Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Creepy TV: Tales From the Darkside (1983)

Horror legend George Romero, following the success of his film, "Creepshow", decided to give TV a try. Since Warner Bros., which co-produced "Creepshow" with Romero's production company, had other ideas, Romero opted for a syndicated anthology series.

Tales From the Darkside started with a pilot, shown in October 1983, then went to series a year later, beginning a 4 season run (1984-8), which adapted works by the likes of Harlan Ellison and Stephen King, and attracted a cast of diverse talents ranging from comics Chuck McCann and Jerry Stiller to lesser knowns just making their break, like Theresa Saldana, who headlined the season 3 episode, "Black Widows", about a woman who discovers her family's dark secret on her wedding night.

Rather than run the risk of an episode later being deleted due to copyright issues, we'll offer up an open/close video:



Two years after the series ended, Darkside returned as a feature film with Debbie Harry and Clarence Williams III (ex-Mod Squad), among others. At last check, Chiller had the cable rights, while CBS Television Distribution (formerly CBS-Paramount) is distributing the show, and insofar as I know, only the first season is out on DVD.

Rating: B.

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