June 14, 2024: The classic Twilight Zone rewatch has begun! Episodes 1 – 4!

Episode 1: “Where is Everybody?”

 

This episode first aired on October 2, 1959. While generally well reviewed, it was the least-watched show on the night. Thankfully, things picked up for the series, and for Rod Serling who was not the first choice for the voice of the narrator…

 

Announcer Westbrook Van Voorhis recorded the narration for the pilot but wound up backing out of a series commitment. As a result, the production reached out to Orson Welles – who proved too expensive. And so, the honor went to show creator Rod Serling, despite the misgivings of certain executives.

Speaking of too expensive, the role of Mike Ferris, this episode’s frustrated protagonist, was originally offered to Tony Curtis – who also priced himself out of contention.

Actor Earl Hollman, who eventually landed the role, delivers a terrific performance, all the more impressive given reports that had a fever of over 100°F during filming. Compounding the misery was a little “hiccup” on their first day of filming. According to Hollman: “The first day was long, and at the end of it, I heard the camera guy say, ‘Uh, oh,’ which is not what you want to hear. Well, they checked the camera and there was some small problem and we didn’t get a single shot. So we all went home with our heads between our legs.”

“Where is Everybody?” was actually not the pilot Serling had originally planned for The Twilight Zone. He had written a different script titled “The Happy Place” about a community where people were executed when they turned 60, but the network thought it too depressing. So they went with this far more upbeat story about loneliness and isolation.

According to Serling, the idea for the episode came to him while he was walking through an empty studio lot and noted how eerily quit and empty it felt. He was also inspired by a Time magazine article on the training experiments astronauts underwent as preparation for long, lonely space missions.

Life also imitated art in the sequence where Mike is momentarily trapped in a phone booth. The exact same thing happened to Serling at an airport when, in a panicked instant, he forgot the door pulled inwards rather than pushed outwards. The sequence reminded me of an equally great 1972 Spanish horror-comedy short titled La Cabina. Track it down if you get the chance. In the drugstore scene, one of the books featured in a magazine rack is “The Last Man on Earth” (aka “I Am Legend”), a book that shares similar themes. Its author, Richard Matheson, ended up writing 16 episodes of The Twilight Zone. Serling was, ultimately, unsatisfied with “Where is Everybody?” because he felt it missed the trademark Twilight Zone final twist that would typify later episodes. When it came time to put together a prose anthology based on the episodes, “Stories from the Twilight Zone”, he added a twist to “Where is Everybody” that had Ferris discover a movie ticket after leaving the isolation room, thus casting doubt on whether what he experienced was, in fact, “All in his head”.

Although certain elements of the production do feel like a product of its time (the dialogue feels a little stagey at times while the pacing is significantly more measured than what modern audiences have come to expect), it’s still a very compelling, occasionally creepy, half hour of television that sets the table for a truly unique and groundbreaking television series.

Episode 2: “One for the Angels”

This episode first aired on October 9, 1959 and outperformed the pilot by winning its time slot, beating out the likes of ABC’s The Detectives and NBC Fights.

It’s actually a reworking of a similarly named script Serling had written for the mystery series Danger in which a pitchman tries to protect his brother from mobsters by delivering a pitch so engaging that a crowd formed to watch never leaves, thereby never allowing the mobsters the opportunity to strike. But, in the end, past mistakes do have a way of catching up with people… In television anyway.

“One for the Angels” is reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, a film about a knight returning from the crusades who must beat Death in a game of chess in order to live long enough to be reunited with his wife. There are several parallels to this movie, like Bookman’s wish to deliver that one final pitch for the ages echoing Block, the knight, and his desire to perform one meaningful deed.

Ed Wynn, who plays the part of the seemingly doomed Lou Bookman, is reunited here with Rod Serling after they worked together on Serling’s 1956 “Requiem for a Heavyweight”. Serling reportedly requested Wynn for the role. For his appearance, Wynn was paid the grand sum of $5000 which, at the time, was a nearly unheard of amount.

According to child actress Dana Dillaway who played the young Maggie Polanski, Wynn was a sweetheart. “He gave me a box of European chocolates after the filming was finished. I remember saying his character’s name, ‘Lou’, about a million times during rehearsals.” Due to his advanced age (Wynn was pushing 75 at the time), he was unable to work long hours so the night scenes were actually shot during the day under tarps on MGM’s Lot 2.

Overall, little things kept taking me out of the story, like the fact that Lou immediately assumes a stranger who has mysteriously found his way into his apartment has let himself in to buy something. The moment Lou lifts the injured child’s head in order to tuck his jacket beneath it as an impromptu pillow, I was thinking: “I don’t know if you should be moving that kid’s neck after the car accident!”. Then later, instead of being at the hospital, the kid is seen recovering at home in bed (!). It’s apparently touch and go but eventually the visiting doc gives the okay and advises her mother to give the kid a sedative every three hours. Quite the turnaround. I also bumped on Lou’s decision to wait outside on the front steps to confront Death when the Grim Reaper had already displayed an ability to magically appear wherever he wanted.

Ultimately, these were all tiny quibbles though. My biggest issue with the episode was that it all came down to Lou delivering this pitch of a lifetime, a pitch so engaging, so convincing, that Death itself is unable to resist. And yet, when it came right down to it, the pitch was a letdown. We conveniently cut out and back so we’re not privy to the whole thing but we do hear falls short.

Still, there is a lot to like about the episode as well. I already mentioned Wynn’s performance. I also enjoyed Murray Hamilton’s performance as the somewhat glib and annoying officious Mr. Death. And I thought the final scene of Lou accepting his fate and walking off with Death surprisingly effective. Touching yet hopeful.

Episode 3: “Mr. Denton on Doomsday”

This episode first aired October 16, 1959.

The original version of this episode was titled “Death, Destry, and Mr. Dingle” and was much more comedic in nature, the story of a meek schoolteacher who gains fame as a skilled gunslinger – only to have his reputation invite some unwelcome attention.

According to Rod Serling, the idea for this episode came to him after he watched a collection of westerns over the course of a couple of weeks. He described it as “almost a spoof of the classic high-noon, walk-down-the-middle-of-the-street gun battle.”

When pitching the show to CBS executives, he omitted any reference to the character of Henry J. Fate as the execs had an aversion to fantasy elements which, they feared, would be met with viewer disapproval. Instead, Serling pitched the episode as a straight western.

Dan Duryea, who was accustomed to playing onscreen villains, here delivers a touching portrayal of a man losing a long hard-fought battle with his demons while a young Doug McLure, who would later gain fame in The Virginian, plays an upstart gunslinger. And, of course, there’s also a youthful Martin Landau guesting as the handsome bully Dan Hotaling who clearly relishes his bad guy role.

Landau, commenting on the table read: “We read and we stopped and we discussed, and [Rod Serling would] rewrite and we’d reread and refine it.  Of course, for Rod to sit down for any length of time was hard – he was so wired.  For a writer to be present on the set of a television show, and the cast to all be there, reading their roles in sequence, was so unusual.  It gave us a feeling that he cared.  It gave us a sense of camaraderie.  And it made for a show of real quality.”

A pretty solid episode all around with some really top-notch performances and great atmosphere (a Twilight Zone trademark). I found the ending a little to convenient, a little too pat, but it didn’t really color my overall enjoyment of the episode. Having given the first three episodes further consideration, I find myself admiring “One for the Angels” more and more and would slide it into the top spot so far, followed closely by “Where is Everybody?” and “Mr. Denton on Doomsday”. I have yet to be disappointed with this show.

Episode 4: “The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine”  This episode first aired October 23, 1959. The episode shares some obvious similarities with Billy Wilder’s 1950 film Sunset Boulevard about an aging former starlet who refuses to accept that fact her best days are behind her. The film’s composer, Franz Waxman, also composed the score for this episode. Ida Lupino, who plays the role of Barbara Jean Trenton, was an accomplished actor and one of the most prominent female directors of the 50’s. The first woman to direct a film noir (The Hitch-Hiker), she produced her own independent features and directed over 100 hours of television including an episode of The Twilight Zone (season 5’s “The Masks”), making her the first and only woman to do so. She was successful in her field and purportedly a class act on set – prompt, professional, and pleasant to work with.  For his part, Rod Serling was unhappy with the “The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine’s” rough cut and never warmed to the finished episode. Years later, when an interviewer asked him what inspired the story, Serling replied: “I don’t know where the hell I got this idea, but I wish I’d never gotten it.” Though, arguably, less successful than its predecessors, this episode has a lot to recommend it: standout performances by Ida Lupino and Martin Balsam, and a pretty solid, ultimately touching story by Serling. And yet, it is considered one of the lesser episodes by Twilight Zone fans, and I think the reason for this (and one of my sore points with the episode) is that Barbara is so damn unlikable. She is presented as someone you really should sympathize with – and do to a certain degree – but her haughty, offhand dismissal of the studio executive after he offers her a comeback role makes her seem arrogant and incredibly petulant. Later, when meeting her former leading man, she is a downright bitch to him for the simple reason that he got old (!). Still, as unlikable as she is, I did feel sorry for her and did enjoy the happy ending that sees her wish fulfilled as she rejoins her onscreen friends for that final fade out. Also, one minor element I found kind of funny was the set design for the studio executive’s office that made it look like he was working out of his apartment. Finally, I love Serling’s spellbinding intros and outros, but part of his introduction to his episode made me chuckle: “Barbara Jean Trenton, struck down by hit-and-run years and lying on the unhappy pavement, trying desperately to get the license number of fleeting fame.” So, if you’re rewatching, what did you all think?  What is your ranking of the first our episodes?

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