Last night was one of those self-indulgent, I-will-do-whatever-I-want-to-do-without-justufying-myself-to-anyone-else evenings. Andy headed straight from work to see a few old pals from his Barnes & Noble days (they drove out to some mysterious suburb for dinner at Outback). So I was solo at home, and no one else was really up/around/available for hanging out.

I went to Specialty and rented Disc 1 of “Night Gallery.” Yes, the Rod Serling anthology series that ran from 1970-1973; the first season was recently put out on DVD. Disc 1 consists of the the Pilot and the first two epsiodes. I watched the whole thing.

It’s another childhood thing. When I was a kid, the indie stations (there used to be independent TV stations back then) would show “Night Gallery” very late; the rare times I stayed up late or got up in the middle of the night I’d often watch it, the sound on very low so no one would hear I was up. And get a little creeped out.

Seeing the show today it’s not so much about HORROR as it is about the UNCANNY, the UNSETTLING if you will. And I love all the introductory paintings/artwork; the set of the Night Gallery still looms large in my childhood imagination as an eerie fascinating space that exists outside of time.

Disc 1’s highlights include: Joan Crawford as a selfish blind woman (in an episode directed by Steven Spielberg, c. 1970), Tom Bosley, Burgess Meredith as a wino, Diane Keaton as a giggling nurse.

I can’t wait to watch the rest of the show. It’s a bit melancholy in that Rod Serling lost a lot of the creative/quality control he’d had for “The Twilight Zone,” but even the cheesier moments have their time-capsulesque charm.