I saw a Family Guy episode where you see the last of Peter’s brain cell settle down to do some reading on his own when he drops his glasses. They break, and the brain cell starts screaming that it isn’t fair. When the episode was over, I didn’t feel like leaving the couch just yet so I hit Play on the Futurama tape in the video and was treated to an episode of The Scary Door (which has one of the greatest openers ever) in which the last man on Earth goes into a library to do some reading, drops and breaks his glasses, and shouts that it isn’t fair.
I believe it was a classic Twlight Zone episode. Couldn’t tell you which one (I’d Google, but I don’t want to lose the cachet of a first post ), tough.
8… Time Enough At Last (11/20/59) - Stars Burgess Meredith as a who wishes that people would leave him alone so he could read. After a nuclear attack leaving him as the only survivor, his wish comes true… or does it?
A classic Twilight Zone episode called “Time Enough At Last.” Burgess Meredith was a very nearsighted bank clerk who was a compulsive reader. One day he goes into the vault to read during his lunch break, and the entire world is destroyed by nuclear attack. When he comes out, he finds all the books he ever wanted, then trips over the rubble and breaks his glasses.
Although obviously you’ve heard the best bit already. That’s what comes of watching colour television programmes before you’ve finished catching up on all the black and white ones. Now get back to your pile of Dick van Dyke shows.
Mind you, it’s very old. They even mentioned it, and blew the ending, in the opening scene of Twilight Zone The Movie.
That TZ episode is also referenced in The Simpsons episode where Marge bulks up (“Large Marge”). The mailcarrier gets trapped under his truck, but thankfully has something to read, and then his glasses break.
Interesting Twilight Zone story if I may interject.
I grew up in the same home town as Rod Serling (Binghamton, NY). Apparently back in the late-50’s/early-60’s there was a contest in the local schools to see who could come up with the best Twilight Zone type story, to be judged by none other than Mr. Serling himself. The kid who won the contest grew up to be a man I ended up working with during my senior year in high school at the local shoe factory. His winning story ended up being used as a basis for a real-live Twilight Zone episode. “Which episode?” you may ask. None other than “Time Enough at Last”. Turns out something similar happened to the guy when he was younger (breaking his glasses, etc.) and that’s what he based the story on. He happened to tell me the story one day when I was chatting with another co-worker about Twilight Zone and I mentioned that this particular episode was my favorite.
No cites, have no idea if this is true or not. Just passing along an interesting anecdote from a man whose name I can’t even remember. He offered to bring in his original story that he had kept all these years but I don’t recall if he ever did.
Please don’t flame me if this story proves to be a bunch of bunk. It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, I felt I needed to jump back in and test the waters.
Hey, let’s not forget how oppressed the poor bank clerk was before the bomb. His wife wouldn’t even let him read the back of the cereal box, much less a useless book, and whenever he tried to read anything at work he got in trouble. So the newly-deserted world he found himself in, with unlimited canned food, books, and time was pretty much an undreamed-of heaven–until it slipped through his fingers and crashed on the pavement, and he was plunged into hell instead. Poor guy, I always felt really bad for him.
The shoe salesman is a liar, or has memory conflation or something. The episode is based on a short story from about 1953 or so by a writer named MariLyn Venable.
Often this episode is used to point out Serling’s genius for trick endings. Sorry, but Ms. Venable did this one and Serling adapted it faithfully, perhaps fleshing it out a bit–as I recall the story was a short-short, maybe two to three thousand words at best–but the ending ws always there.
I remember that episode. The one where it the camera has that look where it’s filmed in-studio in front of an audience? Mysterious old man sells him a car and suddenly the salesman tells the truth all the time, even about his cars which are real lemons. Finally he somehow sells the car (which itself is a real piece of junk) to someone who turned out to be buying it on behalf of Kruschev.
Yeah, I remember reading about Lynn Venable in a book about the series. She indeed was the author of a short short story on which the episode was either based, or was so close that the author of the ep decided to give her credit. From what I remember, the episode was described as being far superior to the story, which didn’t have the inclination or space to make the protagonist sympathetic enough to lend the needed pathos to the ending.
In a similar vein, there was a “tribute” to the Twilight Zone done about 10 years ago (sounds like a Nickelodeon show but I’m probably wrong). Anyway, it shows 2 high school guys encountering similar situations from many of the original Twilight Zone episodes. My favorite? A parody of “Time Enough At Last”. At one point they get trapped in an attic but then they see it is FILLED with Playboy, Penthouse, Club, etc and they proclaim “We’re in soft porn Heaven !!!”. Two seconds later, the light bulb burns out.
Anyone remember what this show was ? I remember searching it out because of its Rod Serling tribute.
Non sequitur, unless you believed that I was referring to a the ep with car salesman who was a liar. No, I was referring to an earlier post about a shoe salesman who claimed credit for “Time Enough At Last.”
), tough.
