Night Visions

I caught a Sci-Fi Channel marathon of this series, and was very pleasantly surprised. If you are a fan of The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Crypt, and the like... this is a must see. With many of these types of compact suspense series, it's often hit or miss with each story - sometimes highly satisfying, sometimes disappointing. But, I found each episode in this series extremely entertaining, and well acted. It's no wonder with the consistent caliber of cast, including: Bill Pullman, Brian Dennehy, Bridget Fonda, Aidan Quinn, Natasha Lyonne, Lou Diamond Phillips, Chad Lowe, Jerry O'Connell, Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid, Jay Mohr, Jamie Kennedy, Cary Elwes, Luke Perry, Pam Grier, Jack Palance, Stephen Baldwin, and MORE. The only unappealing portion of the show is Henry Rollins' hosting. Even as a fan of Henry, I found him to be ineffectively uptight and out of place in this role. There are 26 thirty minute episodes, each edition featuring two episodes. It's a shame this didn't last - I think it could have had a pretty good life!

I, for one, enjoy this show. It's not the greatest show ever, nor is it the most original, but it makes for good late-night entertainment. I'm constantly blown away by the somewhat big names they can get. Thus far (4 episodes in) the best one is the one with Brian Dennehy and Cary Elwes about the weekend killer. Sure, the stories are trite and the surprises are predictable five minutes in, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The only problem I have with this show is Henry Rollins' grim and somber Rod Serling-esque intros and outros. Henry Rollins is too talented and/or cool to be that dull and boring. He should really liven up, it would add a whole new dimension to this show. This show is definitely worth watching. But you should probably watch it soon before Fox inevitably yanks it from its lineup and replaces it with more Malcolm In The Middle reruns.

Night Visions was a much underrated show shown on the Sci-Fi network. This was one scary show, much better then the remakes of Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. This show was more in line with the old Twilight Zone/Night Gallery episodes. Not all of the episodes were great, but each had its own charisma. I was hooked on the first episode featuring Bridget Fonda. At a time when I had almost given up on the new horror shows, this one broke new ground and gave me new hope. It's a shame that it did not last. I haven't been this captivated since the Ole Dark Shadows series. I love a good scare, and this show delivered. Great actors, great writing, and great directing. Night Visions is a must see.

The premise for this show is simple. You take a pinch of "The X-Files", blend it with some "Amazing Stories" and throw in a dash of "Tales From The Crypt" and voila, you have a fresh new series based on the supernatural and unexplained with guest actors, guest directors and a creepy host (well, that is if you consider Henry Rollins to be creepy).

But alas, this is probably about the 5000th TV show to hit the air since television was invented and just about everything about this show seems either unoriginal or enters the 'been there, done that' territory because so many shows before it has dabbled in the same subject matter.

Unlike "Tales From The Crypt" where the host was the fun and always hilarious Crypt Keeper, here we have a sombre and straight-to-the-point Henry Rollins (of the Rollins Band) presenting each story with a quick foreword. Each story blends mystery, suspense and most of the time, death, together to make for a half hour episode of fun. Unfortunately, most of the stories are extremely predictable and the endings don't always come as a surprise. But still, it makes for good Summer filler, and seeing guest actors meeting a sorry demise at the end of each episode is always fun.

FOX - Keep this one on the air!

I didn't discover this until it began airing on Sci-Fi (and I quite agree with Rekrul about Sci-Fi misleading viewers by claiming productions as their own -- they made similar claims with "Strange World" [a series that ran on ABC for half a season three years prior to Sci-Fi claiming it as their own], "Cube 2" [an international production in wide release that couldn't secure a distribution deal in the US], "Riverworld" [adaptation of a Phillip Jose Farmer novel that was doomed when Alex Proyas left the project and was bound for direct-to-video release until Sci-Fi grabbed it] and all of their cheesy Saturday afternoon monster movies that would have gone direct-to-video if Sci-Fi hadn't snapped up the rights). "Night Visions" was a bit heavyhanded with the morality lessons, something that "The Twilight Zone" did with a light touch and as an afterthought. But if you could overlook that, some of the stories were quite effective (and many were not, either lacking a strong ending or simply not being believable). The guest cast was literally stellar, including some of the leading lights of the indie film movement as well as more mainstream actors, which gave it some sort of post-modern credibility. The acting was always solid. Somehow Henry Rollins didn't really work as the host -- he's a competant actor, why did it seem like he was phoning it in? He may have fit the indie sensibility of the show, but he was positioned in the mode of the classic moralist anthology host ala Serling, and he just didn't seem to rise to the task...in fact he seemed uncomfortable in the role. I can't picture the guy in a suit, but I think the t-shirt and tats combo also worked against him (but how else would you dress Henry Rollins?).