Le sixième sens

I was just a preteen in the early 70's, but I too fondly remember this show. I was into all things horror and scifi, and compared to Night Gallery, The Night Stalker, and a handful of others, none was as genuinely eerie as The Sixth Sense. ESP wasn't really about reading minds or predicting shapes on the backs of cards, but mostly about ghosts reaching out from the grave for one reason or another. That's about where the similarities with the Bruce Willis movie end. Well, that, and the creepiness factor. I imagine I'd be embarrassed by the early 70's production values if I saw it now, but it's still on my DVD release wish list. And to second another opinion read here, don't even bother with the episodes that were trimmed down to about 22 minutes for inclusion in the dying season of the Night Gallery--they were horrendous, incomprehensible, and totally lost the disturbing edge that was often built over the hour-long version.

There, I said it! The funny thing is that The Sixth Sense is MUCH better than the more celebrated Night Gallery, even though I enjoy both shows. This review isn't really meant to rip the more popular show of the 2, but they both really go hand in hand. From what I read, and it's been a while, is that TSS piggybacked off of TNG during those crazy 70's ESP years, and was not given the proper respect is most definitely deserved; in fact, if you're lucky enough to catch the show on the tube like I did a few years ago, you'll find the show severely edited, and that hurts the quality. I was skeptical about this show at first, as Gary Collins and his turtleneck and big Chevy did nothing for me, but I did become a fan soon after, as the man can actually act, plus the stories were less silly than the ahem...other show. There's also many familiar faces(I won't name all of them though), such as Will Geer, June Allyson, Joseph Campanella, Joan Crawford, Sandra Dee, John Saxon, William Shatner, Steve Forrest, Patty Duke, Larry Linville, Tom Bosley, and Jessica Walter, although there's many others. It's difficult for me to understand why this show wasn't more popular, and I suppose that adds to the charm, but I bet there's many out there who would really enjoy seeing The Sixth Sense, even for the first time. I'm just glad I recorded many episodes a few years ago, and while their severely edited, it's better than not having them!

Not everyone has forgotten this short lived tv show. I remember it as very suspenseful and thought provoking. I was a junior in high school when it appeared and my classmates and I thought it was great. Unfortunately, not enough of the country felt likewise and it was cancelled quickly. However, it was intriguing to think that esp was possible. The show was well done but ahead of its' time. Today it would go over very well, as did the movie of the same name.

In January 1972, "The Sixth Sense" began as a midseason replacement series on ABC and was a 60 minute episode per Saturday evening. (ABC had quickly dispatched most of their new shows that had begun earlier in September of '71.) While not a runaway hit by any stretch of the imagination,especially when your main audience would've been watching "Mission: Impossible" on CBS, the show was picked up for the following fall (in the same killer time slot)and was a distant memory by winter. While not nearly as subversive as "Kolchak" or even "The X Files," the series had a distinct flair for creepiness for early 1970s standards. Having seen some of the cut and paste jobs done in the syndication package, I can say without doubt that the show was much more interesting at its full 60 minute length. One hopes that with the new interest in old TV shows on DVD, Universal might dust off the sixty minute episodes for those of us who often championed shows without a prayer on ABC.

The Sixth Sense was one of the very few TV series to delve into the psychic world as a dramatic one-hour show.Dr.Michael Rhodes(Gary Collins)is a university professor who would investigate psychic phenomena and the lives of those it affected.This was a cool show that created some eerie episodes that were best viewed with the lights out.While Rhodes was written as a rather one-dimensional character,Collins brought a warmth & intelligence to the part that made you like the guy.The ESP aspects of the show would be shrouded in a mystery-of-the-week plot.Haunted houses,visions,ghosts,premonitions,psychic powers,you could look forward to chills from such stuff each week.Sadly,the show was re-packaged to run as part of the reruns of the fine Night Gallery show.But they cut the one-hour series back to 30-minutes in doing so,which makes the half-hour episodes incomprehensible & rushed.Still,it was a creepy show for its era(1972)and it was able to do it within the restrictions & lack of imaginations of the network.The X-Files was able to take the concept much further & with the benefits of later day technology & fx.But The Sixth Sense walked the path earlier.