Favorite episode?

Good to see another fan! I am hoping that more folks come to this site. I like it here.

I watch on MeTV when I can stay awake. My husband downloaded all of the episodes from another site so I have all of the seasons on DVD.

Have you seen "Hangover" with Tony Randle (sp?) and Jane Mansfield? It's from the first season. That is one interesting episode.

Hope to talk to you more. Looking forward to others joining in.

Oh yes that is a definite top ten episode!

I first saw the remake in the eighties when they remade the show. In that one the prisoner was a female played by Season Hubley. What a nasty piece of work she was!

A few years ago I bought some DVDs of the orignal show and that was one of the episodes. Naturally in the early sixties the main character was a man. This time he was played by Edd Byrnes. Both versions are great! Defintely one to watch.

Loved Final Escape! It had such a scary twist ending. That has always been one of my biggest fears after watching this. I want to be cremated when I go!

😍
I was just watching the one half hour 80s version of this. I have changed my mind. The one with Season Hubely. I had forgotten just how much better this half hour one really is! The hour long episode with Ed Byrnes was pretty good, but compared to this, feels a bit padded. This one just works much better.
Kudos to Season Hubely too. She played the bitch to the hilt! You usually see her in roles as the sweetheart. She really sold it as the Queen of Mean! I didn't feel one bit sorry for her in the end.

I have been watching several of these on Youtube as of late (Pal versions are up, but keep dropping like flies, so I'm
trying to watch as many as I can before they're all taken down).

I have mixed feelings about this series. It is in no way comparable to Hitch's best 30-minutes shows, which are
much more tense and sharply written. There is simply a padded feeling to most of the hour-length shows, which
seem to either duplicate scenes, or stretch dialogue out much longer than needed in order to fill out the 50-minute
time frame. Don't get me wrong; I'm enjoying watching them again, but don't feel I could sit through them more
than once or twice (whereas countless half-hour eps are worth tons of viewings). For instance, "Night Caller" is an
intriguing little piece, very well-acted, but completely predictable (how many calls is Felicia Farr going to get? How
many times is David White going to be suspicious of young Bruce Dern? I knew the outcome five minutes in,
and would never sit through this another time). The Inger Stevens ep is also atmospheric and very well-acted
(Stevens wasn't capable of a false note, in my opinion). But I knew the outcome long before it bellowed out its
final moments (although seeing a young, shirtless Peter Brown wasn't exactly painful). There are also the "star"
talk-fests, like "See the Monkey Dance" with Roddy McDowall and Efrem Zembilist Jr. (chewing the scenery
at every moment). Two wonderful actors, but it drones on and on and on...like a stage play.

There's no doubt "The Jar" is a stunning show, as are several others. But too many try to be a cross between
"Thriller" (a wretched series, for the most part) and "Twilight Zone" (the overrated "Consider Her Ways").

Curious that the series hasn't been released out here (I'm trying to be nice when I say "curious"). But I'd rather
see the the full release of the half-hour shows.

Good way to put it, Adam6. They pulled out all the stops as the hour longs progressed. Unlike the hour long half-season of The Twilight Zone, the Hitchcock people knew they had to find a groove. It wouldn't be a good idea to just take a half-hour idea and make an hour from it with padding. The hour long Hitch series grew into itself. Even the first episode, with Gig Young as a compulsive gambler, worked well as drama if not much suspense, and I like it. The casting of Robert Redford as Gig's younger brother worked nicely, and these two skilled players worked well together.