Way Out was a 1961 fantasy and science fiction television anthology series hosted by writer Roald Dahl. The macabre 25-minute shows were introduced by Dahl's dry delivery of a brief introductory monologue, sometimes explaining a method of murdering a spouse without getting caught.
The taped series began because CBS suddenly needed a replacement for a Jackie Gleason talk show that network executives were about to cancel, and producer David Susskind contacted Dahl to help mount a show quickly. The series was paired by the network with the similar The Twilight Zone for Friday evening broadcasts, running from March through July 1961 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time, under the primary sponsorship of Liggett & Myers. Writers included Philip H. Reisman, Jr. and Sumner Locke Elliott.
The premiere episode, "William and Mary", adapted from a Roald Dahl short story, told of a wife getting revenge on her husband.
In "Dissolve to Black", an actress cast as a murder victim at a television studio goes through a rehearsal, but the drama merges with reality as she finds herself trapped on the show's near-deserted set. Other dramas offered startling imagery: a snake slithering up a carpeted staircase inside a suburban home, a disembodied brain in a jar, a headless woman strapped to an electric chair, with a light bulb in place of her head and half of a man's face erased.
Title | Air Date | Duration | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Season 1 | Episode 1 | William and Mary | 1961-03-31 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 2 | The Down Car | 1961-04-07 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 3 | The Sisters | 1961-04-14 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 4 | Button, Button | 1961-04-28 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 5 | I Heard You Calling Me | 1961-05-05 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 6 | The Croaker | 1961-05-12 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 7 | False Face | 1961-05-26 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 8 | Dissolve to Black | 1961-06-02 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 9 | Death Wish | 1961-06-09 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 10 | The Overnight Case | 1961-06-16 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 11 | Hush, Hush | 1961-06-23 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 12 | Side Show | 1961-06-30 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 13 | Soft Focus | 1961-07-07 | 30 min |
Season 1 | Episode 14 | 20/20 | 1961-07-14 | 30 min |