Chiller Theatre (1963 TV series)

Popularity and unique features

Chiller Theatre was so popular in Pittsburgh that it kept Saturday Night Live off its NBC affiliate WIIC for four years. Eventually, NBC pressure forced Chiller Theatre to air after SNL at 1:00 a.m., reduced to a single feature. The show's theme song was 'Experiment In Terror' performed by Al Caiola, written by Henry Mancini. The original laboratory set was later changed to a castle motif when supporting characters were added, including Terminal Stare (Donna Rae), Georgette the Fudgemaker (Bonnie Barney), Norman the Castle Keeper (Norman Elder), and Stefan the Castle Prankster (Steve Luncinski). During breaks, Cardille performed sketches such as reciting horoscopes, trivia, and telling corny jokes to a giggling skull. Guests over the years included George A. Romero, Rod McKuen, Phyllis Diller, Barbara Feldon, Lorne Greene, Vincent Price, Jerry Lewis, and Bruno Sammartino.

Cancellation and legacy

Chiller Theatre went off the air at the end of 1983. The show’s cancellation came after WPXI management moved the weekend edition of Entertainment Tonight to air right after Saturday Night Live, which pushed Chiller Theatre’s start time to 2:00 a.m. That was too late for even the most dedicated fans to stay awake. The final episode aired on January 1, 1984. It was replaced by The Saturday Late Show, which kept showing horror and sci-fi movies but lacked the local flavor that had made Chiller Theatre special.

That replacement was canceled in less than a year. Bill Cardille stayed on at WPXI-TV after the show ended. He continued as chief booth announcer and also handled weather reports during the noon newscasts for many years until he retired. After retirement, he went back to radio and worked there until his death in July 2016.

Cardille, along with Rae and Luncinski, kept making annual Halloween appearances through 2005, including a Chiller Cruise on the Gateway Clipper. Luncinski had been a regular on Cardille’s daily radio show on Pittsburgh’s WJAS and also appeared every year on the local portion of the Jerry Lewis Annual Telethon from Monroeville Mall. Rae still lives in the Pittsburgh area and does some acting. Barney married a golf pro and moved to Florida.

Elder, an independent filmmaker from Weirton, West Virginia, died in 2000. The show remains popular, partly because of Bill Cardille’s official website, Chiller Theater Memories. It also inspired SCTV’s Joe Flaherty, a Pittsburgh native, to create the “Monster Chiller Horror Theater” sketches. Flaherty played Count Floyd, a vampire-clad alter ego of his character Floyd Robertson.

Sometimes Floyd warned of fictional scary films that turned out to be Western Pennsylvania in-jokes, like Blood-Sucking Monkeys from West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Other times, the films were bland non-horror fare such as The Odd Couple or Georgy Girl.