Darkroom is an American television thriller series which ABC transmitted from November 27, 1981 to January 15, 1982. It was an anthology horror/thriller series, similar in style to Rod Serling's Night Gallery. Each 60-minute episode featured two or more stories of varying length with a new story and a new cast, but each of the episode wraparound segments was hosted by James Coburn. Among the performers who appeared on the series were Steve Allen, Esther Rolle, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, David Carradine, Billy Crystal, and June Lockhart.
Yet another entry in the long running anthology sweepstakes to become the next hit after the Twilight Zone, 1981's Darkroom lasted all of 7 measly episodes before getting the ax. It had one of the better title sequences, a loony host to match up (James Coburn doing his best Rod Serling imitation), and quite a few stories from the macabre side of the fence…which may have been the show's downfall. This sort of thing turned out to be great for syndication just a few years later for Tales Of The Darkside, but network TV in 1981 apparently wasn't ready for such grisly shtick. A shame, because despite some real gaffes reminiscent of the gaffes Jack Laird pulled in the Night Gallery days, there are a few really good entries worth catching in this series. Overall, a disturbing little trick bag of an obscurity which anthology fans can't hurt to cover at least a few times.
Comments