THRILLER

There is an anthology series from the early 1960s called Thriller. Hosted by Boris Karloff, the horror program lived a short two years; 1960-62. From what I have read, author Steven King was and still is a big fan, putting the series as his favourite, just ahead of The Outer Limits.

Thriller was before my time but I was aware of its existence, finally getting to see one solitary episode when CHCH "TV Eleven" ran one solitary episode back in the late 1970s. (As I remembered that John Ireland guest starred in the one I saw I was able to track down, courtesy of the IMDB, its title: "Papa Benjamin".)

Author Gerry Gerani, in his excellent book "Fantastic Television", wrote that Thriller had an identity crisis its first season; it did not know if it wanted to be a crime-based thriller, or a horror.. er. Composer Pete Rugolo had written a jazzy theme (which was his style) tune and this worked against the serious tone the producers were striving for.

In its second year, 'horror' was the main thing.

Thriller enjoyed a reputable directing team including Ida Lupino, John Newland, Arthur Hiller, and Ted Post -- all guiding no small line-up of acting talent.

The good news...
http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Thriller-Press-Release/12892

... I noticed there are sample clips on Youtube. (No surprise.)