TVSquad

Here's a story that sounds like something out of The Twilight Zone. The episode could be titled "No Man Is an Island?" Or maybe "Perchance to Dream," although that title was already taken.

It's the story of Hedviga Golik, a woman who brewed herself a cup of tea, then settled down to watch some relaxing TV in her hometown of Zagreb, Croatia. Apparently, the show was either really boring or the tea was ultra-relaxing, because Golik died that same night.

Okay, all this sounds plausible, but not this next part: According to an Associated Press report, forensics experts believe Golik likely died in 1973. Her mummified body was just found, 35 years later.

Recently, TV Squad reported that NBC has added all kinds of classic TV shows to their online outlets. Now comes the announcement that CBS is also bringing a variety of well-loved TV dramas to the web. CBS Interactive is raiding the CBS Library, which is "one of the largest television programming libraries in the entertainment business," to present TV series online across the CBS Audience Network.

Like the NBC fodder, the CBS offering is gangbusters: full-length episodes of classic Star Trek, Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-O and Melrose Place. CBS plans to add more programs and clips in the coming months, including sports and other kinds of entertainment.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Lois Nettleton: She was a veteran TV, film, and stage actress who appeared in a number of TV shows, including The Twilight Zone, Seinfeld (she played the mother of the woman George was dating when he ate out of her garbage), Crossing Jordan, Babylon 5, Coach, Murder, She Wrote, The Flash, Full House, In The Heat of the Night, The Facts of Life, The Golden Girls, Love Boat, Medical Center, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and dozens of others. She was also in the films Come Fly with Me, A Face in the Crowd, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and The Bamboo Saucer, and the plays A Streetcar Named Desire and The Biggest Thief in Town. She died of lung cancer at age 80.

I got a great letter this week...

"I remember watching a documentary, I believe it was about Rod Serling, & on it was mentioned a Western series the producer had developed, starring Lloyd Bridges & Brock Peters. Any idea what this show was called? Or, was it maybe Gene Roddenberry's show? Thanks for the help! Steve Atwell"

Everyone's got their own idea of what's truly frightening. I'm not talking about people or things who just are scary because they're dangerous or despicable. I mean things that truly keep you awake at night, afraid to turn out the lights. Afraid to be home alone. Afraid to fly on a plane. There are a few characters on television over the years who've stuck out more than others as being truly frightening to a handful of us TV Squadders, and we've put together a list (surprise!) of characters who have haunted us for years. If we're digging up old unforgotten nightmares of your own, well, sorry about that.

The list is numbered, but it doesn't necessarily mean these are ordered. Like I said -- we all have a different definition of what truly frightens us. Make sure you list your own in the comments. Click on a number below to get started.

#10 #9 #8 #7 #6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Character: Widow Fortune
Show: The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
Episode: Mini-series

I recently watched R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About it with my children and I had an epiphany -- TV was a lot creepier when I was a kid. We didn't watch water-downed kiddie horror. We watched what the adults watched when they obviously didn't know we were watching.

My parents didn't allow me to see scary movies, such as The Amityville Horror or The Exorcist. Yet, somehow they didn't stop me from viewing all sorts of frightening TV, including the The Twilight Zone , Chiller Theater, Salem's Lot, Frankenstein: The True Story, The Dark Night of the Scarecrow, and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

However, it was The Dark Secret of Harvest Home that left the greatest impression on me -- thanks in a large part to Bette Davis in the role of the creepiest senior citizen ever. Davis played the sinister Widow Fortune so brilliantly that almost 30 years later, I still remember it vividly.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• James Callahan: He played the grandfather on Charles In Charge. He had appearances on several shows over the years, including Medium, ER, Promised Land, Cybill, Caroline in the City, Picket Fences, Golden Girls, M*A*S*H, Adam-12, The Invanders, Route 66, The Time Tunnel, My Favorite Martian, Dennis The Menace, and dozens of others. He died of cancer at age 76.

It looks like the Sci Fi Channel is actually going to run science fiction and fantasy shows in the near future. Shocking! Especially since it has recently dabbled in airing such shows as Law & Order:SVU and, deep breath, Extreme Championship Wrestling (no, I will never get over it!).

The network has recently picked up the rights to Star Trek:Enterprise, the prequel series that took place 150 years before the original. Enterprise aired on UPN from 2001-2005 to mixed reviews. The deal for Enterprise, which will premiere in the fall on the Sci Fi Channel, also included an extension of the network's contract for the original The Twilight Zone episodes.

The deal also includes rights to the Stephen King miniseries The Stand and The Langoliers, as well as a number of science fiction and supernatural shows that never completed their initial network runs. These include Threshold, Wolf Lake, Haunted, and Jake 2.0.

For just about every guy growing up in the late eighties and early nineties, Winnie Cooper was your dream girl. She was gorgeous, intelligent, funny and always kind of had that "damsel in distress" aura about her. She was one of the best parts about tuning into The Wonder Years, and so was the actress who portrayed her, Danica McKellar.

Danica started acting early, with a couple of guest appearences on The Twilight Zone, before landing the role of Winnie on The Wonder Years. The show had a great, award winning five year run, but once it ended, Danica did what many child stars fail to do: bow out gracefully. Besides doing a few voiceovers for cartoons, Ms. McKellar spent the next couple of years at UCLA. In 1998, she graduated from there Summa cum Laude, with a degree in Mathematics. Remember the next time you use the Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem, because she actually discovered that! Yea, I've never used it either and I have no idea what it means.

Every Tuesday morning here on TV Squad (Monday this week, since there are more releases today than there are tomorrow), we will highlight the week's TV-on-DVD releases. Some noteworthy releases today, December 26, 2005:

• Nowhere Man - The Complete Series
• SeaQuest DSV - Season 1
• The Shield - Season 4
• Tracey Takes On... - The Complete 1st Season
• The Twilight Zone - Season 5: Definitive Edition

Tomorrow:

• America's Funniest Home Videos - Best of Kids and Animals
• Criss Angel Mindfreak - The Complete Season 1
• Sunday Morning Shootout -  Executive Shuffle / And The Oscar Goes To...; The Best Of Season 1; The New Breed Of Leading Men / Women In Film; The Triple Threat - The Directors