Frequent television guest star Patrick O'Neal and Broadway veteran Kim Stanley are the central characters in a tale of unrequited love that has that typical "Night Gallery" stamp of macabre humor. O'Neal plays a self-centered critic that shares an apartment complex and Stanley is one of his neighbors. Try as she might to win his affections, Stanley is repeatedly spurned by the sardonic O'Neal. Even when she feigns a fall on the staircase, all she can get from O'Neal is a sarcastic comment.<br /><br />The tide is turned when O'Neal discovers a spider in his kitchen sink. Fearing the little buggers, he washes it down the drain but later it appears but at a slightly larger size. Little by little the spider is growing and O'Neal is forced to go to Stanley for comfort and, in the long run, rescue.<br /><br />Now, she has the upper hand for HE is dependent upon her and she gets to use his words against him, repeating some of the same lines that he gave her, only now there is an ironic twist in them.<br /><br />The finale is appropriately fitting and both actors pull out all the stops of their profession.<br /><br />Brilliantly acted, "A Fear of Spiders" is a classic in a series that didn't have that many.