Thriller (U.S. TV series)

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Thriller was, along with The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, an anthology television series of the 1960s, running from 1960-1962 on NBC-TV. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing an entertaining mix of macabre horror tales and suspense thrillers. Created by Hubbell Robinson for Revue Studios (later purchased by Universal Studios) and produced by Fletcher Markle, William Frye, and Maxwell Shane. Among the many writers for the series was Robert Bloch, who adapted a number of his own stories, notably "The Weird Tailor". The horror episodes were often more highly regarded than the criminous ones, although some of the latter, such as the adaptation of Jack Vance's clever "Man in a Cage," were also memorable. Karloff was an actor in several of the episodes; other players included William Shatner. Stephen King, in his Danse Macabre, suggests that this was the best series of its kind thus far in U.S. television history.

Gold Key Comics published a comic book version of Thriller for a few issues, changing the title to Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery after the series ended; the series lasted until the 1980s, long after not only the end of Thriller but also the death of Karloff himself.

Thriller ran at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays opposite ABC's Stagecoach West and CBS's The Red Skelton Show.