Editing Rod Serling (section)

====''Night Gallery''====
{{Main|Night Gallery}}

In 1969, [[NBC]] aired a [[Night Gallery (film)|television film pilot]] for a new series, ''Night Gallery'', written by Serling. Set in a dimly lit museum after hours, the pilot film featured Serling (as on-camera host) playing the curator, who introduced three tales of the [[macabre]], unveiling canvases that would appear in the subsequent story segments. Its brief first season (consisting of only six episodes) was rotated with three other shows airing in the same time slot; this [[wheel show]] was entitled ''[[Four in One (TV series)|Four in One]]''. The series generally focused more on [[horror fiction|horror]] and [[Thriller (genre)|suspense]] than ''The Twilight Zone'' did. On the insistence of the producer [[Jack Laird]], ''Night Gallery'' also began including brief comedic [[blackout sketch|"blackout" sketches]] during its [[List of Night Gallery episodes#Season 2 .281971.E2.80.9372.29|second season]], which Serling greatly disdained.<ref name="tour">{{cite book|last1=Skelton|first1=Scott|last2=Benson|first2=Jim|title=Rod Serling's Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour|publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]]|year=1999|isbn=978-0-8156-2782-1}}</ref> He stated "I thought they [the blackout sketches] distorted the thread of what we were trying to do on ''Night Gallery''. I don't think one can show [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and then come back with [[Flip Wilson]] for 34 seconds. I just don't think they fit."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parisi |first1=Nicholas |title=Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and Imagination |date=2018 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=9781496819451 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C_Z1DwAAQBAJ&q=+%22blackout%22&pg=PA362 |access-date=December 26, 2019}}</ref>

No longer wanting the burden of an executive position, Serling sidestepped an offer to retain creative control of content, a decision he would come to regret.<ref name="tour"/> Although discontented with some of the scripts and creative choices of Jack Laird, Serling continued to submit his work and ultimately wrote over a third of the series' scripts. By season three, however, many of his contributions were being rejected or heavily altered.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} ''Night Gallery'' was cancelled in 1973. NBC later combined episodes of the short-lived [[paranormal]] series ''[[The Sixth Sense (American TV series)|The Sixth Sense]]'' with ''Night Gallery'', in order to increase the number of episodes available in syndication. Serling was reportedly paid $100,000 to film introductions for these repackaged episodes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nightgallery.net/night-gallery-missconceptions/|title=Night Gallery Misconceptions| publisher=NightGallery.net| first1=Scott |last1=Skelton | first2=Jim |last2=Benson| archive-date= March 10, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160310034100/http://nightgallery.net/night-gallery-missconceptions/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvobscurities.com/2010/10/the-sixth-sense-promotional-spot/ |title=The Sixth Sense Promotional Spot |date=October 26, 2010 |publisher=TVObscurities.com |access-date=October 26, 2010 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102041302/http://www.tvobscurities.com/2010/10/the-sixth-sense-promotional-spot/ |archive-date=November 2, 2010 }} Article  on November 2, 2010. Video [https://web.archive.org/web/20161101003449/http://www.tvobscurities.com/media/459_sixth_sense_promo.mp4 archived] on November 1, 2016.</ref>