'WAY OUT (CBS/1961) (1 Viewer)

[JohnHopper]

Hello,

I'd like to start a thread about a short-lived monochrome horror anthology shot on video in 1961 entitled 'Way Out,
hosted by writer Roald Dahl. It was broadcast by CBS in New York. There were twenty episodes.

Episode 1: William and Mary, 31 March 1961 (written by Roald Dahl)
Episode 2: The Down Car, 7 April 1961
Episode 3: The Sisters, 14 April 1961
Episode 4: Button, Button, 28 April 1961
Episode 5: I Heard You Calling Me, 5 May 1961
Episode 6: The Croaker, 12 May 1961
Episode 7: False Face, 26 May 1961 (written by Larry Cohen)
Episode 8: Dissolve to Black, 2 June 1961
Episode 9: Death Wish, 9 June 1961
Episode 10: The Overnight Case, 16 June 1961
Episode 11: Hush-Hush, 23 June 1961
Episode 12: Side Show, 30 June 1961 (written by Elliott Baker)
Episode 13: Soft Focus, 7 July 1961
Episode 14: 20/20, 14 July 1961


Anybody remember it? Is it possible to get a legitimate release?

Read these articles:
http://www.roalddahlfans.com/tvshows/wayoarticle.php
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/lost_episodes_roald_dahl_way_out

 

[stuartfanning]

More information and various episodes on YouTube.

http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/WayOut.htm

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=way+out+1961

 

[Richard V]

I believe this topic has been covered in many other threads in this forum. The short answer on DVD release is HIGHLY unlikely, but you never know.....Batman, Wonder Years, WKRP

 

[Matt Hough]

I remember vividly watching it during the short time it was on the air. It scared the crap out of me as a preteen. I've watched a couple of episodes that are posted on YouTube, and I'm not sure what it was that scared me so much as they weren't horrifying in the least. Maybe it was just the time of night it came on and the oddly eccentric Roald Dahl as the host that gave me the creeps.

 

[Neil Brock]

The show aired on 2-inch videotape but those tapes are long gone. All that was saved were kinescopes. There were 14 made (not sure where the OP came up with the number 20). Never say never but highly unlikely that a show which ran once 50+ years ago would ever be on CBS's radar for a release when they won't even do anything with The Defenders and Ben Casey, shows from the same time frame which were top-rated and had healthy runs. As for licensing, that would require a company to pay for high cost transfers. A similar show, also done by the Susskind people, was Great Ghost Tales, which ran the year before as a summer series on NBC. 12 of those were made and also preserved as kinescopes, stored at Library of Congress.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Actually, Great Ghost Tales was the same year as 'Way Out, 1961. It began on NBC on July 6, 1961.

 

[Jim*Tod]

I forget the name of the episode, but the story was essentially a man had invented a way to make himself look younger by touching up photographs. He used this to make his wife look older and planned to run away with another woman. But the wife found out and confronts him, pouring the solution across his picture. He turns to the camera and reveals that most of his face was blanked out. That image haunted me for ages.... I was about six or so at the time. A few years ago I did find some images online of this. Pretty wild stuff for tv of that period.

 

[JohnHopper]

I remember vividly watching it during the short time it was on the air. It scared the crap out of me as a preteen. I've watched a couple of episodes that are posted on YouTube, and I'm not sure what it was that scared me so much as they weren't horrifying in the least. Maybe it was just the time of night it came on and the oddly eccentric Roald Dahl as the host that gave me the creeps.

To me nowadays, 'Way Out is like a sarcastic comment loaded with icy dark humour. Some of these segments had a mean-spirited bent: see William and Marry or The Croaker. Some had a sense of weirdness.

 

[Neil Brock]

Dick Smith, who became a legendary Hollywood makeup artist, was responsible for the great makeup on the show.
.

 

[bigshot]

The more recent equivalent of this show is Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected.

 

[Neil Brock]

The more recent equivalent of this show is Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected.

Well, considering that Roald Dahl was responsible for both, yes that would be accurate. There were even a couple of Way Outs that were remade on Tales.

 

[chas speed]

Dick Smith, who became a legendary Hollywood makeup artist, was responsible for the great makeup on the show.
.

Dick Smith has a ton of fans out there and let's not forget the great music by Robert (Dark Shadows) Cobert. I do think that enough people are interested in this show to justify it's release.

 

[DeWilson]

The show aired on 2-inch videotape but those tapes are long gone. All that was saved were kinescopes.

Well, at least they exisr, and from the copies going around, they are not bad looking ones either (Technically speaking) - on par, or better than the kines made of those 6 - Shot on VT Twilight Zones.

 

[thegalaxybeing]

5 new episodes of "Way Out" on Youtube:

Overnight Case
False Face
Hush Hush
Side Show
20/20

Up til recently, the only episodes anywhere online were:

William and Mary
I heard You Calling Me
The Croaker
Dissolve to Black
Death Wish

This is a great time for Way Out fans -

By the way, as of now (May 25, 2016) the episodes which are still not online are"

The Down Car
Button Button
The Sisters
Soft Focus

Let's keep our fingers crossed (also still hoping for an official Blu ray and/or DVD release)

 

[Matt Hough]

Thank you so much for this informative alert. Will definitely be checking out the new entries. I have very fond memories of hiding behind my fingers watching these episodes as a pre-teen.

 

[hypnohighball]

I forget the name of the episode, but the story was essentially a man had invented a way to make himself look younger by touching up photographs. He used this to make his wife look older and planned to run away with another woman. But the wife found out and confronts him, pouring the solution across his picture. He turns to the camera and reveals that most of his face was blanked out. That image haunted me for ages.... I was about six or so at the time. A few years ago I did find some images online of this. Pretty wild stuff for tv of that period.

Looks like this episode is called Soft Focus and stars Barry Morse of "The Fugitive". It's also one of the episodes NOT available on youtube.

 

[Flashgear]

Thank you Galaxybeing/ Dennis for this welcome and surprising notice...too bad the other 4 episodes are still MIA as they are also some of the best in the run of Way Out...I have vivid memories of "Soft Focus" and especially, "Button, Button"...1961 was a scary enough year of the cold war already, with the Berlin wall crisis, a frenzy of Nuclear weapons testing and the USAF having begun airborne nuclear armed patrols 24/7 that January...the notion, as depicted in "Button, Button" that Satan himself might find his way into a Atlas or Titan Missile silo disguised as a commanding officer was scary indeed...this is off the top of my head, but I believe Tim McIntire was in the cast of that one...a very slick live production...we need an authorized and licensed release of this worthy show...

 

[Charles Smith]

Damn, hadn't thought about WAY OUT in a while. I do remember watching a few of the episodes when first broadcast. It was SO creepy.

 

[JeffT.]

This is one (vintage) tv property that I have enthusiastically supported (in another identical discussion thread here) but if the original videotapes are no longer available then what's the use, now?

It would have been great to see WAY OUT! (CBS 1961) with its taped live performance quality restored.

Sometimes one's memory and experiences of these (now) classic tv series can prove to be a detrimental disadvantage and frustrating hindrance. As, over the succeeding years since their original primetime network telecasts, one is sadly witness to how many of the older television properties have fallen into shameful neglect or completely lost to posterity altogether.

This wildly wonderfully deranged ahead-of-its-time tv show was totally perversely insane in an artfully intelligent way.

Somehow I'm not the least bit surprised that Larry Cohen (creator of the disturbingly nightmarish THE INVADERS tv series) had previously worked on WAY OUT!.

Jeff T.

 

[moe green]

There really needs to be a TCM for classic old TV shows that are not currently available on video. A channel that would respect them and not butcher them beyond belief. The fact that so many classic shows from the 50's and 60's rot in vaults doesn't seem to bother anybody.