List of Tales from the Darkside episodes
Encyclopedia

Season 1

# Title Summary Original Air Date
Pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 
"Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat (Tales from the Darkside)
"Trick or Treat" is the pilot episode of the television anthology series Tales from the Darkside, co-written by George A. Romero and directed by Bob Balaban. It was originally aired in syndication by Tribune Broadcasting on October 29, 1983.-Synopsis:...

"
A rich and spiteful old man with an obsession for documenting and exploiting debts owed to him, offers trick-or-treaters the chance to search his house for their parents' mortgages, only to terrify them with animatronic "spirits." Unfortunately for him, the old man finds himself the victim of a particularly frightening trick-or-treater, namely a real demon.
Guest starring Barnard Hughes
Barnard Hughes
Bernard Aloysius Kiernan “Barnard” Hughes was an American actor of theater and film. Hughes became famous for a variety of roles; his most notable roles came after middle age, and he was often cast as a dithering authority figure or grandfatherly elder.-Personal life:Hughes was born in Bedford...

 as Gideon Hackles, and Max Wright
Max Wright
George Edward Maxwell "Max" Wright is an American actor, best known for his role as Willie Tanner in the sitcom ALF.-Biography:Wright was born George Edward Maxwell Wright in Detroit, Michigan....

, written by George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...

.
October 29, 1983
1 The New Man Alan Coombs, a bad-tempered recovering alcoholic, meets a young man named Jerry who claims to be his son. Coombs insists that he's never seen or met Jerry before, but Jerry says otherwise.
Based on a short story by Barbara Owens
Barbara Owens
Barbara Owens was a psychological suspense writer.Owens was the winner of the Mystery Writers of America Best Short Story Edgar Award for 1979 for her story "The Cloud Beneath The Eaves", which originally appeared in the January 1978 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.Her short story "The...

 and adapted by Mark Durand.
September 30, 1984
2 I'll Give You a Million' An offer to buy a friend's soul goes a bit too far, especially when the seller returns to reclaim the goods.
Written by Mark Durand and David Spiel and guest-starring Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....

.
October 7, 1984
3 Pain Killer Lou Jacobi
Lou Jacobi
Louis Harold "Lou" Jacobi was a Canadian character actor.-Life and career:Jacobi was born Louis Harold Jacobovitch in Toronto, Ontario to Joseph and Fay Jacobivitch...

 portrays a henpecked husband who suffers from excruciating backaches. He visits a doctor (Farley Granger
Farley Granger
Farley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:...

) who cures him of his trouble, but doesn't discover the price until later.
October 14, 1984
4 The Odds A bookie who never turns down a bet meets the luckiest man he may ever know, who is determined to break the bookie at any cost. The bookie ends up wagering on the time of his death, and must outsmart a man who has never lost..
Written and directed by James Sadwith and guest-starring Danny Aiello
Danny Aiello
Daniel Louis "Danny" Aiello, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America, Ruby, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Moonstruck, Léon, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush...

.
October 21, 1984
5 Mookie and Pookie A teenage girl discovers that her recently deceased twin brother's spirit lives on in a computer, but no one will believe her. When she tries to fulfill her brother's last wish by inputting data into his computer, her parents begin to get worried.
Guest starring Justine Bateman
Justine Bateman
Justine Tanya Bateman is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is best known for her regular role as Mallory Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties...

 and Tippi Hedren
Tippi Hedren
Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren is an American actress and former fashion model with a career spanning six decades. She is primarily known for her roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films, The Birds and Marnie, and her extensive efforts in animal rescue at Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat which she...

, written by Dan Kleinman.
November 4, 1984
6 Slippage A man discovers that he is literally slipping from existence.
Based on a short story by Michael Kube-McDowell, adapted by Mark Durand and guest-starring David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly is an American actor and musician who has appeared in numerous films, including some major roles.-Career:...

.
November 11, 1984
7 Inside the Closet A young woman takes up board in an elderly man's house and insists that there is something lurking inside of the small, locked closet in her bedroom.
Directed by Tom Savini
Tom Savini
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...

 and guest-starring Fritz Weaver
Fritz Weaver
Fritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...

.
November 21, 1984
8 The Word Processor of the Gods A man discovers his new word processor
Word processor
A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....

, a gift from his deceased nephew, is more powerful than he could ever have imagined: everything he types into it becomes real.
Based on the short story by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

 and adapted by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

.
November 25, 1984
9 A Case of the Stubborns Grandpa refuses to believe that he is dead.
Written by James Houghton and guest-starring Christian Slater
Christian Slater
Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor. He made his film debut with a small role in The Postman Always Rings Twice before playing a leading role in the 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean...

 as Jody, Brent Spiner
Brent Spiner
Brent Jay Spiner is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the android Lieutenant Commander Data in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and four subsequent films. His portrayal of Data in Star Trek: First Contact and of Dr...

 as the Reverend and Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken
Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken was an American actor.-Life and career:Bracken was born in Astoria, New York, the son of Catherine and Joseph L. Bracken. Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940...

 as Grandpa.
December 2, 1984
10 Djinn, No Chaser A couple finds a lamp which turns out to hold a genie, who is extremely annoyed at being trapped for thousands of years. He punishes them with plagues and problems, but the wife offers a simple solution to his problem.
Based on a story by Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...

 and adapted by Haskell Barkin and guest-starring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...

.
January 13, 1985
11 All a Clone by the Telephone An answering machine with a will of its own helps out a TV writer and gradually begins to take over his life.
Written by Haskell Barkin and guest-starring Harry Anderson
Harry Anderson
Harry Laverne Anderson is an American actor and magician.-Early life:Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Anderson was a street magician before becoming an actor.-Career:...

.
January 20, 1985
12 In the Cards A tarot reader who attracts business by giving out only good predictions finds herself stuck with a new deck of cards—one which makes terrible predictions come true.
Written and directed by Ted Gershuny 
January 27, 1985
13 Anniversary Dinner An elderly couple take in a girl escaping from her boyfriend, just in time for their 25th anniversary dinner. Unfortunately, the couple plans on serving a very specific-and revolting-dish...
Story by J.D. Pass, adapted by James Houghton.
February 3, 1985
14 Snip, Snip Confident that he is about to win the lottery, a man studying the black arts quits his job, only to find out that he has lost to a woman.
Written by Howard Smith
Howard Smith
Howard Smith may refer to:*Howard Smith , U.S. film director, journalist, broadcaster; Academy Award winner for feature-length documentary, 1972*Howard Smith , British ambassador and Director General of MI5, 1979–1981...

 and Tom Allan
Tom Allan
Thomas Allan was a minister and evangelist of the Church of Scotland, broadcaster, author, columnist and pioneer of practical church outreach in social work, primarily in the city of Glasgow...

.
January 10, 1985
15 Answer Me A ringing telephone with a life of its own bothers a woman in the room next door.
Written by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

.
February 17, 1985
16 The Tear Collector A young woman who can't stop crying meets a man who collects tears.
Written by Geoffrey Loftus
Geoffrey Loftus
Geoffrey Loftus is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington. He specializes in memory and attention, and his most recent research focuses on face perception and hindsight bias. Loftus received a B.A. in experimental psychology from Brown University in 1967 and a Ph.D...

 and John Dimmer and guest-starring Jessica Harper
Jessica Harper
Jessica Harper is an American actress and producer, as well as a singer and author of children's music and books.-Early life:...

 and Victor Garber
Victor Garber
Victor Joseph Garber is a Canadian film, stage and television actor and singer. Garber is known for playing Jesus in Godspell, Jack Bristow in the television series Alias, Max in Lend Me a Tenor, and Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's Titanic.-Early life:Born in London, Ontario, Canada, Garber is...

.
January 24, 1985
17 The Madness Room A wife and her friend plot to scare a rich man to death in the cursed "Madness Room."
Written by Thomas Epperson and guest-starring Stuart Whitman
Stuart Whitman
Stuart Maxwell Whitman is an American actor.Stuart Whitman is arguably best-known for playing Marshal Jim Crown in the western television series Cimarron Strip in 1967...

.
May 5, 1985
18 If the Shoes Fit... A politician's world is transformed.
Co-Written and directed by Armand Mastroianni, also co-written by David Gerrold
David Gerrold
Jerrold David Friedman , better known by his pen name David Gerrold, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one...

 (as N. Ward).
May 12, 1985
19 Levitation A teenager goads a once-famous magician into performing his greatest feat of levitation, with disastrous results.
Based on a short story by Joseph Payne Brennan
Joseph Payne Brennan
Joseph Payne Brennan was an American writer of fantasy and horror fiction, and also a poet. He lived most of his life in New Haven, Connecticut, and worked at the Yale Library for over 40 years....

 and adapted by David Gerrold
David Gerrold
Jerrold David Friedman , better known by his pen name David Gerrold, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one...

.
May 19, 1985
20 It All Comes Out in the Wash A laundromat offers to wash away the sins of its clients.
Written by Harvey Jacobs.
May 26, 1985
21 Bigalow's Last Smoke
Bigalow's Last Smoke
"Bigalow's Last Smoke" is an episode of the American Television anthology series Tales from the Darkside. It first aired on June 9, 1985. The episode can be found online and on the Syfy Channel occasionally. It is 21 minutes long.-Plot Summary:...

 
A man is imprisoned in a replica of his own apartment and subjected to psychologically intense experiences designed to force him to stop smoking cigarettes.
Written by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

.
June 9, 1985
22 Grandma's Last Wish An elderly woman makes one request of her unsympathetic family, who want to put her in a nursing home against her will.
Written by Jule Selbo.
June 16, 1985
23 The False Prophet A superstitious woman travels by bus to Texas on the advice of a psychic machine. Before she reaches her destination, however, she comes across another machine that warns her against continuing on her way.
Written by Jule Selbo.
August 4, 1985

Season 2 (1985-1986)

# Title Summary Original Air Date
24 (01) The Impressionist The government brings in a failing comedian to try to communicate with an alien.
Based on the short story "Impersonations" by M. Coleman Easton, adapted by Haskell Barkin and guest-starring Chuck McCann
Chuck McCann
Chuck McCann is a film actor, television actor, stage actor, and a voice actor from Brooklyn, New York.-Early career:...

.
September 26, 1985
25 (02) Lifebomb An unhealthy corporate executive is offered a life-saving medical device with a price.
Written by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Michael Paul Kube-McDowell is a science fiction novelist. He has also dabbled in music, written for television, been a stringer for a daily newspaper, and published short fiction, reviews, assorted nonfiction and erotica. He was honored for teaching excellence by the 1985 White House Commission on...

, based on his own short story of the same name. Guest-starring Bill Macy
Bill Macy
Bill Macy is an American television and stage actor.Macy was born in Revere, Massachusetts, to Mollie and Michael Garber, a manufacturer...

.
October 6, 1985
26 (03) Ring Around the Redhead A man sentenced to Death Row for a murder tells his story of a redhead... from another dimension.
Based on the short story by John D. MacDonald
John D. MacDonald
John Dann MacDonald was an American crime and suspense novelist and short story writer.MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many of them set in his adopted home of Florida...

, adapted by Ted Gershuny.
October 13, 1985
27 (04) Parlour Floor Front A young couple learns that their tenant is a voodoo practitioner. The wife sees the tenant as a danger and attempts to drive him out of the building, blaming him for various mishaps.
Written by Carole Lucia Satrina. Guest-starring Adolph Caesar
Adolph Caesar
Adolph Caesar was an American actor.-Biography:Born in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, he is best remembered for his role in director Norman Jewison's film, A Soldier's Story for which he received a nomination for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" from both the Academy Awards and the...

.
October 20, 1985
28 (05) Halloween Candy A misanthropic old man torments trick-or-treating children and is visited by a terrifying goblin demanding candy.
Written by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

, directed by Tom Savini
Tom Savini
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...

.
October 27, 1985
29 (06) The Satanic Piano A musician in a creative slump buys a revolutionary machine that reads the thoughts of a person and transforms it into music. However, the piano comes with a very high price, one which the musician may not be willing to pay.
Story by Carl Richard Jacobi
Carl Richard Jacobi
Carl Richard Jacobi was an American author. He wrote short stories in the horror, fantasy, science fiction and crime genres for the pulp magazine market.-Biography:...

, adapted by John Harrison
John Harrison (filmmaker)
John Harrison is a writer, director, producer and composer.Harrison was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS in Theater Arts. For several years after that, he performed on the road with his band Homebrew before moving back to Pittsburgh to take a...

. Guest-starring Michael Warren
Michael Warren (actor)
Michael Warren is an American TV actor and former college basketball player, best known for playing Officer Bobby Hill on the NBC television series Hill Street Blues.-College basketball career:...

 and Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet , also known as Lilakoi Moon, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Denise Huxtable Kendall on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show, and originally starring in its spinoff A Different World.-Early life:Bonet was born in San Francisco, California...

.
November 3, 1985
30 (07) The Devil's Advocate The rude host of a late-night radio show, "The Devil's Advocate," discovers that he is receiving calls from the past, and that his radio studio's door has disappeared.
Written by George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...

 and guest-starring Jerry Stiller
Jerry Stiller
Gerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller is an American comedian and actor.He spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife Anne Meara...

.
November 10, 1985
31 (08) Distant Signals A director is approached by a mysterious investor who asks him to complete a previous short-run series, which was canceled 20 years ago before the final episodes were shown. The investor and his mysterious backers will pay any price to see the series finished, complete with bringing the original actor out of retirement.
Story by Andrew Weiner
Andrew Weiner
Andrew Weiner is a Canadian science fiction writer. He was born in London, England and later emigrated to Canada. To date he has written four books and over forty short stories.-Short story collections:...

, adapted by Ted Gershuny and guest-starring Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears...

.
November 17, 1985
32 (09) The Trouble with Mary Jane A family offers $50,000 to whoever can rid young Mary Jane of the demons possessing her. Guest starring - Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...

 
Written by Edithe Swensen.
November 11, 1985
33 (10) Ursa Minor A little girl blames her new teddy bear for various pranks in her parents' house. They do not believe her-until giant claw marks on the walls and lumbering sounds at night convince them. The mother destroys the teddy, but forgets one of the most basic rules of the wild-harm the child, and you must meet the mother...
Written and directed by Ted Gershuny, based on a story by John Sladek
John Sladek
John Thomas Sladek was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels.- Life and work :...

.
December 1, 1985
34 (11) Effect and Cause A woman learns she can change the world around her at random, but soon loses control of events.
Written by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Michael Paul Kube-McDowell is a science fiction novelist. He has also dabbled in music, written for television, been a stringer for a daily newspaper, and published short fiction, reviews, assorted nonfiction and erotica. He was honored for teaching excellence by the 1985 White House Commission on...

.
December 8, 1985
35 (12) Monsters in My Room A little boy who fears an octopus, a living buzz saw, and a demon are in his room finds they are all too real.
Written and directed by James Sadwith and guest-starring Seth Green
Seth Green
Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...

.
December 22, 1985
36 (13) Comet Watch A man and his henpecking wife gets unexpected guests when Sir Edmond Halley
Edmond Halley
Edmond Halley FRS was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of the eponymous Halley's Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, following in the footsteps of John Flamsteed.-Biography and career:Halley...

 and a young lady from the long-ago past on the night Halley's Comet appears.
Written by Harvey Jacobs and Jule Selbo. Guest-starring Fritz Weaver
Fritz Weaver
Fritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...

 and Anthony Heald
Anthony Heald
Philip Anthony Mair Heald, known professionally as Anthony Heald , is an American actor known for portraying Hannibal Lecter's jail nemesis, Dr. Frederick Chilton in The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, and for playing assistant principal Scott Guber in David E. Kelley's Boston Public...

.
January 2, 1986
37 (14) Dream Girl A theatrical director finds herself acting out the dreams of a meek stagehand along with her co-workers.
Written and directed by Timna Ramon, based on a short story by Barbara Paul
Barbara Paul
Barbara Paul is an American writer of detective stories and science fiction. She was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1931 and was educated at Bowling Green State University and the University of Pittsburgh, among others....

.
January 19, 1986
38 (15) A New Lease on Life A man gets the modern, fully equipped apartment of his dreams in exchange for providing his new landlady with lots of garbage.
Written by Harvey Jacobs and Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

. Guest-starring Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...

.
January 26, 1986
39 (16) Printer's Devil A writer learns that his new agent can make his novels succeed, and all he needs is a small sacrifice involving animals.
Written and directed by John Harrison
John Harrison (filmmaker)
John Harrison is a writer, director, producer and composer.Harrison was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS in Theater Arts. For several years after that, he performed on the road with his band Homebrew before moving back to Pittsburgh to take a...

, based on a story by Ron Goulart
Ron Goulart
Ron Goulart is an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy and science fiction author.The prolific Goulart wrote many novelizations and other routine work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson , Con Steffanson , Chad Calhoun, R.T...

 and guest-starring Larry Manetti
Larry Manetti
Larry Manetti is an American actor best known for his starring role as Orville "Rick" Wright on the long-running CBS television series Magnum P.I. which starred Tom Selleck as the title character. He also starred as Maj. Pappy Boyington's pilot partner, Lt. Bobby Boyle, in Baa Baa Black Sheep...

.
February 2, 1986
40 (17) The Shrine A woman competes against a little girl for the affection and attention of her own mother.
Written by Jule Selbo from a story by Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent is an American, feminist, science fiction author, and editor. She has an MA in classical philosophy and has won a Nebula Award. She wrote a series concerning the terraforming of Venus that is sometimes compared to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, but predates it...

 and guest-starring Lorna Luft
Lorna Luft
Lorna Luft is an American television, stage, and film actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and Sid Luft, and the half-sister of singer and actress Liza Minnelli.-Biography:...

.
February 9, 1986
41 (18) The Old Soft Shoe A salesman hits on an attractive woman at a motel and is subsequently pursued by another angry, jealous woman.
Written by Art Monterastelli and guest-starring Paul Dooley
Paul Dooley
-Personal life:Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene , a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at...

.
February 16, 1986
42 (19) The Last Car A young woman on her way home from college rides the last car of a train and discovers bizarre passengers.
Written by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

.
February 23, 1986
43 (20) A Choice of Dreams A mob boss with a terminal illness is offered the chance to experience his dreams after death.
Written by James Houghton from a story by Edward F. Shaver. Guest-starring Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda is an American movie and television actor. Vigoda is well known for his portrayal of Sal Tessio in The Godfather, and for his portrayal of Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the sitcom television series Barney Miller from 1975–1977 and on its spinoff show Fish that aired from February 1977 to...

.
May 4, 1986
44 (21) Strange Love A doctor makes a late-night house call to fix a woman's leg and discovers that his patient and her husband are vampires with plans to trap him.
Written by Edithe Swensen and guest-starring Marcia Cross
Marcia Cross
Marcia Anne Cross is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Bree Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and as Dr...

.
May 11, 1986
45 (22) The Unhappy Medium A recently deceased preacher leaves a video-taped will which tells his family that he will send them a sign.
Written by Edithe Swensen.
May 18, 1986
46 (23) Fear of Floating A man who levitates whenever he lies tries to enlist in the Army, while hotly pursued by a young pregnant girl and her angry father.
Written by Donald Wollner from a story by Scott Edelman
Scott Edelman
Scott Edelman is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer and editor. He became the editor of SCI FI Magazine in 2002, and has edited the channel's online magazine Science Fiction Weekly since 2000.He was the founding and only editor of the science fiction magazine Science Fiction...

 and guest-starring Yeardley Smith
Yeardley Smith
Yeardley Smith is a French-born American actress, voice actress, writer and painter. She is best known for her long-running role as Lisa Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons....

 and Howard Sherman.
May 23, 1986
47 (24) The Casavin Curse A family learns that their great-grandfather murdered his wife, resulting in a curse upon the family line.
Written by Edith Swensen.
July 13, 1986

Season 3 (1986-1987)

# Title Summary Original Air Date
48 (01) The Circus An investigative journalist who enjoys debunking tales of the strange and bizarre investigates a circus that offers monsters on display.
Written by George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...

 and guest-starring William Hickey
William Hickey (actor)
William Edward Hickey was an American actor. He was best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the John Huston 1985 film Prizzi's Honor, as well as the voice of Dr...

.
September 28, 1986
49 (02) I Can't Help Saying Goodbye A family notices that people keep dying after their young daughter Karen says goodbye to them; apparently, she can sense the impending death.
Written by Jule Selbo, guest-starring Alison Sweeney
Alison Sweeney
Alison Sweeney is an American dramatic actress and reality show host. Sweeney is best known for her portrayal of Samantha "Sami" Gene Brady on NBC's long running Days of our Lives, a role she has played under contract with the show since January 6, 1993...

 and Brian Benben.
October 5, 1986
50 (03) The Bitterest Pill The uncle of a mistreated boy develops a miraculous pill which increases brain power and memory, and comes to the boy's parents for financing; the boy takes the prototype and finally gets power over his parents.
Based on the short story "The Richest Man in Levittown" by Frederik Pohl
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...

, adapted by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Michael Paul Kube-McDowell is a science fiction novelist. He has also dabbled in music, written for television, been a stringer for a daily newspaper, and published short fiction, reviews, assorted nonfiction and erotica. He was honored for teaching excellence by the 1985 White House Commission on...

.
October 12, 1986
51 (04) Florence Bravo A couple moves into an old house in which a woman murdered her cheating husband, and the past incident begins to repeat itself.
Written by Edithe Swensen.
October 19, 1986
52 (05) The Geezenstacks A little girl is given a dollhouse by her uncle, who tells her that he found it when the previous owners suddenly abandoned their home, leaving only the dollhouse behind. The girl's father soon notices that whatever happens to the new dolls happens to their family.
Based on the short story by Frederic Brown and adapted by Nancy Doyne.
October 26, 1986
53 (06) Black Widows On her wedding night, a young woman discovers the reason for her mother's mysterious reclusiveness and a dark family secret.
Written by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

 and guest-starring Theresa Saldana
Theresa Saldana
Theresa Saldana is an American actress, known for her work in motion pictures and television. She is perhaps best known for her role as Rachel Scali, the wife of Police Commissioner Tony Scali, in the 1990s television series The Commish, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best...

.
November 2, 1986
54 (07) Heretic A thief sells a stolen painting from the Spanish Inquisition to a wealthy art collector, who soon regrets his purchase when he discovers the world within the painting.
Written by Edithe Swensen.
November 9, 1986
55 (08) A Serpent's Tooth A mother's warnings and threats begin to come true.
Written by Edithe Swensen and guest-starring Renee Taylor
Renee Taylor
Renée Taylor is an American actress, Academy Award nominated writer and one-time director, best-known for having played Fran Drescher's outspoken mother, Sylvia Fine, on the TV series The Nanny.- Career :...

.
November 16, 1986
56 (09) Baker's Dozen A voodoo witch opens a bakery, sells magic cookies and partners up with an unscrupulous advertising agent.
Written by George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...

 and guest-starring Mabel King
Mabel King
Mabel King was an American film, stage and television actress.-Early life and career:King was born Donnie Mabel Elizabeth Washington in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of Rosalie Washington. She was raised in Harlem where she eventually became a gospel and nightclub singer...

.
November 23, 1986
57 (10) Deliver Us From Goodness A saintly woman tires of her goodness and seeks a fall from grace.
Story by Suzette Haden Elgin
Suzette Haden Elgin
Suzette Haden Elgin is an American science fiction author. She founded the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and is considered an important figure in the field of science fiction constructed languages...

, written by Jule Selbo.
November 30, 1986
58 (11) Seasons of Belief Two rowdy kids who don't believe in Santa Claus demand a story during Christmas, and their mean parents decide to tell them a different kind of Christmas story, a horrific tale of the monstrous "Grither."
Written and directed by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

, story by Michael Bishop
Michael Bishop (author)
Michael Lawson Bishop is an award-winning American writer. Over four decades and thirty books, he has created a body of work that stands among the most admired in modern science fiction and fantasy literature....

 and guest-starring E.G. Marshall and Jenna Von Oy
Jenna von Oÿ
Jenna von Oÿ is an American actress and country music singer best known for her roles as Six LeMeure on the NBC series Blossom, and Stevie van Lowe on the UPN sitcom The Parkers.-Early life and career:...

.
December 29, 1986
59 (12) Miss May Dusa A woman who has no memory of her past befriends a saxophone player and slowly uncovers the truth behind the deaths she's accidentally caused everywhere she's been.
Written and directed by Richard Blackburn
Richard Blackburn
Sir Richard Arthur Blackburn OBE was a judge, prominent legal academic and former military officer in Australia. He became a judge of three separate courts in Australia, and eventually became chief justice of the Australian Capital Territory. In the 1970s he decided one of Australia's earliest...

.
January 18, 1987
60 (13) The Milkman Cometh A milkman (whom no one has ever actually seen) grants wishes to people if they leave him a note with their discarded bottles. When a man eventually wishes for another child, both he and his son discover there are things you should be careful—and VERY specific—about wishing for.
Written by Donald Wollner. Guest-starring Robert Forster
Robert Forster
Robert Forster is an American actor, best known for his roles as John Cassellis in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool, and as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, the latter of which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.- Early life :Forster was born Robert Wallace...

 and Chad Allen
Chad Allen (actor)
Chad Allen is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of seven, Allen is a three-time Young Artist Award winner and GLAAD Media Award honoree, best known for rising to prominence as a teen idol during the late 1980s as David Witherspoon on the NBC family drama,...

.
January 25, 1987
61 (14) My Ghostwriter - The Vampire A horror writer discovers a real vampire in the coffin he bought for inspiration, and makes a deal with him to provide material for his novels.
Story by Scott Edelman
Scott Edelman
Scott Edelman is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer and editor. He became the editor of SCI FI Magazine in 2002, and has edited the channel's online magazine Science Fiction Weekly since 2000.He was the founding and only editor of the science fiction magazine Science Fiction...

, adapted by Peter O'Keefe
Peter O'Keefe
Peter J. O'Keefe is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.-References:...

.
February 1, 1987
62 (15) My Own Place A yuppie gets his first apartment—with an unexpected roommate.
Written and directed by Ted Gershuny, co-written by and guest-starring Perry Lang
Perry Lang
Perry Lang is an American director, writer and actor.He has directed episodes of television series such as Arli$$, ER, Millennium, Dawson's Creek, NYPD Blue, Nash Bridges, Fantasy Island, Weeds, Gilmore Girls, Army Wives, The Twilight Zone, Alias, Las Vegas, Jack & Bobby and...

.
February 8, 1987
63 (16) Red Leader A wealthy and unscrupulous businessman strikes a deal with the Devil.
Written by Edithe Swensen.
February 15, 1987
64 (17) Everybody Needs a Little Love A divorced and lonely man talks to and dotes over a mannequin, while his friend begins to get concerned about his mental stability.
Based on the short story by Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...

, adapted and directed by John Harrison
John Harrison (filmmaker)
John Harrison is a writer, director, producer and composer.Harrison was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS in Theater Arts. For several years after that, he performed on the road with his band Homebrew before moving back to Pittsburgh to take a...

 (as John Sutherland), and guest-starring Jerry Orbach
Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...

.
February 22, 1987
65 (18) Auld Acquaintances Two ancient witches fight over an amulet yet again.
Written by Edithe Swensen.
March 1, 1987
66 (19) The Social Climber A young shoemaker's assistant finds that he can actually live other people's lives by walking in their shoes.
Written by Ellen Sandhaus.
March 8, 1987
67 (20) The Swap A woman decides to murder her wealthy husband for his money but her plans go horribly awry.
Written by Dick Benner.
May 3, 1987
68 (21) Let the Games Begin An angel and a devil fight over a dead man's soul.
Written by Peter O'Keefe
Peter O'Keefe
Peter J. O'Keefe is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.-References:...

.
May 10, 1987
69 (22) The Enormous Radio A couple purchases a new radio which transmits their neighbor's private discussions.
Written by Guy Gallo, story by John Cheever
John Cheever
John William Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs." His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the Westchester suburbs, old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy,...

, and guest-starring Christine Estabrook
Christine Estabrook
Christine Estabrook is an American television and film actress. She has been featured in several motion pictures mostly in supporting roles...

.
May 17, 1987

Season 4 (1987-1988)

# Title Summary Original Air Date
70 (01) Beetles An Egyptologist ignores a sarcophagus's warnings and unearths a curse.
Written by Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...

 and based on his short story and guest-starring Arnold Stang
Arnold Stang
Arnold Stang was an American comic actor who played a small and bespectacled, yet brash and knowing big-city type.-Career:...

.
September 27, 1987
71 (02) Mary, Mary An isolated woman who fears the world turns to her dolls and mannequins for friendship.
Written by Jule Selbo.
October 4, 1987
72 (03) The Spirit Photographer A photographer decides to take photographs of ghosts.
Written by Mark Patrick Carducci and Brian Thomas Jones.
October 11, 1987
73 (04) The Moth A dying woman is convinced that after death her soul will be trapped in a moth.
Written by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

, Guest starring Debbie Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...

.
October 18, 1987
74 (05) No Strings A cruel mob boss (T.J. Castronova, who also executive-produced the series) forces a ventriloquist (Barry Dennen
Barry Dennen
Barry Dennen is an American actor, singer, and writer.Dennen was born in Chicago, Illinois. In New York City from 1960 to 1963, he had a relationship with Barbra Streisand, including living together for a year, during which time he helped her develop the nightclub act that began her successful...

) to string up the corpse of his defeated rival as a puppet. A one-man show is held... with results that none involved had counted on.
Written and directed by David Odell
David Odell
David Odell is a screenwriter and film director. He was nominated in 1980 for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for The Muppet Show alongside Jim Henson, Don Hinkley, and Jerry Juhl...

 (author of The Dark Crystal
The Dark Crystal
The Dark Crystal is a 1982 British-American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Although marketed as a family film, it was notably darker than previous material created by them. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking. The primary concept artist was the...

, in which Dennen lent his voice to the Skeksis
Skeksis
The Skeksis are a fictional species which act as the main antagonists in the 1982 fantasy film The Dark Crystal, its companion book The World of The Dark Crystal and the TokyoPop prequel Legends of the Dark Crystal. The word "Skeksis" serves as both singular and plural form for this species, with...

 Chamberlain).
October 25, 1987
75 (06) The Grave Robber A group of archaeologists unearth an Egyptian tomb and awaken the mummy within, who forces them to compete for their lives.
Written by Harvey Jacobs and Donald Wollner. Guest-starring Arnold Stang
Arnold Stang
Arnold Stang was an American comic actor who played a small and bespectacled, yet brash and knowing big-city type.-Career:...

November 1, 1987
76 (07) The Yattering and Jack A demon is sent to corrupt a virtuous man, but if he touches him then he falls under the man's control. Complicating matters, the man refuses to believe the demon exists.
Adapted for television by Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...

 from his short story of the same name.
November 8, 1987
77 (08) Seymourlama A nerdy and spoiled young boy is proclaimed the religious leader of a nation, but his parents want to know what the catch is. Written by Harvey Jacobs and Donald Wollner. Guest-starring David Gale
David Gale (actor)
David Quentin Gale was a British actor.He is primarily known for his role as the evil, autocratic Dr. Carl Hill in the 1985 cult classic film Re-Animator, and its 1990 sequel Bride of Re-Animator...

 and Divine.
November 15, 1987
78 (09) Sorry, Right Number
Sorry, Right Number
Sorry, Right Number is a teleplay written by author Stephen King for an episode of the horror anthology series Tales From The Darkside. It was later in King's short story collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and is the only such work that King has included in any of his anthologies...

 
A woman receives a bizarre and frightening phone call and figures out its meaning too late.
Written by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

.
November 22, 1987
79 (10) Payment Overdue A heartless debt collection agent is harassed by a delinquent client from beyond the grave.
Written by Dick Benner.
February 14, 1988
80 (11) Love Hungry An overweight woman goes to drastic measures to lose weight, but finds herself even more attached to her food than ever before.
Based on the short story "Food for Thought" by Roberts Gannaway. Written and directed by John Strysik, co-written by Jule Selbo.
February 21, 1988
81 (12) The Deal A screenwriter makes a deal with Satan.
Written by Granville Burgess and Allen Coulter
Allen Coulter
Allen Coulter is an American television and film director, credited with a number of successful television programs. He has directed two feature films, Hollywoodland, a film regarding the questionable death of George Reeves starring Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, and Ben Affleck, and 2010's Remember...

. Guest-starring Bradley Whitford
Bradley Whitford
Bradley Whitford is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles as Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the NBC television drama The West Wing, as Danny Tripp on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, as Dan Stark in the Fox police buddy-comedy The Good Guys, as...

.
February 28, 1988
82 (13) The Apprentice A woman goes to work for a museum and transported to the past and forced to work as a near-slave.
Written by Ellen Sandhaus.
May 1, 1988
83 (14) The Cutty Black Sow On Halloween, a boy is warned by his dying great-grandmother about the Cutty Black Sow, a Celtic demon that steals the souls of those who die on All Hallow's Eve, and tries to prevent it from getting hers.
Based on a story by Thomas F. Monteleone
Thomas F. Monteleone
Thomas F. Monteleone is an American science fiction author and horror fiction author. His first novel, Seeds of Change was the lead-off title in the critically unsuccessful Laser Books line of science fiction titles , but he went on to become a popular writer of supernatural thrillers...

, adapted by Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell (author)
Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978...

 and guest-starring Paula Trueman
Paula Trueman
Paula Trueman was an American film, television, and theater actress.-Life and career:...

.
May 8, 1988
84 (15) Do Not Open This Box Charlie is a sweet-natured but unsuccessful inventor. His wife Ruth (an acid-tongued opportunist who sorely regrets her choice of spouse, and who is openly jealous of their well-to-do neighbor) takes advantage of a deliveryman's generosity, after the latter expresses his need for a mistakenly delivered item with the title warning inscribed on it. When it becomes evident that Ruth has no intention of returning the box, our deliveryman reveals his true identity. It doesn't help that Ruth has already opened the apparently empty box...or that the box in fact contained something which, literally, money cannot buy.
Written by Franco Amurri
Franco Amurri
Franco Amurri is an Italian film director, producer and writer best known for directing such films as Da grande, which inspired the Tom Hanks film Big, Monkey Trouble and Flashback....

 and directed by Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....

 and guest-starring Eileen Heckart
Eileen Heckart
Eileen Heckart was an American actress of stage, screen, and television.-Early life:Heckart was born Anna Eileen Heckart in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Esther and Leo Herbert. She was legally adopted by her grandfather, J.W. Heckart. Her family was of Irish and German descent...

.
May 15, 1988
85 (16) The Family Reunion A man guards his sick son closely and has sole custody, while the boy's worried mother desperately wants to be reunited with her child.
Written by Edithe Swensen, directed by Tom Savini
Tom Savini
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...

, and guest-starring Patricia Tallman
Patricia Tallman
Patricia J. Tallman is an American actress and stunt performer, sometimes credited as Pat Tallman.-Early life:Patricia is the daughter of Jerry Tallman, a radio entertainer...

.
May 22, 1988
86 (17) Going Native An alien visitor studies human nature as a photographer.
Written and directed by Ted Gershuny (who, the following year, collaborated with Tommy Lee Wallace
Tommy Lee Wallace
Tommy Lee Wallace is an American film producer, director and screenwriter.He is best known for directing Halloween III: Season of the Witch and It.-Early life:...

 on the script for Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...

's movie Far From Home)
June 19, 1988
87 (18) Hush A child innocently builds a device that eats sound in order to make his mother happy, but soon loses control of the creepy machine (which silences things by sucking out their energy and killing them).
Based on a story by Zenna Henderson
Zenna Henderson
Zenna Chlarson Henderson was an American science fiction and fantasy novella and short story author, and an elementary school teacher.-Biography:...

, adapted by John Harrison
John Harrison (filmmaker)
John Harrison is a writer, director, producer and composer.Harrison was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS in Theater Arts. For several years after that, he performed on the road with his band Homebrew before moving back to Pittsburgh to take a...

 (under the name John Sutherland).
July 10, 1988
88 (19) Barter A parody of I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

, an alien comes to a family's door asking for ammonia and hilarity ensues.
Written by Jule Selbo
July 17, 1988
89 (20) Basher Malone A religious wrestler and his mother contend against a crooked fight manager, played by Vic Tayback
Vic Tayback
Victor "Vic" Tayback was an American actor.-Life and career:Tayback was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, the son of Helen and Najeeb James Tayback. His parents were immigrants from Aleppo, Syria. Tayback moved with his family to Burbank, California, during his teenage years and attended...

, who holds ties to a devilish opponent.
Written by Peter O'Keefe
Peter O'Keefe
Peter J. O'Keefe is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.-References:...

.
July 24, 1988
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