Not every episode of Rod Sterling's Night Gallery is great, but a lot of them produce surprises. While Sterling himself serves as a haunting host taking us on an episodic tour through an extensive art museum, we are often stopping to gasp at photos whose texture varied with the artist. Sterling's catch phrase "Picture if you will..." fits this format but I believe he first uttered that phrase on Twilight Zone.
Though Rod is the host here, a lot of the work on this series is from others. Sterling is used as the magnet to draw viewers. Most of the work is horror but there are a few comedy blackouts here too. Some of these were mixed into NBC's Mystery Movie format, and the lengths vary from the 90 minutes of those, to one hour shows to even some 30 minute galleries in the final season.
NBC had a habit in this era of attracting top talent to these types of series and getting them to show off that talent. While there are a few episodes I would not recommend, most of this series presents good viewing. On Halloween night, the image of Rod Sterling in front of a painting introducing us to it will always seem fitting to the Halloween spirit in my mind.
Though Rod is the host here, a lot of the work on this series is from others. Sterling is used as the magnet to draw viewers. Most of the work is horror but there are a few comedy blackouts here too. Some of these were mixed into NBC's Mystery Movie format, and the lengths vary from the 90 minutes of those, to one hour shows to even some 30 minute galleries in the final season.
NBC had a habit in this era of attracting top talent to these types of series and getting them to show off that talent. While there are a few episodes I would not recommend, most of this series presents good viewing. On Halloween night, the image of Rod Sterling in front of a painting introducing us to it will always seem fitting to the Halloween spirit in my mind.