Thursday, January 31, 2013

TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives: Week of Jan. 23-29, 2013

Show No. 170 with guest Jim Benson
Original Airdate: Week of Jan. 23-29, 2013
First hour: Phil Gries joins Ed for a special edition of The Sounds of Lost Television honoring John Zacherley, the popular New York TV personality known as The Cool Ghoul. At a time when horror movies were a staple of local late-night television, Zacherley set himself apart from other hosts with an array of zany antics that were usually far more entertaining than the movies he introduced. Second hour: Ed welcomes Jim Benson, host of TV Time Machine and the co-author of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour, a comprehensive look at the other classic TV anthology created by the man who gave us The Twilight Zone. Though not always held in the same esteem as Twilight Zone, Night Gallery featured some of the best writing that Serling ever did in his long, illustrious television career. And yet numerous problems behind the scenes — including an ongoing battle between NBC, producer Jack Laird and Rod Serling himself over the direction of the show — ultimately left Night Gallery with a spotty reputation from which it is just now recovering. Jim was also a consultant on two of the three Night Gallery DVD packages released by Universal Home Entertainment — including Season Three of Night Gallery, the story of which is almost as compelling as the history of Night Gallery itself.

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