1 9 7 0 – 1 9 7 3 (USA)
98 x 50 minute episodes
Though it has never received as much acclaim or hype as his previous series, Night Gallery was in many ways superior to Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone.
The series featured spookier, more intriguing tales of Gothic mystery and supernatural phenomenon, and featured an even more prominent array of guest-stars, including Burgess Meredith, Stuart Whitman, Geraldine Page, Agnes Moorehead, Jane Wyman, Jeanette Nolan, John Astin, Phyllis Diller, Carol Lynley, Vincent Price, Joel Grey, Elizabeth Hartman, Diane Keaton, Anne Archer, Sandra Dee and Sally Field.
There were plenty of misses that were made during Night Gallery‘s three-season run, but the hits can still leave trails of cranberry-sized goosebumps down the back of your spine.
One of the most disturbing Night Gallery episodes, The Caterpillar, aired during the series’ second season and is considered one of its best. In it, a scheming colonel (Laurence Harvey) falls victim to his own murder plot and ends up suffering the agony of a burrowing, pregnant earwig.
The bug lays eggs in the man’s head, which must burrow out when hatched. Based on a short story, the episode helped fuel a fear of parasitic insects just waiting to sneak into people’s ears. “and the female lays eggs”.
Some of the other stand-out episodes included;
- They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar – William Windom (in an awesome performance) plays a has-been salesman who’s beckoned by the ghosts of his past.
- The Doll – A gruesome doll, sent to a British officer as revenge.
- The Tune in Dan’s Cafe – A haunted jukebox plays the same song always.
- Green Fingers – with Elsa Lanchester as an elderly woman, harassed by a tycoon who wants her land, where she has an unusual knack for gardening.
Meanwhile, many that grew up in this era as children will have vague recollections of Leslie Nielsen as the Phantom of the Opera being unmasked by the girl and then unmasking her in return only to find she was as deformed as he was; A time traveller who survived the Titanic sinking by being picked up by the Lusitania, only to be ultimately rescued by the Andrea Doria; an ostracised young girl who befriends a seaweed monster; a diner jukebox that hauntingly plays only one song, and a young Clint Howard (Ron’s kid brother) playing a child prodigy who foresees mankind’s treacherous fate.
Episodes
Silent Snow, Secret Snow | Marmalade Wine | Death in the Family | The Tune in Dan’s Café | The Doll | Logoda’s Heads | The Sins of the Fathers | The Caterpillar | Green Fingers | Camera Obscura | House – with Ghost | The Dark Boy | Stop Killing Me | Room with a View | With Apologies to Mr Hide | The Academy | Hell’s Bells | A Question of Fear | Certain Shadows on the Wall | Hatred unto Death | The Miracle at Campofeo | A Feast of Blood | The Last Laurel | The Doll of Death | There Aren’t Any More MacBanes | The Dead Man | The Ring with the Red Velvet Ropes | Brenda | The Housekeeper | The Devil Is Not Mocked | A Matter of Semantics | The Painted Mirror | Phantom of What Opera? | Junior | Keep in Touch | We’ll Think of Something | Spectre in Tap-Shoes | The Ghost of Sorworth Place | The Little Black Bag | An Act of Chivalry | Dead Weight | How to Cure the Common Vampire | I’ll Never Leave You – Ever | The Late Mr. Peddington | The Merciful | A Midnight Visit to the Neighbourhood Blood Bank | Miss Lovecraft Sent Me | Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture | Quoth the Raven | Satisfaction Guaranteed The Hand of Borgus Weems | The Dead Man | A Question of Fear | Cool Air | Pickman’s Model | The Flip Side of Satan | Big Surprise | The Funeral | Big Surprise | The House | She’ll Be Company for You | The Phantom Farmhouse | Whisper | Tell David… | Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay | Last Rites for a Dead Druid | The Dear Departed | Dead Weight | The Academy | The Boy who Predicted Earthquakes | Class of ’99 | Clean Kills and Other Trophies | Cool Air | The Dear Departed | Death in the Family | Deliveries in the Rear | The Diary | Dr Stringfellow’s Rejuvenator | Escape Route | Eyes | Green Fingers | The House | The Last Laurel | Lindemann’s Catch | The Little Black Bag | Lone Survivor | Make Me Laugh | The Messiah on Mott Street | Midnight Never Ends | Pamela’s Voice | Rare Objects | They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar | The Waiting Room | You Can’t Get Help Like That Anymore | The Late Mr. Peddington | The Return of the Sorcerer | The Merciful | Little Girl Lost | A Fear of Spiders | The Painted Mirror | Hatred Unto Death
