Yes, many definitely were. It’s interesting that the Alfred Hitchcock series, which ran in approximately the same time period, had the same stress on morality and justice. If it wasn’t obvious from the ending, Hitchcock’s monologue at the end always made it clear that justice was served. I think it was a sort of required conformance to the mores of the times, when perfect idyllic families like Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver represented the American ideal.
Regarding “A Nice Place to Visit”:
I rather liked this one. It was scripted in such a way that everything seemed fine; in fact, better than fine, but it had one helluva twist ending.
I agree that “Five Characters in Search of an Exit” was pretty weak. Most of the episode is taken up with the characters just talking. Occasionally about their predicament, but not always, and it’s kind of boring. Then comes the twist ending—and the first time I saw this episode and the ending came along, I remember saying, “That’s it?”
Yeah, that was my issue too. After going through all of the dialog and exposition, the payoff was unsatisfying.
“l shot an Arrow into the Air”
They land on a planet with Earth gravity and Earth atmosphere after only a short flight into space ( not weeks or months) and don’t even think “hey, maybe we’re on Earth.”
And the title gives away the lame twist. It’s a well-known poem and the next four words are “it fell to Earth.”
This episode is poorly written!
Personally, I can forgive that one because at the time the viewer likely wouldn’t have been aware of the scale of the solar system or that other planets were inhospitable to life, and there was still plenty of sci-fi being written in that era that depicted Mars and Venus as temperate and habitable. I recently read The Martian Chronicles for the first time, and while it’s a deeply flawed book (the entire pioneer population flees TOWARDS the nuclear war on Earth? REALLY?!) its depiction of Mars as being essentially identical to the Great Plains was the part I was most willing to forgive.
“Time Enough At Last” - Burgess Meredith’s first of four Zones - is kind of like “Masks” where once you know the twist ending, it doesn’t have much rewatchability. He’s wearing coke bottle glasses and you just don’t hold much hope for him, as he has none for himself.
His next zone, “The Obsolete Man”, where he is a librarian sentenced to die in a dystopian society, still holds some relevance.
Actually, none of his four are very good. Jack Klugman had two very good episodes.
My least favorite is IIRC “The Swimming Pool” where a girl and her brother dive in and stuff happens.
Yet BM was the perfect narrator for the movie.
If you’re willing to overlook the “atheists all secretly believe in God, by which I specifically mean the Christian God, and refuse to admit it because they’re mad at the world, but will beg for divine aid the instant they find themselves in danger” part.
I do recall it was a bit preachy. Sterling wrote it. I don’t recall the dialogue you quoted, only that BM read stuff from the illegal bible.
From wiki:
Unusually, Serling appears on camera to deliver the closing narration.
The Chancellor, the late Chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshiped. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man…that state is obsolete. A case to be filed under “M” for “Mankind” – in The Twilight Zone.
I don’t have a count of Rod appearing on-screen before or after an episode, yet if it’s rare for him to do the postscript on screen, I guess so.
I do agree with his postscript, not so much BM’s defense.
That was a plot summary, not dialogue. Meredith’s crime is believing in God. He traps the inquisitor in a room with a bomb and agrees to free him once he begs God to save him.
I’m personally more of an agnostic pantheist these days, but it’s the same kind of silly caricature of atheists as “angry people who are mad at Jesus because something bad happened to them” that you see in apologetics and “Christian” movies all the time.
Yes, that one is an oddity for him. Perhaps that’s why he does the postscript on-screen as it’s about tolerance.
One of my favorites is the Art Carney Christmas episode. He’s a drunk on Christmas Eve, and his bag is full of empty cans or great presents, depending…
In his outro, Sterling’s last words are “…And a Merry Christmas to each and all.” which was banned/omitted till the latest Blu-ray’s and Netflix. This is way before Fox’ campaign against “Seasons Greetings” or the laughable “Happy X-mas” as the X comes from the Greek Letter “chi” and in that context means Christ.
I would too describe myself agnostic (way lapsed Catholic), and two years ago crossing the street to the Anglican Church and when they read Linus’ exact “Meaning of Christmas” I could not help but whisper to my wife, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown”.
Back to the thread: “The Bard” and “Cavender is Coming” (a failed comedic pilot by Rod) are the worst, worst episodes.
Time Enough…isn’t my least favorite (that’s coming up) but I do hate it more because it’s always classed as one of the best. No it isn’t! Bemis is an unlikable jerk ass. He’s so inept at life that he thinks the death of everyone on the world makes his life easier, but I don’t think he could even cook his own dinner. He’ll be dead in a week. Even if he had glasses, he’d forget to eat.
I think you mean The Bewitching Pool. There are bad episodes, there are really bad episodes, then there’s The Bewitching Pool. In a scale of 0-5, I gave this one a -1.
Aye, meant to add that but got lost in Art Carney as a drunk with Santa powers and Linus.
I hate that one, too, and the fact it is one of the few video taped episodes does it no favors. it has the technical quality of a 8mm film being shown with vaseline on the lens.
Another bad one is Escape Clause, where a guy with immortality is sentenced to life in prison. In reality, he’d outlive the jailers, the society, the city…they can’t keep him in prison forever.
In real reality, immortality is a lot longer than most people imagine.
Plot summary here.
It was so bad, they didn’t broadcast anymore episodes. 
And it was definitely a troubled production.
Numerous production problems delayed the premiere of this episode, which was originally scheduled for March 20, 1964.
The intention of the episode was to demonstrate the EVIL OF DIVORCE. (Insert thunderclap.)
Earl Hamner, Jr., got the idea for “The Bewitchin’ Pool” while living in the San Fernando Valley region of California and witnessing an alarming divorce rate and the effect it had on children.
Even if they had slept in science class and weren’t aware that asteroids were too small to have atmosphere or Earth gravity, the poem was very well known at the time (it was popular enough for it to be the basis of a “Bullwinkle’s Corner”) and gives everything away (it’s mentioned in dialog in the first scene).
Yeah, it’s one of like six videotaped episodes, which detracts from watch-ability. Yet he’s got a gift for every girl and boy, and even when the dubious cop asks for some old Cognac, there it is.
To essentially censor “And a Merry Christmas to each and all.” for 50 years makes no sense whatsoever. Maybe Rod could have just said, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” and all is cool.
Yet again, “The Bard” and “Cavender is coming” are truly bad.
The one where Claude Akins and his copilot have spaceship problems on some seemingly deserted planet. He discovers a civilization of microscopic people, and rather than cash in on such an extraordinary find, he decides to become their ruler. Somehow, they build a lifesize statue of him which, for them would probably be 20 miles tall. Dumb from start to finish.
See, you can have bad epsiodes where the twist is “they really are Adam and Eve” (twice, i think, going from memory alone), and you can have bad science (the aforementioned I Shot An Arrow, or "the earth is moving closer to the sun! No it’s moving farther away!), bad three wishes speiodes, bad “let’s kill Hitler!” episodes, bad puppet episodes, bad acting episodes, bad ideas, bad production values…and then you have The Bewitchin’ Pool.
I was looking through a list of episodes, and I remembered “The Changing of the Guard”, where a retiring Mr Chips-like professor is sad and thinks his entire life’s work is for nothing. SO he is visited by the spectres of his former students, telling hi that he made them what they are. The trouble is, they are all dead, died young! I’m not sure that would make me feel any better!