The Ray Bradbury Theater aired on the USA network in the 1980s. This was before original-for-cable shows had much cachet, so it kind of flew under the radar. I've watched a few episodes over the last couple of days.
Bradbury is an absolutely indispensable writer, of course. I would recommend that you track down and read any story of his before you watch an adaptation. They come from his mind and his voice.
The TV show mostly seems to do right by him, though. It should, since he's also the one writing the scripts. Some translate better to the screen than others.
What I said about cable shows not having much cachet yet? They didn't have much of a budget either. the adaptation of "The Town Where No One Got Off" looks for much of its duration like a shoestring student production. It's also the best episode of the ones that I saw, which has a lot to do with Jeff Goldblum starring in it.
The show's also an interesting relic because it's obviously shot in Canada. Eventually Vancouver would be a central shooting location for American TV production, really second only to the LA area. When this was made that process seems to have been in a very early stage.
2 comments:
Ray Bradbury did write some very good stories over the years, many of which I've enjoyed reading. However, neither of us had been aware of this tv show but, as you say, cable wasn't particularly well known in the 80s so we never saw any episodes.
I just watched the one you referred to, The Town Where No One Got Off, and I see what you mean about the production being almost non-existent. Despite the unvarnished quality of the set there was a certain strange atmosphere among the people. When Jeff Goldblum's character realizes he'd always had a dark fantasy of killing a stranger in an unknown town I was reminded, naturally enough, of Strangers on a Train. This one ended far less dramatically when he and the old man he'd met both backed away from the reality of being victims of each other. Jeff Goldblum stops another train and climbs back on - meanwhile, the old man goes back to his vigil at the station.
This morning Jer remembered the surprise we got seeing Jeff Goldblum in his first movie appearance.
I became aware of it some time while it was still on, the show having a surprisingly long run. Didn't become a regular viewer, though. And I'm not now either, but I've seen enough to know that some stories work better than others. "The Man Upstairs" is another good one.
Yeah, there's a little bit of ambiguity there. Is he just psyching the other guy out in order to not get killed himself? Or is there a killer inside him that's looking to surface? There's probably a little bit of both going on.
That's a pretty fun clip. Jeff and his compatriots are acting like Jets in West Side Story which looks a little silly but might soften the audience up for what they do later. Also neat that the cashier is Maria from Sesame Street.
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