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The worst husbands on "The Twilight Zone"?


Telly Savalas for a starter.

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The writer who kept his "characters" including his wife on tape in an envelope.

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Kojak retires the trophy, just like Gart's wife.


“Willoughby, sir? That’s Willoughby right outside. It’s July. It’s summer. It’s 1888.”

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I rarely watch "Living Doll" because I hate the Telly Savalas character so much.

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William Demarest as Joe Britt in What's in the Box. Joan Blondell was no prize as the wife either.




He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?


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The husband in The Piano episode.

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Spur of the Moment definitely.

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Nice one, Scarecrow. He was a real b*stard!

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For me, it's a tie between the evil stepfather in Talky Tina, and the vile husband in A Piano in the House.

Telly Savalas and Barry Morse each do such a good job of portraying slime.

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Telly Savalas was a cheapskate lout in "Living Doll". I wanted to smash Roger Davis in "Spur of the Moment". He showed up again on "Dark Shadows".

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Horace Ford. Less evil and more on the plain insufferable side. Possibly the worst character you could revolve an hour long "Twilight Zone" episode around.

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This may be a little too deep but I think the real Dale from Dead Man's Shoes. Looks like he can hand out a beating to his partner and get away with it each time.

"Tequila...with a cube of sugar.."

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He doesn't seem to have any reservations about inflicting serious harm on Wilma for some pretty minor infractions. At one point Wilma's lack of initiative in mixing Dane's drink of choice prompts him to ask "Do I have to break your arm?"

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Correct. And I'm positive he's not exaggerating when he says that. One of the moments where you realize you do not want to root for this guy at all.

"Tell the Easter Bunny I want my gun back..."

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A pretty standard episode elevated considerably by Warren Stevens. He makes both his characters distinct without over-selling either. George Grizzard and Joe Mantell in "In His Image" and "Nervous Man In A Four Dollar Room" respectively also convinced while playing two separate personas.

Did you catch the remake of "Dead Man's Shoes" with Helen Miren in the '80s? Surprisingly watchable.

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I'll give "Dead Man's Shoes" a try, AngularTurnip. I never thought I'd give a remake another try after the dreadful 1980s remake of "The After Hours".

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I have been so hesitant in watching the remake episodes of the newer series. I'll give it a shot as well.

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"The Twilight Zone" filtered through an '80s aesthetic can take some getting used to. I can tolerate it though I prefer the jazzy/noir feel of the original. Plus the black and white format lends the original an otherworldliness the color versions come nowhere near to touching.

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I do remember one I saw when it first came out. A man was an alcoholic and seeked help from a dr. who specialized in a procedure called the 'Helsinki Formula". Long story short- it was a parasite that grew in his stomach every time he drank alchohol. Was very interesting. I'll dip back into them. Thanks for the info.

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"The Hellgrammite Method" with Timothy Bottoms is one of the best episodes of the '80s series. "The Cold Equations" and "The Shadow Man" are pretty good too.

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God, wasn't he? What a piece of work!

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How bout the Dad in It's a Good Life for being SUCH a wimp and letting his murderous little offspring go on and on.

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I think the dad was a victim of circumstance. If he attempts to properly raise or discipline his child, the results are catastrophic. He goes to the cornfield or is turned into a jack-in-the-box.

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I couldn't stand Roger Davis in that episode. What a lowlife!!!

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Scarecrow, yes, I understand his motivation but his inability to "take care" of the problem that he created was so bothersome. Same w/ Cloris Leachman for that matter. They were horrific enablers.

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The only way I see they escape is to kill the boy. If they even think of disciplining him, he will know and dispose of them.

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He's a genuine character, though. The manipulative scumbag who weasels his way into money and privilege, only to milk the cash cow until the teet is petrified.

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^This.

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Ha ha, yes. I was referring to them killing him!!

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Definitely Frannnnnnnnnnnklin from "The Fever". So mean to Flora when in the throes of his addiction. tsk tsk!

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination..."

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The husband/main character in "Sounds and Silences." How could his wife tolerate him for a day??


My TV, movie, book reviews: http://thewildbloginthewest.blogspot.com/

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Mr. Bedecker in The Escape Clause. Worst husband ever!

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Can't really blame him though can you? A doll was threatening him and nobody would believe him.

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Barry Morse is my pick (A Piano in the House), but if we're discussing worst dad (or, excuse me....STEP-dad), Savalas takes the cake.

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I agree completely with both of them being worst husband and worst step dad. Worst wife is a tie between the wife in "Short drink from certain fountain", wife in " Willoughby", or wife in "Time enough at last".

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Helen from "Time Enough at Last" was easily the biggest shrew. Flora ("Short Drink...") was just a golddigger, but at least she was pretty hot.

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Yeh, the wife of Henry Bemis in "Time" was a controlling bully who took advantage of Henry's meekness. It was more about that than that he read too much. Henry's boss, his problem was that he read too much simply cause he kept reading when he was supposed to be working, and his reading was interupting his concentration and he kept short changing customers.
The "Short drink fountain" wife was hot, and shallow too, look how much better she suddenly treated him when he was made to look better. Both her and the "Willoughby" wife was a gold digger. The "Willoughby" wife couldn't care less how unhappy Gart was, only what he could get her, and as soon as he called her and officially told her he was quitting cause he couldn't handle it anymore, she hung up on him, which gave us a very good idea she was then gonna immediately leave him since he would no longer be at his big money maker job.
I wonder how she would've taken his death when she'd hear about his jumping off the train. I guess that part's up to the viewer's imagination.

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