Night Gallery
| Night Gallery | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Rod Serling |
| Starring | Rod Serling (Host) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 43 (98 story segments, including 3 in the pilot episode and 2 that were added for the syndication run) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (seasons 1 & 2); 30 minutes (season 3) |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | December 16, 1970 – May 27, 1973 |
Night Gallery is Rod Serling’s follow-up series to The Twilight Zone that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973. Serling functioned both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although he did not have the same control of content and tone as he did on The Twilight Zone. Whereas Twilight Zone featured tales of fantasy and the supernatural, Night Gallery dealt more with horror and macabre.
Synopsis
Serling appeared in an art gallery setting and introduced the macabre tales that made up each episode by unveiling paintings (by artist Tom Wright) that depicted the stories.
Night Gallery regularly presented adaptations of classic fantasy tales by authors such as H. P. Lovecraft, as well as original works, many of which were by Serling himself.
The series was introduced with a pilot TV movie that aired on November 8, 1969, and featured the directorial debut of Steven Spielberg, as well as one of the last acting performances by Joan Crawford. Unlike the series, in which the paintings merely accompanied an introduction to the upcoming story, the paintings themselves actually appeared in the three segments, serving major or minor plot functions.
Night Gallery was part of a rotating anthology series called Four-In-One. This 1970–1971 television series rotated four separate shows, also including McCloud, SFX and The Psychiatrist. Two of these, Night Gallery and McCloud were renewed for the 1971–1972 season with McCloud becoming the most popular and longest running of the four.
Night Gallery was nominated for an Emmy Award for its first-season episode “They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar” as the Outstanding Single Program on U.S. television in 1971. In 1972, the series received another nomination (Outstanding Achievement in Makeup) for the second-season episode “Pickman’s Model.”
The series attracted criticism for its use of comedic blackout sketches between the longer story segments in some episodes, and for its splintered, multiple-story format, which contributed to its uneven tone. Serling wrote many of the teleplays, including “Camera Obscura,” “The Caterpillar” (based on a short story by Oscar Cook), “Class of ’99,” “Cool Air” (based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft), “The Doll,” “Green Fingers,” “Lindemann’s Catch,” and “The Messiah on Mott Street.” Non-Serling efforts include “The Dead Man,” “I’ll Never Leave You—Ever,” “Pickman’s Model,” “A Question of Fear,” “Silent Snow, Secret Snow,” and “The Sins of the Fathers.”
By the final season, Serling, stung by criticism and ignored by the show’s executives, all but disowned the series.
In order to pump up the number of episodes that were available for syndication, the 60-minute episodes were reedited into a 30-minute time slot, with many segments either severely cut or extended by using newly shot scenes and stock footage to fill up the time. Meanwhile, episodes of a short-lived supernatural series from 1972, The Sixth Sense, were also incorporated into the syndicated version of the series, with Serling providing newly filmed introductions to those episodes.
List of episodes
Pilot
| Title | Cast | Director |
|---|---|---|
| ''The Cemetery'' | Roddy McDowall, Ossie Davis, George Macready | Boris Sagal |
| Eyes | Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan, Tom Bosley | Steven Spielberg |
| The Escape Route | Richard Kiley, Sam Jaffe | Barry Shear |
Season 1
Season 2
- The Boy who Predicted Earthquakes – Cast: Clint Howard, Michael Constantine, Bernie Kopell
- Miss Lovecraft Sent Me – Cast: Joseph Campanella, Sue Lyon
- The Hand of Borgus Weems – Cast: George Maharis, Ray Milland
- Phantom of What Opera? – Cast: Leslie Nielsen
- A Death in the Family – Cast: E. G. Marshall, Desi Arnaz, Jr.
- The Merciful – Twist on The Cask of Amontillado – Cast: Imogene Coca, King Donovan
- Class of ’99 – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Vincent Price, Brandon de Wilde, Randolph Mantooth
- Witches’ Feast – Cast: Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Buzzi
- Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay – Cast: Michele Lee, James Farentino, Jeanette Nolan, Jonathan Harris
- With Apologies to Mr. Hyde – Cast: Adam West, Jack Laird
- The Flip-Side of Satan – Cast: Arte Johnson
- A Fear of Spiders – Cast: Patrick O'Neal, Kim Stanley, Director: John Astin
- Junior – Cast: Wally Cox
- Marmalade Wine – Cast: Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee
- The Academy – Cast: Pat Boone, Leif Erickson
- The Phantom Farmhouse – Cast: David McCallum, Linda Marsh, David Carradine
- Silent Snow, Secret Snow – Cast: Radames Pera, Lonny Chapman; narrated by Orson Welles
- A Question of Fear – Cast: Leslie Nielsen, Fritz Weaver
- The Devil Is Not Mocked – Cast: Helmut Dantine, Francis Lederer, Hank Brandt
- Midnight Never Ends – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Susan Strasberg, Robert F. Lyons
- Brenda – Cast: Laurie Prange, Glenn Corbett, Robert J. Hogan, Barbara Babcock
- The Diary – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Patty Duke, Virginia Mayo, David Wayne; features a brief, late appearance by Lindsay Wagner
- A Matter of Semantics – Cast: Cesar Romero, E. J. Peaker
- Big Surprise – Cast: John Carradine, Vincent Van Patten; adapted by Richard Matheson from his short story
- Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture – Cast: Carl Reiner
- House—‘with Ghost’ – Cast: Bob Crane, Jo Anne Worley, Alan Napier
- A Midnight Visit to the Neighborhood Blood Bank – Cast: Victor Buono
- Dr. Stringfellow’s Rejuvenator – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Forrest Tucker, Murray Hamilton, Don Pedro Colley
- Hell’s Bells – Cast: John Astin
- The Dark Boy – Cast: Elizabeth Hartman, Gale Sondergaard, Director: John Astin
- Keep in Touch—We’ll Think of Something – Cast: Alex Cord, Joanna Pettet
- Pickman’s Model – Based on a story by H. P. Lovecraft, Cast: Bradford Dillman, Louise Sorel
- The Dear Departed – Cast: Steve Lawrence, Maureen Arthur, Harvey Lembeck
- An Act of Chivalry – Cast: Deidre Hall
- Cool Air – Cast: Barbara Rush, Henry Darrow; teleplay by Rod Serling, based on the short story by H. P. Lovecraft
- Camera Obscura – Cast: René Auberjonois, Ross Martin; teleplay by Rod Serling from the Basil Copper story
- Quoth the Raven – Cast: Marty Allen
- The Messiah on Mott Street – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Yaphet Kotto, Tony Roberts
- The Painted Mirror – Cast: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Arthur O'Connell
- The Different Ones – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Dana Andrews, Jon Korkes
- Tell David… – Cast: Sandra Dee, Jared Martin
- Logoda’s Heads – Cast: Patrick Macnee, Brock Peters, Denise Nicholas, Tim Matheson
- Green Fingers – Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Elsa Lanchester, Michael Bell
- The Funeral – Cast: Joe Flynn, Werner Klemperer, Jack Laird
- The Tune in Dan’s Café – Cast: Pernell Roberts, Susan Oliver
- Lindemann’s Catch – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Stuart Whitman, Harry Townes
- A Feast of Blood – Cast: Sondra Locke, Norman Lloyd, Hermione Baddeley
- The Late Mr. Peddington – Cast: Harry Morgan, Kim Hunter; features a brief, late appearance by Randy Quaid
- The Miracle at Camafeo – Cast: Harry Guardino, Julie Adams, Ray Danton
- The Ghost of Sorworth Place – Cast: Richard Kiley, Jill Ireland
- The Waiting Room – Cast: Steve Forrest, Albert Salmi, Lex Barker, Jim Davis, Buddy Ebsen
- Last Rites for a Dead Druid – Cast: Bill Bixby, Carol Lynley, Donna Douglas, Ned Glass
- Deliveries in the Rear – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Cornel Wilde, Rosemary Forsyth, Kent Smith
- Stop Killing Me – Cast: Geraldine Page, James Gregory
- Dead Weight – Cast: Jack Albertson, Bobby Darin
- I’ll Never Leave You—Ever – Cast: Lois Nettleton, Royal Dano, John Saxon
- There Aren’t Any More MacBanes – Cast: Joel Grey, Howard Duff; features a brief, early appearance by a young Mark Hamill
- You Can’t Get Help like That Anymore – Cast: Cloris Leachman, Broderick Crawford, Lana Wood
- The Sins of the Fathers – Cast: Geraldine Page, Richard Thomas, Michael Dunn
- The Caterpillar – Cast: Joanna Pettet, Laurence Harvey, John Williams
- Little Girl Lost – Cast: Ed Nelson, William Windom, Ivor Francis
- Satisfaction Guaranteed – Cast: Victor Buono
Season 3
- Return of the Sorcerer – Cast: Vincent Price, Patricia Sterling, Bill Bixby
- The Girl with the Hungry Eyes – Cast: James Farentino, John Astin, Joanna Pettet
- Fright Night – Cast: Stuart Whitman, Barbara Anderson, Alan Napier
- Rare Objects – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Mickey Rooney, Raymond Massey
- Spectre in Tap-Shoes – Cast: Sandra Dee, Dane Clark, Christopher Connelly
- The Ring with the Red Velvet Ropes – Cast: Gary Lockwood, Joan van Ark, Chuck Connors
- You Can Come Up Now, Mrs. Millikan – Cast: Ozzie Nelson, Harriet Nelson, Roger Davis, Michael Lerner
- Smile, Please – Cast: Cesare Danova, Lindsay Wagner
- The Other Way Out – Cast: Burl Ives, Ross Martin
- Finnegan’s Flight – Written by Rod Serling, Cast: Burgess Meredith, Cameron Mitchell, Barry Sullivan
- She’ll Be Company for You – Cast: Leonard Nimoy, Lorraine Gary, Kathryn Hays
- Something in the Woodwork – Cast: Leif Erickson, Paul Jenkins, John McMurtry, Geraldine Page, Barbara Rhoades
- Death on a Barge – Cast: Lesley Ann Warren, Lou Antonio, Brooke Bundy, Robert Pratt, Director: Leonard Nimoy
- Whisper – Cast: Dean Stockwell, Sally Field
- The Doll of Death – Cast: Susan Strasberg, Alejandro Rey
- Hatred unto Death – Cast: Steve Forrest, Dina Merrill, Fernando Lamas
- How to Cure the Common Vampire
- Die Now, Pay Later – Cast: Will Geer, Slim Pickens
- Room for One Less – Cast: Lee Jay Lambert, James Metropole
Syndication and DVD release
In recent years, the original, uncut version of the series has been shown on the Encore Mystery cable network, allowing fans to see the episodes in their original format for the first time in 30 years. The show is also available in some markets through the Retro Television Network.
In 2004, Universal released the Region 1 DVD collection (including the pilot film and the six episodes of the first season) of the series, plus bonus episodes from Seasons 2 and 3 as extras. On October 16, 2006, the first season (including the pilot film and two bonus episodes, one from Season 2 and one from Season 3) was released on Region 2 DVD.
In August 2008, Universal announced a November 18, 2008, release of the complete Season 2 DVD collection. Later, they announced that one story segment from Season 2, “Witches’ Feast,” would not be included, due to the fact that “Universal was not able to locate portions of the 40-year-old episode.” When and if Universal releases the third season of Night Gallery on DVD, the studio expects to release “Witches’ Feast” as part of that set.[1]
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | 17 | August 24, 2004 | |
| Season 2 | 61 | November 18, 2008 |
|
| Season 3 | 20 | TBA |
Online viewing
NBC has added Rod Serling’s Night Gallery to its “NBC Video Rewind” lineup, as well as Hulu.
References
- Skelton, Scott and Jim Benson. Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour. Syracuse University Press: 1999. ISBN 978-0815627821
External links
- Night Gallery at IMDb
- IMDB Episode List [1]
- Template:Tv.com show
- Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: A Shadowy Museum of the Outre