TV-Flashback

The year is winding to a close, which means it’s also time for the Sci-Fi annual marathon of the original Twilight Zone.  According to their trusty site, the marathon is starting at 8am tomorrow, New Year’s Eve, and running thru 5am on January 1.    The Twilight Zone is certainly television’s most enduring anthology series, and the only one to be resurrected not just once, but twice.

I am a huge fan of the series.  It would have been fairly easy to come up with a list of my favorite episodes, and possibly even easier to come up with a list of episodes I cannot stand.  However, I opted to take the list a different direction.  Many of the episodes within the series were morality plays or social commentaries.  Sci-Fi even airs episodes as part of “Cable In The Classroom”.  There’s no better time than the end of the year to reflect on life, so here’s my reflection on things I’ve learned from The Twilight Zone over the years.  I’ve added airdates during the marathon as applicable; check your local listings to confirm:

• You can’t go back:

In “Walking Distance” (Jan 1, 1pm), a man inadvertently returns to his youth while waiting for his car to be repaired.  A movie star is determined to relive her career’s heyday in “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine”.  “A Stop at Willoughby” (Jan 1, 11pm) sounded like a nice idea to an executive that he went to great lengths to return there.

• It’s easy to make a deal with the devil:

Just as “Nothing in the Dark” (Dec 31, 10am) taught us Death really can’t be that bad if it’s in the form of young Robert Redford, “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville” demonstrated that dealings with the devil can’t be that bad if she’s looking like Julie Newmar.  Plus, how can you distrust the devil if he shows up as “The Printer’s Devil” looking like the lovable Burgess Meredith?

• People suck:

“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” (Jan 1, 9pm) was actually remade during the last TZ revival into an even better demonstration of this, retitled as “The Monsters Are On Maple Street”.  Look what else happens in hysteria around “The Shelter” (Dec 31, 12:30pm) in the neighborhood.  In “The Eye of the Beholder” (Dec 31, 8pm) people just get rid of everyone that’s different.

• Aliens suck:

Roddy McDowell’s character learned the hard way that “People Are Alike All Over” (Jan 1, 2pm).  The Kanamits came to Earth “To Serve Man” (Dec 31, 10pm) and solve the planet’s problems.  I can’t imagine taking this medication because it sounds like the name of those aliens.

• Nothing lasts forever:

Dick York’s bank clerk suddenly gained the ability to read minds in “A Penny for Your Thoughts” (Jan 2, 12am).  “Mr. Dingle, the Strong” (Dec 31, 3pm) gave Burgess Meredith’s Mr. Dingle a chance to beat up Don Rickles.

• Greed is bad:

The obvious example of this is everyone’s favorite episode, “The Masks” (Dec 31, 10:30pm), where the family just shows up to collect the money from the dying patriarch.  Bets in the Twilight Zone are just as unfortunate, as demonstrated in the episode “The Silence” (Jan 1, 10am) when a talkative man accepts a bet of a million dollars that he can’t shut up for a year.

• Karma’s a bitch:

Earl Hickey had to learn this from Carson Daly.  “The Obsolete Man” (Dec 31, 9:30pm) taught this to the military leader who condemned him.  Martin Landau’s spy was supposed to be no match for “The Jeopardy Room” (Jan 2, 3am), too.  It took a “Living Doll” (Jan 1, 8:30pm) to teach Telly Savalas as a mean stepfather what it’s like to be tormented.

• Be careful what you wish for:

Jack Klugman’s pool hustler wanted to be the best pool player ever, so a dead legend of the game returned to give him “A Game of Pool” (Jan 1, 3:30pm) with his life as the stakes.  Don’t limit it to wishes either; just thinking can get you in trouble as we learned in “It’s a Good Life” (Jan 1, 11:30pm).  That being said, Anthony did regret some of his wishes in that episode, too.

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This is just a spattering of the episodes and corresponding lessons provided by The Twilight Zone.  If, like me, you’d like to see this series uncut and in all its glory, check out the available DVD sets.