(1960)
Dir - Gerald Mayer
Overall: MEH
Prolific character actor Elijah Cook Jr. kicks things off in "The Fatal Impulse", an adaptation of a John D. MacDonald short story whose plot almost entirely consists of police detectives trying to locate a bomb. This sounds like it may be a mundane watch, and in some respects it is since it is a lot of back and forth between potential victims who may have had an exploding device dropped into their purse or pockets when Cook's deranged terrorist panics after botching the job. Robert Lansing shares the viewer's frustration as he spends an entire day driving all over town, frantically interviewing people, and checking their bags without any luck, that is until the final moments where on top of saving the day, he is also rewarded with a promising romance from Whitney Blake whose pushy boyfriend runs away George Costanza-style at the first threat of blowing up.
(1960)
Dir - Maurice Geraghty
Overall: MEH
A little bit of mixed identity and recovering addiction commingle in the Thriller installment "The Big Blackout", which is not one of the more gripping crime dramas for the program. The source material here is the Don Tracy novel of the same name which was published the same year, and it has Whitney Blake trying to stay on the wagon after spending several years in a memory haze from alcoholism, all the while mobsters are tracking down a possible former associate who conducted shady business. Some women are thrown into the mix and roughed up, as is Tracy who has the right kind of big lug physique to engage in fisticuffs of his own in order to get to the bottom of what is going on without his loved ones being continually threatened. Nothing exciting happens though and the performances are equally just dependable.
(1960)
Dir - Herman Hoffman
Overall: GOOD
One of the better Thriller installments from before the show shifted focus to horror stories, "Knock Three-One-Two" begins with the common set up of a down on his luck lowlife who is sweating gallons due to his increasing gambling debts that the mob is closing in on him to collect. Based on the Fredric Brown novel of the same name, Joe Maross portrays such an unlikable protagonist who hits up several different people for the money that he so desperately needs, all to no avail. Minor scream queen Beverly Garland and noted character actor Warren Oates are two of these people, the latter turning in a showy performance as a simpleton who readily confesses to a string of silk stocking murders that he did not commit. It takes a few unexpected turns as well, weaving the subplots together into a tense enough finale.
(1960)
Dir - Fletcher Markle
Overall: MEH
The last Thriller episode that initial producer Fletcher Markle worked on, (also directing here), "Man in the Middle" is another adaptation of a Charlotte Armstrong novel and adheres to the trope of an average schlub simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mort Sahl plays such a schlub with a perpetual, "Oh jeez, why me?" panache, a television writer that just so happens to sit behind two criminals in a public place who loudly lay out their entire plan to kidnap a socialite for some random money. Sahl is immediately caught minding his own business, which complicates everyone's day to say the least, setting a plot in motion where people are annoyed and frustrated throughout. Thankfully it does not have the same egregious effect on the viewer, as Markle manages to stage a few suspenseful moments throughout, even if it is still a humdrum affair in the end.
(1960)
Dir - John Brahm
Overall: GOOD
The same year that his novel Psycho hit the big screen, author Robert Boch got his first of ten stories adapted for the Thriller program. "The Cheaters" was also one of the first episodes of the show to feature a definite supernatural element, this one revolving around a pair of mysterious glasses that were designed by amateur alchemist Henry Daniell, glasses which reveal the true feelings and intentions of those whom the wearer gazes upon. Plot wise, it simply follows one owner of the spectacles after the other in a linear fashion, all of them meeting their doom yet all in unique ways from each other. This keeps the story interesting despite its one-note trajectory, and the final moment where Harry Townes is bested by his own curiosity contains as one of the most startling images in small screen horror from the era.
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