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To this day, Rod Serling’s science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone consistently ranks high on lists of the greatest television shows of all time. Serling and a team of the best science fiction writers of the 1950s and 1960s devised 156 miniature morality tales, usually with supernatural overtones, and thereby changed the very face of television. Science fiction and horror were considered more commercially viable, new imitators abounded, and public attention shifted. Serling also introduced a unique form of storytelling efficiency in “The Twilight Zone,” proving that he could pull together an entire closed morality fable in just 25 minutes (51 minutes in the show’s fourth season) . Serling was also careful to clearly state the moral in every episode, making “The Twilight Zone” a great social critique.
The Twilight Zone aired for 156 episodes over five seasons from 1959 to 1964. The series went into syndication, allowing generations of children to rewatch old episodes well into the 1990s. Certain television stations across the United States even host an annual “Twilight Zone” marathon on Thanksgiving Day, making Serling’s series famous. To this day, young people can talk about the creatures on airplane wings and the fact that To Serve Man is a cookbook.
After “The Twilight Zone,” Serling struggled to make another hit. He produced a short-lived Western called “The Loner” in 1965, but it only lasted one season. In 1969, Serling wrote an international riff on “A Christmas Carol” called “A Carol for Another Christmas,” starring Peter Sellers. In the same year, Serling hosted the game show Liar’s Club, but left after the 21st episode.
Serling’s epic return to anthology horror remains in fans’ memories, but he went through some notoriously troubled productions. Many fans of classic television can tell you all about “Night Gallery,” which aired in 1969.
“Night Gallery” was a more horror version of “The Twilight Zone.”
“Night Gallery” was an anthology series with strange bookends. At the beginning of each episode, Serling appears in a vast, wallless museum filled with eerie and creepy paintings. Serling walked around the museum as if after it had closed, guiding viewers through the various works on display. He said each painting was inspired by the spooky story he was about to tell. The painting was provided by artists Thomas J. Wright and Jerry Gebru.
“Night Gallery” might be considered a spiritual sequel to “The Twilight Zone.” It boasts a similar tone and tells a similarly meandering story. “Night Gallery” stood out for its focus on supernatural evil and its stunning color photography. Like “The Twilight Zone,” “Night Gallery” finds its stories adapted from science fiction magazines and literary anthologies, and the series draws on stories by Richard Matheson and HP Lovecraft (such as “Cool Air” and “Cool Air”) Pickman’s Model). ), and many others. NBC wanted the series to be intentionally gruesome, and Serling was happy to oblige as long as it continued the tradition of injecting moral and social commentary into episodes.
And like “The Twilight Zone,” “Night Gallery” boasted an impressive array of talent. The series provided some of the early directorial work for a young Steven Spielberg, with actors John Astin and Leonard Nimoy directing the story. Jeannot Swouk directed many episodes, as did John Badham, who would later go on to direct “Saturday Night Fever.” Serling wrote most of the “Night Gallery” episodes. Guest appearances include Vincent Price, Burgess Meredith, Stuart Whitman, Cameron Mitchell, Leslie Nielsen, John Saxon, Joan Crawford (in her final performance), Orson Welles, Phyllis Diller, and dozens of others. The names were listed.
Rod Serling often clashed with producer Jack Laird
“Night Gallery” was originally staged as a wheel show, one of several shows that rotated in the same timeslot each week. The show shares space with “McCloud,” “The Psychiatrist,” and “San Francisco International Airport,” with all four shows bundled together as “Four in One.” Because of this, the first season of “Night Gallery” featured only six episodes.
However, problems arose from the second season. The show’s producer, Jack Laird, rejected many of Serling’s scripts and began insisting on inserting his own comedic elements between the macabre stories. Serling said in his biography that he hated so-called “blackout sketches.” “Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and Imagination” “I thought they distorted the story of what we were trying to do.”night gallery. ‘I don’t think you can show Edgar Allan Poe and then come back with Flip Wilson for 34 seconds. I don’t think they fit. ” Flip Wilson was, of course, a famous comedian who was popular in the early 1970s.
During the show’s second season, Serling stepped down as executive producer to focus on writing full time. Sadly, this gave him less creative control and the quality of “Night Gallery” began to decline. By the third season, the series had been reduced to a half-hour format, and Laird began to advocate for fewer morality tales in The Twilight Zone. There was also an order to reduce European short stories and increase American short stories. The series was canceled after the third season, which lasted 43 episodes.
But “Night Gallery” was unforgettable. In fact, it was so popular that it was parodied in The Simpsons’ fourth Halloween special. Spielberg also didn’t forget his roots, reusing the title “Night Ghoulie” for his Halloween special “Tiny Toon Adventures.” “Night Gallery” doesn’t have the same cultural traction as “The Twilight Zone,” but if you search for episodes, you’ll find some stories just as good, if not better. This series is available for purchase on Prime Video.
