Mixing vampire humor and 1970s tropes (like pet rocks, lava lamps, disco music, bell-bottom pants, mirror balls, and of course mood rings), the web series Grave Mood Rings pokes fast fun at classic slow-moving Gothic soap operas like Dark Shadows and the Canadian series Strange Paradise. In addition to a vampiric Viscount, a castle is home to a groovy Doctor (a phlebotomist, naturally), a jolly housekeeper with her own laugh track, a werewolf Vicar, and an arch-nemesis riddler wearing a Sphinx mask. Corny wordplay, the occasional bizarre sing-a-long, and haunted doughnuts punctuate the proceedings, in the tradition of the sketch comedy of MadTV, Kids in the Hall, and SCTV.  This episode is by Jonathan Caws-Elwitt.

Can the very absence of the bogeyman be terrifying in itself?  "There was no one there with me and I was frightened."  Today's moment of existential angst is from Dark Shadows.  In parts one, two, three, and four, we saw how Dark Shadows beat Seifeld to be the first show about nothing. 

A collage of stills from Grave Mood Rings, courtesy of Dare-g on Tumblr.

There is a god in the tail of a cat, "since only a cat can listen with her tail" (Norman Mailer, Ancient Evenings, 1984)

"How many 6-packs of green beans do you need to make your weekend fun?"  From Emory's 1983 yearbook.

Mixing vampire humor and 1970s tropes (like pet rocks, lava lamps, disco music, bell-bottom pants, mirror balls, and of course mood rings), the web series Grave Mood Rings pokes fast fun at classic slow-moving Gothic soap operas like Dark Shadows and the Canadian series Strange Paradise. In addition to a vampiric Viscount, a castle is home to a groovy Doctor (a phlebotomist, naturally), a jolly housekeeper with her own laugh track, a werewolf Vicar, and an arch-nemesis riddler wearing a Sphinx mask. Corny wordplay, the occasional bizarre sing-a-long, and haunted doughnuts punctuate the proceedings, in the tradition of the sketch comedy of MadTV, Kids in the Hall, and SCTV.

"In my time young people didn't spend their time enjoying themselves."  From Tabitha of Lonely House by Hildegarde Hawthorne, 1934.

A collage of stills from Grave Mood Rings, courtesy of Dare-g on Tumblr.

"There are all kinds of things in my mind.  Shapes and forms and ..."  From Dark Shadows episode 295.

From the Duluth Herald, 1920.

The cockatoo has but one joke (luring a kindly finger to its cage, then biting it so that its owner squawks), and the humor is weak.  From Odd Creatures by Dum-Dum, 1915.

A collage of stills from Grave Mood Rings, courtesy of Dare-g on Tumblr.

From Upland News, 1920.

A collage of stills from Grave Mood Rings, courtesy of Dare-g on Tumblr.

"I know there are no such things as ghosts, but suppose there are?"  From Dark Shadows episode 52.

"'Our only hope now is to find a safe landing somewhere on the other side,' was all he said, and then he disappeared."  From Edmonton Churchman, 1946.

A collage of stills from Grave Mood Rings, courtesy of Dare-g on Tumblr.