Armand Mastroianni directed The Clairvoyant, The Supernaturals and He Knows You’re Alone, so he has to have some understanding of horror. Sadly, this is another funny — so they say — episode. David Gerrold wrote plenty of TV — maybe we can’t blame Louis Haber, one of the credited writers, who didn’t — so one wonders why an episode where the entire plot is summed up as politicians are clowns ever made it to air.

Dick Shawn is Bo Gumbs, a politician drinks whiskey, dancing with a maid and talks about politics with the bellboy. Then, as he sends his clothes to the laundry, surprise, he ends up having clown shoes.

Remember when George Romero was once the guy who had nuanced commentary in his films and then suddenly his later movies felt like the most obvious messages ever? I worry that he was compromised by this show, which often takes the easiest way to 22 minutes of syndicated storytelling.