Le sixième sens

In January 1972, "The Sixth Sense" began as a midseason replacement series on ABC and was a 60 minute episode per Saturday evening. (ABC had quickly dispatched most of their new shows that had begun earlier in September of '71.) While not a runaway hit by any stretch of the imagination,especially when your main audience would've been watching "Mission: Impossible" on CBS, the show was picked up for the following fall (in the same killer time slot)and was a distant memory by winter. While not nearly as subversive as "Kolchak" or even "The X Files," the series had a distinct flair for creepiness for early 1970s standards. Having seen some of the cut and paste jobs done in the syndication package, I can say without doubt that the show was much more interesting at its full 60 minute length. One hopes that with the new interest in old TV shows on DVD, Universal might dust off the sixty minute episodes for those of us who often championed shows without a prayer on ABC.

It was indeed on in 1972, thought it was fall of 72. It was a syndicated show i believe that it was on weekends on Channel 40 WHYN TV back in those days. Channel 40 is still very much around today and is known as WGGB in Springfield Mass. They were great for showing many syndicated shows on Saturdays and on Sundays.

Yes, that is the first time i ever saw Gary Collins. His was a serious character on the show. They delved into the super natural and tried to solve cases of some sort. My mother and i loved the show and we watched it avidly!!! So it probably has more fans than you think. It was well written, well acted, and well presented!! I was 16 and a junior in high school back then. Good Memory!

The Sixth Sense was one of the very few TV series to delve into the psychic world as a dramatic one-hour show.Dr.Michael Rhodes(Gary Collins)is a university professor who would investigate psychic phenomena and the lives of those it affected.This was a cool show that created some eerie episodes that were best viewed with the lights out.While Rhodes was written as a rather one-dimensional character,Collins brought a warmth & intelligence to the part that made you like the guy.The ESP aspects of the show would be shrouded in a mystery-of-the-week plot.Haunted houses,visions,ghosts,premonitions,psychic powers,you could look forward to chills from such stuff each week.Sadly,the show was re-packaged to run as part of the reruns of the fine Night Gallery show.But they cut the one-hour series back to 30-minutes in doing so,which makes the half-hour episodes incomprehensible & rushed.Still,it was a creepy show for its era(1972)and it was able to do it within the restrictions & lack of imaginations of the network.The X-Files was able to take the concept much further & with the benefits of later day technology & fx.But The Sixth Sense walked the path earlier.

There, I said it! The funny thing is that The Sixth Sense is MUCH better than the more celebrated Night Gallery, even though I enjoy both shows. This review isn't really meant to rip the more popular show of the 2, but they both really go hand in hand. From what I read, and it's been a while, is that TSS piggybacked off of TNG during those crazy 70's ESP years, and was not given the proper respect is most definitely deserved; in fact, if you're lucky enough to catch the show on the tube like I did a few years ago, you'll find the show severely edited, and that hurts the quality. I was skeptical about this show at first, as Gary Collins and his turtleneck and big Chevy did nothing for me, but I did become a fan soon after, as the man can actually act, plus the stories were less silly than the ahem...other show. There's also many familiar faces(I won't name all of them though), such as Will Geer, June Allyson, Joseph Campanella, Joan Crawford, Sandra Dee, John Saxon, William Shatner, Steve Forrest, Patty Duke, Larry Linville, Tom Bosley, and Jessica Walter, although there's many others. It's difficult for me to understand why this show wasn't more popular, and I suppose that adds to the charm, but I bet there's many out there who would really enjoy seeing The Sixth Sense, even for the first time. I'm just glad I recorded many episodes a few years ago, and while their severely edited, it's better than not having them!

This is another under the radar gem that is also a forgotten one as it's never been talked about and barely in the memory of the sci-fi and horror community. This was a show that was no doubt ahead of it's time as it was one of the first that tackled paranormal investigation which makes sense as in the 70's the unexplained phenomena subculture started to open up more widely to the public. This show no doubt predated "The X-Files", "Gravity Falls", etc.

It's not quite a classic like any of them, but it could have been had it been given a little more time. I honestly never knew this show existed, I only roughly heard about this show as only a few episodes premiered on the "Night Gallery", I honestly thought they were anthology stories for the show despite not behaving like them. Really liked that TV advertisement for it, which was eerie and kind of creepy with that music and the strange female head that said, "Come with me.", hearing that let you know your in for a trip. Also, really liked the intro which is a honorable mention in favorite intros, the music is just eerie and even the graphics with it, it really had a feeling of mystery, danger and wonder wrapped in one.

Really like the cases as each of them are also a different form of psychic phenomena, it really made me wonder what was the next one going to be like and the other question how Mike is going to solve the mystery and cure the client. The suspense is good and even a little scary as the episode always present a dark foreboding eerie atmosphere where nothing is what is seems and whatever you never thought was possible is. It's also thought provoking as we're sort of the assistant detective, just like Mike is trying to make sense out of the whole strange shebang.

The main protagonist Mike Roodes is solid, Gary Collins whom is no longer with us puts in a good performance, he kind of looks a bit like Robert Redford ok not quite but has the same hairstyle anyway (Robert Redford playing a Paranormal Investigator that would have been something). He's got a little charisma, but I like how he has a certain sensitivity where he is always treating his clients and the psychic subject matter with respect; which made him the kind of person I'd want to call in case I experience the same type of problems. He can hold his own against danger with the help of his psychic powers, sharp intellect, and anything else he possesses like his fists.

What is interesting about him is he's not so much a paranormal investigator but a psychic doctor as he is helping people that are not just experiencing psychic phenomena but also to people whom either have the ability temporarily or permanently and he is there to help them and himself make sense into the matter and to control and cure it. I really like that it sort of is a mix in genre making this not just a mystery show but also a medical show. My only real problems which dull the senses of the show are for one thing some of the plot lines are a bit formulaic making the show a bit predictable, I felt the show would have benefited greatly with a little more variety in format. Another problem is the pace of the show is kind of slow making the show not very exciting, I feel Mike needed a nervous situation or two to keep things going but also to see Mike's psychic abilities tested more.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a revival, and in this we can have that variety in format where Mike he helps not just another rich woman in danger but maybe even a guy, child, and someone in the middle class. But also, let's put him on a few other cases, other cases to mix things up like maybe some house or area that is deemed haunted, demonic possession or even travel the world on certain other paranormal cases. We could also get a little more depth into Mike as to how he came into being with his psychic powers and how he's came to the position he's in now. It's all a thought anyway to consider.

This is a hidden gem worth opening an eye to.

Rating: 3 stars