The Dead Man/The Housekeeper

Just watched this now classic episode of "Night Gallery" from season one I believe the first episode it's even more special now that TV legend Larry Hagman has passed. Anyway it was odd seeing Hagman sport a beard I was always used to him being clean shaved. Anyway again about seven years before his big role as J.R. Ewing on "Dallas", Larry was a guest star on this sci-fi, horror suspense series "Night Gallery". In this episode Larry is a man that has an attractive trophy socialite type wife, but her attitude on the inside is terrible. In a clever twist the Hagman character hires a sweet and innocent old lady as a housekeeper, once he sees this old lady's attitude is so much better than his wife's he's got a plan. It's in the form of a frog it's a strange creature transformation that you have to watch to see it explained. The body and attitude turns out to both be switched between his wife and the old lady! Overall good clever episode nice to see some Hagman work before he became J.R. and this episode had good montage editing with old "Frankenstein" clips!

If you like to revisit creepy TV memories of prime-time past, 'Night Gallery' can supply you with an occasional quick fix, with the refreshing absence of today's explicit gore---these two entries typify what was considered scary back in the poofy-haired, sideburned Seventies. Now, more than 40 years later, I found 'The Dead Man' to be the creepier of the two, complete with your standard crazed doctor, dark cemetery, and hysterical woman running around in a flowing nightgown. But in 'The Housekeeper' , the sole graces are the creepy/comic performances of Larry Hagman and Jeannette Nolan. The rest---especially if it's been edited for commercials-- is pure pastel-colored cheese, except for Hagman's final line of otherwise-silly dialogue. (Both of these compared badly to the excellent Twilight Zone episode 'The New Exhibit', with Martin Balsam, that aired directly afterward. Catch that if you can!)

Rod Serling introduces two macabre tales based around the exhibits in his 'night gallery'.

In The Dead Man, Dr. Max Redford (Carl Betz) invites his friend Dr. Miles Talmadge (Jeff Corey) to his home, to introduce him to John Fearing (Michael Blodgett), a patient who he has conditioned using hypnotic suggestion to fall ill, and return to health, on his command; Max believes that his control method may even help conquer death. Redford's experiments take a horrific turn when his subject dies and he is unable to bring him back as planned. When Miles goes through Max's case notes and recordings, he discovers his friend's mistake - an error that proves to have deadly consequences. The final EC-style twist in this episode is enjoyable, but like the stories in the pilot, I think it would have been more impactful if they had been able to up the gruesomeness.

Story number two is a more whimsical affair, Larry Hagman playing Cedric Acton, the husband of a wealthy and attractive woman with a horrible personality. Using the dark arts, Cedric hopes to carry out a personality transplant, replacing his wife's obnoxiousness with the more benign nature of housekeeper Miss Wattle (Jeanette Nolan). Obviously, things don't go according to plan. The light-hearted tone makes this an inoffensive bit of fun, while the short running time ensures that it never bores. Unlikely to give you nightmares, but entertaining nonetheless.

'The Dead Man' - A doctor/hypnotist uses a young man as his subject to cheat death, but the man is having an affair with his wife, unconsciously forcing him to put him in a state of living death... Effective story with a most chilling ending.

'The Housekeeper' - Larry Hagman plays a frustrated yet determined man who decides to use black magic to get rid of his unloving wife, and needs a willing but ignorant woman to aid him by a soul transference, no matter how long it takes... Amusing story where the final line is the payoff.

First episode of the TV series.

Divided in two segments hosted by Rod Serling, the first episode of "Night Gallery" presents two supernatural stories.

Dr. Miles Talmadge (Jeff Corey) is invited by his colleague and friend Dr. Max Redford (Carl Betz) to come to his isolated clinic to witness his recent research. Max shows his only patient John Michael Fearing (Michael Blodgett) that has psychosomatic illness and is capable to receive suggestions under hypnosis to change his body instantaneously from healthy to sickness and vice-versa. Fearing is in love with Dr. Redford´s younger wife Velia Redford (Louise Sorel) and this is the only reason for him to accept to be submitted to Dr. Redford´s experiments. When he decides to defeat death using Fearing, his signal does not bring his guinea pig back to life and Fearing dies. Velia becomes insane until the day Dr. Talmadge discovers his friend committed a mistake in his signal. What will happen next?

"The Dead Man" is a creepy tale. The tension increases and the conclusion is excellent. My vote is eight.

Cedric Acton (Larry Hagman) is unhappily married with the wealthy Carlotta Acton (Suzy Parker). He requests an ugly and lonely housekeeper and Miss Wattle (Jeanette Nolan) applies for the job. She is interviewed by Cedric and soon she leans his intentions. Will she accept his proposal?

'The Housekeeper" is a shorter and weaker episode with many flaws and confused conclusion without explanation for Cedric´s final words. Maybe the episode was edited to 20 minutes running time and become nonsense. My vote is six.

My global vote to this episode is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Morto / A Empregada" ("The Dead Man / The Housekeeper")