Sunday, October 28, 2012

Ghost Story/Circle of Fear (1972 - 1973) Final Episode Tally


Episode Title
Good
Fair
Bad

The New House
X


The Dead We Leave Behind
X


The Concrete Captain


X
At the Cradle Foot
X


Bad Connection

X

The Summer House


X
Alter Ego
X


Half-a-Death


X
House of Evil
X


Cry of the Cat

X

Elegy for a Vampire


X
Touch of Madness

X

Creature of the Canyon

X

Time of Terror
X


Death’s Head


X
Dark Vengeance
X


Earth, Air, Fire and Water
X


Doorway to Death

X

Legion of Demons
X


The Graveyard Shift
X


Spare Parts

X

The Ghost of Potter’s Field

X

The Phantom of Herald Square
X




Here’s my final tally quality for Ghost Story/Circle of Fear.  Although the  horror anthology series started out as relatively weak, it finished relatively strong.  Overall, eleven episodes out of twenty-three I would rate as good or great, which is a strong tally for a series.

The best episodes -- and ones I highly recommend -- are:

“The Dead We Leave Behind” (w/Jason Robards)
“Alter Ego” (w/Helen Hayes)
“House of Evil” (w/Jodie Foster)
“Time of Terror” w/Patricia Neal)
“Earth, Air, Fire and Water”
“The Graveyard Shift” (w/John Astin)
“Legion of Demons” (w/Shirley Knight)
“The Phantom of Herald Square” (w/David Soul)

I must confess, I am pleasantly surprised how well so many of these episodes hold up after forty years.  Also, the series improved radically once Sebastian Cabot’s Winston Essex and Mansfield House were jettisoned from the format and the program became Circle of Fear.

If you can only watch three episodes, my top episodes would include "Alter Ego," "House of Evil," and "Earth, Air, Fire and Water."

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:41 PM

    John the final tally for Ghost Story/Circle of Fear episodes was insightful. Your reviews brought back good memories of my young boyhood watching both this anthology series and The Night Gallery during their early '70s first-run on the networks.

    SGB

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the tally graph! A lot of the early 'Ghost Story' episodes are on youtube, but not all. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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