THE ADDAMS FAMILY/ABC/1964-66  (The Thing) - Thing is an intelligent and very alive disembodied right hand who is the faithful servant of the eccentric millionaire Gomez Addams (John Astin) and his family on the bizarre sitcom THE ADDAMS FAMILY/ABC/1964-66. In a humorous take-off of the sci-fi movie The Crawling Hand (1963), the series scriptwriters introduced this one-handed creepy crawler whose household responsibilities included delivering the family mail, answering the telephone (from his gold, nail-studded box), lighting Gomez's cigars and sympathetically patting family members with his five fingers when they were depressed. Thing (Gomez's childhood companion) moved about the Addams' bizarre home via a labyrinth of tunnels which lead to the mail box, a hidden wall vault and to a myriad of small hinged-topped wooden boxes strategically placed about their bizarre gothic home. "Beware the Thing" was posted on the iron gate in front of the Addams house at 001 Cemetery Lane. Conversation with Thing was limited, to be sure, but when hand gestures were not enough, Thing tapped out his messages with Morse Code. When the Addams went for a drive in the car, Thing rode in the glove compartment. His sweetheart was Lady Finger, a female disembodied "handmaiden" who belonged to Princess Millicent (Elvia Allman) a distant cousin of the Addams who lived in England. Both Jack Vogelin and Ted Cassidy (who played Lurch, the Addams' towering, zombie butler) were given credit for playing the digital domestic pet. Assistant director Jack Vogelin was a "hand-in" when Ted Cassidy was to be in the same scene as Thing. According to an interview with Joel Eisner in Starlog magazine Ted Cassidy stated "I played the Thing. I always have. In fact, I did Thing in the reunion (HALLOWEEN WITH THE NEW ADDAMS FAMILY) but it was never publicized." Episode No. 23 "Thing is Missing" (3-5-65) found Gomez hiring a private investigator to search for Thing. In 1991, Thing reappeared in The Addams Family: The Movie starring Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston. In the motion picture version, Thing was free to roam around the house without the confinement of a box. Actor-magician Christopher Hart who played thing commented "I'm going to have the most famous hand in the business. Maybe it will lead to a watch or jewelry commercial or something." Speculating on Thing's marketability, he said "We'd only be able to sell it at the Pleasure Chest." (US Magazine 8/91 No. 160/161). The radio controlled robotic version of Thing used in the movie was designed by special effects man, Alan Munro. Thing has been merchandised in a number of ways including a model toy by Poynter Products; a commercial spokeshand in a series of 1970s commercials for Bell Telephone Yellow Pages advertising the slogan "Let your fingers do the walking," and playing a Sunsoft video game in a commercial for "Fester's Quest" during the Christmas of 1989. Thing first appeared in the 1954 book of cartoons by Charles Samuel Addams entitled "Homebodies," where Thing was seen changing records on a Victrola. In the fall of 1998 the revival series THE NEW ADDAMS FAMILY on the Fox Family channel continued the adventures of Thing and the Addams family. TRIVIA NOTE: In 1993, one of the original boxes used by Thing in the series was auctioned off at Sotherby's for $22,000. 

BATMAN/ABC/1966-68 (Batman Narrator) - Each episode of the fantasy adventure BATMAN was narrated by William Dozier, the program's executive producer. With a questioning and menacing tone, the narrator would follow the storyline and drop corny ad libs along the way. The show ended with the classic signature closing invoking the viewers to tune in "Same time...Same Bat Channel!"  

THE GHOST BUSTERS/CBS/1975-76 (Mr. Zero) - This supernatural comedy starred a trio of Ghost Busters who received their assignments via a tape recorded message featuring the voice of the never-seen superior, Mr. Zero. Agents Eddie Spencer, Kong and Tracy (a trained Gorilla) find their taped-messages hidden at LeChler's hardware store (inside a rubber fish or bouquet of flower's). At the end of each message Mr. Zero concludes "This tape will self destruct in five seconds." It always blew up in the face of Tracy who tempted fate by counting off the seconds.  

THE INNER SANCTUM/SYN/1954    (Mr. Raymond) - This TV spin-off of the spooky radio program "The Inner Sanctum" featured the unseen announcer Mr. Raymond (voice of Paul McGrath) who narrated mystery tales amidst the trademark sound of a creaky door.  

THE INVISIBLE MAN/CBS/1958-60 (Invisible spy) - Based on the novel The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, this sci-fi drama starred English scientist Doctor Peter Brady whose experiments with light refraction had rendered himself invisible. Putting his new found ability to good use he began working with British Intelligence as a highly effective espionage agent, thwarting the sinister organizations that threatened the European continent. The actor playing Doctor Brady was never seen on the series, always being concealed in bandages. Producer Ralph Smart never released the name of the actor who played the invisible man, probably in hopes of adding a little mystery/authenticity to the series. An updated version of THE INVISIBLE MAN/NBC/1975-76 starred David McCallum as Dr. Daniel Westin, a US Government research scientist who tried to keep his experiments of invisibility out of the hands of the US Military. While he attempted to find an antidote for his invisibility he worked for KLAE Corporation disguised in sophisticated rubber disguises (a la MISSION IMPOSSIBLE). When he wanted to disappear he just removed his synthetic rubber skin and Poof!, he was not to be seen. Another reincarnation appeared in the form of THE INVISIBLE MAN starring Vincent Ventresca as Darien Fawkes, a thief and con man sentenced to life in prison. Fortunately, his scientist brother Kevin is working on an invisibility project and gets his brother out of jail, if he volunteers as a guinea pig for an invisibility project. Darien agrees and consequently an artificial gland is inserted into his brain. The gland releases a quicksilver solution that causes light to pass through him. The experiment does have it problems, however. After Darien turns invisible his brain gets in touch with its primal nature and begins to turn Darien insane. Quickly, the scientist concoct an antidote to keep Darien in check and then use him for a variety of secret government assignments. Darien reports to Charles Borden a.k.a. The Official (played by Eddie Jones). TRIVIA NOTE: Jack Griffin was the name of the invisible man in the original Wells novel. Movie actors to portray this unseen hero/menace included Claude Rains, Vincent Price, Jon Hall, and Arthur Franz as well as Kevin Beacon as scientist Sebastian Crane in the motion picture Hollow Man (2000).      

KNIGHT RIDER/NBC/1982-86 (KITT the  computer) - In an updated version of MY MOTHER THE CAR the executives at NBC designed this adventure about a highly sophisticated onboard computer integrated into the chassis of a sleek black Pontiac Trans-Am with a personality all it own. Michael Knight  (David  Hasselhoff) was the car's primary driver who communicated with the car's computer via the audio input receivers mounted in the dash board and through a mobile wrist radio. William Daniels supplied the stuffy, erudite voice of the computer known as KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand).   

MORK & MINDY/ABC/1978-82 (Orson from Ork) - The sci-fi series MORK & MINDY starred Robin Williams as Mork, a zany alien from the planet Ork who while visiting Earth reported back to his home world via mental telepathy to a rotund space executive named Orson. During his reports Mork routinely insulted Orson with wisecracks like "Yes, Oh Laser Breath" or "Your Immenseness." Orson was never seen only heard on the series.  His voice was provided by Ralph James.  

MY MOTHER THE CAR/NBC/1965-66 (Talking Automobile) - Comedian Jerry Van Dyke starred in this occult comedy about a small town lawyer, Dave Crabtree who discovered that his mother had died and then returned as a 1928 Porter automobile. Veteran actress Ann Sothern supplied the voice of the reincarnated woman who spoke to her son via the car's radio speaker.    

OUT OF THIS WORLD/SYN/1987-91 - Once upon a time an Anterian named Troy Ethel Garlund (voice of Burt Reynolds) crash-landed on Earth after being shot down by a warlike alien called Krangle the Skull (Richard Moll). While stranded on Earth, he met and then fell in love with an ice cream parlor waitress named Donna Froelich (Donna Pescow) and soon fathered a baby girl called Evie Garlund (Maureen Flannigan). When Troy repaired his disabled spacecraft, he returned to his home planet, but not before giving his wife a crystal cube to be presented to his daughter on her 13th birthday. The cube which glowed pink and blue was an alien telephone genetically linked to Evie's voice which enabled her to communicate with her distant alien father. Evie (called "Earth Angel" by  her dad) soon discovered she had special powers that made her different from her earthly friends including the ability to stop time when she touched her finger tips together (to unfreeze time she placed her palms together); to teleport herself to other places by snapping her fingers; and to rearrange the molecules of an object at will (called "gleeping"). With the guidance of her mother and her plump Uncle Beano Froelich (Joe Alaskey), Evie adjusted to her new found powers. When Evie's mother first tried to tell her daughter about her father's alien background, Evie commented "Like Mr. Lopez from Guatemala?" Although Evie's father could not visit Earth, (he was still fighting a war with an alien race called the Frigians) she was visited by her alien grandfather Zelig (Tom Bosley) who traveled in a spaceship called the Anterias I. On the last episode of the series Troy transported himself to Earth (his wife Donna accidentally transported to Anterius) but he rematerialized in transparent form, so his identity was never revealed to the viewers.   

3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN/NBC/1996-2001  (Big Giant Head) - This sci-fi comedy told the tale of four aliens who posed incognito as humans to observe the people and customs of Earth. They reported back their findings to a never seen but often spoken about character known as "The Big Giant Head" who was first mentioned on episode #8 "Body & Soul Dick." This mysterious galactic overlord was both respected and feared by the visiting aliens, (a.k.a. "the Solomon Family") headed by Dick Solomon, (John Lithgow), a Physic Professor at a nearby college. Harry Solomon (French Stewart) is the groups conduit for communicating with the Big Giant Head. In later episodes, the Big Giant Head visited Earth and took the form of William Shatner (of Star Trek fame).

TIME EXPRESS - An eerie, supernatural train designed to carry its passengers back in time to important moments in their past on the occult drama TIME EXPRESS/CBS/1979. Based at the Los Angeles Union Station, the Time Express departed from gate "Y," Track 13. On board host/hostess Jason and Margaret (Vincent Price and his wife, Coral Browne) supervised each passenger's trip as they moved through the misty corridors of time. Passage aboard the Time Express was controlled by an unknown mysterious man who was never seen. Similar to eccentric millionaire John Beresford Tipton on THE MILLIONAIRE/CBS/1955-60 who chose people at random to receive a million tax-free dollars, this mysterious benefactor chose people whose past needed second chances. Those selected were given a ticket and told to report to the Time Express for their excursion into the past. Train crew members included James Reynold as Conductor, Robert Jefferson "R.J." Walker; William Edward Phipps as E. Patrick Callahan, the engineer and Woodrow Parfey as the Ticket Agent. 

THE WHISTLER/SYN/1954-55 (The Whistler) - This suspense anthology about people in crisis was hosted by an unseen narrator known only as "The Whistler," whose signature was a distinctive musical whistle (whistled by Dorothy Roberts). Bill Forman provided the voice of this mysterious faceless stranger who began each program with the following introduction "I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terror of which they dare not speak" The series was based on the 1942 radio program of the same name. The WHISTLER theme was composed by Wilbur Hatch.