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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 13, 2018 13:16:07 GMT -5
What am I expect of this? I just recently finished Twilight Zone (for God knows how many times) but I've never watched Night Gallery. Other than knowing it was Rod Serling's creation and a reference in the Simpsons I know so little about it. And how it might compare to Twilight Zone.
Edit: First episode with Roddy McDowall who I know as The Mad Hatter from Batman The Animated Series.
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Post by Jesse on May 13, 2018 17:00:32 GMT -5
Roddy McDowall was also in the original Planet of the Apes!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on May 13, 2018 23:35:23 GMT -5
Roddy McDowall was also in the original Planet of the Apes! That's where I know him from, primarily...oh and as the voice of V.I.N.cent the robot from Disney's The Black Hole.   |
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Post by chadwilliam on May 13, 2018 23:45:12 GMT -5
I'd say you're in for a treat as at its best, it equals The Twilight Zone.
Some of my favorites:
The Little Black Bag - an episode written by Rod Serling starring Burgess Meredith? How can you go wrong? A lot of credit however, also has to go to Meredith's co-star Chill Wills in this one. Great episode.
Camera Obscura - a weird little episode possessing a nice gothic ambience in a way that Twilight Zone was too early to delve into.
It stars Rene Auberjonois (from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) which reminds me that you'll come across a number of "Hey, I know that guy!" instances when watching this series. In fact, Steven Speilberg's first directorial work was Night Gallery's pilot.
Green Fingers - One of those great Big Guy goes after Little Guy, Little Guy gets crushed, Little Guy comes Back... stories Serling was a master of featuring Elsa Lanchester and Cameron Mitchell.
The Waiting Room - A ruthless cowboy (Steve Forrest) finds he has no other choice but to join a group of strangers in a game of cards until they hear the bells of a nearby church toll. At which, point each one gets up to leave. It's only when his turn comes that he discovers where they're going.
They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar - Regarded by many as the best episode.
There are quite a number of other episodes that are highly regarded which I haven't yet seen but have heard about.
Big Surprise
The Caterpillar
A Question of Fear
are just a few of them.
I should mention that Night Gallery suffered from one drawback and that was the inclusion (which Serling was against) of short, little comedy pieces at the end of every episode. They really go against the feel of the show, but since they were, like I said, little vignettes that were probably no more than a few minutes in length, can be easily ignored.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 14, 2018 8:38:20 GMT -5
I finished the pilot last night, with many many interruptions, so take that as you will; but I was only really impressed with Escape Route. The Cemetery was good, in a generic supernatural Twilight Zone with a twist way, but not anything new. Still good though, and Roddy really added some flare to his part. Eyes was, I dunno, kind of meh. It was the one of the three that was the least interesting to me.
But I am interested to see it moving forward. There's a lot of similarities with Twilight Zone, but some different things too. I think I will enjoy watching through it.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 14, 2018 9:26:47 GMT -5
Rod Serling didn't agree with chadwilliam's assessment that Night Gallery was equal to Twilight Zone. He was, in fact, incredibly bitter over the series, over which he had little creative control. The network insisted on straight (albeit watered down) horror and O Henry-style last second plot twists instead of the intelligent storytelling and allegorical commentary on the human condition Serling wanted. By the second season, his participation was reduced to just his on-camera performances. I personally think he was harder on the show than it deserves but I see his point and agree that it lacked the elements that made Twilight Zone a timeless classic.
Incidentally, the "Eyes" segment of the pilot starring Joan Crawford was the first professional directing job by a kid named Steven Spielberg. Wonder whatever became of him?
Cei-U!
I summon the second-best Serling show!
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Post by brutalis on May 14, 2018 9:40:01 GMT -5
I just bought the full Night Gallery DVD set this year and have been slowly working my way through it. It is one of those series which I grew up with in repeats late at night watching. It was especially good to come in from my 1st job late at night and sit back to enjoy. I quite liked some of the more humorous quick skits as humor/horror work so well together. Gallery was an intelligent show which tried to go beyond simple ideas or shock to make the stories work. There are paintings and stories within Night Gallery which still sit in my memories or haunt my dreams at night, they were that good. The opening has always been one that is creative and eerie and instantly recognizable.
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Post by berkley on May 14, 2018 15:39:26 GMT -5
I can't really judge Night Gallery objectively because I haven't seen it since it was on tv the first time around, back in the early 70s. It made a huge impression on me as the small kid I was back then, and provided probably some of my most vivid tv memories.
Since then, I've heard or read much the same thing as Cei-U - that Serling was disappointed with the series and his lack of control over the content. I see no reason to doubt Serling's words on the subject but, once again like Cei-U, my own memory of the show is more positive - but of course as an 8 or 10 year old I wouldn't have been exactly the most perceptive critic!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 14, 2018 17:13:41 GMT -5
I watched two or three episodes because it was on one of my streaming services. I can see why Serling was disappointed. It just wasn't remotely interesting enough to watch over the dozens of other things I was interested in. What was most telling to me was while The Twilight Zone was ten years older it never felt dated to me. Night Gallery felt terribly dated.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2018 19:52:47 GMT -5
I tried to watch Night Gallery and The Twilight Zone with an open frame of mind and I just had a hard time enjoying both shows and couldn't catch on either one of them. My three older brothers tried their best to explain it to me and with no luck whatsoever.
I recall many of them were cleverly written and yet didn't catch on the script and the action of such episodes. I'm being straight-forward about this and have a clear understanding of it.
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Post by chadwilliam on May 14, 2018 23:13:24 GMT -5
Rod Serling didn't agree with chadwilliam's assessment that Night Gallery was equal to Twilight Zone. Whoa, whoa, whoa - just to be clear, I said "at its best" they're equal. I wouldn't say that Night Gallery reached the apex of what it could have achieved very often, but when it did, I believe it stands alongside The Twilight Zone. It's still a show featuring close to 40 segments written by Rod Serling (including 20 in the second season - I suspect Cei-U! meant that Serling had become a figurehead by the third season though he did contribute four scripts for that final round as well), boasts the acting skills of a significant number of talents (Meredith, Agnes Morehead, Edward G Robinson, Leslie Nielsen, Joan Crawford, to name a handful), and even has a couple of episodes written by Richard Matheson. Aside from the silly vignettes mentioned already, Night Gallery doesn't have too many poor episodes and can lay claim to enough great ones that I don't think you can justify passing on the series altogether. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 15, 2018 9:11:42 GMT -5
Thanks for all the input. I'm going to try and finish at least the first disc I got from Netflix before judging it too harshly.
I do have a question, from the way the DVD collection is laid out. On the disc, it has The Cemetery, Eyes, and Escape Route as the one episode, The Pilot. Were all three of these aired at the same time, like a anthology movie? Even wikipedia lists them all as The Pilot.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 15, 2018 9:39:45 GMT -5
Thanks for all the input. I'm going to try and finish at least the first disc I got from Netflix before judging it too harshly. I do have a question, from the way the DVD collection is laid out. On the disc, it has The Cemetery, Eyes, and Escape Route as the one episode, The Pilot. Were all three of these aired at the same time, like a anthology movie? Even wikipedia lists them all as The Pilot. Yes, it aired as a single two-hour movie. Cei-U! I summon the confirmation! |
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Post by Rob Allen on May 15, 2018 12:03:13 GMT -5
For whatever reason, the only Night Gallery segment that I remember clearly is their adaptation of Lovecraft's Pickman's Model.
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Post by badwolf on May 15, 2018 16:54:37 GMT -5
I loved Night Gallery as a kid and I even enjoyed the "blackouts", as the short vignettes were referred to. IIRC they were created to fill space when the show went into syndication. Not sure I'd like them as much now, but I find the main episode stories do hold up. "The Cemetary" was my favorite from the pilot movie, but then the "moving picture" is a device that always gets me.
"Green Fingers" was another that creeped me out big time as a kid. And "Camera Obscura", though I think in that case it was due to the weird, distorted faces that were edited in, again, when the show went into syndication.
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