"I was driving down Wilshire Boulevard, and this guy in a black Cadillac kept honking at me like he wanted to pass. Finally he pulls up on my right, and I was just about to shake my fist at him when I realized it was a grinning Rod Serling waving at me!"
— Ivan Dixon
Really enjoying Scrubs! My wife and I are avid fans of the original, so it’s been nice to see the revival continue its tone and humor so effectively.
My opinion of this one has shifted pretty significantly. I used to consider it one of the worst TZs, mostly b/c it felt too ham-fisted — and I still think that’s true, but I see this now as a perfect portrayal of the way some people (no matter what their ideology) conduct themselves online.
Yes! And he starred in one of the best Columbo episodes as a high-IQ murderer — who is nonetheless found out by our indefatigable lieutenant. :)
"My portrayal of Oliver Crangle stayed in my memory much longer than the many parts I have played on Tv and elsewhere. It was a superbly written episode and a wonderful character to get my teeth into."
#S3E29
Theodore Bikel on Twilight Zone's "Four O'Clock"
How can one person have so many nicknames?! 😁
I can imagine! I was pretty freaked out myself when I first saw that. Even now it’s kind of a 😳 moment.
Yeah, most everyone has some kind of story …
Ha, true! Gotta wonder now if that soused Santa in Mo34S actually had a decent reason to be that way.
Oh, for sure. He spun gold out of the idea.
For sure! Five Characters will always be special for me because it was my first TZ.
Yes! Like in "The Grave" or "Night Call," to name just a couple.
Agreed! This is among my top favorites. It ticks all the boxes for a great TZ.
"I just can't take any more. The way you tell it, you'd have to be 100 different people living in 200 places during 12 periods of American history."
April 13, 1962: Twilight Zone's "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby." Stars Andy Devine and Milton Selzer (later Wilfred Sr. on "The Masks").
Yes, and one that was uniquely American. Plus the country was observing its centennial then, which almost made it “current.”
It does have an unsettling quality at times (particularly when the officer’s shotgun-wounded face is revealed), but overall I find it to be a sad yet strangely beautiful meditation on human conflict.
Agreed. Really puts human conflict in perspective.
Agreed. I really like it. I get that it moves slower than most TZs, and yes, the twist isn’t exactly hard to guess, but it has a quiet power all its own.
Yes — also very cool.
Yep, Spidey is the one. I picked up ASM 173 off the spinner rack when I was a kid (the final appearance of the Molten Man), and was completely hooked. I’ve been reading him ever since.
Yeah, H50 is a great one! As is The Rockford Files. But my all-time favorite (even more so than the iconic TZ credits) is Mission: Impossible. The theme music sets the tone so perfectly, and the clever use of quick-cut edits from each week’s episode is the icing on the cake.
Loved that intro when I was a kid! I wasn’t old enough to see it first run, but I sure got a kick out of the reruns.
"When I played Lavinia, I was thinking, 'This is what it was like to be an actress on the set of Gone with the Wind.' I was doing so much television at the time, but I usually stood about and helped someone break jail or played a patient in bed."
—Joanne Linville on Twilight Zone's "The Passersby"
"I showed [my agent] 'All of Us Are Dying." After reading it, he crossed out the title with a ballpoint pen and wrote 'Rubber Face'! Then he sent it to Rod Serling, who had a new series that season called The Twilight Zone."
— George Clayton Johnson on "The Four of Us are Dying"
"I watched my friend Edgar Bergen perform with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, so I could reproduce the mannerisms of a ventriloquist. I don't think I did justice for puppeteers. But I did all the voices of the dummies."
—Cliff Robertson, star of Twilight Zone's "The Dummy"
Awwww. That’s sweet. :)
Btw, $77 in 1956 is the equivalent of $925 today …
Yes indeed, and what makes this episode stand out even more is that it’s not a story ABOUT race. It could just have easily been a white cast — and that *itself* subtly undermines racism. A brave and clever move on Serling’s part.
I should check those out sometime. 😉
Seriously, though, what a talented man — on both sides of the camera. I often watch other vintage series, and I smile every time I see his director’s credit come up.
"I got the idea for this one watching a Santa Claus parade with my two kids and noticed that on the Santa Claus float the worthy gentleman chosen for the role must have been a last-minute and at least third-string replacement."
—Rod Serling on Twilight Zone's "Night of the Meek"