For some folks chocolate is a guilty pleasure, others like candy but mine comes from 1959-1964: The Twilight Zone. Truthfully, I have no guilt watching this show over and over, savoring the finer bits of dialogue, acting and stories. And here it is just after five in the morning some 46 years later and it’s still on my mind. I bet Serling is smiling in the Zone somewhere.

As pictured above, lately I’ve been slowly digesting the complete fourth season of Twilight Zone on DVD. This was the one where they switched to hour long episodes. The format didn’t work as well with hour long episodes (too much padding), but I have still enjoyed better than anything on TV today which either is a sad statement on TV today or a great compliment on TV in the sixties.

In October last year I wrote about the first three complete seasons which I have watched in their entirety. Still have one disc left of Season 4 and all of Season 5 to slowly watch and enjoy.

Reader Janine mentioned enjoying the haunting episode Little Girl Lost:

I used to love this show but haven’t seen any of the episodes in years. Okay, decades. There was one episode that as a kid…okay sometimes even as an adult…that scared the crap out of me when I went to bed at night:

Some shock moments for me was the first time I saw the ending of To Serve Man (”it’s a cookbook!”) and the one where the guy ends up in a human zoo for aliens to observe. I’ve considered starting a fan site/blog on the series just to memorialize my favorite shows and moments and to link up other great TZ sites. Kind of surprised me I’ve only mentioned TZ on 15 of the 3,401 posts. Maybe I do feel guilty after all?

Recreated on radio
Courtesy of some Googling this weekend I learned about an effort starting October 2, 2002 to dramatize the old shows on radio called: Twilight Zone Radio:

The Twilight Zone™ Radio Dramas can be heard on top radio stations across the country, via XM (channel 163) and Sirius Satellite Radio, over the BBC airwaves, and worldwide via the American Forces Radio Network. The show also airs on www.yesterdayusa.com [Editor: see this page] on Saturdays at 6:00 PM EST.

Anybody reading heard these audio recreations? Added to my Google calendar, which by the way doesn’t seem to be reminding me when it is supposed to be doing so. Is there some special download required to get these popup reminders?

The signpost up ahead …
Has there ever been a greater 30 minute show on television? The times they’ve tried to bring it back in color haven’t provided the same magic (especially the one hosted by Forest Whittaker) that it had in black and white. Or maybe it was the loss of Rod Serling’s unique energy and unforgettable phrases like: “submitted for your approval” or Charles Beaumont writing about the devil (The Howling Man, Printer’s Devil) or appearances by future stars like Robert Redford, William Shatner and Jack Klugman or those signature, killer (sometimes literally) twist endings.

Or maybe people aren’t attracted to series which have no returning characters from week to week? If you’ve never watched and/or appreciated The Twilight Zone in great length then run, don’t walk, to you nearest store or buy the complete seasons 1-5 at your favorite retailer. Might not be as tasty as chocolate, but it will stimulate your creative mind.

And now, “between the pit of man’s [your] fears and summit of his [your] knowledge” what is your guilty pleasure?

Did this post make you go hmm?

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