Fri Oct 2, 2009 8:02AM3 comments ›
Fri Oct 2, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Happy 50th Anniversary to 'The Twilight Zone'!
On this day in 1959, Rod Serling and CBS introduced us to a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a
dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the
middle ground between light and shadow, between science and
superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit
of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area
which we call... the Twilight Zone.
The Twilight Zone ran for five seasons on CBS, then entered the dimension of infinite reruns to this very day-- often with rerun marathons on July 4th and New Years Eve in local markets, a tradition that extends to its current home on the Syfy Channel. It won numerous Emmys and Writer's Guild awards and spawned two series revivals, a movie, a song by Golden Earring, and countless other homages, and may be one of the most influential shows to air on television.
If you're a fan, you can't do better than the DVD compilations
Jump to comments (3) 
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Comments (3)
Vinnie Bartilucci (10:01 AM on Fri Oct 2, 2009)
There will simply never be a better science-fiction anthology show. Partly because anthologies are passe, partly because we don't have anyone as blisteringly creative in so many varied ways as Serling.
At its core, Twilight Zone stories were about people; that they were in a science fiction motif was just window dressing. The Midnight Sun is a story about a very hot day in an uncaring city. If you came in late and didn't hear the part about the earth heading towards the sun, you'd have no problem understanding why people were acting so cruelly. It dealt in fear and paranoia, things the world of the fifties had in spades. It treid to teach us on occasion, and never failed to entertain.
With the sole exception of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, no other show came close to its regular quality. And Hitchcock had a couple of Sci-Fi episodes as well - Ray Bradbury did quite a few for him.
Outer Limits tried, two remakes tried...we will never see its equal.
Vinnie Bartilucci (1:54 PM on Fri Oct 2, 2009)
Forgive me for double-posting, but I've just learned of another testament to the power of TZ's stories.
Hugh Jackman will be in a remake of the episode "Steel", about an ex-boxer who now promotes a robot boxer. You can read about it here- http://www.cinematical.com/2009/10/01/hugh-jackman-has-re...
Matheson's gettng a lot of work lately - also another of his stories, "Button Button" that's been made into a film "The Box", by Richard Kelly.
Steve Chaput (8:38 PM on Mon Oct 5, 2009)
I remember watching the original broadcasts with my parents and later watching them in reruns (as I still do on occasion). I agree with Vinnie that no other show was so consistently entertaining as TZ. I enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock's program, but more so later, than when it originally ran, perhaps because of my age. Only Outer Limits (the original) even came close in my opinion to the quality that Serling and his crew put together week after week.