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.

Dr. Michael Rhodes (Gary Collins) is a parapsycholo-something-or-other whose a spiritual superhero of sorts, solving psychic mysteries through ESP. That's right, ESP. Naturally, back in the early 70’s the networks thought this was a winning ratings formula, and the inspiration for this particular thread was established by a middling soap-opera schamltz fest Movie Of The Week by the name of "Sweet Sweet Rachel" featuring Stefanie Powers. Well, the networks were wrong, even though it lasted two seasons. Collins as a lead character too often took a backseat to the guest stars, to the point that in the second season he gets outright replaced by the guest stars in three entries - including Joan Crawford in her last role ("Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death"). But hey, this is something fun to burn through after you have watched all the known players in the genre. Just keep that in mind and you will enjoy the lot of this kooky mystery series.

There's been like nil series in the history of television to tackle the subject of the American Revolution. This was one of them, with the added angle of a diverse cast which reflected the counterculture vibe of the day. Yet, it amounted to a half-season failure that went by the boards, followed by a short syndicated run in the late 80's. I've seen all these episodes more times than I can count but it's hard for even the extreme Young Rebels apologist in me to deny the corny Bonanza vibe it gives off. Still, compared to say, the much-ballyhooed (and way overblown) TURN, this wizened chaw of nostalgia contains more than enough interesting stories and performances - TV vet Will Geer was in a number of episodes - to warrant revisiting. At least until someone really rectifies that Revolution on TV problem.

I'm raising my original rating a point because "Way 2 Fonky" is the coldest smoothest diss track there ever was. No yelling or screaming just laidback..."pull the trigger now you're missin a nose an um...". The track following "Jus Lyke Compton" got ironically misconstrued as a diss track at the time when it really was an observation. The rest of the record is fairly hit-miss.

Maybe these two dopes, their Stat Boy, their rundown, and heads-on-sticks were never original in the least (Sports Reporters? Siskel & Ebert?), but undeniable that PTI was a real breath of fresh air through an otherwise staid sports talk landscape. The proof is in the pudding; after PTI, it's been a landslide of one screaming studio head yapper retread show after another which melded neatly into the podcasting age. Worth mentioning here is the sister show Around the Horn, which originally was a vehicle for Max Kellerman, but ended up salvaged, resurrected, and given its' own long life thanks to PTI Stat Boy Tony Reali. Don’t'cha just love progress???