The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes/Miss Lovecraft Sent Me/The Hand of Borgus Weems/Phantom of What Opera?

Episode One from Season Two contains four segments.

The first "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes" stars Clint Howard as a young boy who grows to fame due to the fact he can predict future occurrences. Earthquakes , people gone missing being discovered, etc. one day however he predicts something dark, and lets just put it like Serling so greatly quotes it in the opening sometime predicting the future isn't a gift as much as a nightmare. Interesting segment with a dark conclusion.

The second "Miss Lovecraft Sent Me" is the first of a series of comedic shorts that producer Jack Laird decided to put in the series. It has a babysitter going to a castle to watch the unseen child of a vampire couple. She's a little slow, but, finally gets that shes not watching anything human. Decent time waster.

The third "The Hand of Borgus Weems" has a desperate man seeking help from a surgeon when he finds one of his hands has developed a murderous mind of its own. He recounts his past history as the hand attempts to assault several people he came in contact with all with one connection. Fun creepy possession segment with a nice conclusion, probably my favorite of the bunch.

The fourth "Phantom of What Opera?" is yet another comedic sketch, this time centering around the famed phantom character. This time he discovers a twist to the beautiful young lady he's kidnapped. It's actually kinda amusing.

Overall good episode book ended by two good long stories.

"The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes" finds young Clint Howard (that's right, Opie's little brother) playing little boy who has a gift. Once he becomes knowledgeable in a subject, he can see into the near future and predict what will happen. Soon he is exploited, having his own television show where over a hundred things he says comes true. One day he hesitates and asks to go home. If we all could have his compassion. A nice little episode with the usual network bad guys.

"The Hand of Borgus Weems" (Serling liked these odd names) features the handsome George Maharis as a man who has lost control of his right hand. It acts in such murderous ways that he asks it be amputated. Ray Milland, a surgeon, wants to call in a psychiatrist and Maharis insists he is sane. Finally, in desperation, he picks up a heavy statuette and crushes his hand, requiring it be taken off. Somehow the people he has chosen to assault have something in common and that is the gist of the story.

"Miss Lovecraft Sent Me" is not worth the two minutes it takes. A baby sitter, played by Sue Lyon (Lolita) chews gum and vapidly looks around a mansion, run be an obvious vampire. Unfortunately, nothing worthwhile happens. I know who H. P. Lovecraft was. What does the name have to do with anything.

"Phantom of What Opera" is equally lacking in anything fresh. We've seen this a hundred times. I guess the regular episodes just didn't fill up the whole hour.

I was never all that impressed by Night Gallery, but this one episode stands out.

A TV network executive auditions an odd act - a young, nerdy boy who proceeds to make prognostications. The exec dismisses the whole thing as a flaky waste of time until both predictions come true the next morning.

What first seemed a parlor act becomes a hit show as the kid's predictions prove consistently accurate.

Then, one day, he refuses to do the show. Facing imminent showtime, everyone's at wit's end, even threatening him with legal action if he doesn't fulfill his contract and make his daily predictions.

The young boy relents, and foretells a seemingly utopian tomorrow.

After the show, the befuddled executive asks for an explanation, only to learn why the complete truth is too terrifying to reveal.

'The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes' - Clint Howard plays Herbie Bittman, a young boy who can predict future events, so long as there is a future to predict... Highly effective story with a knockout ending.

'Miss Lovecraft Sent Me' - Foolish waste of time, and not funny either.

'The Hand Of Borgus Weems' - A man believes that his hand is no longer his own, and will go to extreme lengths to get rid of it... Unoriginal but interesting tale has a good cast(like Ray Milland) at least.

'Phantom Of What Opera?' - Leslie Nielsen plays the phantom carrying off his reluctant love who has a secret herself... Hilarious segment may be the only one of its kind to work, but Nielsen's heavy mask breathing and surprise reveal make it a treat.

Season 2 has these silly little 4 minute sketches. From what I've read Rod Serling hated these because they don't fit the tone of the show at all but he was told to include them. I'm with Serling on this one. They're terrible.

The other two stories are both well performed, well executed and the production is top notch as always on Night Gallery. But they are also very predictable. I'm not saying I could predict every detail of them but it was obvious where, more or less, these stories were going to end. In both cases I never had any doubt and in both cases I was right.

Still worth seeing. Every episode has been worth seeing so far.