NIGHT GALLERY: THE DIARY / A MATTER OF SEMANTICS / THE BIG SURPRISE / PROFESSOR PEABODY'S LAST LECTURE (TV)
Summary
One in this supernatural anthology series hosted by Rod Serling. “The Diary” opens as aging movie starlet Carrie Crane stops by a party hosted by Holly Schaeffer. Holly, a television personality, has lambasted Carrie on her show and stole her husband away from her. Carrie stays only long enough to give Holly a present: a diary that supposedly has some peculiar properties. Carrie leaves and Holly inspects the diary, finding that the first page, supposedly written about the next day, is filled in with her handwriting, talking about Carrie’s suicide. Minutes later, Holly finds Carrie in front of her building, dead from having stepped out in front of a speeding car. The next day, Holly discusses the diary with her business manager and boyfriend Jeb, who dismisses Holly’s concerns. However, Holly finds that the page for the following day has suddenly been filled in as well, mentioning her phone being broken and having to cancel the taping of her show. Later, Holly accidentally smashes her phone receiver; she cancels her show taping to see a psychologist. The psychologist believes that Holly is somehow unconsciously recording the future in her diary. When she looks again, the following day is written in her diary, claiming that Jeb will perish. Sure enough, Jeb is killed in an accident when the psychiatrist tries to phone him. Holly panics when she realizes that the next day in her diary is blank, and she commits herself to a mental institution. She demands that she be allowed a pen so as to write the next day herself and control her own life, but the psychiatrist reveals to a new nurse that Holly has been in the hospital’s residence for five years, and continues to say the same thing every day. In “A Matter of Semantics,” Count Dracula visits a blood bank and seems to be eager to give blood. However, there has been a misunderstanding: Dracula does not wish to give blood, but rather has come to take a “loan.” In “Big Surprise,” a trio of kids comes across an old recluse named Mr. Hawkins, who calls Chris, one of the boys, aside. Hawkins tells Chris of a special spot in the woods where supposedly a “big surprise” is buried. Chris convinces his friends to go to the spot and dig with him, but they eventually get frustrated and leave. Chris continues to dig by himself, and eventually finds a large wooden box. Inside the box is Mr. Hawkins himself, revealing his menacing “surprise.” “Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture” begins as the eponymous Professor Peabody delivers a lesson to his ancient religions class. It is clear that Professor Peabody does not think very highly of the various cults and ideologies he has been teaching. His lecture concerns a group of deities known as the Great Old Ones, such as Nyarlatothep, Hastur, the Great Cthulhu, and Yog-Sothoth. As his lecture goes on, the weather outside grows increasingly violent, flinging open the windows in his classroom. He finishes by reading aloud a passage from a copy of the Necronomicon, which invokes a strange power which transforms Professor Peabody into a horrid monster. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 10, 1971 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:50:54
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:25775
- GENRE: Fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: NBC- TV series- 1970-1973
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jack Laird … Producer
- Gil Mellé … Theme Music by
- Rod Serling … Host
- For "The Diary"
- William Hale … Director
- Rod Serling … Writer
- Patty Duke … Cast, Holly Schaeffer
- Virginia Mayo … Cast, Carrie Crane
- David Wayne … Cast, Dr. Mill
- Robert Yuro … Cast, Jeb Harlan
- James McCallion … Cast, George
- Lindsay Wagner … Cast, Nurse
- Floy Dean … Cast, Receptionist
- Diana Chesney … Cast, Maid
- For "A Matter of Semantics"
- Jack Laird … Director
- Gene Kearney … Writer
- Cesar Romero … Cast, Count Dracula
- E. J. Peaker … Cast, Nurse
- Monie Ellis … Cast, Candy Striper
- For "Big Surprise"
- Jeannot Szwarc … Director
- Richard Matheson … Writer, Based on a short story by
- John Carradine … Cast, Mr. Hawkins
- Vincent Van Patten … Cast, Chris
- Marc Vahanian … Cast, Jason
- Eric Chase … Cast, Dan
- For "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture"
- Jerrold Freedman … Director
- Jack Laird … Writer
- Carl Reiner … Cast, Professor Peabody
- Johnnie Collins III … Cast, Mr. Lovecraft
- Richard Annis … Cast, Mr. Bloch
- Louise Lawson … Cast, Miss Heald
- Larry Watson … Cast, Mr. Derleth