Boy, this series was so high brow Frasier and Niles Crane probably watched it together when they were young. Unlike Rod Serling’s other series The Twilight Zone (duh!), Night Gallery had maturer story lines, a deader (pun intended) sense of humor, and in some cases more confusing endings. The pilot movie was a springboard for Steven Spielberg and had one of the last performances by Joan Crawford. And what a performance! As swan songs go, this one was a doozy. This series barely lasted a fourth as long as Serlings original anthology. And until recently, the hour long episodes were relegated to chopped up, story missing, syndication hell. (Shades of the current state of The Twilight Zone (1984).) Included in this syndication package, was episodes of the series The Sixth Sense starring Gary Collins. But these were hour long ‘stories’ which were cut down to 30 minutes. Ugh!

Here’s a link to an excellent website for the series. It’s one of the most professional fan sites I’ve ever seen. It includes an excellent gallery (pun intended) of all the portraits used in the series. [Note: The Twilight Zone Magazine, which was put out by Carol Serling during the 1980’s, included several portrait images which weren’t used in the series.]

Some of the better episodes were (only main stories of interest ar listed)...

Pilot: The Cemetery, Eyes, and The Escape Route - All three stories are great. But you just can’t take your eyes (pun intended) off of Joan Crawford.

02 The Little Black Bag, The Nature of the Enemy - The second story isn’t for the squeamish and the last has a ridiculous ending. But it does keep you guessing.

03 Certain Shadows On The Wall - It’s always nice seeing Agnes Moorehead.

05 The Doll - If you liked Trilogy of Terror, you may like this episode.

08 Class of ‘99 - Vincent Price shows us the leaders of tomorrow. (Which...would have been the leaders of yesterday...wait...hmmmm...)

11 Silent Snow, Secret Snow - An excellent story about an autistic boys fantasy world. Narrated by Orsen Welles. Sometimes confused with the Ghost Story episode “Alter Ego”.

14 The Diary, Big Surprise - The first story is excellent with Patty Duke as the rightly tormented victim. (Shades of Valley of the Dolls.) Virginia Mayo is gorgeous as the antagonized turned antagonizer. And don’t blink or you’ll miss Lindsey Wagner as the nurse. Big Surprise stars John Carradine as an old man who offers three kids just that. Early appearance of Vincent Van Patten.

16 The Dark Boy, Keep in Touch - We’ll Think of Something - Great first story with a Laura Engel feel to it. Keep in Touch takes awhile but you finally get to the punch line.

24 Last Rites For A Dead Druid - Geeze, this one scared the hell out of me when I first saw it. A woman buys a statue which looks like her husband, played by Bill Bixby. Some antiques are better left at the shop.

39 Something in the Woodwork - Trulyl creepy story of a woman who wants a ghost to help her kill her ex-husband.