Twilight Zone Marathon!!!

FilmADay readers,

You are probably wondering where I have been for the past two days. It’s usual for me to hit a stride then stop all together from writing. Well, once a year an amazing thing happens on the Sci Fi network. They show a 48 Hour Twilight Zone Marathon (sadly it just concluded) of non stop twists that would drive Shyamalan to madness (I’ll bet he’s watching).

It’s kind of a ritual for me if I don’t have new years plans. This new years I was dogsitting so I spent it on the couch with the dog (Cheyanne) watching my favorite TV show ever. The plots of each Twilight Zone are extremely satisfying. It’s fun to guess the endings, or even if you know them, watch the famous cameos. One of the most famous episodes is “Time Enough At Last” with Burgess Meredith staring (YO! Mickey from Rocky).

Meredith plays Henry Bemis, an elderly bank clerk who loves to read. His wife and his boss won’t allow him to read on their time so he’s forced to cram his reading in on his lunch break. Well one day he decides to read in the vault, and a hydrogen bomb annihilates the world as he knew it. He stumbles out of the bank saddened at the destruction of man, and nearly kills himself before realizing he finally has time to read! He gets all the books together and sits at the steps of the library. He bends over, and bam! his glasses fall off and break. He’s blind as a bat, and as the camera zooms out, you can hear him saying, “It’s not fair…It’s not fair!”.

This is the genius of Rod Sterling. He makes you wonder about situations that can only exist in the mind. The ironic and mostly cruel twists are his trademark, and all too true to life. He must have been a very interesting man to know due to his understanding of the human condition. The best television writer to ever have his work put on the air is sadly missed, and consider this a tribute.

If the plots don’t win you over, there is plenty and I mean PLENTY of star power to attract. Imagine the nightly draw of a show like Letterman and then take out the interview and make it dramatic in nature. Timeless stars like Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Martin Landau graced the screen of course. But anyone who was anyone between 1959-1964 was on this show.

I’ll go back to reviewing movies of course, but I think this show is one of those that will be talked about in media texts. It has no equivalent today which is a shame. The ironic twists in each episode are about as pleasing as it gets in 25 minutes. If you haven’t seen the show, or if you are a really big fan, next New Years is when you can catch the marathon. Or, if you can’t wait, the Sci Fi channel just released the 5 season anthology and that makes a mighty good addition to any collection.