Darkroom

1981-11-27 | en

James Coburn

Drama

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Seasons & Episodes

EP1 Closed Circuit

Nov. 27,1981

A TV newsman (Robert Webber) finds he is being replaced -- by his projected image.

EP2 Stay Tuned, We'll Be Right Back

Nov. 27,1981

A man (Lawrence Pressman) discovers his child's crystal radio is receiving clear broadcasts -- from 1942.

EP3 The Bogeyman Will Get You

Dec. 04,1981

A teenager (Quinn Cummings) believes she's discovered a vampire (Randolph Powell).

EP4 Uncle George

Dec. 04,1981

A poor couple (Claude Akins, June Lockhart) try to find someone to pose as their late uncle, whose pension they can't afford to lose.

EP5 Needlepoint

Dec. 11,1981

A woman (Esther Rolle) uses voodoo to avenge her granddaughter's death.

EP6 Siege of 31 August

Dec. 11,1981

A farmer (Ronny Cox) is tormented by his memories of war when his son's toy soldiers come to life.

EP7 A Quiet Funeral

Dec. 18,1981

A quiet funeral is the setting for a double-crossed forger's revenge.

EP8 Make Up

Dec. 18,1981

A magic makeup case transforms a loser (Billy Crystal) into a winner.

EP9 The Partnership

Dec. 25,1981

An old man's eerie partnership allows him to live well in a crumbling town.

EP10 Daisies

Dec. 25,1981

A filandering botanist develops a machine that reads the thoughts of daisies. His wife, finding out from the daisies about the affair with his assistant, shoots him to death.

EP11 Catnip

Dec. 25,1981

A ruthless young man (Cyril O'Reilly) is stalked by a demonic black cat.

EP12 Lost in Translation

Jan. 08,1982

An archaeology professor (Andrew Prine) seeks power over others through a magic formula.

EP13 Guillotine

Jan. 08,1982

A 19th-century Frenchwoman tries to save her lover from the guillotine.

EP14 Exit Line

Jan. 15,1982

An aspiring actor (Stan Shaw) takes revenge on an acerbic critic (Samantha Eggar).

EP15 Who's There?

Jan. 15,1982

A husband (Michael Lembeck) sets a trap for his unfaithful wife (Dianne Kay).

EP16 The Rarest of Wines

Jan. 15,1982

Son (Henry Polic II) is unhappy about what he received in the will of his recently deceased mother.

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Darkroom is an American television thriller series which ABC transmitted from November 27, 1981 to January 15, 1982. It was an anthology horror/thriller series, similar in style to Rod Serling's Night Gallery. Each 60-minute episode featured two or more stories of varying length with a new story and a new cast, but each of the episode wraparound segments was hosted by James Coburn. Among the performers who appeared on the series were Steve Allen, Esther Rolle, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, David Carradine, Billy Crystal, and June Lockhart.

Darkroom Audience Reviews

KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

AaronCapenBanner James Coburn hosted this short-lived anthology series where he presented each tale literally from a darkroom, where he would develop pictures that would relate in some way to the story. This only ran for 7 episodes, and the reason may have been because it so relentlessly cynical and downbeat, with rarely a happy ending for anyone. This might work once or twice, but for most of the 16 segments it must wear the viewer down, and make them turn it off. Did feature future stars like Helen Hunt and Billy Crystal. "Night Gallery" did this sort of thing better. Not yet on DVD, but was on YouTube for awhile. Universal studios owns it, so perhaps Shout/Scream Factory will release it?

ecwaenigma Fun little EC-ish horror anthology series that lasted only seven episodes on ABC in 1981/82. Each episode had 2 to 3 short stories in it with a total of 16 stories in all. The best of these being the 1-2 punch of "Needlepoint", a VERY short voodoo revenge story that scared the living hell out of me when I was 4 years old (no V-chip back then), and "Siege of 31 August" with Ronny Cox as a Vietnam vet who gets his just desserts for terrible war crimes. Too bad it only ran half of a season. Universal really needs to release this on DVD soon as stars like Billy Crystal, Helen Hunt, Brian Dennehey, Claude Akins, and more gave this short lived series some much needed future star power. Here's hoping they're reading this.

blenderhead-1 An episode of Darkroom featured a ham radio operator who contacted the past and altered the events leading up to his father's death....particularly, his dad being killed in a liberty ship taking him across the Atlantic during WWII (it was sunk by a U-boat). He sets these wheels in motion one night and wakes up the following morning to find his world changed: his father is certainly alive, but that's not the only thing that's different. The streets are lined with Mercedes Benzes and German Army soldiers. The Allies didn't win the war in this new altered history. Of course the story ends here and leaves the audience hanging, in fashion typical of this genre.

RipCity Only lasting six episodes, Darkroom proved why anthology series can work, and why they can't.Way too many of the short segments were clichéd (oh no, yet another 'man has a chance to change the past' story), obvious and dull. And then they'll throw in a story like "The Boogieman Will Get You", or the one with Billy Crystal to tease you into watching again, hoping for one good moment to make sitting through the bad moments worthwhile. Every so often they delivered, but not enough to work on a whole.James Coburn tried to give the show a presence, but a show like this lives and dies by it's writing, and all too often it died.