Night Gallery: Seasons 1-3 (1970)

Night Gallery is a macabre trip down memory lane as I revisit the Season 1 episodes that I saw on TV back in the day. (What I'm champing at the bit to see again is the end of the second season's The Caterpillar. It may be the single most memorable episode of anything I ever viewed on the airwaves, pre-DVD.) Night Gallery's sound and graphics during the opening credits remain unsettling -- perhaps explaining why the patently more marketable Twilight Zone lasted many more seasons. Rod Serling pulled out the stops for this show to make his audience feel squeamish, starting with a literal gallery of macabre and grotesque artwork commissioned to introduce each segment. The pilot episode has 3 segments (Roddy McDowall kills his uncle and is terrorized by a painting of the family cemetery that keeps changing, Joan Crawford obtains an operation to restore her eyesight for 12 ill-timed hours, and ex-Nazi Richard Kiley faces consequences), though many episodes have 2 segments, and Season 1 includes 3 short bonus segments (more shaggy dog stories than anything). Season 1 has episodes with Larry Hagman, Burgess Meredith, Phyllis Diller, and William Windom, for old-school viewers. Enjoy! 4 stars. (12-30-2016)