Everyone knows about Rod Serling’s ‘The Twilight Zone’ (1959-1964). It’s one of the seminal classics of science fiction and horror and had some of the nation’s most relevant and biting contemporary social commentary. It had several revival series and a movie based on some its best episodes. Heck, it’s very title is synonymous with weirdness. It’s a big deal. Unfortunately, not as many people are as aware of Serling’s other anthology series, ‘Night Gallery’ (1970-1973), which is a real shame. Even though it’s generally not considered quite as good as ‘The Twilight Zone,’ it’s an underrated show and is still pretty darned good in its own right. (Heck, you could argue that it was the original revival series.) But aside from reruns, no one’s really tried to seriously bring it back. Until now.
J. Michael Straczynski, creator of the beloved ‘Babylon 5,’ announced talked about quite a few of his upcoming projects at the San Diego Comic Con. One project he mentioned was a revival of ‘Night Gallery.’ He doesn’t seem to have elaborated much about what form the revival might take, but right now imdb.com is saying that it will be a TV mini series. Straczynski is probably one of the best people to work on a revival for ‘Night Gallery,’ since he actually worked on one of the revivals of ‘The Twilight Zone,’ so he would be familiar with the format and tone that ‘Night Galelry’ would need to take. Granted, none of the ‘Twilight Zone’ revivals were as good as the original series, but Straczynski has a pretty good track record of running shows, as anyone who’s seen ‘Babylon 5’ can attest to.
So what do you think? Have you ever seen the original ‘Night Gallery’? Do you think J. Michael Straczynski is the right man to bring us a revival of a classic sci-fi/horror anthology? Let us know in the comments below.
The series is in pre-production and there is currently no announced date for the series’ premiere.
