John Astin appeared in three separate episodes of this show. During each episode, his character was killed, and during two episodes, his character found himself in Hell. He also directed three episodes of the show.
Conceived as an updating of "The Twilight Zone" concept, Serling reportedly began planning the series soon after "The Twilight Zone" (1959) was cancelled in 1964.
Two segments, and possibly a third, were directed by Steven Spielberg. According to the book, "Rod Serling's Night Gallery: An After Hours Tour", Spielberg was scheduled to direct the 1971 vignette "A Matter of Semantics" starring Cesar Romero. Those involved with the production are unclear in their memory as to whether Spielberg directed the piece, which was ultimately credited to Jack Laird. At least one actor involved in the two-minute mini-episode recalls a director who more closely fits Spielberg's description than Laird's. Beginning with the second season, and despite Rod Serling's objections, the producers began to insert brief one to three minute "blackout comedy" sketches in between main segments of some episodes, usually when an episode was running short. The merits of these brief vignettes remain controversial among this show's fans to this day.
Rod Serling had originally conceived of a show like this one when he was still working on "The Twilight Zone" (1959). He had originally wanted to change the stories to be shown during the final season from fantasy to horror (the genre he preferred), but CBS adamantly refused to agree to it. Unfortunately for Serling, on this show, he did not have the same kind of control over the program like he did on "The Twilight Zone" (1959), as he was just the host and occasional story contributor. Serling frequently clashed with the show's producer over the quality of stories shown on the program.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
