HAPPY 50TH NIGHT GALLERY

"Rod Serling's Night Gallery" premiered as a weekly anthology on December 16, 1970, after an acclaimed, NBC pilot aired the year prior. Though Serling wasn't granted the creative control he desired (and held a contentious relationship with producer, Jack Laird), "Night Gallery" still stands as the closet in tone to the original "Twilight Zone": a genuine, companion piece.

Many of its episodes are considered as good as "Zone'"s best, including "Eyes"; "The Cemetery"; "Escape Route"; "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar"; "The Caterpillar"; "The Messiah on Mott Street"; "The Last Laurel"; "The Painted Mirror"; "Make Me Laugh"; "Brenda"; "The House"; "Fright Night"; "Cool Air"; "Pickman's Model"; "Return of the Sorcerer"; "Death on a Barge"; "Pamela's Voice"; "The Sins of the Fathers"; "The Little Black Bag"; "Lindermann's Catch"; and "Finnegan's Flight". The series even spawned a semi-sequel to "Eye of the Beholder": "The Different Ones".

The series incorporated padded footage (beyond Laird's comical, "filler" bits) for its original, syndicated run, even going so far as to embrace Richard Matheson's underrated "The Sixth Sense", but has since been restored for television and DVD releases in its intended form.  

The show's paintings, which Serling used to introduce the stories, have become the stuff of macabre legend: beautiful and haunting, as much as they're disturbing. (Their accompanying who's-who, celebrity line-up is equally noteworthy.)

I love "Night Gallery" and so should you. Engage its installments and be absorbed.