Shark Bytes

OK, it WAS a "Night Gallery" knock-off, but like "NG," it DID have its moments. The two segments that I saw in the mid-90s (when SciFi Channel re-ran it for a week) STILL give me the creeps when I think about them: 1) Claude Akins & June Lockhart are this couple who depend on their uncle's disability payments to survive, so when Unk dies they hatch a plan to get a "substitute" for him. So they get a bum played by Dub Taylor & present him w/ their plan - he figures, "hey, free room & board, awright!" What Dub-the-bum finds out at the end [zinger alert]: to complete the charade - in case a caseworker comes to visit - earthy Claude & kindly June have to get him drunk, then amputate his legs w/ a power saw! 2) TV news exec Richard Anderson has a plan to replace newscasters w/ computer-generated doubles; this one newscaster (forgot his name) is getting burned-out & goes along w/ the plan, figuring to retire early & see the world. The catch: he has a heart condition, & the Network can't very well have ONE Mr. X on the Network news and then ANOTHER Mr. X running around, especially when he might drop dead, right? So, with the greatest regret (crocodile tears), Anderson's character has a couple of thugs grab Mr. X & take him to a sub-basement "apartment" under the studios where he tells X all his needs will be attended to - best food, women, etc. - but he will REMAIN in his subterranean apt. for THE REST OF HIS LIFE. All this poor bastard wanted to do was enjoy life & becomes a bird in a Network-guilded cage. After seeing this latter segment, I had trouble going to sleep for a couple of days, just like I did when I saw the Twilght Zone "It's a Good Life" ("that's why I made him go on fire") when I was 12 or 13. I met R. Anderson at a comic-book convention in CA some years back (& he was a nice guy), where I told him his excellent performance as the Corporate Creep gave me...uh, the creeps. Granted, "Darkroom" wasn't classic TV, but much of it was certainly better-written that many of the moral-free/mean-spirited/see-the-endings-coming-up-Main-St. ep's of "Tales From The Crypt," and compared to "The Hitchhiker," it was GOLD. And the late James Coburn (the host) had some of the icy cool of R. Serling, too! [Somebody, put "DR" in reruns, along w/ "Brimstone" & "Vengeance Unlimited"!]

I was 9 so if it jumped I wasn't aware. So glad to see it listed, I just loved the Nielsen voice in the beginning..."you are in a house. maybe your own. maybe one you've never seen before." Whole show was worth it for that opening!

Never jumped! I still look for this show to this day, even though I used to watch it nearly 20 years ago. It scared the hell out of me then and does today. I still run up the stairs from the basement because of this show. It's scarier than USA High.

This show never jumped although it probably would have since it was a pseudo-Night Gallery type show which is derivative of the Twilight Zone. But this one had James Coburn doing the host duties. Good show though.