The Sixth Sense (TV series)

The Sixth Sense
Genre	Drama/Mystery/Thriller
Created by	Anthony Lawrence
Written by	John W. Bloch Don Ingalls Anthony Lawrence Robert Specht Ed Waters
Directed by	Jeff Corey Alan Crosland, Jr. Robert Day Alf Kjellin John Newland Sutton Roley Barry Shear
Starring	Gary Collins Catherine Ferrar Percy Rodriguez
Composer(s)	Billy Goldenberg Robert Prince David Shire
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	25
Production
Producer(s)	Stanley Shpetner
Cinematography	Enzo A. Martinelli
Running time	60 mins. (approx)
Release
Original network	ABC
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	January 15 – December 23, 1972

The Sixth Sense is an American paranormal thriller television series featuring Gary Collins and Catherine Ferrar. Based on the 1971 television movie Sweet, Sweet Rachel,^[1] the series was produced by and (largely filmed at) Universal Studios, and broadcast by ABC from January 15 to December 23, 1972.

Synopsis

Dr. Michael Rhodes (Collins), a professor of parapsychology, with his assistant Nancy Murphy (Ferrar), attempts to solve supernatural crimes and mysteries.

Production

The series, which was broadcast during Saturday nights at 10 pm, had tough competition from CBS's Mission: Impossible and NBC's Banyon. Despite mediocre ratings, The Sixth Sense was renewed for a second season, mainly due to its well-known guest stars. Ratings continued to decline, and ABC canceled The Sixth Sense on November 14, 1972,^[2] broadcasting the remaining episodes through December 1972.

Notable among its many guest stars were Joan Crawford, Sandra Dee, Patty Duke, Cloris Leachman, Carol Lynley, Lee Majors, William Shatner, Jane Wyman and Jim Davis.

Syndication

For its syndication release, The Sixth Sense was edited and included with Night Gallery hosted by Rod Serling.^[3] As The Sixth Sense was an hour-long show, and the syndicated version of Night Gallery was a half-hour show, the episodes were edited quite severely. Serling's newly added introductions usually covered the introductory scenes and plot point set-ups that had been removed.

DVD

The complete TV series was released in France on October 2014 by Elephant Films. The set is composed of 9 discs with selectable soundtracks in French and English. Though produced in PAL format, it is playable in all regions.^[4]

Gary Collins and Susan Strasberg in "Once Upon a Chilling", 1972

Episodes

No = Overall episode number Ep = Episode number within the season

The Sixth Sense ran for two seasons starting in 1972.

Season 1: 1972

The show premiered on January 15, 1972 with the episode I Do Not Belong to the Human World.

No	Ep	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"I Do Not Belong to the Human World"	Alf Kjellin	Anthony Lawrence	January 15, 1972
Rhodes receives a psychic plea for help from a POW who's being tortured in a Viet Cong prison camp.
2	2	"The Heart That Wouldn't Stay Buried"	Barry Shear	Anthony Lawrence	January 22, 1972
An ailing neurosurgeon has a terrifying vision that he will die from the same mysterious disease which claimed the life of his son.
3	3	"Lady, Lady, Take My Life"	John Badham	Anthony Lawrence	January 29, 1972
An official at a research institute who opposed psychic experiments by staff scientists dies mysteriously. Was it a case of murder by telepathy?
4	4	"The House That Cried Murder"	Richard Donner	Robert Hamner	February 5, 1972
Gail Summer is drawn to a spooky old gothic mansion because of two visions: one of another woman drowning in a bathtub and another even more terrifying- herself drowned in a car.
5	5	"The Man Who Died at Three and Nine"	Robert Day	Don Ingalls	February 5, 1972
Diplomat Paul Crowley is attacked by a powerful psychic force. This force manifests itself in two ways: lapses of memory and visions of a woman drowning.
6	6	"Can a Dead Man Strike from the Grave?"	Alf Kjellin	Gene L. Coon	February 26, 1972
Edwin Danbury is tormented by a vision of murder. The killer is an old man long since deceased and the victims are a young couple in love.
7	7	"With This Ring, I Thee Kill!"	Robert Day	Robert Collins	March 4, 1972
Rhodes fulfills the dying wish of an old friend by examining his daughter's impending marriage to a man she only met a month before.
8	8	"Witch, Witch, Burning Bright"	John Badham	John W. Bloch	March 11, 1972
Judith Eaton becomes convinced that her daughter, Damaris, is the avenging agent of an ancestor who was burned at the stake as a witch.
9	9	"Eye of the Haunted"	Jeff Corey	Calvin Clements Sr.	March 18, 1972
Rhodes is plagued by apparitions of the woman he once loved--- who was later murdered. Then the deceased woman's lookalike sister becomes the target of the killer.
10	10	"Echo of a Distant Scream"	Earl Bellamy	Don Ingalls	April 1, 1972
Visions of a ghost horse on a guest ranch begin haunting Paula Norris.
11	11	"Whisper of Evil"	Robert L. Collins	Robert L. Collins	April 8, 1972
Rhodes struggles to find the sister of a woman in need of a kidney transplant. It appears as though the ailing woman has been having visions of her sister participating with a satanic ritual.
12	12	"Shadow in the Well"	-	Anthony Lawrence	April 15, 1972
Rhodes comes to the aid of Lisa Wolf, who is frightened by an image of her recently drowned husband- whom Lisa believes she accidentally killed.
13	13	"Face of Ice"	Daniel Haller	Don Ingalls	April 22, 1972
An amnesiac claims she had a vision of a man shooting a motorcyclist. Then she and Rhodes discover that the shooter in the vision is her husband.

Season 2: 1972

The second season of The Sixth Sense started on September 23, 1972 with the episode Coffin, Coffin, in the Sky and had 12 episodes in the season.

No	Ep	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
14	1	"Coffin, Coffin, in the Sky"	Sutton Roley	Don Ingalls	September 23, 1972
A young woman in and out of consciousness, on a flight, has visions of a horse-drawn carriage. She sees herself looking at all the passengers lying in coffins. Dr. Rhodes helps to interpret her visions as problems with the airplane. Originally one hour, it was reduced to 30 minutes for syndication on Night Gallery with the alternate title "Flying Sepulcher of Death".
15	2	"Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death"	John Newland	Jonathan Stone	September 30, 1972
Joan Crawford (in what would be her final acting role) plays a woman who stumbles upon a group of ESP enthusiasts who decide to use their abilities to scare her to death. Gary Collins does not appear as Dr. Rhodes in this episode, but as himself in the role of host, introducing the episode and briefly interviewing Crawford in a final epilogue segment to conclude the program.
16	3	"Witness Within"	Sutton Roley	Ed Waters	October 7, 1972
A young woman begins to see visions in which she is attacked by a man.
17	4	"With Affection, Jack the Ripper"	Robert Day	Don Ingalls	October 14, 1972
An experiment to determine if ESP can span time proves fatal.
18	5	"Once Upon a Chilling"	Sutton Roley	Don Ingalls	October 28, 1972
A woman working at a foundation researching cryogenics sees frozen visions of her dead boss.
19	6	"Through a Flame Darkly"	John Newland	Dick Nelson	November 4, 1972
A woman has visions that cause her to believe a childhood friend is in trouble.
20	7	"I Did Not Mean to Slay Thee"	Allen Baron	Ed Waters	November 11, 1972
21	8	"And Scream by the Light of the Moon, the Moon"	John Newland	John T. Dugan	November 25, 1972
A woman returns to her childhood home only to be tormented by visions of her past.
22	9	"If I Should Die Before I Wake"	Bernard Girard	John W. Bloch	December 2, 1972
When she returns to her old home, Ruth Ames begins to see visions, including that of her long dead daughter Mindy.
23	10	"Five Widows Weeping (AKA Five Women Weeping)"	Allen Baron	Anthony Lawrence	December 9, 1972
The new wife of a wealthy family's scion sees vision of his death.
24	11	"Gallows in the Wind"	Alan Crosland, Jr	Don Ingalls	December 16, 1972
A woman has visions of death during a hurricane.
25	12	"The Eyes That Wouldn't Die"	Robert Day	David P. Harmon	December 23, 1972
When her sight is restored, Kathy sees visions of murder.

References

1. Muir, John Kenneth (July 30, 2006). An Analytical Guide to Television's One Step Beyond, 1959-1961. Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland & Company. p. 222. ISBN 9780786428496. OCLC 45743343.
2. Muir, John Kenneth (2001). Terror television: American series, 1970-1999 (illustrated ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland & Company. p. 34. ISBN 9780786408900. OCLC 44693978. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
3. Stanyard, Stewart T. (April 1, 2007). Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone: A Backstage Tribute to Television's Groundbreaking Series (illustrated ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: ECW Press. p. 68. ISBN 9781550227444. OCLC 427510519. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
4. "Le 6ème sens - Intégrale Saisons 1 et 2 (1972) - DVD The Sixth Sense". dvdfr.com.

External links

• The Sixth Sense at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sixth Sense at TV.com
• The Sixth Sense at epguides.com