She'll Be Company for You

The episode begins with Leonard Nimoy's character burying his wife. She was an invalid and this makes him free. He hadn't been a good boy, having had affairs with various women including his secretary. One of the things he feels he will not miss is the ringing of a service bell where he has spent his days, answering his wife's every wish. Two things happen. His wife's friend give him a cat which she feels will keep him company. Secondly, the infernal ringing keeps going. Also, the cat morphs into different jungle cats, one time a leopard, the next a tiger. Nimoy begins to go bonkers, spinning around and holding his head. I guess he is being punished for his affairs and for being a jerk, but the episode has no sequence of events that lead anywhere. I don't know if the screenwriter even knew what to do with this.

Leonard Nimoy was wasted in this filler heavy edition of hit and miss tv series. For one thing, what exactly is the poor man being punished for?

Is it for resentment of having to take care of his invalid wife? Adultry was only implied and it is also implied the man loyally cared for his wife until her end. It is not immoral or a crime to merely lament burdens of life....there is something to be said of executing the burdens out of sense of duty.

For me it was cruelty from the deceased wife and cruelty from the writers to make us watch the endless cat growling and stalking.

I do watch NG, so I guess I find it entertaining. Do I think it's good? Well that's more difficult to answer.

The series got good actors. But it's production values are low, even for the time. There's a low budget feel. For comparison the horror films of the sixties by hammer generally have better effects and sets (Although I will say I recently was very unimpressed with "the Gorgon" haha ).

The stories frankly often make little sense. I'll grant that with the horror genre sense can be passed by sometimes. But NG takes that excuse pretty far.

So in this one we get a likable actor, Leonard Nimoy. We get some story about his invalid wife having passed on. Something vague about this visiting cat is maybe his wife's spirit come back to haunt him And evidently kill him. Even vaguer suggestion(s) that he had an affair with his secretary and thus deserves all this.

Many low budget effects in this. Example is where the cat becomes what I think is a Jaguar . No transformation scene , that's too expensive. Just cut to a seen of the jaguar in a doorway we are supposed to take as Nimoys kitchen. Then cut to him doing his best to act like he's a few feet from a dangerous animal. Cut back to the animal, cut back to him. Obviously not in the budget to even have him on the same set with the animal. So no not too scary haha.

I'm honestly surprised at how high most reviews are for this series. It's often unintentionally funnier than scary. I Still prefer it over slick modern horror . But I can't see this for the most part as being as well crafted as say Serlings other older famous anthology Series, the Twilight Zone. I have some affection for it-particularly the cast- But I have to give the series itself some kind of mixed review.

Just caught this "Night Gallery" episode called "She'll Be Company for You" a catch phrase of an episode that's odd and clever. It features the well known of the "Star Trek" series Mr. Spock himself Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy plays Henry a man who's recently widowed and lost his wife. However he gets a gift in the form of a cat from her best friend and this cat is a little cursed with magic powers! Slowly strange things start to happen at Henry's house as he misses his wife soon the cat transforms into a big tiger and claws and growls it's way at Henry! This big cat literally drives him speechless and into a scared manner. Overall good episode that's memorable with Mr. Spock it proves the cat can get your tongue!

Leonard Nimoy plays Henry Auden, whose invalid wife has finally passed away. After years of looking after her (and putting up with the incessant ringing of her bell), he's looking forward to some freedom. But then his wifes' sardonic friend Barbara (Lorraine Gary) gives Henry her cat to keep him company while she goes on vacation. However, strange things begin occurring, not the least of which is a seemingly horrible transformation of the cat.

Is any of this "real" or is this just a case of a lonely man losing all touch with reality? Writer David Rayfiel (adapting a story by Andrea Newman) clearly doesn't want to make it too obvious. The director, Gerald Perry Finnerman, soon establishes an effectively weird atmosphere with a fair amount of sinister imagery. Nimoy is fun to watch, Gary is most amusing, and the lovely Kathryn Hays has some sharp dialogue as the secretary with whom Henry had been having an affair. But this is all a bunch of build-up that doesn't go anywhere particularly interesting, or surprising. As a result, the tale has little impact. Too bad: this viewer was intrigued to see that Mr. Nimoy headlined this particular episode, and had been looking forward to seeing it.

Six out of 10.