The last two seasons had better-known actors, including Eddie Albert, Billie Burke, Yvonne DeCarlo, Boris Karloff, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith, Leslie Nielsen, and Basil Rathbone.
"[4] Each episode began with "a close shot of a pair of eyes, then a bloody hand reaching to turn out the lights, followed by an eerie laugh and the words, 'Lights out, everybody ...'"[3] Another version had Gallop blow out a candle.
[5] Helen Wheatley wrote in the book Gothic Television that Lights Out "sought to terrify viewers through the deployment of low budget sound effects and minimal orchestration, which both betrayed a radiophonic background and would become specific to Gothic television (the sepulchral tonal quality of the narrator's voice, the combination of resonant musical instruments to create eerie sound effects, and so on).
Stories frequently included lonely country roads, people who returned from the dead, and spooky houses.
The New York Times reported, "The new development, it is said, makes it possible for the first time to maintain continuity of action, including scene change, on both sides of the screen ..."[23] Other effects used on the series included the first-person camera approach, an amorphous shadow, people walking through walls, and vanishing spirits.
[9] Authors whose works were adapted for the program included Edgar Allan Poe,[24] John J. MacDonald,[8]: 280 Gerald Kersch,[7] Dorothy L. Sayers,[9] and Harry Junkin.
Val Adams wrote that the broadcast had "memorable effect" and called Jan Miner's acting "a sterling performance".
[25] The review focused on the episode's use of a split-screen technique that enabled viewers to see and hear both ends of multiple telephone conversations as the wife of a condemned man tried to find a judge who would intervene to prevent her husband's execution.
Adams wrote that the technique "underscored anew video's possibilities when motivated by imagination tempered with common sense.
"[28] Bob Goddard wrote in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat that the TV version of Lights Out was "mild by comparison" to its radio counterpart.