Several years after The Twilight Zone TV series ended. Rod Serling tried another anthology TV series called "Night Gallery." Before each episode of Night Gallery, Mr. Serling would present a painting based on the upcoming story.
Night Gallery was not as successful as The Twilight Zone, but some of the stories are very good.I believe that there are at least two collections of stories based on the Night Gallery series. The first volume contains six stories, all by Rod Serling. All of the stories are very good, but three are exceptional.
In "Make Me Laugh" unfunny stand-up comedian Jackie Slater wants more than anything to make people laugh and his wish comes true, but there is a terrible catch.
"Clean Kills and Other Trophies" features a sadistic father who one day pushes his son too far.
The best story of the collection is "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar." Middle-Aged Salesman Randy Lane is tired and alone and longs to return to the joy of his youth.
Rod Serling's writing in the Night Gallery stories should not be confused with his relatively innocuous introductions to The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling's uncensored writing is painfully honest and at times very touching. The following is a pasage from the story "Make Me Laugh": "Jackie looked around the room. His smile was a suspended, crooked thing- like a billboard that had slipped. And he waddled around, back and forth, holding on to the microphone, slapping the back of his hands together, grunting like a seal. Oh, God, why didn't they laugh? And even as he probed for the next gag, the cheapness of the place rose up in front of his eyes in waves. It was as if the entire world was Myron's Mecca, and the giggling broad, the two loaded Teamsters, the bored bartender, and the former Pacific fleet champion sitting at the bar were his own private ghosts, hired to haunt him through eternity."
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