The Twilight Zone Original 1950's Series
One of television's most rightly revered series, The Twilight Zone (CBS, 1959-64) stands as the role model for TV anthologies. Its trenchant sci-fi/fantasy parables explore humanity's hopes, despairs, prides and prejudices in metaphoric ways conventional drama cannot.
Creator Rod Serling wrote the majority of the scripts, and produced those of such now-legendary writers as Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. The series featured such soon-to-be-famous actors as Robert Redford, William Shatner, Burt Reynolds, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Carol Burnett, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Peter Falk and Bill Mumy, as well as such established stars as silent-film giant Buster Keaton, Art Carney, Mickey Rooney, Ida Lupino and John Carradine.
An often worthy revival series ran on CBS from 1985-87, and in first-run syndication in 1988. It guest starred the likes of Bruce Willis. Another recently ran on UPN, which reunited Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman in a sequel to the classic TZ chiller "It's a Good Life." But it's the daring original series that shows every sign of lasting the ages as the literature that it is.
1950s Series
FIRST SEASON 1959-1960
1- Where Is Everybody?
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Stevens
CAST: Earl Holliman, James Gregory, John Conwell, Paul Langton, James McCallion, Jay Overholts, Carter Mulavey, Jim Johnson, Gary Walberg.
Mike Ferris finds himself in a town strangely devoid of people. But despite the emptiness, he has the odd feeling that he's being watched...
Greeted by empty streets, a man searches a small town to find that he is completely and inexplicably alone. The series pilot.
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3. Denton on Doomsday
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Allen Reisner
A broken-down gunslinger finds a magic potion that restores his shooting skill, but brings an end to his fast-draw career. CAST: Dan Duryea, Malcolm Atterbury, Martin Landau, Ken Lynch, Doug McClure, Jeanne Cooper, Arthur Batanicles, Robert Burton.
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4- The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Mitch Leisen
A forgotten star of the thirties uses films of her old movies to re-create the spirit of her heyday.
CAST: Ida Lupino, Martin Balsam, Alice Frost, Ted de Corsia, John Clarke, Jerome Cowan.
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5- Walking Distance
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Stevens
A man's need to escape the pressure of his work is so great that he slips back 30 years into his own childhood.
CAST: Gig Young, Michael Montgomery, Byron Foulger, Joseph Corey, Frank Overton, Irene Tedrow, Buzz Martin.
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6- Escape Clause
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Mitch Leisen
A man makes a pact with the devil for immortality then finds he doesn't get a kick out of living anymore.
CAST: David Wayne, Wendell Holmes, Raymond Bailey, Dick Wilson, Paul E. Burns, Allan Lurie, Virginia Christine, Thomas Gomez, Nesdon Booth, Joe Flynn, George Baxter.
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7- The Lonely
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jack Smight
Convicted of murder and sent to a deserted asteroid for 40 years, a man is given a robot woman for company.
CAST: Jack Warden, John Dehner, Jim Turley, Jean Marsh, Ted Knight.
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8- Time Enough at Last
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Nearsighted, meek bank clerk Henry Bernis is the sole survivor of an H-bomb attack. At last he has the time to engulf himself in his passion for books. Or so he thinks.
CAST: Burgess Meredith, Vaughn Taylor, Jacqueline de Wit, Lela Bliss.
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9- Perchance to Dream
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Florey
A terrified man stumbles into a psychiatrist's office, afraid that if he falls asleep a woman in his dream will murder him.
CAST: Richard Conte, John Larch, Suzanne Lloyd, Eddie Marr, Ted Stanhope, Russell Trent.
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10- Judgment Night
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
A passenger on board a wartime freighter has a premonition that the ship will be sunk by a Nazi submarine at 1:15 a.m., but no one believes him.
CAST: Nehemiah Persoff, Patrick Macnee, Leslie Bradley, Kendrick Huxham, Ben Wright, Hugh Sanders, Deirdre Owen, James Franciscus.
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11- And When the Sky Was Opened
Writer: Rod Serling, short story by Richard Matheson
Director: Douglas Hayes
Three astronauts, returning from man's first space flight, cannot remember the events of their trip. Then they begin to disappear one by one.
CAST: Rod Taylor, James Hutton, Charles Aidman, Sue Randall, Gloria Pall, Maxine Cooper, Paul Bryar.
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12- What You Need
Writer: Rod Serling, story by Lewis Padgett (alias Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore)
Director: Alvin Ganzer
A down-and-out man tries to turn another man's ability to tell the future into a money-making scheme.
CAST: Steve Cochran, Read Morgan, Arline Sax, Frank Alloca, Ernest Truax, William Edmonson, Norman Sturgis, Mark Sunday.
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13- The Four of Us Are Dying
Writer: Rod Serling, story by George Clayton Johnson
Director: John Brehm
Arch Hammer can change his face to look exactly like someone else, a talent that he depends on for a living.
CAST: Harry Townes, Philip Pine, Don Gordon, Bernard Fein, Beverly Garland, Ross Martin, Peter Brocco, Milton Frome.
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14- Third from the Sun
Writer: Rod Serling, story by Richard Matheson
Director: Richard Bare
Two families steal a rocket ship and flee to another world before atomic war devastates their own.
CAST: Fritz Weaver, Edward Andrews, Lori March, Will J. White, Joe Maross, Denise Alexander, Jeanne Evans.
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1980s SERIES
FIRST SEASON- 1985
FIRST SEASON- 1985
1- Shatterday
Directed by : Wes Craven
Written by : Alan Brennert (story by Harlan Ellison)
Starring : Bruce Willis, Dan Gilvezan, John Carlyle
First aired : 27th of September, 1985.
Peter Jay Novins (Bruce Willis) is a new wave yuppie, dedicating most of his time to his business ventures, neglecting family and love interests. One evening, while waiting for his latest girlfriend at a bar, Peter accidentaly dials his home number...which is answered by himself.
2- A Little Peace and Quiet
Directed by : Wes Craven
Written by : James Crocker
Starring : Melinda Dillon, Greg Mullavey
First aired : 27th of September, 1985.
Penny (Melinda Dillon, Slap Shot, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A Christmas Story) is an overworked housewife, tending every day to four children and a husband (Greg Mullavey). The noise around her is too much, until she develops the power to freeze time...
3- Wordplay
Directed by : Wes Craven
Written by : Rockne S. O'Bannon
Starring : Robert Klein, Annie Potts
First aired : 4th of October, 1985.
Bill Lowery (Robert Klein, Two Weeks Notice, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), a veteran salesman of medical equipment, is thrown into a limbo of sorts when his company starts selling a new line of products with rather difficult names. After spending a night on the sofa after falling asleep while learning, Bill's day starts taking a weird turn, as he finds it increasingly hard to understand those around him. Is it them, or is he losing his mind?
4- Dreams For Sale
Directed by : Tommy Lee Wallace
Written by : Joe Gannon
Starring : Meg Foster, David Hayward
First aired : 4th of October, 1985.
A handsome woman (Meg Foster, The Osterman Weekend, They Live) is enjoying a picnic with her husband (David Hayward), twin daughters and a dog. Suddenly, things get wierd, and the woman screams, only to wake up in a futuristic-like hybernation chamber. We find out that she is a factory worker somewhere in the future, and that the only reprieve in this society is an occasional shot of "dreams" per your choice.
5- Chameleon
Directed by : Wes Craven
Written by : James Crocker
Starring : Terry O'Quinn, Ben Piazza, John Ashton, Steve Bassett
First aired : 4th of October, 1985.
During a Discovery space shuttle mission one of the crewmembers spots a strange blue light on the shuttle fuselage. It causes him to disintergrate, leading a skeptical scientist (Lost's Terry O'Quinn) to investigate.
9- Little Boy Lost
Directed by : Tommy Lee Wallace
Written by : Lynn Barker
Starring : Season Hubley, Nicolas Surovy, Scott Grimes
First aired : 18th of October, 1985.
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1985 Colour Episodes
SEASON 1
Episode 10 - Wish Bank
Runtime : 10mins
SUMMARY : Janice finds a magic lamp at a junk sale. Restrictions and lots of paperwork make the wishes more hassle than there worth.
Episode 11 - Nightcrawlers
Writer: Philip DeGuere
Director: William Friedkin
Story: Robert R. McCammon
Star: Charles Aidman (Narrator (1985-1987))
Runtime : 20mins
SUMMARY : A highway trooper stops by a diner during a rainstorm where a Vietnam veteran's nightmares come to life to terrorise everyone in the cafe.
