Customer Reviews

Night Gallery - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I bought this today and just finished the Pilot Epsiode. So this review is based on the actual DVD release, and not speculation or hearsay. and yes, IT DOES INCLUDE THE PILOT!
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this release for months. Some of which I agree with, but most of which seems to be based on unrealistic and even fanatical speculation. Is this a perfect Night Gallery DVD? No. Is it worth buying? Without a doubt.

The Picture Quality: Is quite good. The color is all there and has obviously been enhanced and corrected. No more grainy, magenta tinted episodes like we've seen on TV for years. The transfer is crisp and color well saturated. There are a few dust spots and hairs from time to time, but no long scratches. Could Universal do better? Sure. But let's be realistic. Most of us watched these episodes on grainy TV sets with rabbit ear antennae 30 years ago. They look better on the DVD than I ever remember.

Sound Quality. This seems to have been much enhanced. Not quite Dolby Surround, but the musical score is clear and crisp, and lends a creepy layer of atmosphere the series never had back when we only had a crummy TV speaker. The sound is great, at least on the pilot.

Extras? Well, there are none, and here I agree with the critics. Would it have killed Universal to put the paintings on DVD? Or maybe include one interview with Serling or even Spielberg? This is barebones for sure.

Presentation: The box is a beautifully printed glossy gatefold with some cool photos of Rod Serling on N.G. set. It's quite nice and well done. There are 3 discs.

If you've been waiting to see the full episodes of N.G. for decades, like I have, then buy this set and don't listen to the carping from other reviewers and websites. Let's be realistic; boycotting the release of this DVD because it's not perfect is like going on a Hunger Strike at McDonald's because they're not a 5 star French Restaurant! Get real! Although I loved Night Gallery, it has always been considered the ugly stepchild in Serling's oeuvre. It was not as highly regarded as Twilight Zone, nor as well known because far fewer epsiodes were made for Syndication. Hopefully this disc set will change that and N.G. will get the respect it deserves. Who knows? If enough people buy the set, maybe Universal will release season two with the goodies. If you sit on your behind, boycott this release, sulk or even harrass the studio, it's likely the season two episodes will stay in the dark forever. I for one, will be enjoying this DVD set immensely. It's a long time overdue.

I am the coauthor, with Jim Benson, of the companion guide to "Rod Serling's Night Gallery." We've been tracking this release pretty closely and are privy to as much information as we can squeeze out of Universal Studios. We're grateful the series has been tapped for a DVD release, and the set has been struck from original, uncut prints--the same ones Columbia House used for its mail-order volumes--and not the butchered half-hour syndication version that played on the SciFi Channel for years. That said, the master for the pilot is 20 years old, and those for the series are 15 years old--acceptable, but a bit long-in-the-tooth compared to the up-to-date treatment other television series have received. Imbedded in a few of the episodes are some errors, mostly in the sound and music tracks, and it would have been preferable had Universal seen fit to correct these. We also fail to see why a series which featured the involvement of both Rod Serling and Steven Spielberg did not rate a budget that allowed special features. If Warner Brothers can load extras into DVD releases of such non-classics as "Wonder Woman" and "The Dukes of Hazzard," then Universal is out of touch with current standards in the DVD business when they fail to properly document their own classic TV shows (such as "Rod Serling's Night Gallery" and "Columbo"). However, Universal is new to the TV side of their property library and may need to get their feet wet before they finally catch up to their more forward-looking competitors.
As a caveat emptor, the first season is relatively free of errors compared to the second season. The most critical error is the crackling that runs through the soundtrack of Serling's segment "The House" (found in Episode #3). Any further critique will have to wait until the release.
And who knows, if sales for Season One are impressive enough, maybe the studio will do right by Season Two and give "RSNG" a budget that more accurately reflects its classic status.

No question that Night Gallery is a series that divides opinion and I'd agree with those who say Twilight Zone is more consistent in quality. Night Gallery suffers from far too many bad-to-outright-embarrassing segments that really do make you question the sanity of its creators. I assume a lot of drugs were being taken because even at its worst, NG has a kind of hallucinogenic quality that indicates the writers and directors were encouraged to be as experimental as they wanted to be even if the results didn't always cohere. As much as I love TZ and acknowledge its greatness, I still prefer Night Gallery because at its very best, NG offers individual segments that are far stronger in content and more striking in presentation. My love for stories of the macabre may also explain my preference but even the most critical viewer would have to acknowledge that Night Gallery presented some of the scariest and most hauntingly original drama ever presented on television. The problem with the new Season One DVD set is that it contains very few of the best Night Gallery segments. If I were making a judgment based on this set, I'd be pretty disappointed. The Pilot is superb as are "The Doll", "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar", "The Dead Man," and "Certain Shadows on the Wall" but the rest are forgettable. OK, the "Little Black Bag" is very strong until the final scene but the shock ending falls flat because it is rushed and explained away rather than shown or suggested (it could have been handled without showing gore) and the sudden cut to the future lab scene destroys the atmosphere. It's a botched ending - one of many that ruined otherwise good segments. But I digress. Night Gallery really came into its own in the Second Season and it is here that you find so many brilliant segments (mixed in, of course, with the routine and those horrendous vignettes). The best Second Season segments include "The Caterpillar," "A Fear of Spiders," "A Question of Fear," "Camera Obscura," "Cool Air," "Class of 99," "Silent Snow, Secret Snow", "Green Fingers," "The Messiah of Mott Street," "Satisfaction Guaranteed," Pickman's Model," "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes," "The Devil is Not Mocked," "Brenda", "The Dark Boy," "Last Rites for a Dead Druid", "Deliveries in the Rear," "Dead Weight," "I'll Never Leave You, Ever", "The Sins of the Fathers" and "Little Girl Lost." Any of these segments compare favorably with anything Twilight Zone offered and I'd argue that no single season of TZ presented so many outstanding segments. I am hoping and praying that Universal gives us a Second Season DVD set that is digitally remastered and packed with all the extras that fans are clamoring for. The Third Season was a disappointment but there were a couple of really strong episodes including "Something in the Woodwork," and "The Other Way Out" - the latter being perhaps the most nail-biting segment of all. Don't dismiss Night Gallery until you've seen it's brilliant second season and the best of the third season. Seen in its entirety, Night Gallery emerges as one of the most creative and entertaining series ever seen on television and a very worth follow-up to Twilight Zone.

As many people know, there was quite a bit of controversy over the release of this first dvd set of "Night Gallery." Longtime fans of the show were very upset about Universal's decision not to remaster the episodes. Technically, the episodes WERE remastered for their much earlier VHS release, with the deleted syndication footage restored to bring them back to their original lengths, but there were still significant flaws in some of the episodes that any reasonable distributor would have fixed. Most noticeable is the constant, obnoxious clicking sounds (sounds like someone tapping on a microphone) that run through the soundtrack of the episode containing "The House" and "Certain Shadows on the Wall". The ethereal quality of "The House" in particular suffers for this annoying glitch, which I'll bet could have EASILY been fixed if anyone at Universal had cared enough about their product. It really is bad enough to make some people return their set as defective.
Other liabilities to the set are Universal's pompous, blaringly loud logo credit which comes on before every episode. I think everyone would agree that the old, silent "revolving Earth" Universal logo was much cooler and more appropriate for a show on the quiet side, which "Night Gallery" is. Then there's the episode listing on the box: not only do they get some of the episode names wrong, but they're not even in the order they appear in on the discs. No booklet, not even a listing of the dates the shows were originally broadcast.
That said, I'd still recommend purchasing this set to anyone who was a fan of the show, or of the original "Twilight Zone" or even the new "Outer Limits". These are, for the most part, very good stories and many are truly chilling, if not terrifying. You get a veritable smorgasbord of sixties and seventies performers, big names from Joan Crawford to Sally Field to Vincent Price, not one but TWO episodes directed by Steven Spielberg ("Eyes" from the pilot and "Make Me Laugh", both of which, curiously, feature Tom Bosley of "Happy Days" fame). The first season of "Night Gallery" was more dreamlike and a little more subdued than the two later seasons, but Serling had more creative control in the first season, so it's no doubt truer to his original premise for the show.
Strangely, Universal tacked on a bonus hour-length episode from the second season and two half-hour bonus episodes from the third season to the third disc. Was this to make up for the lack of any other extras on the set? Or does it mean they have no intention of releasing the other seasons? Hopefully they will, because I'll be waiting with money in hand. But please, Universal, in the future show a little more regard for the way you package and present your shows, especially one as uniquely appealing as "Night Gallery".

Oh, yes. It is nice to finally have this on DVD. My first experience with "Night Gallery" was when I saw a re-run of the pilot on WOR Channel 9 from New York in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I remember being horrified, particularly by the first of the three stories called "The Cemetery," with Roddy McDowell and Ossie Davis. It wasn't until years later, however, when I finally saw some of the season episodes. I believe I saw them on the Sci-Fi Channel and let me tell you, the picture quality was extremely poor. The episodes looked like they had gone through the ringer.

But they are all restored in this release of the first season, which also features a handful of episodes from the second and third seasons. It would be nice if Universal released the final two seasons on DVD, but for some reason that doesn't appear like that will happen any time soon.

Anyway, if you are a fan of this series, by all means go out and buy it. If you've never seen it before but enjoy anthology-format television fright shows, take a chance.

For your viewing pleasure...Night Gallery is finally on DVD. The first season is available on a 3-disc set. The pilot episode (1969) which contained "The Cemetary" with Roddy McDowall and Ossie Davis, "Eyes" with Joan Crawford and Tom Bosley, ands "The Escape Route" with Larry Hagman is still shown today as a tv-movie.
All the six episodes of the first season (it was a short season due to debut on December 16, 1970) are shown unedited and uncensored.
We submit for your approval...Rod Serling who was our host for the original "The Twilight Zone" tv series (1959-1965). Afterwards, Serling had many more stories to tell so he created the masterpiece of "Night Gallery" (1970-1973) and again Rod Serling was our distinguished host.
Each episode is in color and sometimes you get three or more different paintings from which three or more different stories were shown per episode. The haunting gallery paintings were by Tom Wright. The sets were highly-expensive created with extreme detail and the drama is high-class with major motion picture and television actors and actresses:
Roddy McDowell, Ossie Davis, Joan Crawford, Richard Kiley, Barry Sullivan. Tom Bosley, George Murdock, Garry Goodrow, Louise Sorel, Carl Betz, Larry Hagman, Suzy Parker, Jeanette Nolan, Cathleen Cordell, Diane Keaton, George Furth, Burgess Meredith, Chill Wills, Arthur Mallet, Joseph Campanella, James Sikking, Joanna Pettet, Paul Richards, Steve Franken, Agnes Moorehead, Grayson Hall, Herbert Anderson Jr, Phyllis Diller, John Astin, John Colicos, Henry Silva, William Windom, Diane Baker, Bert Convy, John Randolph, Jack Cassidy and Martin E. Brooks.
Easter Egg: 3 bonus episodes. You will not see them on the Episode Summary of Disc Three. You will have to click on "Episode Index" and there you will find 3 bonus episodes with Patty Duke, Virginia Mayo, David Wayne, Lindsay Wagner,Felix Silla, Cesar Romero, John Carradine, Vincent Van Patten, Marc Vahanian, Eric Chase, Carl Reiner, Johnnie Collins III, Vincent Price, Bill Bixby, Dean Stockwell and Sally Field.
All episodes are in standard format. Night Gallery was on for 3 seasons. 44 episodes in all.

John Astin directed the segment "The House" in Episode 3.

I was able to watch Night Gallery as a pre-teen when the program was in syndication on a Los Angeles Independent tv station and I learned my lesson well. Some were just too scary and heart-thumping to watch, "A Question of Fear" (Season 2), "Sins of the Father" with Richard Thomas (Season 2) and "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" (Season 3).

The Sixth Sense" tv series (January-December 1972)) starred Gary Collins as parapsychologist, "Dr. Michael Rhodes", with Catherine Ferrar and Percy Rodriquez. For syndication, it was edited down and broadcast with "Night Galley".

Now we are all adults and can watch "Night Gallery" to our hearts content.
You are being forewarned.

Night Gallery: Season Two is also available.

Night Gallery: Season 3 will be available on April 20, 2012.

When NIGHT GALLERY was syndicated in half-hour segments, Universal made major alterations to the episodes. If an episode ran over a half-hour, then they cut it to fit the shorter time slot. If an episode was too short to fill a half-hour, they would re-edit it and include new footage. In the case of "The Doll," the opening scene on the battlefield was added to the syndicated version, and was not a part of the original broadcast version.

What you get with the box set are the original broadcast versions of the episodes. This is how the episodes were meant to be seen. Granted, that can lead to a perceived "loss" of scenes, but those scenes were not supposed to be included in the first place.

First, the good news.

Rod Serling's "Night Gallery," which ran in three different formats on NBC from 1970-1973, has weathered the years quite well. Like Serling's earlier and more revered "Twilight Zone," this anthology series was a hit and miss enterprise with some stories clinging to memory like a spider's web and others quickly forgotten, but many of "Night Gallery"'s tales, as many as four in an hour long episode, are as memorable as the best tales from Serling's earlier triumph.

The two hour pilot, first presented as a "World Premiere Movie" in 1969, is included here and it set the tone for the series. While "Twilight Zone" emphasised science-fiction, "Night Gallery" had its roots more squarely in the horror genre. The show seemed to have been as strongly influenced by Hammer Studios' colorful and frequently lurid theatrical features as it was by "Twilight Zone." Though the pilot is now best known for providing Steven Spielberg with his first professional credit (in the supebly directed "Eyes" segment starring Joan Crawford), it's the Boris Sagal directed opener, "The Cemetery, " with Roddy McDowell and Ossie Davis, and the Barry Shear helmed closer, "Escape Route," with Richard Kiley as a Nazi war criminal mesmerized by a painting of a fisherman, that still send a shiver up the spine.

The series itself debuted in the 1970-1971 season as a segment of "Four In One," an umbrella title for four Universal produced series ("McCloud," "San Francisco International Airport," and "The Psychiatrist" were the others). That season's six episodes, each an hour in length, are included in this three disc set, and include some forgettable stories, such as the Spielberg directed "Make Me Laugh" with Godfrey Cambridge as a failed comedian, but there are gems here, too:

"The Doll" is a creepy Algernon Blackwood yarn adapted by Serling with English character actor John Williams as a British colonel at war with an evil, curse-ridden voodoo doll; "The Little Black Bag" is another keeper with Burgess Meredith as a disgraced doctor turned wino who stumbles upon a time traveling medical bag whose contents can conquer any disease. A delightfully perverse Chill Wills matches Meredith's superb performance; "Certain Shadows On A Wall" is a quaint little tale of murder with Louis Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, Rachel Roberts, and Grayson Hall; "The Dead Man" features famed acting coach Jeff Corey (a frequent director on the series) and "Donna Reed Show" alumnus Carl Betz giving masterful performances, along with sexy Louise Sorel, in a macabre tale of a doctor's dangerous experiments gone awry; and "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar," an Emmy nominee for Serling's script, is memorable for once more exploring Serling's favorite theme of a man haunted by a more joyous past and for veteran character actor William Windom's heartbreaking performance.

Thankfully, season one was mercifully free of those silly "blackout" sketches included at producer Jack Laird's insistence, and to Serling's disappointment, during season two.

A plus and minus of this set is the inclusion of three "bonus" episodes, one from the second season and two from the show's third and final year when it was cut back to a half-hour. The plus is that it represents more bang for the buck. It's a minus, however, in that it hints at Universal's apparent disinterest in giving seasons two and three the same multi-disc treatment.

And now, dear reader, what is the bad news?

As other reviewers point out, the quality of the original shows is the only attraction here. Except for those bonus episodes, there are no extras which makes the disclaimer superfluous ("The views and opinions expressed in the interviews and commentaries...yada, yada, yada"). Then there's the quality of the discs themselves. Like too many DVDs from Universal, the discs, at least the ones I have, occasionally skip or freeze, a problem I also experienced with their set of "McMillan and Wife" discs. During "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar," the picture froze and no amount of fast-forwarding would let me proceed to the ending. This could be a isolated flaw unique to my set, or it just might be Universal's idea of anti-theft protection. Maybe it's the fault of "Deluxe Digital" or "Macrovision Quality Protection" whose logos appear at the end of each episode. These little advertisements are immune to every button on the remote. Hit "Next," "Forward," even "Reverse," and they refuse to budge. It makes for an unpleasant Orwellian experience. Equally annoying is the monotonous inclusion of Universal's current, rather amateurish looking logo, complete with its loud musical bombast, at the start of EVERY episode. If the logo had actually appeared when the shows were first broadcast, I wouldn't mind, but they didn't so I do.

Serling and "Night Gallery" deserve a minimum of four stars, but Universal could have done a better job with this set.

Brian W. Fairbanks

Season one of Night Gallery contains a few decent episodes ('The Black Bag', 'The Dead Man', 'Certain Shadows on The Wall'), and of course the fine pilot film for the series ('The Cemetery' being my personal favorite within the trilogy), but it is Season Two that contains many of the series classic episodes, to include 'Sins of The Fathers', 'A Question of Fear', 'Green Fingers', 'Pickman's Model', 'A Fear of Spiders', 'The Devil is Not Mocked', and of course 'The Caterpillar'. For Universal to release season one with a few 'tack-on's' from seasons two and three is the ultimate insult to the serie's fans.
PLEASE UNIVERSAL RELEASE SEASON TWO....(season three, on the other hand, was an almost complete wash, as Serling had already distanced himself from the show except to host).

Do the right thing, Universal...give us the best this classic series had to offer.

I had never seen Night Gallery. I was born after it went off the air and it isn't shown widely in syndication. In any case, I've never seen an episode. Having been a fan of Twilight Zone and Rod Serling, I was interested in watching it, even though I'd been warned by other reviews that it wasn't up to ZONE and, in fact, ultimately wasn't under Serling's control. When you buy something like this, you have to put yourself in a time machine and travel back to the era when the piece was made. They didn't have all the fancy special effects and production elements that are available today. They also didn't have the production budget with which a sitcom of today (with one static set) would be equipped, let alone an anthology series that never uses the same set twice. That means that the show had to rely on the talents of the writers, directors and actors involved. What you have here is a representation of an era of acting and camera work that has passed into history. I enjoyed the series for its rich tones, layered performances and raw honesty. This was an era of entertainment when you didn't have to be cookie-cutter beautiful or handsome in order to work as an actor. Straight, white teeth are not a requirement to do solid work. This anthology showcases actors and performances that a regular person can relate to. The writing varies from piece to piece and there are certainly moments in each story where you may feel it goes over the top. However, if you really examine it, that's the case with a lot of visual performances. As we continue to make advances, movies that were cutting edge ten years ago may seem to pale in comparison to something created today. Of course, you may feel that only true works of art remain timeless. I would argue that some pieces have to maintain an existence in the time-period in which they are created so that we can benchmark our progress and, just as importantly, look back to see what the older pieces did better.