The Twilight Zone

October 30, 1959: Twilight Zone's "Walking Distance," airs. A harried executive visits his hometown years later and finds it unchanged — and ends up meeting himself as a boy, along with his late parents.

Stars Gig Young and Frank Overton, with a lovely score by Bernard Herrmann.

October 29, 1972: Night Gallery's "Spectre in Tap-Shoes" airs. A woman's twin sister is dead and buried ... so why does she keep popping up? Stars Sandra Dee.

"This one I got trying to shave with a razor when three appliances in my house gave out. It occurred to me how how absolutely vulnerable we are to gadgets and electronic jim-crackery."

— Serling on what led him to write Twilight Zone's "A Thing About Machines" (October 28, 1960)

The October 27, 1971 episode of Night Gallery features:
— "A Question of Fear" (a man accepts a $15,000 bet that he won't spend a night in a haunted house)
— "The Devil is Not Mocked" (a short "vampires vs. Nazis" story)

On disc: amzn.to/3pNaHtg

October 27, 1961: Twilight Zone's "The Grave" airs. A gunslinger is challenged to plant a knife in the grave of a dead rival to prove he's not scared. Easy, right? 😵💫😱

What a cast! Lee Marvin, James Best, Lee Van Cleef, Strother Martin, Stafford Repp, and Elen Willard.

You’re thinking of “Elegy,” which was a first-season episode written by Charles Beaumont. Good one! I’m a big fan of Beaumont’s work.

"Why are you scared? You've got to wake up sometime, even if you're electrocuted. So why don't you just sit back and enjoy it?"

#S2E26

Twilight Zone's "Shadow Play" by Charles Beaumont stars Dennis Weaver and Harry Townes.

Serling wrote his first draft of the story that would become Twilight Zone's pilot episode, "Where is Everybody?", in 1952, seven years before the series began.

#S1E1

Ida Lupino was only 41 when she starred in Twilight Zone's "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine."

I think Rod Serling, in this homage to "Sunset Boulevard," was (again) ahead of his time in showing how Hollywood has long marginalized and discarded many "old" female stars.

#S1E4

Glad you enjoyed it, Steve! First time?

Yes, it was very convincingly done!

October 25, 1963: Twilight Zone's "The Last Night of a Jockey" airs. Mickey Rooney plays a crooked horse jockey desperate to clear his name -- and in true Zone fashion, winds up getting exactly what he wished for.

Do I dare? 🫢 And thanks! ☺️

Oh, no — I got Samara! 😳 My birthday is Monday.

And no joke, I rewatched “The Ring” just last night with two of my horror-loving daughters! 😮

October 20, 1971: Night Gallery includes "The Phantom Farmhouse," a tale of werewolves with David McCallum and David Carradine, and "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," a story about an autistic boy (narrated by Orson Welles).

October 20, 1961: Twilight Zone's "The Mirror" airs. Peter Falk plays a Castro-like leader who believes a unique mirror is exposing his assassins.

Some critics dismiss it—and sure, it's not top-tier TZ—but I think it teaches a valuable lesson about the seductive nature of power.

"Up there in the vastness of space, in the void that is sky, is an enemy known as isolation. It sits there in the stars waiting — waiting with the patience of eons. Forever waiting ... in the Twilight Zone."

#S1E1

"Where is Everybody?" by Rod Serling

"I think I'll go in and get a shave. I wanna look proper on the day I die."

#S1E3

Twilight Zone’s "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" by Rod Serling stars Dan Duryea, Jeanne Cooper and Martin Landau.

"Next week, we take you into this 8x8 hotel room and watch a penny-ante crook make a decision." — Serling's promo for Twilight Zone's "Nervous Man in a Four-Dollar Room"

So true. A treasure trove of good dialogue!

October 13, 1961: Twilight Zone's "A Game of Pool" airs. An obsessive pool player gets his wish: to play the long-dead legend Fats Brown. The stakes? Life or death.

Written by George Clayton Johnson. Stars Jack Klugman (in the second of four TZs) and Jonathan Winters.

In 1962, the movie version came out, with Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, and Julie Harris. It's very good, but for my money, the live version is best: thenightgallery.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/s...

October 11, 1956: Serling's Emmy-winning live teleplay "Requiem for a Heavyweight," about a washed-up boxer's quest for a future outside the ring, airs on Playhouse 90.

Stars Jack Palance, Ed Wynn, and Keenan Wynn. Father and son would later have starring roles on The Twilight Zone.

"There's a man out there!"

First heard on October 11, 1963.

Celebrating 62 years of one of the most iconic Twilight Zone episodes ever aired: "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet."

A toast to Richard Matheson and William Shatner for this piece of TV history!

Hi, Colin! Good to see you over here. Been too long.

October 9, 1959: Twilight Zone's "One for the Angels" airs. A kind-hearted sidewalk pitchman (Ed Wynn) battles Mr. Death (Murray Hamilton, 16 years before he was Amity's mayor in "Jaws") to save a little girl's life.

A sweet tale with a nice touch of humor. 🥲

😅

In her non-witch form, yes. 😁

Yes, the whole series. Good buy, obviously. :)

October 7, 1960: Twilight Zone's "The Man in the Bottle" airs. A pawnshop owner and his wife release a genie who grants them four wishes — and discover the downsides of getting what you really want.

Joseph Ruskin, the genie, later did the voice of the Kanamit in "To Serve Man"!