# LEAST favorite Twilight Zone episode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811 "2011-07-04T14:41:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/101 "2014-07-02T15:27:43Z")
Ouch! Was there uncle homicide?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/102 "2014-07-02T15:31:00Z")
July 4th means SYFY will have their usual Zone marathon. With regard to the marathons, it took me an embarrassingly long time to notice they always air Midnight Sun (one of my favorites) at midnight. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/103 "2014-09-13T20:30:55Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > I do admire Serling for having the one all-black cast, but was there a single black actor in any other episode? I think maybe the butler in “the Masks”. Ivan Dixon, besides being in “The Big, Tall Wish,” had a major part as the preacher in “I Am the Night, Color Me Black,” the one where the sun wouldn’t come up on a convict’s execution day. There are some black extras here and there, as well, for example in the department store crowd in the Art Carney as Santa episode, and among the kids playing street football in “Mr. Bevis.” Those may not have been real parts, but it’s more black faces than you saw in most shows of the day. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/104 "2014-09-14T01:03:25Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Ivan Dixon, besides being in “The Big, Tall Wish,” had a major part as the preacher in “I Am the Night, Color Me Black,” the one where the sun wouldn’t come up on a convict’s execution day. There are some black extras here and there, as well, for example in the department store crowd in the Art Carney as Santa episode, and among the kids playing street football in “Mr. Bevis.” Those may not have been real parts, but it’s more black faces than you saw in most shows of the day. Plus the _businessman-who-got-cursed-or-maybe-he’s-just-superstitious_ episode: sure, “apologetic black panhandler” isn’t much of a role, but he gets a healthy number of regular-guy lines while the scared white protagonist tries to rope him into an escort mission. Why, I’ll give you ten dollars! I’ll give you TWENTY whole dollars! ---
**Author:** ![DonRocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonRocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonRocks)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/105 "2014-11-24T21:53:51Z")
I just read through this thread and enjoyed it - my takeaway is that one person’s favorite is another person’s clunker. Recently, I did my own Twilight Zone retrospective, and you can find my comments [here](http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?/topic/28659-the-twilight-zone-1959-1964-original-science-fiction-television-created-by-rod-serling/) (they’re nothing of any great merit, but the pictures may bring back some memories). To address the OP, my vote goes to “Cavender Is Coming” which is off-the-charts bad. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/106 "2014-11-25T00:38:20Z")
Titles would take some time but some of the more “live” ones struck me as weak for one reason or other. On the other hand, both pointed out in the OP I think are pretty good; especially Dingle. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/107 "2014-11-25T01:48:35Z")
A guy ran around an empty city at night hearing wild animal noises…that’s it. That one sucked. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/108 "2014-11-25T02:11:09Z")
Which is the one where the guy is the last guy in the world and he likes reading? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/109 "2014-11-25T03:14:09Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > A few months ago I watched [The Obsolete Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obsolete_Man). Although I think some of it was intentional, there was way too much overacting. I couldn’t really enjoy it at all. It was just too silly and ridiculous. I’m sure in 1961 saying there was no God would have seemed something only that might happen in a totalitarian dictatorship. It seems pretty casual and harmless nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/110 "2014-11-25T03:59:01Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Which is the one where the guy is the last guy in the world and he likes reading? Should I be troubled that I honest to gosh know it’s “Time Enough at Last” with Burgess Meredith, without having to give it a moments thought? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/111 "2014-11-25T04:06:14Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > I have to admit the one with the Talking Tina doll never scared me. In fact, Telly Savalas’s ugly mug was a lot scarier than that doll. Maybe you actually have to have seen a Chatty Cathy doll IRL to understand how creepy they were. I was too young to have one new, but a friend of mine had a hand-me-down one from a cousin, or something. She kept it at the back of her closet. I begged her to show it to me, and after a while I wore her down, so she brought it out and showed it to me. After a few minutes, back into the closet it went. Facing the wall. So yeah, if you ever dealt with the doll, talking, but with its face frozen, it was bizarre. And at any rate, I think the episode was meant to be a parody, not really scary. It may have been scary to kids, but adults, who probably found the toy unbearably annoying loved laughing at this episode. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The “old guy” in that episode was Sebastian Cabot. I always suspected him of being evil on _Family Affair_. Has anyone else watched an ep. of _Family Affair_ as an adult, say, in the last ten years or so. I saw it about three or four years ago, IIRC, om MeTV. It was really creepy. I didn’t pick up on any of its bizarre undertone when I was a little kid watching it. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Back on topic: There’s “The Howling Man,” where the main character’s actions are sadly predictable, and finishes with an “Oh, no, not again” ending that barely works on sitcoms, let alone drama. The low-tech special FX when the Howling Man transforms by walking behind the pillars is great, though. My least faves are “The Electric Grandmother,” and “Jess-Belle.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/112 "2014-11-25T05:36:18Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The low-tech special FX when the Howling Man transforms by walking behind the pillars is great, though. I fast-forward through the rest, just to see this part. Excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/113 "2014-11-25T05:43:11Z")
What’s the one where the people don’t realize they’re toys in a garbage can? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/114 "2014-11-25T11:43:19Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > What’s the one where the people don’t realize they’re toys in a garbage can? “Five Characters in Search of an Exit,” or something else that’s a parody of Pirandello. Or a portmanteau, sort of, or Pirandello and Sarte. Yeah, that one did suck. I forgot about that one. I think they were desperate for a holiday-themed episode. I thought “Death’s Head Revisited” was kind of clever, but I thought the title to this episode was stupid. I don’t know why. Maybe because “Death’s Head Revisited” is an actual pun, and “Five Characters…” is just a mash-up of two absurdist plays. It’s that relentless season of mirth soon, isn’t it? time to dig out my extra big Star of David, to discourage people from wishing me “Merry Christmas.” ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/115 "2014-11-25T15:47:55Z")
A few years ago I embarked on a mission to watch every single episode of the original Twilight Zone. I succeeded, except for one that I saw when I was little and just couldn’t bring myself to watch again - “Time Enough At Last”. My little-kid heart broke for that poor guy when his glasses shattered. I’m not saying it was the “worst” episode, because it definitely isn’t, I just can’t watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/116 "2014-11-25T16:03:48Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > A few years ago I embarked on a mission to watch every single episode of the original Twilight Zone. I succeeded, except for one that I saw when I was little and just couldn’t bring myself to watch again - “Time Enough At Last”. My little-kid heart broke for that poor guy when his glasses shattered. I’m not saying it was the “worst” episode, because it definitely isn’t, I just can’t watch it again. Couldn’t he keep trying on abandoned glasses until he found a pair that worked for him? He couldn’t have been the only guy in the city with thick glasses. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/117 "2014-11-25T17:00:19Z")
Especially since he was looking for reading glasses and not distance glasses. Glasses like he had were for myopia. While it’s possible for someone middle aged or older to need reading glasses and distance glasses, the corrections are different, and what you get are bifocals, and sometimes distance glasses actually impair reading. I have glasses for near-sightedness, and I take them off to read, which is the recommendation of my optometrist. Recently, I’ve needed reading glasses for fine print, like medicine labels (I keep them in the medicine cabinet), but not for regular books, and I can tell you that my regular glasses make fine print even worse. So, it’s actually possible he could go to a drug store, and get a pair of reading glasses off the shelf-- of course, he’d have to find the drug store without his regular glasses. I do have to say, I don’t know anyone who needs a serious prescription who doesn’t keep an extra pair of glasses, even if it’s just their old pair, with a slightly “off” prescription that is better than nothing. My husband had his good, everyday glasses, his old prescription, and a pair of cheap, nisht so attractive frames that he got for like $7 plus half-priced lenses as part of some special when he got his good glasses, that he got without the scratch guard and other add-ons his good glasses have. I can drive around town without my glasses (not on the highway), and I keep a spare. It’s sort of what TV tropes calls “fridge logic.” BTW: appropriate thread for a zombie. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/118 "2014-11-25T17:18:17Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Couldn’t he keep trying on abandoned glasses until he found a pair that worked for him? He couldn’t have been the only guy in the city with thick glasses. It was the last straw - he had been living at a subsistence level for days or weeks with no hope (I don’t think his home survived - so no spare glasses there). Suddenly, he finds a reason for hope (the library), only to have that hope snatched away almost immediately. Eventually, he might try to find some abandoned glasses, by looting wrecked homes and dead bodies, but it’s not a pleasant prospect, even if it will eventually get him what he wants. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/119 "2014-11-25T18:47:53Z")
“Lucky I can read Braille…” ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811/120 "2014-11-25T20:21:27Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The one that just aired was sub-par. “Franklin gets addicted to gambling and thinks the slot machine is The Devil.” > > Real subtle. This is the one that came to mind first for me. “Franklin!” We used to mock it/quote it as kids. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/587811.md?page=7)