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Tales from the Darkside Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
24 Episodes 1983 - 1985
Episode 0
Trick or Treat (Pilot)
Sat, Oct 29, 198330 mins
The lonely and stingy Gideon Hackles is a rich man in town where most residents owe money to him. He does not spend any money with him despite his wealthiness. In the Halloween night, he hides IOUs in his house and invites the kids of his debtors to search for them. While the children are looking for the IOUs, he scares them. But this night, he has a surprising visitor.
Episode 1
The New Man
Sun, Sep 30, 198430 mins
Alan Coombs is working at the office of a real estate agency with his co-worker Brad that offers a drink to him before leaving, but he refuses. When Brad is leaving the office, Alan's young son Jerry arrives to meet his father and enters the office. However, Alan does not have a son named Jerry and takes him to the police precinct believing he is participating of a prank. When he arrives at home, his wife Sharon, and his teenage son Petey are ready to have dinner, but a police officer calls Sharon and brings Jerry home. Alan asks who the boy is and Sharon and Petey believe he is drinking and hallucinating again. Who is Jerry?
Episode 2
I'll Give You a Million
Sun, Oct 7, 198422 mins
The millionaires Duncan Williams and Jack Blaine know each other for a long time and have raised their fortunes in dirty businesses. They like to dispute money against each other all the time. One day, Duncan offers one million dollars for the soul of the atheist Jack and after a while, he accepts and signs a contract. When Jack learns that he is ill with a short period life, he offers another million dollars to break their contract, but Duncan in principle does not accept. But soon he has a tragic phone call that will affect his life.
Episode 3
Pain Killer
Sun, Oct 14, 198430 mins
Harvey Turman is a middle-aged man that while watching "The Night of the Living Dead", has a terrible back pain and needs to sleep on the floor of the kitchen. His wife Nadine torments him with her shopping and wishes that he learns computer programming to make more money. He visits Dr. Roebuck, who does not find anything wrong with him, and concludes that his pain is caused by his obnoxious wife. The he suggests means to literally kill the cause of his pain, and soon Harvey learns who Dr. Roebuck really is.
Episode 4
The Odds
Sun, Oct 21, 198422 mins
Tommy Vale is a gambler that never refuses a bet with his right-hand Horace Chadway supporting him. One night, the ghost of a former gambler, Bill Lacey, arrives in the bar where Tommy works and proposes a bet that Tommy will die by 8:00 AM of natural causes and Tommy accepts the bet. Who will win the bet?
Episode 5
Mookie and Pookie
Sun, Nov 4, 198423 mins
The teenagers Mookie and Pookie are twins and very connected to each other. Mookie is a computer expert but is terminally ill. He lives instructions to Pookie to finish the program he is developing and soon his family learns that he has been transferred himself to the computer.
Episode 6
Slippage
Sun, Nov 11, 198430 mins
Richard Hall is a graphic designer that works with his friend Chris Wood and is happily married with Elaine Anderson Hall. He expects to be hired by another company to a new position and raise his salary to offer a better life to his beloved wife. Out of the blue, he learns that Chris has been summoned to his aimed position and this action develops a massive inferiority complex in his personality and soon he begins to fade out.
Episode 7
Inside the Closet
Sun, Nov 18, 198430 mins
Gail is a university student and houses don't grow on trees; she's thrilled to find the last available housing to be affordable and sanitary and moves into the enormous house of Dr. Fenner (a professor in veterinary medicine). As the days go by though, strange occurrences begin to happen, getting more and more sinister each time. Could it be Dr. Fenner's wife, his supposed daughter? Or maybe whatever it is, it doesn't appreciate having Gail as company in the house.
Episode 8
The Word Processor of the Gods
Sun, Nov 25, 198420 mins
Struggling writer Richard Hagstrom receives an upgraded computer from his computer-whiz nephew Jonathan right before Jonathan dies in an accident. Thanks to Jonathan, this word processor has the power to grant any wish that Richard desires.
Episode 9
A Case of the Stubborns
Sun, Dec 2, 198421 mins
Dressed in black, a very subdued mother and son (Christian Slater, age 15) sit down to breakfast on a hot summer morn, after Grandpa passed away last night in his bed upstairs. But cantankerous Grandpa shows up for breakfast too, lily in the lapel of his best suit, astonished that there's no plate set up for him ! The more folks insist he play dead and dignified, the more persnickety and odoriferous he becomes.
Episode 10
Djinn, No Chaser
Sun, Jan 13, 198522 mins
Danny and his if wife Connie Squires are walking on the sidewalk when out of the blue, a tent appears. They enter the tent and Connie buys an old lamp. They bring the lamp home and when Connie rubs it, the voice of a genius is heard. Soon the couple learns that the grumpy genius will not help the; on the contrary, will turn their lives in hell on earth.
Episode 11
All a Clone by the Telephone
Sun, Jan 20, 198522 mins
The failed screenwriter Leon buys an answering machine to help him to find a job. But soon he learns that something is wrong with the device, when his agent Seymour Furman comments his message. He finds that somehow the machine is from an alternate universe and creates its own messages.
Episode 12
In the Cards
Sun, Jan 27, 198530 mins
Catherine is a successful Tarot card reader since she always brings good news and happiness to her clients. One day, a new client visits Catherine and she reads her fortune; while Catherine is looking for the change, the client changes her deck of cards. Then, Catherine's cards only show tragedies and death to her costumers. She unsuccessfully tries to destroy the infamous deck of cards and soon she learns that the old woman who swapped her cards is the notorious Madame Marlena. Now she decides to seek Marlena out to learn what to do.
Episode 13
Anniversary Dinner
Sun, Feb 3, 198522 mins
On the eve of their 25th wedding anniversary, Elinor and Henry Colander are very happy. Out of the blue, the young couple of hikers Sybil and Mark ask for information and Mark is very rude with the old couple. Elinor invites Sybil to stay with them if she has any problem. Soon Sybil returns and says that she had an argument with Mark and left him. Elinor invites Sybil to join them in their dinner party and she accepts. During her bath in the bathtub, Sybil learns what meal will be served.
Episode 14
Snip, Snip
Sun, Feb 10, 198522 mins
The school teacher Abe North summons the spirits to win a high prize in the lottery with the ticket 666.666. A couple of minutes before the prize draw, Abe calls the dean and offends him, expecting to win the lottery. However, he loses and the winner is the number 666.667, owned by the hairdresser Anne MacColl. He decides to steal her ticket and learns why Anne has won the prize.
Episode 15
Answer Me
Sun, Feb 17, 198522 mins
The British actress Joan Matlin travels to New York for an audition and sublets the apartment of and American friend. While trying to recover from the jet leg, she is constantly disturbed by a telephone ringing from the next door apartment. She complains with her friend and with the super, and their reply is that the apartment is empty. Further, the last dweller was an actress that mysteriously died inside. Joan decides to investigate the apartment and has a huge surprise.
Episode 16
The Tear Collector
Sun, Feb 24, 198530 mins
Prudence is a woman that cannot stop crying and has only one friend, Gretchen, who lives with her. She has also difficulties to relate with other people. One day, Prudence stumbles upon a man named Ambrose Cavender, and he invites her to visit him. Soon Prudence learns that he is a tear collector and she has an unrequited crush on him.
Episode 17
Madness Room
Sun, May 5, 198522 mins
The wealthy Edward Osborne and his young wife Cathy live in a huge house. When his employee Michael Fox comes to his home to close some business, Cathy invites him to stay and play with her in an Ouija Board and the reluctant Michael agrees. They contact a spirit called Ben that helps them to find a hidden Madness Room in the house. They find the room and enter inside, where they find hidden secrets.
Episode 18
If the Shoes Fit...
Sun, May 12, 198522 mins
The politician Bo Gumbs is promoted by his friend Louie Farnum and checks in a hotel to speech to the audiences and win votes. While drinking whiskey in his room, Bo dances with the maid Mimi and says to the bell boy Peter that politics is the art of entertaining the audiences. When he gives his clothes and shoes to Peter to take to the laundry, he goes to a shower. Soon he receives his clean clothes and shoes and has a surprise.
Episode 19
Levitation
Sun, May 19, 198522 mins
Frank travels with his friend Arnie to see the performance of the great magician Kharma in a sideshow. Frank expects to see the levitation show that he heard only Houdini and Kharma were capable of, but Kharma limits to simple tricks. Frank meets Kharma's assistant Flora that explains that the magician is resting, but Frank discusses with Kharma that says that the number is exhaustive and went wrong the last time he did. On his next show, Kharma is disturbed by Frank in front of the audience and he decides to summon the troublemaker to participate in the levitation show, with tragic consequences.
Episode 20
It All Comes Out in the Wash
Sun, May 26, 198522 mins
The unscrupulous Henry Gropper learns from his drunken friend Sam Larchmont that the laundry owned by the Chinese Chow Ting has expensive special services to wash away sins. Henry meets Chow and is warned to neither call nor visit Chow again. But he contacts the laundry again.
Episode 21
Bigalow's Last Smoke
Sun, Jun 9, 198522 mins
In the spirit of the anti-smoking propaganda popular in the 1980's, Bigalow's Last Smoke introduces Frank Bigalow. Frank is a pretty nice guy but a chronic chain-smoker, hoping to quit but finding himself a prisoner of his indulgences. When he wakes up one morning he finds himself trapped in a surreal copy of his own hope, but this new copy-home is secretly an anti-tobacco trap, and Frank discovers that he'll be tortured into quitting his cigarette addictions.
Episode 22
Grandma's Last Wish
Sun, Jun 16, 198530 mins
The dysfunctional Rollins family have no patience with the deaf grandma, who needs a walker to move. They decide to send her to a retirement home, and ask grandma to give a wish that Frank, May and their daughter Greta would grant in her last days at their home. Grandma does not disclose, but soon they learn the meaning of getting old.
Episode 23
The False Prophet
Sun, Aug 4, 198522 mins
The young Cassie Pines is travelling from Iowa to Lubbock, in Texas, to find her true love, following the advice of Madame X. The bus stops at a diner in Oklahoma, where she befriends the owner Wanda Sue and tells that she misses Madame X. However, Wanda unpacks a machine named Horace X to Cassie and tells that he can also foresee the future. Soon Cassie becomes dependable from Horace X and does not pay attention to the father Heat Jones, who has a crush on her, and prefers to pay attention to Horace X words instead.