) – no better way to chill out after a stressful day. 

Television has inspired many serene compositions that would fit comfortably into the easy listening genre. Some of my favorites include:

Quentin’s Theme (Shadows of the Night)

Bob Cobert’s melancholy waltz, introduced on Dark Shadows, was recorded by more than 20 artists, including Andy Williams, and earned a Grammy nomination in 1969. 

You’re My Greatest Love (Theme from “The Honeymooners)

Written by series star Jackie Gleason, this romantic orchestral piece admittedly seemed at odds with the thunderous arguments in so many episodes. 

Angela (Theme from “Taxi”)

I’ve been a fan of smooth jazz artist Bob James for years. This is his best-known composition. As with The Honeymooners it’s a gentle theme for a volatile show, but somehow it works. 

Laura’s Palmer’s Theme (Twin Peaks)

Angelo Badalamenti’s music is too ominous for relaxation, but one cannot deny its sway. The sadness of the subject is expressed in somber, heartbreaking tones, with piano interludes that bring some hope of light amidst the darkness. When the piece ends, however, you know which side won. 

But for me, the most beautiful song ever written for television (See? I didn’t forget!) is “The Homecoming,” written by Hagood Hardy and introduced in a 1970s commercial for Salada Tea.

 

It can be difficult to put into words why a piece of music resonates – or fails to resonate. I guess that’s why in nearly 40 years of rating records on American Bandstand, almost every answer to Dick Clark’s question about a new single was, “I like the beat, and it’s easy to dance to.”

In this case neither of those attributes apply. “The Homecoming” has no beat and I doubt anyone has ever danced to it. It’s more Mantovani that Mozart but there is a sublime classical quality to the piece that is part of the reason it appeals to me. The opening strains in particular remind me of a Debussy nocturne. I love the gentle, wistful melody. I love the glissando of strings at the 1:46 mark. I love that it sounds like a walk through a forest.

I’m still not sure what it has to do with tea. The original commercial in which it was introduced is not on YouTube, but I hope to see it one day and fill in the rest of that story.

The music also has no connection to The Homecoming, a 1971 made-for-TV movie of the same name that introduced the Walton family to television. It’s still worth watching if you can get past Patricia Neal as a much bigger sourpuss than Michael Learned ever was as Olivia Walton.

Hagood Hardy’s musical legacy includes one other gift in his contribution to the revered 1985 television adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. 

Composing music as spectacular as the series’ Prince Edward Island setting was a formidable challenge. I think he succeeded. 

Sadly, Hardy died in 1997 at the far-too-young age of 59. His 2012 CD “All My Best” is recommended for anyone who shares my appreciation for his work.

What do you think is the most beautiful music written for television?

My Journey Was Beginning: Dark Shadows

 The first time I wrote a magazine article about television, the subject matter was Dark Shadows.

I was not of the generation that ran home from school to catch this groundbreaking gothic soap opera; in fact I had never watched an episode until the series debuted on home video back in the VHS era. It’s a testament to the show’s enduring popularity that all 1,200+ episodes were released on more than 200 sequential videocassettes. Nobody tried that with Search for Tomorrow.

Dark Shadows aired for five years, barely a blip by daytime drama standards where success is measured in decades. But its legacy is a powerful one, having inspired a prime-time series in the 1980s, a feature film earlier this year and a cult following that endures more than 45 years later. 

I was working at a radio station when a colleague suggested I check it out, and after Volume One of the tape series I was hooked. Distributor MPI Video wisely began the VHS series not with the first Dark Shadows episode in 1966, but with the story arc the following year that introduced vampire Barnabas Collins, so memorably played by Jonathan Frid. It was that story that revived the series’ dwindling ratings, and transformed Dark Shadows into a phenomenon (and had 40-something Frid sharing Tiger Beat covers with Davy Jones and Bobby Sherman).

Vampires are everywhere in pop culture these days, but long before Twilight and True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, and even before Buffy first picked up Mr. Pointy, Barnabas Collins became the most famous bloodsucker since Dracula.

The genius of Dark Shadows was its adaptation of classic gothic horror themes into a sophisticated modern setting that appealed to housewives, college students and even Jackie Kennedy, who was a big DS fan. Vampires, werewolves, mad scientists, witches, ghosts – Dark Shadows had them all. But these weren’t monsters to be vanquished – they were supernatural creatures with souls. As a reluctant vampire repulsed by his very nature, Frid established an archetype that was revived by David Boreanaz in Angel, and that sparkly Twilight dude.

As I neared the end of my first trek through the series, a new magazine debuted called Baby Boomer Collectibles. Its subject matter was all the stuff I already loved – classic TV, boomer era toys and collectibles and cult films. I pitched them on a Dark Shadows piece and they bought it.

I wanted to interview someone from the cast and figured the most accessible would be Kathryn Leigh Scott, who portrayed both Maggie Evans and Barnabas’s true love Josette DuPres. I selected Kathryn because she was one of my favorite actors on the show, and because she had written a book on the series, My Scrapbook Memories of Dark Shadows. I always like when I can acknowledge my appreciation for help with an article by offering something like a book plug in return.

Kathryn consented to the interview, which went very well. Still in my first flush of DS fandom, it was a real treat to speak with one of the stars that made such an indelible impression on generations of soap opera and horror fans.

The article was published a couple of months later – coincidentally, the same month that a Dark Shadows convention was scheduled at a Marriott in Los Angeles. I attended with the friend that introduced me to the show, and looked forward to meeting Ms. Scott and the rest of the cast in person.

The nice thing about Dark Shadows cons, as opposed to Star Trek cons, is that the atmosphere is more relaxed and informal. It’s much easier to have a conversation with the talent without obtaining a colored wristband, paying for the Deluxe Super Gold Convention Package, or being manhandled by the power-hungry morons usually entrusted with security at these affairs.

So it was that on the first Friday night of the con, I found Ms. Scott seated at a table outside one of the ballrooms where most of the attendees had gathered to watch video clips. I introduced myself and held up a copy of the article.

“Oh, yes,” she said, “How are you?” Then she paused and added, “There were a lot of typos in that piece, weren’t there?”

At the time, that felt like getting gut-punched by the head cheerleader just as you had worked up the courage to ask her out. But she was right – there were a lot of typos in there. That early dressing-down probably made me more conscientious about careful proofreading than any editor’s red pencil ever did. So thank you, Kathryn, for that.

I stayed with Baby Boomer Collectibles for the next three years, writing stories about the Adam West Batman series, Mission: Impossible, Bozo’s Circus, Rocky & Bullwinkle and several other shows. Kathryn and I stayed in touch after that first convention, and a few years later her publishing company, Pomegranate Press, published my book on Charlie’s Angels, which also began as a Boomer article. 

So in a way, much of my career as a TV historian and author actually began with that first episode of Dark Shadows. As Victoria Winters says in the series’ first episode, “My journey is beginning, a journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me, and link my past with my future.” My journey may have been less eventful than Victoria’s, but it’s been less stressful as well.