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MEMORIES:
capt_scarlet remembers...When I short the creepy opening credits scared the poo outta me! More »
Posted on 08/09/08
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Rod Serling’s influential anthology series The Twilight Zone ended in 1964, but its status as a cult milestone led to high demand for a follow-up. NBC hired Serling to host a new series, with a greater focus on the supernatural and horrific. Serling had misgivings about churning out a “weekly trip to the graveyard,” but he contributed scripts for roughly a third of the episodes, many of which stand on par with the halcyon days of the Zone.
Night Gallery made its debut as a pilot TV movie, aired November 8, 1969. Serling introduced three stories, each of which involved a painting as a central theme;
“The Cemetery” – Roddy McDowell stars as a bratty young man who murders his rich uncle. An oil painting of the nearby family cemetery soon begins to change, first showing an open grave, then a shambling figure bent on revenge.
“Eyes” – Joan Crawford is a wealthy heiress, blind from birth, who has used ruthless means to obtain sight, if only for an hour. She intends to enjoy the art treasures she has hoarded but never been able to see, but there is an ironic fate in store for her. (This segment is one of the earliest directing assignments given to a young Steven Spielberg.)
“The Escape Route” – A Nazi war criminal (Richard Kiley) finds that he can transport himself into a peaceful countryside landscape in an art gallery. A concentration camp survivor (Sam Jaffe) finds and recognizes him, and pursues him to an escape, into a very different kind of painting.
The pilot was well received, graced with Serling’s presence, and the eerie original oil paintings seen at the top of each story. (The art for the pilot was created by painter Jaroslav Gebr. All of the paintings for the regular series were created by Tom Wright.)
In 1970, Night Gallery became a part of the rotating Four In One timeslot. This meant only six full episodes were produced for the first season. In 1971, Night Gallery came into its own with a regular timeslot, and a growing following.
Among the series highlights;
“They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar” – In this series high point, Serling returned to the theme of nostalgic longing that informed some of the best Twilight Zone episodes. An aging ad executive (William Windom) faces becoming irrelevant in the face of a young hotshot exec (Bert Convy) and an unsympathetic boss (John Randolph). He finds himself drawn to Tim Riley’s Bar, soon to be demolished. In the windows of the abandoned bar, he sees friends and family from his past beckoning him to return to a happier time. His fascination with these ghostly memories threatens to engulf him. Loyal office assistant Diane Baker is determined to help him find meaning in the here and now. This distinctive episode earned Rod Serling an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Dramatic Series.
“The Doll” – A colonial officer (John Williams) returns home to find that his daughter owns a creepy, homicidal doll, sent by an enemy to destroy him. This story is reminiscent of the “Living Doll” episode on The Twilight Zone, but this doll, a mascara’d hag-like visage, is an instant nightmare, surely responsible for many nights of missed sleep for youngsters who saw her grinning face.
“A Fear of Spiders” – A ruthless culinary critic (Patrick O’Neal) becomes the object of revenge by a bitter reviewee (Kim Stanley) and finds his kitchen sink is inhabited by a large hairy-legged menace.
“Pickman’s Model” – In this adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story, a young woman (Louise Sorel) is enthralled with her art professor, the mysterious Mr. Pickman (Bradford Dillman). She learns of his fascination with painting hideous creatures from some unholy other dimension. Could it be that the monstrous creature in his most recent paintings is modeled from a live specimen? Make-up artist John Chambers earned the series second Emmy nomination for his work on this episode.
“The Return of the Sorcerer” – Vincent Price brings his masterful sense of comedy and the macabre to this tale of a sorcerer trying to unravel the rituals from the text of the Mad Arab Abdul Al-Hazred, hoping to reveal the fate of his long lost brother.
In spite of the show’s accomplishments and popularity, Night Gallery suffered from unsure network decisions and creative differences. Rod Serling did not have full creative control over the series, and he did not approve of some of its scripts, or of the corny comical “black-out” skits that often filled out the show’s running time.
In 1972, the hour-long show was cut back to a half hour format. New episodes continued through 1973, but by that time, Serling had all but disowned the program.
When Night Gallery entered syndication, its early episodes were brutally chopped or in some cases expanded with newly shot “pad” footage. NBC tossed episodes of another series, The Sixth Sense, into the mix, disguising them as Night Gallery episodes by filming new introductions with Serling. (New paintings were also commissioned by artist Jaroslav Gebr.)
In the late 1990s, the Mystery Channel ran the series in its original format, to the joy of fans who had been living with the inferior syndicated versions. In 2004, the pilot and first season episodes were released on DVD.
