(1972)
Dir - Jeff Corey
Overall: MEH
Perhaps the most unrealistic detail in The Sixth Sense's "Eye of the Haunted" is the fact that Mariette Hartley portrays a set of siblings who look exactly alike, yet are two years apart in age instead of being identical twins. Aside from that odd hick-up in Calvin Clements Sr.'s script, the rest of the story follows a formulaic and humdrum pattern, introducing a less than fetching mystery of a psychic serial killer who is tormented by people's thoughts invading his psyche. One of the not-twins that Hartley plays is Dr. Rhodes' college professor ladyfriend, bringing Gary Collins into the drama where James Wainwright walks around a lot, gets silver bullets made because reasons, and harasses Hartley despite her pleas that she is merely the sister of his previous victim. The program had found its niche at this point, but sadly it seemed to be running out of interesting avenues to go down in the process.
(1972)
Dir - Earl Bellamy
Overall: MEH
Similar to the previous episode "Eye of the Haunted", The Sixth Sense's "Echo of a Distant Scream" is front-to-back unmemorable, throwing together a missing girl, rings of fire, and ghostly horses into a mediocre mix. Gary Collins does his usual shtick of staring off into the distance as he experiences psychic visions, touching objects to trigger those visions, telling skeptics to call whatever telepathic shenanigans are going on "whatever they like" while insisting that they are real, not having a sense of humor, being asked to leave yet ignoring such a request, and of course uncovering what mystery is afoot. The presentation is as stuck in the muck as Don Ingalls' script is, with no likeable characters, Collins going through the motions, desperate supernatural elements slap-dashed together, and an obvious ending where the culprit of the crime is the person who was behaving like the biggest asshole all along.
(1972)
Dir - Robert L. Collins
Overall: MEH
Clandestine cult members in red and black robes, gnarly paintings of Satan, and ritualistic murders make their way into "Whisper of Evil", an installment of The Sixth Sense that falls in line with the 1970's fascination with the occult. The only episode of the program to be written and directed by the same bloke, (Robert L. Collins in such an instance), it is another one that features two telepathically linked sisters, one of whom desperately needs a kidney transplant from a close relative and the other estranged and having recently been abducted into clan of evil magik practitioners. After an entire episode of spinning in circles as the clock ticks, Gary Collins' stone-faced Dr. Rhodes finally and randomly gets one of his patented visions that leads him right to the culprit, conveniently wrapping up a plot that had every reason to not resolve itself happily. Good thing for that, good thing that Percy Rodrigues' police detective was so quickly attainable, and good thing that Pat Delaney's long lost sibling lived apparently mere minutes away in such a crisis.
(1972)
Dir - Robert Day
Overall: MEH
At this point, The Sixth Sense was going from predictable in its structure to downright grating, "Shadow in the Well" representing another rinse and repeat tale that encapsulates why the program suffered in the ratings throughout its runtime. Again Gary Collins portrays Dr. Rhodes as a man who never smiles and takes things deadly serious, only lighting up in the epilogue after the supernatural bologna has been put to rest. While this presents him as a no-nonsense protagonist that can be relied upon to never rest until he saves whoever is suffering from a psychological bombardment from unknown forces, it also makes him an increasing bore since his methods are identical in every episode. He gets called into the scene, the guilty parties there want him to leave, and the person in trouble, (usually a woman), is forced by Collins to concentrate on something and not look away so that he can channel their psychic energy and see what they see. You can replace the details here that involve a dead husband, ghostly images of him, a well, and Henry Silva being Henry Silva, (meaning not a good guy), with any details from almost any other episode of the show and the results would be identical.
(1972)
Dir - Daniel Haller
Overall: MEH
Closing out with one of several mediocre-at-best installments in a row for The Sixth Sense's first season, "Face of Evil" has yet another woman surrounded by men who want Gary Collin's Dr. Rhodes to go away and not help her, all while he forces her to relive her ghostly visions while concentrating hard. A guy dies from a motorcycle accident, Christine Belford has amnesia, both her brother and husband are assholes about it and give Collins attitude for trying to help, and the most likely person to be behind the bad stuff that happened is the person behind the bad stuff that happened. In other words, no surprises, no humor, and no tweaks to the formula. Harking on the program for its "same shit, different week" structure may seem redundant considering the nature of most television, particularly most television from the time. Yet the show was consistently lacking in charismatic performances, clever set pieces, or even a single joke to lighten the mood here or there. After awhile we simply get it, get where it is going, and can tune-out accordingly.
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