[Note: A few edits 21 years after my original review].
I first remember seeing Night Gallery as an adolescent (circa early- to mid-1980s) when it was in reruns. It scared the cr@p out of me then, and looking back on this series as an adult, it's still pretty darned scary. I would classify Night Gallery in the thriller genre. Serling seemed to channel and update Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour from the late 1950s/1960s. Rod gave us suspense sans blood and gore, instead presenting ordinary people in always terrifying, often supernatural, situations. This series made my blood pressure rise and dread what could happen next.
I don't remember many episodes vividly, but most seemed to follow a pattern of average people in wholly non-average situation. I remember one episode about a disc jockey who was pulling an overnight shift. When he tried to play certain musical selections, they never quite sounded like they were supposed to. All the music sounded like the creepy Night Gallery-type theme music. (The music and the colors in the paintings in the opening sequences of this series was enough to make me run for cover.) I believe the disc jockey had done something nasty to someone, and this was some sort of supernatural cosmic retribution. Made me want to straighten up and fly right!
**Spoiler Alert**
The episode I remember most clearly was one with Cornel Wilde taking a turn as Dr. John Fletcher in the episode "Deliveries in the Rear." He played a doctor in the late 1800s-early 1900s who paid some pretty scummy guys to rob graves and obtain bodies for him to perform research. Of course, he needed the bodies to be as fresh as possible. Because of this, the two grave-robbers actually started killing people so the bodies would be fresh. In typical Serling fashion, the guys brought in a pretty (but dead) woman one night...LO AND BEHOLD it was Dr. Fletcher's girlfriend. There's that pesky supernatural cosmic retribution once again.
All in all, even though it frightened me half to death, I highly recommend catching this series if you can. I'd love to see TVLand or Sci-Fi start airing this one again. If nothing else for the 70s kitsch value alone. Not to mention seeing some formerly big-time stars from a long time back and probably some up-and comers, too. ENJOY!
I first remember seeing Night Gallery as an adolescent (circa early- to mid-1980s) when it was in reruns. It scared the cr@p out of me then, and looking back on this series as an adult, it's still pretty darned scary. I would classify Night Gallery in the thriller genre. Serling seemed to channel and update Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour from the late 1950s/1960s. Rod gave us suspense sans blood and gore, instead presenting ordinary people in always terrifying, often supernatural, situations. This series made my blood pressure rise and dread what could happen next.
I don't remember many episodes vividly, but most seemed to follow a pattern of average people in wholly non-average situation. I remember one episode about a disc jockey who was pulling an overnight shift. When he tried to play certain musical selections, they never quite sounded like they were supposed to. All the music sounded like the creepy Night Gallery-type theme music. (The music and the colors in the paintings in the opening sequences of this series was enough to make me run for cover.) I believe the disc jockey had done something nasty to someone, and this was some sort of supernatural cosmic retribution. Made me want to straighten up and fly right!
**Spoiler Alert**
The episode I remember most clearly was one with Cornel Wilde taking a turn as Dr. John Fletcher in the episode "Deliveries in the Rear." He played a doctor in the late 1800s-early 1900s who paid some pretty scummy guys to rob graves and obtain bodies for him to perform research. Of course, he needed the bodies to be as fresh as possible. Because of this, the two grave-robbers actually started killing people so the bodies would be fresh. In typical Serling fashion, the guys brought in a pretty (but dead) woman one night...LO AND BEHOLD it was Dr. Fletcher's girlfriend. There's that pesky supernatural cosmic retribution once again.
All in all, even though it frightened me half to death, I highly recommend catching this series if you can. I'd love to see TVLand or Sci-Fi start airing this one again. If nothing else for the 70s kitsch value alone. Not to mention seeing some formerly big-time stars from a long time back and probably some up-and comers, too. ENJOY!