john-579
Joined Dec 2001
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john-579's rating
I adored the Night Gallery and was very pleased to have recently gotten the complete series.
Many of the segments are, frankly, mediocre, but some are classically terrifying. The episode with Roddy McDowell as the nephew who kills his rich uncle and Ossie Davis as the butler, the episode with Carl Betz as the doctor, "Camera Obscura" with Rene Auberjonois and Ross Martin (taken directly from the short story of the same name), and many, many others: all of these were good for a night of keeping the lights on. It's both good and rather sad to see all these great actors we grew up with who've since passed on. ~sigh~ I just finished watching "Big Surprise" again. And it's still as frightening and funny as ever.
Many of the segments are, frankly, mediocre, but some are classically terrifying. The episode with Roddy McDowell as the nephew who kills his rich uncle and Ossie Davis as the butler, the episode with Carl Betz as the doctor, "Camera Obscura" with Rene Auberjonois and Ross Martin (taken directly from the short story of the same name), and many, many others: all of these were good for a night of keeping the lights on. It's both good and rather sad to see all these great actors we grew up with who've since passed on. ~sigh~ I just finished watching "Big Surprise" again. And it's still as frightening and funny as ever.
I can remember large parts of the original TV movie of this as well as the subsequent episodes of the series. Laurence Luckinbill was exceptional in this role. (Celeste Holm wasn't chopped liver, neither; she couldn't help but glow whatever she was doing.) It was a fascinating premise for a show that was, sadly, probably beyond a lot of the viewing audience at the time.
Ironically, the plots for the show were a little thin... although in retrospect, I think that this is more the zeitgeist of 70s television than anything else. (I have the complete run of Columbo episodes from years past, which suffers from similar problems.) The unfolding of the plot is really quite ritual, stylized in a way that has become rather brittle with age. Again, in the mid-70s, we weren't as sophisticated. Perhaps we hadn't seen enough PBS imports of British stuff, yet. :)
I'd love to see The Delphi Bureau come out on DVD.
Ironically, the plots for the show were a little thin... although in retrospect, I think that this is more the zeitgeist of 70s television than anything else. (I have the complete run of Columbo episodes from years past, which suffers from similar problems.) The unfolding of the plot is really quite ritual, stylized in a way that has become rather brittle with age. Again, in the mid-70s, we weren't as sophisticated. Perhaps we hadn't seen enough PBS imports of British stuff, yet. :)
I'd love to see The Delphi Bureau come out on DVD.