We all know who Paul McCartney is. He was one of the leaders of the biggest, best bands in history, The Beatles. And we all know - or most of us know - who Rod Serling is. He was the host, and writer and creator of one of the greatest television shows in history, The Twilight Zone. After McCartney left The Beatles he formed a band called Wings. This band was, for the most part, just all right. The music wasn't too bad. It wasn't great, it wasn't horrible. It was good, if you were in the mood for it. You could hear some of The Beatles' aura in Wings - especially because of the vocals. And now to the point... Listening to Wings with the Beatles in mind is the same feeling you get when watching Night Gallery with The Twilight Zone in mind. It's not bad. Feels the same on occasion, and Rod's creativity, as well as his hosting presence, is... present. But there's something missing. Perhaps it's the originality, or the style. Perhaps it's because of the color of the Gallery episodes, that shed too much light on a world that's better off bleak and mysterious. Something about Zone's black & white made it that much more classically eerie. But there are a few pretty good (above average) episodes of Night Gallery, especially in the first season. The first three of four episodes in the pilot are entertaining, one directed by Steven Spielberg featuring the iconic Joan Crawford as a blind woman who wants her sight back. Another with Roddy McDowell as a greedy heir being haunted by a changing portrait of a cemetery outside his mansion. But some other episodes get lost in their own sense of strangeness. They just don't pan out in the end. And the main thing that separates Gallery from Zone is the climax. There is nothing better than a those great Zone endings. They stop right as the character is entering his or her own doom that they, usually, brought upon themselves. But Gallery, in going that step further and often resolving the dilemmas (either the main character getting too punished, or being completely pardoned somehow), in doing so goes a bit too far, and the pay off isn't there. We get a bit too much information. Often the Gallery episodes run about five minutes longer than they should. But, all in all, The Night Gallery is enjoyable. Like Zone it makes good of some great actors, sometimes making great of some good actors, and there is plenty of creativity to go around. You might be let down now and again, but rarely will you not be entertained. After all, that's what it's about - entertainment.
Review of Night Gallery
