Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996) User Reviews

Most fun you can have watching TV!!!

[popcultrna · 9/10 · 11 July 2010]

This was definitely a show not to be taken seriously...but therein lies the key to great TV entertainment. Anthology series, by definition, can be very fun and addicting because they don't require the viewer to be well versed in some complex arching storyline. Each episode is stand-alone, and with this series in particular the 30 minute time frame flies right by...leading you to watch another! About the time, yes, some episodes feel as though they could have benefited from additional time to contain all of the complex twists and turns. Then again, that is also why it is so much fun! Not time consuming.

Horror fans (especially), but also fans of comedy, or just plain old fashioned (sometimes simple minded even cheesy) storytelling will get a kick out of this series. And the Cryptkeeper? Pop culture icon, with all of those puns! Ever been to Spencer's gifts...remember the lifesized Cryptkeeper animatronic figure they sold for awhile. What other TV shows inspires such worship! If you're familiar with the series and think you would like to revisit it...you will not be disappointed (the DVD's are priced low!). If by chance you've never seen it, check it out...it's a blast. Not even in a category with other shows other than maybe The Twilight Zone, but also uniquely different!

Classic Campy horror fun

[mr_vistor · 8/10 · 27 April 2006]

I have always been a fan of the series. This is the kind of stuff I grew up on. I loved this show when I was a kid, so much that I even read some of the old comics. There is always a moral to each story. (most of which seem to involve betraying lovers for some odd reason) Although some episodes are so far out there they come off as being lame at times I can't help but love them. Every episode is like it's own little horror movie. I highly recommend the series,especially now that it is coming out on DVD. You get a lot of entertainment for your money. Thats all I have to say about this series and as the crypt keeper would say "Good night boils and ghouls."

Who doesn't love this show?

[roxphox · 9/10 · 4 August 2016]

Tales from the Crypt is a series that ran for a full seven seasons, with the last one being entirely filmed in the UK. Each episode has a dark story of love, hate, pain, death or a mix of any of the above with a little twist of dark humour thrown in for good measure.

This show proves that a low budget and cheesy monsters cannot ruin great writing, fantastic acting and naughty hidden gags.

If you choose to take my advice and watch this programme, you will find many huge names making early appearances. I personally enjoyed the episode with Ewan McGregor. I won't ruin the ending of this episode, but suffice it to say, you probably won't see it coming.

miss it!

[luckyfoshizzle · 10/10 · 3 March 2007]

Oh man, I miss this show so very much. I wish upon oh so many stars for them to bring it back. *sigh* There aren't many shows EVER to have a whole new storyline every episode. And for the ones there are, none of them can even begin to compare with this one. It had EVERYTHING; humor, horror, drama, and an amazing, original host to start each episode off: The Cryptkeeper.

There may be other shows that are similar, but none will ever have anything like the Cryptkeeper. When I was younger, I was terrified of him. But as I got older I listened more to what he said and realized how hilarious he was. Not because his jokes were funny, but more because of how corny they are, but yet he thinks they are just the funniest things in the world.

The thing is is that if you haven't seen this show then you definitely need to go out and buy the episodes. And if you don't feel like taking a big step like that, go rent them, then you can buy them. I, myself, am waiting eagerly for them to put the rest of the seasons on DVD so I can have a HUGE marathon of nothing but "Tales From the Crypt"!

Remember, kiddies: hee hee hee!

[lee_eisenberg · 26 October 2005]

There have been many shows that were never intended to be taken seriously, but "Tales from the Crypt" brings the idea to a whole new level. Each episode begins by descending into what appears to be a haunted house, where we get introduced to the delightfully creepy Crypt Keeper. He explains (as sardonically as possible) what we're about to watch. Then, each episode tells a story involving a really nasty situation; some involve monsters, others involve people doing really unpleasant things, but they all make one laugh. I really liked the episode where Don Rickles played a most unusual puppeteer, and also the episode where Christopher Reeve opened a restaurant...of sorts. Granted, this show was kind of ridiculous, but they never lost their timing, even with the Crypt Keeper's silly remarks. Just remember that, kiddies. Hee hee hee!

The Greatest Horror Series of all Time

[wmdude1255 · 10/10 · 10 May 2010]

It is without exception the greatest series of all time. The acting by everyone was great and the Cryptkeepers's puns were hilarious (Just goes to show you kiddies, Be very careful what you Axe For Christmas, You Just Might Get it!) (I Call tonight's Putrid Piece "What's Cookin". This series will beat hands down any of the crap out there today. It was kind of like the Twilight Zone of the 90's. All the big and Upcoming stars were in the episodes. You had Lou Diamond Phillips, Priscillia Presley, Larry Drake, Ed Begley Jr, Judd Nelson, Christopher Reeve, Joe Pesci, Jeffrey Jones, Alan Ruck, Cheech Marin, Martin Sheen, Billy Zane, Anthong Michael Hall, Brooke Shields, and many others. The episodes were true to the comics and didn't try to change anything. The Best thing by far was John Kassir doing the Cryptkeeper's voice. That was fantastic and timeless.

The best in R rated campy early 90s horror.

[anishchari · 10/10 · 17 August 2018]

The 80s were a golden age of horror. Ultra violent, lewd, irreverent, and before CG effects started to take over. Tales from the Crypt is the perfect distillation of that era. Each episode was a self contained short story. Most episodes have lots of profanity, softcore nudity, gore, violence, but it never takes itself too seriously. Most episodes are bad things happening to bad people. While some episodes are pretty hit and miss, the host of the series, the Cryptkeeper, is a show stealing. The puppetry of this character is fantastic, but not enough good things can be said about the voice actor. Cryptkeeper drops puns at a mile a minute. If you thought one was corny, don't worry he's got another one coming to make up for it. Don't let his appearance fool you, this is one lovable ghoul. As if that wasn't good enough, the musical score is made by none other than Danny Elfman of Batman, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands fame. Highly recommended for 80s horror fans.

A great show...took the place after the loss of another.

[TOMNEL · 10/10 · 23 November 2005]

stars: John Kassir as the Cryptkeeper.

Usually great horror anthology show hosted by the Cryptkeeper, a rotting corpse done through animatronics. It's hard to rate it as an entire series, because the episodes went from really bad, to excellent. I will review the first and second season(out on DVD now) Season one-6 episodes. 160 mins. This was obviously the starter season, so there were some glitches. The first is the Cryptkeeper, who really didn't look all that great this season. He didn't yet evolve with his facial movements yet. As for episodes, the classics were Man Who Was Death and Dig that Cat hes Real Gone. The really good ones were Collection completed and All Through the House. Then there was Only Sin Deep and Lover Come Hack to Me. My rating-B plus.

Season 2-18 episodes. 470 mins. The Cryptkeeper has evolved to great lip and eye movement. As for the series, this season has some good ones. I'm not going to go into all of them, but they are good. Some of the classics are Television Terror, Korman's Kalamity, Cutting Cards, The Switch, For Crying Out Loud, The Ventiliquists Dummy and Lower Berth. Great season. My rating-A.

My rating of the series in all-A. episode lengths-(approx.)27 minutes with no commercials. TV:MA:LVS

Horror Deluxe: Addictive, Good, Nostalgic, Classic

[Tweetienator · 7/10 · 16 August 2018]

Funny good old horror show with some really good ideas, dark humor and a good production and almost every episode got a fine cast.

The short playtime per episode of 25 minutes make this one a quick fine snack for the connoisseur of creep 'n' horror. Binge-watching highly recommended too.

"In this night's terror tale..." One legendary magic horror TV series for the ages.

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 10/10 · 28 October 2016]

As a kid I frickin' loved this show with a fiery exuberant passion, I worshipped it, the sting in the tale just desserts style of the horror where the bad and guilty were generally punished gruesomely in priceless and delicious twist endings came to be what the ideal version of horror is to me, grim, deadly, but with a certain underlying sense of fun and sly humour about itself and has a subtle sense of twisted karmic justice. This has always been for me by far the best horror anthology show out there and always thoroughly blew all others of its ilk clear out of the water and its sharp tone and kick-ass attitude, as well as the healthy degree of the gleeful gory old Grand Guignol spirit put into it, all resonated with me in a huge way and a lot of those earlier season episodes went right into my memory and stayed there, this show was one of the main things that ignited my lifelong appreciation of the genre. As a show today it remains such a gem of pop horror culture, and a lot of that is down to John Kassir as the one and only Cryptkeeper. What a rotten cackling old sweetheart, what a voice, what a laugh!!! With a limitless supply of lovably groan-inducing horror-related puns and plays on words, he brought the fun and wrapped up the tales as only he could. It just wouldn't have been the same without our dear old Crypty! To me, at least the first three seasons had so much heart and wicked love for the craft put into them that you could really feel that they were trying to express in film the dark fun style of the old E.C. comics the same way that the 1972 Amicus film also named "Tales From the Crypt" and the 1982 anthology masterpiece "Creepshow" had previously done so perfectly. I tried to never miss an episode and even if it had been a bad one I wouldn't have noticed! You got the really tongue-in-cheek fun schlocky tales that are noticeably trying to showcase the style of the source material and do to me really feel like macabre crazy comics come to life, like "And All Through the House", "The Switch", "Till Death", "Loved to Death", "The Ventriloquist's Dummy", and the truly excellent "Carrion Death". Most were horror comedies, but there were more haunting and foreboding horrific offerings such as "Three's a Crowd" "Fitting Punishment" and especially "Abra Cadaver", which sure as hell gets my vote as the scariest episode because it feels like it holds a chilling grain of truth... It really took off fantastically in the second season which I consider the best because it has the biggest concentration of episodes that I personally consider great. The quality sadly did decline a little with each season with spots of greatness here and there, until we finally hit the abominable seventh season, a season that I find so monstrously awful that I don't even care to own it, it was just that cheap and terrible and just so distinctly UN-Crypt. It's the reason I consider there to be 6 seasons of the show, and one runt! Anyway for the majority of its run it was just wonderful and had so many awesome moments that were liable to leave you shocked or in stitches, and it was tailor made for the horror lover who was young at heart. For the most part they got it dead right and captured the precious macabre magic that they intended to. Not perfect, but it took care of the things that really mattered. Thanks for all the laughs screams and happy memories Cryptkeeper!

Missed this during it's original run

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 1 August 2007]

I didn't have HBO when this played (I still don't have it) so I'm just catching up on it now the DVDs being released. I'm a big fan of the old comic (I have all the issues that were reprinted in the 1990s) and I had heard this series was really strong stuff. I did see the edited episodes that popped up on regular TV...but the cuts were obvious and rendered some of the stories incomprehensible. Now I'm finally seeing them uncut. The verdict? They're OK.

The casts are great (it's fun seeing Brad Pitt before he hit it big) and there's some well-directed episodes...but I find this series lacking somewhat. For starters, it's not as extreme as I heard. With the sole exception of "Lover Come Hack To Me" from season one there's next to no blood or gore. There's some minor swearing and occasional flashes of nudity--but where's all the blood and violence I heard this contained? I'm just finishing season 4 and have yet to see one episode that I could call very bloody. You don't need that to make it scary, but I heard for years that this was pretty violent and blood-drenched. It's not. Also some of the writing is very poor and the some of the episodes seem rushed (but they only had about half an hour to get in everything). Also, it's just not scary. Not one episode has even remotely spooked me. So, it's worth seeing for the casts and directors but it's no big deal. A 7.

BESSSSSTT Show from the 90's!

[elsiagoddess · 10/10 · 14 September 2017]

I can remember the little cryptkeeper dude from growing up but last summer I binged watched through this entire series and OMG was it gooood! I didn't even know it was HBO?

Totally forgot how many memorable episodes there were and how many cool stars from back in the 90s showed up. Like Demi Moore looking super-young or Arnold Schwarzenegger directing?!!

But the best part is of course the little cryptkeeper man talking before and after the episode. He's so cheezey but funny! Like you wish he was your pet or something. I don't know.

But you HAVE to watch this show if you like HORROR at all!

Seemed this horror show was on longer.

[Aaron1375 · 7/10 · 28 July 2009]

I do not know, just seemed it was on a lot longer than from 1989-1996 to me. Seems like it made it to like 1998 or something. However, I do know this horror show hosted by the friendly and insane crypt keeper was a rather fun show, of course some episodes were better than others as it is your "Tales from the Darkside" type format with every episode being something different. There were some weak shows and then there were some very strong episodes to be had, the one constant was the host of the show an animatronic decomposing creature known as the crypt keeper who would both introduce then wrap up every episode. Within the first season or so you would see remakes of the different episodes of the 1970's "Tales from the Crypt" movie as they did the one with Santa Claus which was better than the original, and the one with the blind folk which was not as good as the original. There was one more in that movie, however, for the life of me I can not remember what it consisted of. Other ones that stand out in my mind are the one about the kid who has a secret who gets adopted by couple who also has a secret, one where a crazy couple gets involved with a vampire and many other shows that would prove to be interesting. Then they had ones that might as well been comedies like the one involving the guy who hears his conscience for the first time in the form of Sam Kinnison's voice. All in all a rather good horror show, a type not really seen anymore on television which is kind of sad.

So many people want this to be good, they think it is

[terryhatcher1978 · 1/10 · 4 October 2012]

Remember all the buzz about this show when it first launched? It was supposed to be the best thing since Rod Serling. Nobody seems to remember it now, but the initial reaction from viewers was pretty cool. There was a reason for that.

I won't belabor the silly, ham-bone nature of the puppet that provides the intros. I won't even comment on the grossly over-estimated contributions of "horror icons" occasionally signed on to direct an episode or two. Let's just talk about the stories.

In the old days, shows like "Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" gave anthology lovers interesting stories about real (as in identifiable) people in striking situations...all the ingredients for a good ride.

"Tales From the Crypt" was, however, a contrived camp-fest which tried too hard to be outrageous. Its scripts overstepped themselves routinely, with cartoon-like characters and situations lacking the simple ring of truth. Many entries were mind-numbing gab-fests, in which the producers took a 5-minute concept and padded it to fill the show's run time. The "big twist" in many instances tended to be so disappointing viewers kicked themselves for having endured the entire episode hoping for a payoff that just wasn't worth it.

Supposedly this show is coming back to syndication, to disappoint a whole new generation. I can hardly wait to ignore it.

Season One: Qualifications To Be Admitted Into The 'Crypt'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 27 January 2006]

If you are a somewhat warped person with a dark sense of humor, you'll really like this offering. Obviously I plead guilty because I liked this, although one of episodes turned me off. Nonetheless, it's very entertaining because of the effective mix of comedy, suspense, horror and originality.

You only get six stories from this opening (1989) season of horror-comedy on cable television, but at a fairly cheap price, the DVD set still is well worth it.

In addition to the crazy stories, you get some surprisingly good cinematography. The picture isn't razor sharp but it's well-photographed. Some pretty big directors in the film business - Richard Donner, Robert Zemeckis, Joel Silver, David Giler and Walter Hill - are involved.

Each show features an actor or two who's familiar and they must have had fun making these. You can just see it as they ham it up in their roles. Warning: the language is rough. This is R-rated material....and perhaps only for sick people, as I must be.

A very fun Horror show that remains faithful to the comics.

[The_Depressed_Star_Wars_fan · 10/10 · 5 August 2010]

This was a pretty great show. The acting in this show was pretty good. Needless to say it wasn't great, but still good. My favorite actor, oddly enough was Larry Drake as the Psycho Path dressed as Santa Clause, in the episode "All through the house". A pretty damn good episode, Which involves a woman who just killed her husband, being stalked by, well, A killer wearing a Santa Clause suit. My favorite Episode of all is probably the episode called "Strung Along". This one is about an old puppeteer, who has married a younger woman that's cheating on him, he has an alter-ego named Coa-Coa, who is actually one of his puppets. Coa-Coa suspects that the wife is cheating on him, and wants to do something. This is a really great episode. The effects in this show are great. Especially the Crypt-keeper puppet. Hell, I want a f**king Crypt-keeper puppet. So in the end this was a pretty great show so check it out!

One word...Perfection! :)

[gilligan1965 · 10/10 · 10 July 2015]

This is a phenomenal collection of some of the very best short-stories from the genres of horror, terror, science fiction, drama, crime, fantasy, mystery, true-life, and, others! It's all perfection in one series! Even someone who doesn't particularly like 'horror' will most likely enjoy this series.

I was addicted to this series as soon as I began watching it; and, because I grew tired of it never being on cable TV of which I spend so much money on...I bought the complete DVD set! Up yours, cable TV! :P

Each story is presented with a somewhat comical and childish introduction by 'The Crypt Keeper,' who lovingly grows on you; but, nevertheless, the stories herein are very well written and very well acted. This is no joke - this is a great series of great stories...tales!

Plus...look at the producers behind all seven seasons of this great storytelling! People like Richard Donner ("The Omen" and "Lethal Weapon"); Walter Hill ("The Warriors" and "The Long Riders"); Joel Silver ("Die Hard" and "The Matrix"); Robert Zemekis ("Back To The Future" and "Forrest Gump"); David Giler ("Alien" and "Prometheus"); etc. Greats such as these would have never produced a series unless it was great in itself...and, this series is GREAT!

I recommend this to everyone! :)

Absolute Favorite Show

[mattressman_pdl · 10/10 · 31 October 2007]

From executive producers Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, Richard Donner, David Giler, and Walter Hill come one of the greatest anthology series of all time. Based upon the comic books of the fifties, the cryptkeeper invites you to 93 tales of terror, sex, violence, and twists. Boasting performances from Demi Moore, Brad Pitt, Bill Paxton, Billy Zane, Joe Pesci, John Lithgow, Joe Pantiliano, William Sadler, Timothy Dalton, Dylan McDermott, Tom Hanks, Arnold Schwarzaneggar, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael J. Fox, David Morse, Blythe Danner, Clearance Williams III, M. Emmett Walsh, Kelly Preston, Lance Henriksen, and countless others, the show earns a strong dramatic center to hold up the ghoulish, macabre story lines. All Seven seasons are currently available on DVD(finally)and are more than worth viewing for anyone from the most die-hard horror fans to appreciators of really good television.

One of the best.

[BittenSmitten · 10/10 · 10 July 2008]

I used to sneak downstairs in my parents house when I was little to watch this show, late on Wednesday nights. I recently re-watched all 7 seasons again. Every show deals with the morals human beings go through each day, also every episode ends with a twist only M. Night Shyamalan could only wish to write (and if you thought the Sixth Sense had a great twist, you will love Tales From The Crypt) Maybe not exactly scary, but entertaining nonetheless. Some episodes are downright funny (The Assassin) to creepy (Only Skin Deep) and totally clever (Last Respects). The first few seasons are really worth watching, whereas the last 2 seasons seemed to recycle old story lines... how many times can a dead body get revenge? I only wish this show would return to it's home on HBO. We haven't seen television like this since it was off-air. And I know I'm not alone in wanting to hear "Hello boils and ghouls!" one more time around.

My childhood.

[natashialw · 10/10 · 20 September 2021]

This is what got me into horror since the age of 5, thank you.

Cheesy, funny, weird and creepy. With puns so bad, you'll "die" laughing!

[GingerStarWarsnerd · 8/10 · 9 May 2021]

This is a great show. It is very well written. Some stories are better than others. Some even have moral lessons. Each season is different. The crypt keeper is funny and has puns fit for a dad as "dad jokes" or should I say "dead jokes?" This show is definitely NOT for kids! Despite the crypt keeper saying "boys and ghouls".

This show will make you laugh and cringe. This is such a mixed up show you never know what's next. The stories are generally entertaining. Some stories take place during the time when the comic series started out in the 1950s through more modern times. There's many plot twists and twists in general.

You won't be disappointed watching this show. I'd rather watch this than other adult comedy or HBO shows. For those of a sensitive type, this show is NOT satanic. Well worth a watch.

A bloody Mess

[jcat56 · 1/10 · 22 January 2007]

Maybe I was already too old, but I hated this series with a passion. Sure, the Cryptkeeper puppet was cool, but the episodes were BAD - really bad, and relied more on gore then scares. The one thing it had going for it: It was better then "Tales from the Darkside" but then again, staring at a sleeping dog was better that that.

My recommendation: See the original movie with Peter Cushing, Joan Collins and others - it blows the entire series away. In fact, if you're a fan of the movie, check out "Asylum" and "The House that Dripped Blood". All of these movies were made up small stories, and good old fashioned horror. Not all were winners, but even the worse was better then the series best.

Television's all time greatest horror series

[Mooby · 31 October 1999]

Not only was every episode meticulously crafted into thirty minutes of ironic terror, but the forces behind it always remained credible enough to deliver star-studded episodes. Jon Kassir's Crypt Keeper remains one of the more sacred pop culture figures of recent years (when's the last time you saw someone trashing the Keeper? He's an icon for chrissakes), and while some of the stories may not have been on caliber with others (most of the "England" episodes never touched the Demi Moore/"if I can't have you, no one will" one), in the end, when the smoke had cleared and the show was over, you looked at it with a refreshing zing, as if you had embraced being had.

Bringing back the EC stories wasn't a simple task. Speilberg tried it with "Amazing Stories" and gave up after two long years. The "Vault Of Horror" got a limited run in 94, but failed. But Tales always stuck around, on its own terms, and gave up swinging.

NP: The Bobcat Goldthwait episode: only animated Tales ever: takeoff...Three Little Pigs

Welcome to the Crypt

[hellraiser7 · 10/10 · 9 January 2016]

The horror genre has had may forms of storytelling which is part of what keeps it alive; one of the most famous was of course the EC comics which for their time were the most daring content, though nowadays it's content is more commonplace. EC comics spirit has never died as it has been the inspiration for the "Goosebumps" book series from R.L. Stine, the film "Creepshow" written by Steven King, a little of John Carpenter's "The Fog" you name it. But most importantly EC comics showed that the horror tradition is here to stay.

This show is my fifth favorite anthology horror TV show, one of my favorite live action comic book adaptations as it is done right because it keeps true to the spirit of the classic EC horror comics, but most importantly one of my favorite TV shows.

I've seen this show when I was about 12 to 13 years old, I was highly into anthology horror and this show and this show caught my eye and I never even knew about the existence of the EC comics at the time.

I love the horror host "The Cryptkeeper", the design is great, the puppeteering and animatronics are all on cue. But I really love the voice which is by one of my favorite voice actors John Kazir. His voice just fits like a glove as he convey the both comedy and even creepiness/craziness. This guy is just hilarious as he has some of the best lines as well as puns that are so deliciously bad their good.

The music is great, I really love the theme song which is one of my favorite theme songs of all time composed by one of my favorite composers "Danny Elfman". Really like the opening which is kinda creepy but fun as the camera is constantly moving forward though some foreboding enviorments from the gate, mansion, right down to the crypt. I remember as a kid always pretending I'm the person running forward as the camera was in motion.

Effects are fantastic, this show has some of the best gore effects I've ever seen and is something I've never seen in any horror anthology show. Their basically the payoff element to the stories and they sure as heck pay off. It really went to show that this show wasn't messing around it was going to go all the way.

The stories are great and memorable (as well as well know producers, directors, writers, and actors to boot), I like that they keep not just the gruesome beauty of the comics but also the morality tale aspect intact as to me, "Tales from the Crypt" and the other EC Comics series to me were our modern folklore, Brothers Grimm, a somewhat twisted version of Assops Fables. Though also what makes them stand out are the humor which is really dark but it works, just like in the comic stories they don't take themselves too seriously and give the horror a bit of a strange lighthearted sensibility but maintaining it's dark side at the same time.

And also another thing that stand out is in most of the stories the main characters are antagonists that are unlikeable which is interesting switch around from innocent protagonists. This is one of those rare time where you actually route for the main character to get nailed because they've done more bad crap then good and it's high time they pay the piper.

There are plenty of great and memorable stories. Four of my favorites "What Cookin" which was a dark comedy as a restaurant gets a boost from a new cuisine, want to know what it is, I'll give you a hint ever seen the film "Solylent Green". Third "You Better Watch Out" it's a Christmas horror tale with the killer Santa. Second Television Terror, this story as a kid gave me the creeps it was a haunted house tale but it was also a satire on the corrupt power of Sensasionalism. And of course my favorite is "Carron Death" which is suspenseful and darkly funny as a psycho is chained and forced to drag a body to his destination, little knowing it could be his final destination.

So come to the Crypt you in good company.

Rating: 4 stars

An Honest Review

[generationofswine · 10/10 · 3 February 2019]

This was one of those shows that SHOULD come back.

American Horror Story tires to do it, only on a much larger scale with a new story each season that is supposed to be connected in a grandiose way...and that is fine but...

Tales From the Crypt just offered a new and unique story each week, written and directed and acted by some very talented people. Some are science fiction, some were westerns, some were monster stories, some were comedies, but all were exceptionally well crafted.

Part of the draw to it was that missing a week didn't mean you had to catch up at all. And part of it was that, if you didn't like a particular episode you could come back next week and see something entirely different.

The quality never failed and it allowed for an absolute originality.