Night Gallery - A Room with a View

One early morning I woke up to “Room with a View” on Chiller Tv (now defunct, it was a once-fun Universal property specially dedicated primarily to horror/sci-fi, quite similar to Syfy but somewhat different when it premiered, pretty much the same as Syfy by the end, even showing content you could see by just turning the channel over), having not realized that the channel was actually showing Night Gallery early mornings. A few years prior I was properly introduced to Night Gallery on Encore’s (a Starz property specifically now) Suspense premium channel. So the episodes would appear occasionally, including a nice documentary on the show. I like the show, but I’ve never loved it. I just think Twilight Zone fans will come over to Night Gallery, unfortunately believing that there will be similar vibes and thought-provoking pieces that will engage them, just due to Rod Serling’s presence. Make no bones about it, Night Gallery endures at all because of Serling. There are lots of faces, much like Twilight Zone, that will also help keep the series relevant, but I never felt that many of the stories actually imprint into your mind, landing with much resonance. But Serling just inside the gallery with those neat portraits that accompany (or represent) tales he presents to the viewing public gives Night Gallery enough pomp and circumstance to maintain a decent cult following. That and nostalgia. Night Gallery doesn’t have the same nostalgia with me as Twilight Zone, my favorite show of all shows across all genres, nor does it really ever truly encapsulate what connects in terms of mental stimulation and emotional depth. I can watch Night Gallery and nothing much stays with me after it’s over. I don’t blame Serling who never really got to give us the same kind of show as Twilight Zone, despite efforts to persuade and dissuade content that Laird persisted on dumping in the series, particularly after the first season. There is some included nonsense in some of the third season episodes (mostly involving vampires, for some reason) that would never make the cut on The Twilight Zone. So Night Gallery—despite splashing Serling’s likeness and image all over it, to exploit his popularity—I would cautiously recommend to those coming away from Twilight Zone as newcomers, but when you see something like “Room with a View” and there is Diane Keaton, so fresh-faced, adorable, with this magnetic presence and radiant personality, as a cute nurse preparing to marry a stud chauffeur banging a bed-stuck Joseph Wiseman’s wife (the delicious Angel Tompkins of “The Teacher” (1974)). Wiseman is best known as Dr. No in the very first James Bond, a little more aged but still quite in fine form as the scheming near-invalid, a man of great wealth but trapped in a body that is failing in health, spying with his binoculars down at the road as the chauffeur for his wife is engaged in flirtatious hugs and kisses with his caring nurse, Keaton, who can’t help but smile wide at just the mention of her fiancé. Tompkins, quite a tasty dish herself, is a bit too overpowering for the younger (not dim in her vivaciousness, either, but not yet a fully matured woman) Keaton to compete with, so her adultery with the chauffeur is no surprise. Keaton would likely have been tossed aside once Wiseman died. But Wiseman is no fool and even if kept in bed by his doctor, he isn’t wasting away intellectually. This is the case of a body succumbing to ill health while the brain seems to be fully capable of orchestrating a plot to kill his cheating wife and the fully muscled hunk she engages in coitus with. And those two are quite bold, going up to the chauffeur’s room while Keaton is up in the room with Wiseman, as if their lovemaking couldn’t be accidentally discovered. So Wiseman capitalizes on their lustful need to get it on so soon after Tompkins leaves his room, “urging” her husband to take his pill while Keaton snickers quietly when he digs at her with little snide remarks. This is a marriage that seemed to happen before Wiseman was stricken ill, and Tompkins now can carry on her days shopping and banging the chauffeur without much resistance. But despite being in bed, Wiseman plots and has plenty of time to concoct a revenge that gets rid of the cheating wife and make her lover pay for his participation. And it is at the cost of Keaton, a sweetheart not truly realizing how Wiseman was preying on her vulnerability. She opens up about the relationship with the chauffeur, nudged by Wiseman who settles her by comparing himself to a pet who couldn’t do anything with the information anyway. His bed-ridden situation and lack of friends makes him the perfect recipient of “juicy gossip”, encouraging Keaton to dish some life romance. This is where she admits that her man is a magnet to women, finding one such lady at a bar hitting on him. She admits to “seeing red” when finding him with someone else all over him or attentive to him. And that is the juicy morsel that Wiseman can use to get rid of the two that enrage him. It is at the expense of Keaton, though, a very likeable, even trusting young woman. A gun he needs “cleaned”, provided to Keaton, encouraging her to give it to the chauffeur, but telling her to be careful because it is loaded, Wiseman has put his plan in motion and the inevitable gunfire (his butler wonders if it was a car backfiring) is no surprise. The story—some “Rear Window”, some soap opera—unfolds as expected so I don’t think it leaves much residue behind it. You can move to the next episode and almost forget about it. Keaton’s association with Night Gallery is a draw, no doubt, and she’s very easy on the eyes, a pleasure to watch. Wiseman being a former Bond villain and his manipulation of Keaton, the way he can conduct his revenge with just planting verbal seeds and seeing them come to fruition without any physical interaction himself, adds to the tale. But it is over and done before you know it. 2.5/5