Episodes with double twists
"The Arrival" and "One More Pallbearer"
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shareWhat I love about the second twist is that Barney Phillips doesn't telegraph it in the least. It's up to him to sell it, and the way he seamlessly transitions from gobsmacked to cool and totally-in-control floors me every time. Truly brilliant work on Phillips' part . If the second twist succeeds, and it does, Serling and Phillips deserve equal credit.
"The Silence." You think the worst of it is over when Archie reveals he's penniless. And then ....
It was perfect. I picture Phillips and Serling talking before the take.
Then Phillips nails it and Serling yells Cut ! Print ! That's a wrap.
I saw The silence when I was really young. Like most of these episodes.
I remember thinking there's something going on but I never figured out what.
Then Bam !
My favorite episode is A Stop at Willoughby. You think oh, he's dreaming again. NOT.
Sixty years on these twists still work. And I think that's due to how gimmicky they are not. There's a story in "Martian" and the twists are woven expertly into that story -- not tacked on, or shoe-horned in the way a hack would have gone about it. I'm not a fan of the comedy episodes of "TZ" (who is?) but I think "Martian" and "A Penny For Your Thoughts" managed to pull it off well primarily because they're playful, not too broad, and even sneakily subversive (for a lark, which is what "Martian" is, man does it have a high body count).
I never tire of "Willoughby." It too has a double twist: first, Gart's death; and then, when he's packed into the hearse, the name of the hearse being "Willoughby and Sons Funeral Home." Good stuff.
My criteria for my top 10 favorite TV show is it had to last awhile, great all the way through-didn't jump the shark,
I can watch it now or later and feel the same about it as I did the firs time I saw it.
Not a lot of shows can pull that off. This is one of them. Not all episodes were great but none were unwatchable.
Still great after all the decades.
The comedy episodes weren't always the best. I think they get a bad rap. Everybody always says
they were the worst. Some weren't that bad. Penny is one. I also love Mr. Dingle the strong.
The end was cheesy but I thought the story was great. It also had Don Rickles. Are you kidding me.
I don't mind them at all.
Season One is "TZ" in its prime though each season (even the much panned fourth season -- superior to the final season if you ask me) has its stellar episodes.
I do like some of the lines in "Dingle" -- especially when Serling in his intro mentions that the bartender has a propensity for watering his drinks like they're geraniums. Also, the first time that two-headed alien rolls into the bar, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Few things in life are so stupid that they're inspired -- and that alien pulls off this near-impossible feat handily. The Venusians steal some of the first alien's so-stupid-its-inspired thunder, but not enough for the first alien not to be what immediately pops into my head when someone brings this episode up.
"Mr. Dingle" qualifies as a double twist entry. First, the first aliens take away Mr. Dingle's strength. And then the Venusians, as part of an experiment, much like an experiment motivated the first aliens, imbue Mr. Dingle with enormous intellectual powers.
Good point. It does qualify as double twist.
The costumes did look like something I would have done in kindergarten.
"Ok, make an alien costume. You have paint, aluminum foil and boxes. "
It's so absurd it's perfect. What else would you expect from a comedy episode. It fit nicely.
I wonder what it looked like in real life or color?
Is there any record of what Serling's favorite episodes were ?
I believe they were "The Invaders" and "Time Enough At Last." From a twist standpoint, those two are pretty hard to beat.
They did a CD series in the '90s called "Ultra Lounge" and each installment would focus on a subgenre of lounge music -- exotica, bossa nova, things of that ilk. One of the installments, "Space Capades," delved into music designed to accompany voyages into deep space -- Les Baxter's "Saturday Night on Saturn" for instance. The aliens in "Dingle" would have been right at home amidst the kitschy space imagery adorning the booklet that came with this CD
"The Lateness of the Hour"
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