Night Gallery episode review — 2.8 — The Diary/A Matter of Semantics/Big Surprise/Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture

Original air date: November 10, 1971

The Diary

Director: William Hale
Writer: Rod Serling

Precognition is the subject in this story, which probably should be more interesting than it is. Patty Duke plays Holly Schaefer, a gossip columnist, who has been incredibly critical of former star Carrie Crane (Virginai Mayo). After the two have a spat, Schaefer discovers a future entry in her diary observing Carrie’s suicide.

Virtually right after this is discovered, Crane jumps off a balcony. Holly begins going crazy, particularly after she can’t find a future entry, which convinces her that she won’t live to the next day.

She checks herself into an asylum, and demands a pen, thinking that if she writes down that nothing happens to her, she’ll be okay. It’s revealed that she has done this every day since she’s been checked in.