Jerry Golod, ‘Tales From the Darkside’ Producer, Dies at 87

Jerry Golod, who helped bring George A. Romero’s Creepshow to television in the form of Tales From the Darkside and also produced Adderly, Return to Green Acres and a rebooted Land of the Lost, has died. He was 87. Golod died Wednesday at his home in Rancho Mirage after a brief battle with cancer, his daughter, Dori Golod Howell, told The Hollywood Reporter. In a career that spanned more than four decades, Golod served as an executive at CBS and NBC before launching JayGee Productions in the early 1980s. He had a knack for identifying an unconventional idea and finding a way to bring it to the small screen. After the Stephen King-scripted horror comedy anthology Creepshow (1982) became a hit at the box office, Golod approached director Romero and producer Richard P. Rubinstein with the idea of bringing the film’s sensibility to television. Rights issues prevented them from simply making a version of Creepshow, but their idea evolved into Tales From the Darkside. Romero co-wrote the pilot, “Trick or Treat,” directed by Bob Balaban, and the show played in first-run syndication for four seasons (1983-89), becoming a cult favorite and attracting stories and scripts associated with the likes of King, Harlan Ellison, Clive Barker, Robert Bloch and Michael McDowell. While reading Elliott Baker’s 1971 book, Pocock and Pitt, Golod became intrigued by a secondary character named Adderly, an intelligence operative whose injured hand had altered the course of his career. From that came the adventure series Adderly, starring Winston Rekert. Produced in Toronto in association with Orion Television, it was an early example of creating original dramatic programming in Canada at substantially lower costs when compared with Hollywood productions. It lasted two seasons (1986-88) and aired on CBS in late night and in a summer primetime run. Born in the Bronx on Dec. 26, 1938, Jerome Golod graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and City College of New York. He began his career at the advertising agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample and by the early 1970s was vice president and associate director of programming. He also spent three years heading a TV production company affiliated with the agency. Golod moved to CBS in 1975 as vice president of children’s programs, and he oversaw a slate that included Captain Kangaroo, CBS Children’s Film Festival, CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People, the news specials What’s It All About? and In the News broadcasts. Other programs introduced youngsters to the Alvin Ailey dance company and the New York Philharmonic, including programs conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. After being given oversight of primetime variety development, Golod moved to NBC Entertainment in 1979 as vice president and national program director, where his responsibilities included daytime and children’s programming, specials, variety and West Coast late-night programming. He remained at NBC through 1980. For CBS, Golod executive produced the 1985 telefilm Brass, starring Carroll O’Connor, Lois Nettleton and Vincent Gardenia, and the 1990 telefilm Return to Green Acres, reuniting Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor with other castmembers of the 1960s sitcom. Golod later was an executive producer on the 1991 revival of Sid and Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost. The reimagined children’s adventure series introduced a new family of characters to the dinosaur-filled universe of the original ’70s series and ran for two seasons. Also in the ’90s, Golod was involved with the proposed Pet Television Network as co-chairman and co-owner of a cable/satellite service devoted to animal enthusiasts. In 2013, CBS Television Studios and The CW began developing a new incarnation of Tales From the Darkside, with Golod, fellow producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and writer Joe Hill (son of King) among those involved. A pilot was produced in 2015, but the revival did not make it to series. Survivors include his wife of 59 years, Ruth; their children, Dori and Jason; son-in-law Doug; daughter-in-law Danielle; grandchildren Gavin, Ramey, Morgan and Madison; great-grandsons Everett and Winslow; and nieces and nephews Jill, David, Elise, Renee, Celia, Ari and Ava.