# Watch the Twilight Zone Marathon with JoeSki **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511 "2005-01-01T02:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/61 "2005-01-01T20:45:18Z")
I need some spoilers. I believe I know what happens at the end of “Living Doll,” but I only saw up to the point where the father is trying to kill the doll using various electric tools. Please use spoiler tags. I wonder about the actors…back in the 60s, were Ed Wynn, William Shatner, John Anderson, Telly Savalas, etc, considered established actors, and TZ was a good gig to get, or were they still trying to get established and TZ was a way to pay the bills? How popular was TZ back in the day? Along the lines of _I Love Lucy_, or underappreciated like _Star Trek_? For some reason, “The Flight of Global 33” reminded me of a Ray Bradbury short story. I’m almost positive I remembered a similar story. I can’t get over how everyone is smoking! In the hospital bed, in the airline cockpit, heck, even Rod Serling is smoking as he introduces the show! Was he so hooked on nicotine he couldn’t even go the 2-3 minutes it too to introduce the show? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/62 "2005-01-01T21:07:40Z")
According to various sites, he smoked 4 packs a day. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/63 "2005-01-01T21:32:41Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > According to various sites, he smoked 4 packs a day. Maybe that’s why he died when he was [50](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0785245/). ☹ Was TZ off the air by then, or did it stop at his death? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/64 "2005-01-01T21:38:24Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I need some spoilers. I believe I know what happens at the end of “Living Doll,” but I only saw up to the point where the father is trying to kill the doll using various electric tools. Please use spoiler tags. After trying to “kill” the doll, Erich’s wife is quite convinced he’s crazy; she tells him she’s going to leave him, so he relents and returns the doll to Christine. Later that night, he trips on the doll and falls down the stairs, dying. Annabelle rushes to him and finds the doll, which says as she picks it up, “My name is Talky Tina, _and you’d better be nice to me!_” > [@](#): > > I wonder about the actors…back in the 60s, were Ed Wynn, William Shatner, John Anderson, Telly Savalas, etc, considered established actors, and TZ was a good gig to get, or were they still trying to get established and TZ was a way to pay the bills? How popular was TZ back in the day? Along the lines of _I Love Lucy_, or underappreciated like _Star Trek_? _The Twilight Zone_ was a popular show; Serling won Emmys for it, and it had a fan base. George Clemens (Director of Photography for many episodes) recalls they got appearances from actors they thought they’d never be able to afford because the actors would take half what they usually got just to do the show. > [@](#): > > I can’t get over how everyone is smoking! In the hospital bed, in the airline cockpit, heck, even Rod Serling is smoking as he introduces the show! Was he so hooked on nicotine he couldn’t even go the 2-3 minutes it too to introduce the show? Well, for one thing, remember smoking was not quite perceived as “evil” back then, but it probably also bears mentioning American Tobacco became a sponsor beginning with the third season. 😉 > [@](#): > > Was TZ off the air by then, or did it stop at his death? It only ran five seasons, from 1959-1964. Afterwards, Serling was involved in _Night Gallery_, another anthology show, but that one never quite reached the heights of the _Zone_. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/65 "2005-01-01T21:44:59Z")
> [@Quixotic](#): > > [spoiler] > Well, for one thing, remember smoking was not quite perceived as “evil” back then, but it probably also bears mentioning American Tobacco became a sponsor beginning with the third season. 😉 So what brand did Serling smoke? 😉 I know there wasn’t such a stigma against smoking back then, but it seems so anachronistic to see it know. I mean, even in _Steel Magnolias_, there’s a scene with Ouiser smoking in the hospital waiting room during Shelby’s kidney transplant, and that was only what, 15 years ago or so? I wonder what will seem anachronistic about our television shows 40 years from now? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/66 "2005-01-01T22:18:52Z")
_The Lonely_…that’s another episode that reminds me of a Ray Bradbury short story I’ve read. Am I imagining things? ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/67 "2005-01-01T22:31:36Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > _The Lonely_…that’s another episode that reminds me of a Ray Bradbury short story I’ve read. > > Am I imagining things? It’s somewhat reminiscent of Bradbury’s “The Visitor” from _The Illustrated Man_. In it, people with a deadly contagious disease (the “blood rust”) are quarrantined on Mars to slowly die. The main character looks forward to new arrivials because they’re something new in their monotonous lives. One day someone arrives who has some amazing mental powers… Is that it? I suddenly found “The Lonely” amusing when I heard them pronounce the word “robot.” They said “RO-but,” just like Zoidberg on _Futurama_. Heh. I always thought Billy West just made that pronunciation up. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/68 "2005-01-01T23:01:40Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I need some spoilers. I believe I know what happens at the end of “Living Doll,” but I only saw up to the point where the father is trying to kill the doll using various electric tools. Please use spoiler tags. > > I wonder about the actors…back in the 60s, were Ed Wynn, William Shatner, John Anderson, Telly Savalas, etc, considered established actors, and TZ was a good gig to get, or were they still trying to get established and TZ was a way to pay the bills? How popular was TZ back in the day? Along the lines of _I Love Lucy_, or underappreciated like _Star Trek_? > > For some reason, “The Flight of Global 33” reminded me of a Ray Bradbury short story. I’m almost positive I remembered a similar story. > > I can’t get over how everyone is smoking! In the hospital bed, in the airline cockpit, heck, even Rod Serling is smoking as he introduces the show! Was he so hooked on nicotine he couldn’t even go the 2-3 minutes it too to introduce the show? My second ex-wife used to “sit” a few days a week for a blind lady who was a secretary to the writing staff at WLW Radio in Cincinnati, back when Serling worked there. She described him as a nice guy, very insecure about his height, and said he “never stopped smoking,” and outsmoked everybody even back then (early-mid 50s) when everybody smoked. She said his preature death was no shock to her. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/69 "2005-01-01T23:01:53Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > It’s somewhat reminiscent of Bradbury’s “The Visitor” from _The Illustrated Man_. In it, people with a deadly contagious disease (the “blood rust”) are quarrantined on Mars to slowly die. The main character looks forward to new arrivials because they’re something new in their monotonous lives. One day someone arrives who has some amazing mental powers… > > Is that it? No. I definitely remember reading an anthology of Bradbury short stories, and two of the TZ episodes were reminiscent of those short stories. Unless I’m hallucinating… ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/70 "2005-01-01T23:04:35Z")
I read somewhere that Serling’s cancer stick of choice was unfiltered Chesterfields. I recall trying one or two back when I smoked. Pretty damn harsh cig. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/71 "2005-01-01T23:09:10Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > No. I definitely remember reading an anthology of Bradbury short stories, and two of the TZ episodes were reminiscent of those short stories. > > Unless I’m hallucinating… Well, at least an episode is on now that was certainly written by Ray Bradbury (“I Sing the Body Electric”). ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/72 "2005-01-01T23:20:37Z")
Although Ray Bradbury, after Serling’s death, began to gentlemanly “not remember the details,” it is pretty common knowledge within the SF and Twilight Zone communities that back in the TZ days he came to openly despise Serling, and to accuse him of plagiarism. Do a Google search on their names, maybe with “plagiarism” also. Charles Beaumont also took Serling to task for nipping his ideas. Serling wrote Beaumont an effusive letter of apology and the matter rested there. Serling and CBS were sued many times for supposed story theft, but most were settled out of court. Funny, one episode “The Fugitive,” attributed to Beaumont (but possibly ghosted for him due to his Alzheimers), is an almost beat-for-beat lift of Michael Shaara’s short story “Citizen Jell,” something that galled Shaara to no end. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/73 "2005-01-02T00:02:29Z")
Sweet. I got off work early. I’m not sure exactly what episode is on now. A guy in his mid twentys appears to be wandering through a ghost town shouting “Is anybody here?!”. Oh, and he has amnesia. First person viewing this episode to succesfully guess how it ends wins! It doesn’t count if you’ve seen the epsidoe before. Go! ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/74 "2005-01-02T00:07:44Z")
I’m guessing the dude is dead. Other than that; I’ve got nothin’. And a lot of the dialog in TZ sounds like it was written by Bradbury. I first noticed it in **The Obsolete Man**. I thought it was just me. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/75 "2005-01-02T00:16:38Z")
Joe, you’re watching _Where Is Everybody?_, the pilot episode of TZ, starring Earl Holliman, who, as one of the dwindling number of surviving TZ stars, does commentary on this ep on the new DVDs. It is one of the very few that, maybe, just maybe, could really happn IRL (as I mentioned yesterday). Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/76 "2005-01-02T00:24:32Z")
This is the pilot for TZ? Whoah! And the plot twist: It was all a military experiment. I was way off. I love the bit Sterling does at the ending where he describes space as being an enemy possesing a great weapon: isolation. I heard it on a commercial this morning and wanted to see the episode it was attachted to. I need to run and buy snake food before the stores close, so I’m going to end up missing the next episode or two. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/77 "2005-01-02T00:25:54Z")
Scratch that. the next episode ( **The Howling Man** ) sounds too good to miss. I’ll leave after this 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/78 "2005-01-02T00:26:22Z")
> [@Quixotic](#): > > It only ran five seasons, from 1959-1964. Afterwards, Serling was involved in _Night Gallery_, another anthology show, but that one never quite reached the heights of the _Zone_. He also did a radio show called \*The Zero Hour \* back in the '70’s. This is kind of unusual, as radio dramas had pretty much died out by the early '60’s. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/79 "2005-01-02T00:55:42Z")
Rod Serling’s first sale was by coming in second place in a contest to write a script for a radio show. He started out in college and at WLW writing for radio, so maybe he was doing the 70s radio show for old-time’s sake. _The Howling Man_ is classic Charles Beaumont, written before his awful degeneration into Alzheimers. Point of trivia: Harlan Ellison, while editing a magazine (forget which one), around 1959, purchased the short story version of _The Howling Man_. He and Beaumont later became friends and Ellison of course worked on the 80s TZ. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511/80 "2005-01-02T01:08:50Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > Scratch that. the next episode ( **The Howling Man** ) sounds too good to miss. I’ll leave after this 🙂 . Nope. You still have to watch _A Stop at Willoughby_, which I believe, is a favorite of **Eve** ’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watch-the-twilight-zone-marathon-with-joeski/282511.md?page=5)