Is 'Tales From The Crypt' On Its Way Back To TV?

Looks like all that’s old is new again. Take a break from sitting on your hands, awaiting Beavis & Butt-head’s heralded return and one more visit to "Dallas," and give an excited round of applause for the comeback of the Cryptkeeper.

Deadline reports today that Andrew Cosby, co-creator of SyFy’s cult phenomenon series “Eureka,” is in talks to resurrect a bygone cult smash, HBO’s 1989 horror and suspense anthology “Tales from the Crypt,” right alongside original TFTC creator Gil Adler.

Once upon a time a half-lifetime ago, “Tales From The Crypt” was but a controversial 1950s EC Comics series. It became a memorable part of TV history as an HBO anthology series that enjoyed a seven-season 1989-1996 run bringing the comics’ tales and original stories to real flesh-and-blood (and more flesh…and more blood…) life hosted by the now-iconic, shrieking, animatronic Cryptkeeper – a rotting, punny skeleton who also showed up in two awesomely awful “Tales From The Crypt”-branded feature films, “Demon Night” and “Bordello of Blood.”

"It will be an ongoing series that uses characters from the comic books in a more modern context," Cosby said. "It's all about continually elevating the genre, for both existing fans of the sourcematerial and mainstream audiences."

Along the way, the “Tales” set was graced by more than a few Hollywoodheavies – one of whom was an eventual Oscar-winner who made TV history. Director of the Best Picture-winning “Forrest Gump” Robert Zemeckis – who was also a series producer – had just finished using then-revolutionary technology to insert Tom Hanks as Gump into existing footage with the likes of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon when he directed the episode “You, Murderer” and plugged late-great actors and directors Alfred Hitchcock and Humphrey Bogart into scenes with living flesh-and-blood performers. Also, Isabella Rossellini portrayed her late, legendary, look-alike mother Ingrid Bergman.

Other episodes featured appearances by, to name just a few of the dozens of legends and stars, Kirk Douglas, Eddie Izzard, John Lithgow, Brad Pitt, Brooke Shields, Tim Roth and Teri Hatcher. Along the way, Michael J. Fox, Tom Hanks, Kyle MacLachlan and Arnold Schwarzenegger also popped up as big-name guest directors.

Deadline reports that the new pitch for the show has been fully written, and producers want the project to begin shooting soon.