Tales of the Unexpected (Haiku Edition)

[Flack]

Tales of the Unexpected, a UK-based anthology series, was originally titled Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected. Beginning in 1979, each episode was based on one of Dahl's short stories. The show ran out of Dahl's stories somewhere around season three and the show ran for a total of nine seasons, so eventually other writers were brought in to craft more stories. Clearly modelled after The Twilight Zone, each episode featured a "twist", most of which are easy to spot about halfway through the episode's 23 1/2 minutes (that includes opening and closing credits along with an introduction by Dahl). In real life Dahl was openly anti-Semitic and people have called some of his writing racist and contained negative stereotypes, but here we're focusing on the show, not the man.

Recently I began working my way through the 112 episodes of the show. Inspired by Pinback's recent two-line Twilight Zone reviews, in this thread I will writing haiku-style (5/7/5 syllables) reviews for each episode. I'm hoping this keeps me interested in the show and helps me get through all 112 episodes. We'll see.

[Flack]

001 - 01x01 - Man from the South

Strangers make a bet.
Man bets car; Boy bets finger.
Who wins? Nobody.

[Flack]

002 - 01x02 - Mrs. Bixby and the Colonels Coat

Cheating wife gets coat
Uses ruse to take it home
He gives to mistress