I get a lot of e-mails from people asking me about television shows, made-for-TV movies or miniseries they remember from years or even decades past. I try to answer each question as best I can. Every now and then I like to pull out a few e-mails to answer here at Television Obscurities for everyone to enjoy. Keep reading for today’s questions and answers.
“Evil Stalks This House” was a five-part pilot for a proposed late night anthology series called Tales of the Haunted. The concept was simple: each week a new and chilling story would be told over the course of five half-hour episodes–which would then be edited into a two-hour telefilm. Barry & Enright Productions was responsible for the pilot, produced in association with Global Television Network and Gaylor Productions. Colbert Television Sales/King World Productions handled distribution.
The pilot story was written by Louis M. Heyward and directed by Gordon Hessler. Jack Palance starred as a man forced to take refuge in an old home with his two children after their car breaks down during a storm. He initially thinks he can steal valuables from the two elderly women who own the house but soon finds himself facing off against a satanic cult. Helen Hughes and Frances Hyland co-starred.
“Evil Stalks This House” aired on stations across the country in July 1981. Christopher Lee served as host each night.
CBS aired an edited 80-minute version on Thursday, January 8th, 1987 from 12:40-2AM as an installment of The CBS Late Movie.
I’m trying to find information about a TV drama series that only ran for one season sometime in the 1970s. I think it was called The Human Beings but the show told the story of the history of a tribe of native American Indians. I can’t find reference to it anywhere and would welcome any guidance you might be able to give me to find it.
Margaret
NBC aired four episodes of Born to the Wind as a brief summer replacement series from August 19th to September 5th, 1982. It followed the lives of a Native American tribe living in the early 1800s–who spoke contemporary English, of course. The tribe
referred to itself as “The People.”
Will Sampson starred as Painted Bear, the tribe’s leader, with Linda Redfearn as Prairie Woman (his wife), Rose Portillo as Star Fire (his daughter), and Guillermo San Juan as Two Hawks (his son). Rounding out the cast were A Martinez as Low Wolf, a boy raised by wolves; Dehl Berti as One Feather, a medicine man; and Emilio Delgado as White Bull, one of the tribe’s braves.
Born to the Wind originally aired on BBC Two in Britain in 1979.
Have you ever come across a show with Jack Palance called “Evil Stalks This House?”
Eric