ROD SERLING'S NIGHT GALLERY
(Four-In-One)
With Rod Serling, host
Producer: Jack Laird
60 Mins., Wed., 10 p.m.
NBC-TV

Rod Serling's two-in-one entry (and sometimes three) in NBC's "Four-In-One" series offers some complex numerology for a concept that has been tried with mixed results previously. Apparently the web has been giving ear to the McLuhan creed that video is a non-linear medium and programming should be more free-form and less blocked-out. Whether the great telemajority is ready to leave the security of traditional schedules for the brave new world of an anthology of Gothic suspense playlets is to be told in the Nielsens.

Jeanette Nolan in "The Housekeeper"

Serling's operators were dandies of the chiller genre. "The Dead Man" was a nifty thespic pas de deux for Carl Betz and Jeff Corey. In it, Betz, as a partly-mad doctor teaches a patient how to simulate and recover from the symptoms of serious diseases. The acid test, of course, is to recover from the ultimate disease -- death -- a test complicated by the fact that the patient is having an affair with the doc's wife.

"The Housekeeper" was an even better actors' showplace, this one for Larry Hagman and Jeanette Nolan, the latter a character portrayal that was one of the acting highlights of this season. It was a virtuoso thespic display, and Hagman was an excellent counterfoil. The effort was somewhat marred by Suzy Parker's stiff portrayal of a cold-hearted socialite, but there were enough plot twists and turns to overcome even that handicap.

Both segments were highly polished. Douglas Heyes and John Meredyth Lucas understand the rhythm of suspense in their direction, and William Margulies photography alternately brooded or jumped out at viewers as it should.

Mor.

(Variety; December 23, 1970)