Tales from the Darkside

Infobox Television
show_name = Tales from the Darkside


caption = Second logo for Tales from the Darkside (Logo originally used in TV promos.)
genre = Horror, Science-fiction, drama
runtime = 30 min.
creator = George A. Romero
developer =
producer = George A. Romero
narrated = Paul Sparer
theme_music_composer =
country = USA
language = English
network = syndicated
first_aired = 1983
last_aired = 1988
num_series = 4
num_episodes = 90
list_episodes = List of Tales from the Darkside episodes
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related = "Monsters", "The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits", "Night Gallery", "Tales From The Crypt", "Night Visions", " Amazing Stories
website =
imdb_id = 0086814
tv_com_id = 79

"Tales from the Darkside" is an anthology TV series from the 1980s produced by George A. Romero. Similar to "The Twilight Zone", "Night Gallery", "The Outer Limits", and "Tales From The Crypt", each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot twist. Unlike these other series, "Tales from the Darkside" centered mostly around horror stories. However, the series contained some episodes which would more likely be considered science fiction or fantasy-based, as well as some episodes which were more comical and lighthearted in tone.

Series

The moderate success of George Romero's horror anthology film "Creepshow" led to initial inquiries about the possibilities of a "Creepshow" series. Because Warner Brothers owned certain aspects of "Creepshow", Laurel Productions (which produced the film) opted to take their potential series into a similar, yet separate, direction, including changing the name to "Tales From The Darkside". The new name reflected "Creepshow"'s focus, that of a live-action EC-based horror comic book of the 1950s like "Tales from the Crypt" or "The Vault of Horror", though the series would not carry the trappings of a comic as "Creepshow" did.

Some episodes of the series were written by or adapted from the works of famous authors. Stephen King's short stories "Word Processor of the Gods" and "Sorry, Right Number" were amongst them. Works by Frederik Pohl, Harlan Ellison, and Clive Barker were also featured.

After wrapping, "Tales from the Darkside" was succeeded by "Monsters" in 1988, a similarly styled syndicated weekly horror anthology also produced by Laurel and longtime Romero associate Richard P. Rubenstein.

The series was followed by "" in 1990. Stephen King also contributed a short story to this film, "The Cat From Hell". The film starred Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, William Hickey, Steve Buscemi, and Julianne Moore (the first three previously appeared in episodes of the TV series). Tom Savini has called this film 'The real "Creepshow 3"'.

The series was originally syndicated weekly by Tribune Broadcasting, with most stations airing it after midnight. After ending production, it was picked up by LBS Communications for barter-based syndication, in the episode "The Apprentice", Lorimar-Telepictures(now part of Warner Bros. Domestic Television) syndicated the show instead.

After a considerable absence from television, the series currently airs on The Sci Fi Channel as of October 2nd, 2006. [http://www.thefutoncritic.com/pr.aspx?id=20060802scifi01] It also airs on Chiller.

Opening/closing sequence

The opening/closing theme to the series was performed by Donald Rubinstein (who co-wrote the theme with Erica Lindsay). Donald (The brother of Laurel Productions' founder, Richard P. Rubinstein) had worked on scores for Laurel Productions in the past, such as the films "Martin" and "Knightriders". His previous works qualified him to try his hand at the theme for "Tales from the Darkside", and the haunting composition helped define the series as a separate entity from "Creepshow".

As in the case of "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits", the series begins each episode with a montage of images - in this case, several shots of a forest and countryside - accompanied by a narrator (Paul Sparer) delivering a foreboding voice-over:

:Man lives in the sunlit world:of what he believes to be reality.:But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld,:a place that is just as real, :but not as brightly lit.....:"A DARKSIDE." Each episode would also end with a second voice-over:

:The dark side is always there, :waiting for us to enter,:waiting to enter us. :Until next time, :"try to enjoy the daylight."

Episodes

* See List of "Tales from the Darkside" episodes.

See also

* 1984 in television
* List of television programs
*

External links

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