TV Show News

TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: Kurtzman & Orci Reboot TV Show on The CW

Tales from The Darkside

Tales From the Darkside is being rebooted on The CW. The CW has ordered a script for the re-ignited series from Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Joe Hill. Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci will executive produce the TV series and Joe Hill will write it. The reboot is described as a “reinvention of the horror/fantasy/ thriller anthology series.”

On the other people behind the scenes of the Tales From the Darkside reboot:

Advertisement
 

Mitch Galin, Heather Kadin, and Jerry Golod (who produced the original) are also set to executive produce…CBS TV.

On the make-up of the series:

As with the original, the rebooted Tales From the Darkside will consist of self-contained half-hour episodes.

On the original of Tales From the Darkside:

Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero; it was released in 1984. Similar to Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, Tales From The Crypt, and Lee Martin’s The Midnight Hour, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot twist. The series’ episodes spanned the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and some episodes featured elements of black comedy or more lighthearted themes.

The moderate success of George A. Romero’s horror anthology film Creepshow led to initial inquiries about the possibilities of a Creepshow series. Because Warner Brothers owned certain aspects of Creepshow, Laurel Entertainment (which produced the film) opted to take their potential series into a similar, yet separate, direction, including changing the name to Tales from the Darkside. The new name reflected Creepshow’s focus, that of a live-action EC-based horror comic book of the 1950s like Tales from the Crypt or The Vault of Horror, though the series would not carry the trappings of a comic as Creepshow did.

Some episodes of the series were written by or adapted from the works of famous authors. Stephen King’s short stories “Word Processor of the Gods” and “Sorry, Right Number” were amongst them. Works by Frederik Pohl, Harlan Ellison, Clive Barker, Michael Bishop, Robert Bloch, John Cheever, Michael McDowell and Fredric Brown were also featured.

After wrapping, Tales from the Darkside was succeeded by Monsters in 1988, a similarly-styled syndicated weekly horror anthology also produced by Laurel and longtime Romero associate Richard P. Rubinstein.

The series was followed by Tales from the Darkside: The Movie in 1990. Stephen King also contributed a short story to this film, “The Cat From Hell”. The film starred Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, William Hickey, Steve Buscemi, and Julianne Moore (the first three had previously appeared in episodes of the TV series). Tom Savini has called this film “The real Creepshow 3“.

The series was originally syndicated weekly by Tribune Broadcasting, with most stations airing it after midnight. After ending production, it was picked up by LBS Communications for barter-based syndication (with the exception of the episode The Apprentice, and a few reruns of earlier episodes) which were distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures. Worldvision Enterprises later became the series’ distributor, and the rights currently are held by Worldvision successor CBS Television Distribution.

On November 17, 2008, CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) announced the first season of Tales from the Darkside would be released on DVD February 10, 2009 complete with audio commentary by producer George Romero on the episode “Trick or Treat”.

Leave your thoughts on Tales From the Darkside reboot on The CW below in the comments section. For more Tales From the Darkside photos, videos, and information, visit our Tales From the Darkside Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, or “like” us on Facebook.

Source: Wikipedia, Vulture, THR, Slashfilm

Advertisement
 

FilmBook's Newsletter

Subscribe to FilmBook’s Daily Newsletter for the latest news!

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
Back to top button
Share via
Send this to a friend