Trending
If you are of a certain age and grew up anywhere across the Tri-State Area, it's a pretty safe bet that you spent the end of a lot of Saturdays and the start of a lot of Sundays watching "Chiller Theater."
For a lot of its 20-year run, you could count on tuning to WPXI-TV (or WIIC-TV, as the station was known until April 20, 1981) at 11:30 p.m. Saturday and catching a double-feature of B- or C-level science fiction films with some entertaining skits thrown in during the ad breaks.
"The Mummy," "The Werewolf," "The Fly," "The Wolf Man," "The Last Man on Earth" as well as "Frankenstein" with Boris Karloff and "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi were among the many horror films that filled the airtime.
And it was all under the direction of the late Bill Cardille.
It was a sad day when the series aired its final episode in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 1984.
That's why it was good news to learn that a reboot of "Chiller" had been put together by Jake Klingensmith of WPXI and Jeremy Lynch, reports said. The limited-run revival had its debut on Sept. 9 and is scheduled to run each Saturday night through Oct. 28.
Taking over as host is Scott Harbaugh, a meteorologist at WPXI. While the skits and Cardille's supporting cast are gone, Harbaugh hosted the opening episode in a suit -- just the way Cardille did until he switched to a tuxedo in the later years of the series. Characters from the ScareHouse could be seen in the background during some of the breaks while Harbaugh offered insights into the film, which was "The Brain from Planet Arous."
John Agar and Joyce Meadows starred in that 1957 movie, which was the perfect choice to begin the reboot -- it was the film that opened the series on Sept. 14, 1963.
And the ScareHouse is a great partner -- described by the Travel Channel as "One of America's Scariest Attractions," the haunted house is located in the Galleria at the Pittsburgh Mills Mall in Tarentum, Pa.
Also part of the first show was a tribute to Cardille and an interview with his daughter, Lori Cardille, who remembered what it was like to have a father who was a regional television legend.
Cardille was affectionately known as "Chilly Billy." In the story that appeared in the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times after his death on July 21, 2016, it was reported that he received that nickname from Shawn Donley, the son of the longtime WSTV-TV/WTOV-TV newsman Red Donley.
Donley, who was 75 when he died on Feb. 2, 1998, worked with Cardille in the 1960s, when he was the sports director at WIIC.
Another local connection to the orignal "Chiller" was one of the members of Cardille's troupe -- the late Norman Elder of Steubenville. He played Norman the Castle Keeper as part of an ensemble that included Georgette the Fudgemaker (Bonnie Barney), Stefan the Castle Prankster (Steve Luncinski), Sister Susie (Joyce Sterling) and Terminal Stare (Donna Rae.)
Something that has not changed with the reboot is the theme song: "Experiment in Terror," which was written by the great Henry Mancini, who grew up just outside of Pittsburgh in West Aliquippa. The Al Caiola version has been replaced with a refreshed rendition perfomed by the Subnormals.
One thing that has changed is that it might not be as easy for some area residents to watch the reboot as it was to view the original. "Chiller" airs at 11:30 p.m. on WPXI's PCNC subchannel and at midnight on the WPXINow app. While Xfinity no longer carries WPXI in the Steubenville area, you can find newscasts and most of its local programming on the Tubi app -- that includes the 11:30 p.m. broadcast of "Chiller."
Or, if you aren't that up on technology, you can watch the old-fashioned way by using an antenna.
If you go that route, make sure WPXI's signal has been captured by your tuner on its most recent scan. PCNC can be found on 11.4.
However you choose to watch, the new "Chiller Theater" offers the same thing now that it did for a 20-year period that covered the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s -- a chance to relax and be entertained on a Saturday night.
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times)