When I was 12 and 13 years old It was through Stephen King and Peter Straub that I became addicted to Twilight Zone from reruns on network television but I hadn't connected with Serling's writings on a personal level until I gave TZ and Night Gallery my full attention on early morning syndication. I got it, very early on. The human condition, portraying social inequities, hypocrisy in religion, and issues related to racism. These are the same 'futuristic' themes that later attracted me to Star Trek, Star Wars, Space 1999 and Battlestar Galactica ("eeby-deeby-deeby"). I believe it was the King/Straub unapologetic use of supernatural themes to disguise the ugly (or grotesque, or perverse) truth that each of us can relate to, but we never speak about out loud.

Night Gallery presented a combination of those tales of perverse and unmentionable life situations, combined with that creepy and wondrous edge that only Rod Serling could provide. Not even Alfred Hitchcock, IMHO, has ever been able to generate anything near the same chilling 'buzz' of supernatural excitement that a rerun of Rod introducing a Night Gallery (or TZ) episode can.

www.nightgallery.net/index.html