WMAQ Channel 5 - Tales Of The Unexpected - "Oh No, Not Another Opening Variation" (1980)

Well, finally we find the opening (from one of it's original airings in Chicago - late night on WMAQ Channel 5) of the spooky British anthology program, "Tales of the Unexpected" (or in this case, "Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected", as it was called during it's first season) Let's see, we've already seen:

The original British opening for the program, not seen on American TV during it's original run. (presumably due to its "racy" silhouette of a lady)

The American syndicated version of the opening, with the carousel and John Houseman narrating.

A shorter version of the American syndicated version, with a different person narrating (not John Houseman nor Roald Dahl).

And now we find here yet another version of the American syndicated version - John Houseman hadn't been brought on board yet because Roald Dahl was still hosting. This version of the opening is at least as long as the original, as it's not truncated. The strange thing is, it is yet another person doing the voiceover - not John Houseman, and not the other unknown guy. It sounds like Roald Dahl himself - could this be correct?

Ok, now here's the next weird discrepancy - the venerable epguides.com lists this episode "The Open Window" as being from the 7th season and first airing on October 21st 1984. Unless WMAQ had a time machine, that's impossible as this airing is from 1980. ???

Also includes a WMAQ NewsCenter5 Linda Yu bumper promo at the beginning (voiceover by Jim Hill).

This aired on local Chicago TV early Sunday, July 13th 1980 at 1:30am.

Add To

You must login to add videos to your playlists.