Panic!

Probably will never be seen in reruns. I don't think there were more than 10 or so episodes ever made. I recall my favorite episode that featured a little boy who was notorious for lying. He is wandering through a desolate area not far from the town where he lives and comes upon a truck that has fallen into a pit or hole. It's a circus truck. At the bottom of the hole is a man (the driver) with a broken leg who is trying to fend off a tiger. How does the boy (remember, a notorious liar) convince the townspeople what has happened and that the man needs help quickly?

"Panic" was also in syndication for one year, I believe, in the very late 1950's or early 1960's under the title "No Warning"

i was only 9 years old when this show was on the air, which may be one reason it was so memorable. the most unique thing about the show was the opening. a narrator introduced a character and gave a time in minutes and seconds when he (or she) would become involved in a harrowing situation. for example: "this is mr. smith. in 2 minutes and 36 seconds he will be in PANIC"! then in that announced time the character would get into some unforseen trouble and would indeed become panicky! the title then came on the screen and shattered into hundreds of pieces. the rest of the show would be how the victims of the situation were saved from their predicament. i think it was always a happy ending. i don't recall anybody actually dying as a result of the initially dangerous (and potentially more dangerous) plot set-up. another reviewer mentioned the plot involving the little boy finding a man trapped in a tank with a tiger. the boy was known in town as a liar so nobody believes him when he tries to get help. in this case, the title could refer to either the boy or the man in the tank. the only other plot i remember vaguely was a woman trapped in a closed and darkened theater with a maniacal killer. i would love to have somebody contact me who remembers more shows of this series.

One of the best things about the show was the voice-over at the beginning of each episode done by Westbrook Van Voorhis (you just don't see names like that anymore.) He had a great deep voice that added much intensity to the show intros. I only remember fragments of episodes, one had a scene with two boys hiding under a porch and overhearing some sinister conversation, and the other episode had something to do with a lighthouse. I believe that when I was watching this show in Washington DC, it was on at the same time as "Twilight Zone" and it was always a tough decision which one to watch. I hope these shows are not totally lost or destroyed, so we can see them again.

It was the scariest show (of course I was only 8 years old) but even to this day I recall the opening with the cracked glass. Does anyone know where I can get copies of the show? I've looked on amazon and ebay without any luck. The one episode I recall was a painter or mechanic or somebody like that who was working inside a water tower. He got trapped and had to be rescued. But he was petrified and went a little nuts and the guy who rescued him had to subdue him in the dark inside this metal container. It was creepy and made me claustrophobic just watching it. I recall that he threw a wrench at his rescuer and the way it clanged on the side of the tower scared me.

That's saying a lot when I can barely remember only one episode.That beginning with the broken glass was something else,it set the viewer up to have their emotions worked over.Although I can't remember the episodes each show left a feeling it lived up to my expectations,it batted 1000.There were popular shows like twilight,hitchcock,thriller,one step beyond,science fiction theater,etc.Those shows were good but to me never batted 1000,even as a kid once in awhile after watching those shows I found myself saying "Yeah,right".There is one episode of Panic I remember a little of and maybe no one else has commented on.It's nightime and a man is walking down the street when he notices in the distance a crowd of twenty people or so.They seem to be very interested in something or someone and he goes over to investigate.He soon finds out that the interest of the crowd is a little girl maybe about eight years old.Although standing her hands are covering her face and she is sobbing loudly.As the crowd ttys to comfort her she lowers her hands and looks up seeing the new arrival to the crowd.Then while pointing at him she states loudly" That's him! He's the one". Our main character starts to look around at everybody with a surprised look on his face exclaiming his innocence.People start toward him and he takes off running.That's it,can't remember anymore.