Night Gallery: The World Beyond the Twilight Zone

Night Gallery Taking a cue from the Halloween season and my upcoming Goth special, we've been watching Rod Serling's early 70's TV chiller, Night Gallery. In a matter of two-and-a-half seasons, the show alternates between 70's sitcom camp "Love, American Style" and an examination of American society. Night Gallery combines the intelligence and absurdity of the sinister O. Henry story structure and the Post-World War II existential middle-class crisis initiated by the Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Many of these episodes hint at future films which extend a similar plot.

Here are the episode descriptions straight from the Night Gallery site: It's amazing to see the obvious connection between these episodes and their equally weird movie spawn.
	THE FLIP SIDE OF SATAN: A callous disc jockey is offered up as a hellish sacrifice in a deserted radio station. Cast: Arte Johnson ( the isolation of a radio station is used in "Night of the Comet")
	MAKE ME LAUGH. A desperate comic makes a deal with an inept miracle worker in a ploy to boost his sagging career. Cast: Godfrey Cambridge, Jackie Vernon, Tom Bosley.(the horrors of ventriloquism made real in "Magic")
	THE DOLL. A hideous doll becomes an agent of revenge against an officer in Queen Victoria's colonial forces. Cast: John Williams, Shani Wallis, Henry Silva. ("Chucky," et. al)
We love spotting stars playing cultural icons: Patty Duke as a Louella Parsons character, Sue Lyon as "The Babysitter," John Carradine as Boo Radley...Night Gallery's devotion to occult themes and the actors perfectly suited for these roles (Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Buzzi, Cesar Romero, and Vincent Price) brings to mind the lack of exciting TV character actors these days. Even now, our minds zeroes in on Jo Ann Fleet and Robert Emhardt anytime they appear - unforgettable with their shower caps and beat-up luggage faces.

With Halloween coming up... let's direct your attention to the following festive episodes:

	Mr. Peabody's Last Lecture: Carl Reiner plays a sweaty-browed college professor invoking the consonant-heavy names of the underworld -- Steven Spielberg directed this one. The final punchline is a testament to the truly comic - it could have been a cover to an issue of "WEIRD MYSTERY TALES" i.e. "when the supernatural resembled a soggy oozing mop with googly eyes."
	The Biggest Surprise: This one involves curious children, a not-so-beautiful shut-in at the edge of town and the promise of a "Surprise." During a lazy, sun-warmed afternoon of an indetermine year, some children encounter the ancient-looking John Carradine. Right at that moment, you can anticipate the crooked calliope sounds of "Something Wicked This Way Comes." The mood is also very reminiscient of another film, "The Other" with windy afternoons and leaves blowing past freckled-faced children in overalls. We've learned that surprises can be found anywhere: in a haystack, a pickle barrel, and here...from four feet below the ground.
	The House: And, for lovers of Robert Altman (notably his psychic transference films "Images" and "Three Women"), the episode entitled "The House" should be a treat. Here is the description: "A former sanitarium patient discovers a house she has known all her life -- but never dared enter -- in a recurring dream." This one goes in the "women going off" genre (Films in this group include "Happy Ending" and "The Driver's Seat;" TV programs include "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.") Although the credit goes to a man who wrote the original short story, we propose that it is an ode to female authorship. Instead of punishing her mad visions, it dutifully finds a home for them. When the character realizes she's the one who's been haunting the house, the unexpected acceptance offers an empowering sense of serenity. Maybe that is the ultimate horror, depending on who you are.

Comments

[James]

The isolation of a radio station was also used effectively in John Carpenter's -The Fog-.

Night Gallery is a show to check out if you enjoy the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. Two episodes were adapted from Lovecraft stories (and "Mr. Peabody's Last Lecture," though not an adaptation, includes several references to H.P.'s work).

[Rocheo]

Ah, Night Gallery. Used to love it as a 10 year old. Does any rememeber the one about a painting?

A guy in a junk shop notices some colour under the paint, scratches all the paint and discovers between the frame is a portal into another world. He climbs through the painting (it's a large one) and when he tries to escape from some kind of monster, his friend (!?) paints over the space thus trapping him in the painting. Geddit? I still wonder how he's getting on.

[Listner Jim]

Six full episodes are at http://www.hulu.com/night-gallery.

[boil]

Fun and interesting, but how can you leave out the earwig?

[protogenes]

Yes, the Earwig episode, singlehandedly responsible for Star Trek: the Wrath of Khan.

[Mindwrecker]

Lovely to find some chat about this show that isn't just ripping it to bits outright. My goodness but this series provokes hateful remarks! As a kid in the 70's, it hit me just about right, and admittedly, a lot of it is pretty poor, but it had some moments! In the show mentioned above, for instance, 'The Flip Side of Satan', there's some terrific noise music used for the records that Arte Johnson plays, which I haven't heard in years, but I recall being knocked out by it the last time I heard it. Probably worth posting as audio by itself.
Rod was embarrassed by it back in those days, and yet, this article shows how even the weekly script grind can create some nice generic plots still viable today.
I also dug the THEME by Gil Melle' and the opening credits a LOT! I have a Gil Melle jazz lp, which of course isn't as gnarly and scary as his Night Galler Theme piece.

[Krys O.]

Each Night Gallery show began with a painting. My favorite one was part of the pilot with Roddy McDowell: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064725/plotsummary