Retro : ‘Outer Limits’ Keeps a Horizontal Hold on Fans

“There is nothing wrong with your TV set. We are controlling the transmission. We can control the vertical. We can control the hori zontal. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear and think. You are watching a drama that reaches from the inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits.”

Those ominous words began the science-fiction anthology series “The Outer Limits.” When it originally aired on ABC (September, 1963 through January, 1965), the series was overshadowed by Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” on CBS. But “The Outer Limits” has developed a strong cult following. MGM/UA Home Video has released more than 30 episodes on videocassette and fans can see it on Channel 7 Sundays at 1 a.m.

Created and produced by Leslie Stevens, “The Outer Limits” boasted scary, gruesome alien creatures, innovative scripts by such noted sci-fi writers as Harlan Ellison, and such guest stars as Gloria Grahame, Miriam Hopkins, Martin Landau, Sally Kellerman, David McCallum and Lloyd Nolan.

Also Worth Watching:

Steve McQueen, his then-wife Neile Adams and Peter Lorre star in the acclaimed “Man From the South” entry of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Sunday at 11:30 p.m. on Nickelodeon). McQueen plays a gambler in Las Vegas who meets a man who offers McQueen a proposition: He’s willing to bet his luxury convertible that McQueen’s lighter won’t work 10 times without missing. If McQueen loses he must forfeit the little finger on his left hand.

Noted actress Ruby Dee (“Do the Right Thing”) guests on The Fugitive (Tuesday at 7 a.m. on A&E;) in an episode in which Richard Kimble (David Janssen) becomes involved with an ailing boxer.

Frank Sinatra Jr. guests on The Patty Duke Show (Tuesday at 11:30 p.m. on Nickelodeon) as a young professor Patty believes her parents want her to marry. On the same show later in the week Sal Mineo visits his alma mater (Thursday at 11:30 p.m. on Nickelodeon) and joins Patty in performing in a school revue.

Steve Allen, Milton Berle, Melissa Manchester, Peter Frampton, Harvey Korman, Paul Lynde and Burt Lancaster welcome Barth Gimble, Jerry Hubbard and Happy Kyne into the “charmed circle of life’s winners” on America 2-Night (Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. on Nickelodeon).