I like this series and still watch it when I can. But sometimes, you just have to wonder how desperate they were for stories.
I nominate Static Man, about the developer who was cursed to attract paper until he turned into an environmentalist.
Anyone else?
Look at him -- sittin' on that stool like he's doin' it a favor.share
Yeah, there were a few corny/cheesy ones (which were endearing for that very reason)--such as that, or "Magic Mightyman." xD I'd hate to try and pick a "worst story" because I like them all, but I definitely judge some to be a lot stronger than others...
I like you, Um. I like largeness...share
Worse story was the 'plain' lady who saved this pretty lady from a pervert. Then the pretty lady is like 'let me help you (since you're so ugly, let me put make up on you) what the hell was that??
I will agree that "Makeup Magic" has never been among my favorites. It is sweet, but it's also tricky to figure out what was going on. Seems the disfigured, formerly pretty lady regained her beauty for a day so that she could "share it" with the "plain Jane" and give her confidence, so that her own inner beauty would shine through and everyone would realize how attractive she actually was...or something along those lines! :p
I like you, Um. I like largeness...share
ye that's it "Makeup Magic" haha. I noticed most of the stories that are made up by the writers are so dumb like this one. I didn't care for that dream care episode either. sigh
I wish a similar show would come back.
Oh, "The Impossible Car Dream?" XD I find that one amusing and like the twist ending (also love the way Jonathan Frakes says, "What did our research show on this one? Absolutely nothing, we made it up! It's false" at the end!) But my very favorite stories tend to be the most haunting, eerie ones, as opposed to the sillier-seeming ones.
I like you, Um. I like largeness...share
ye me too I like the errir ones. The sillier ones was just hmmm I love Frakes!
Hehe, I know...Frakes is the bomb! XD He makes the show simultaneously creepy and hilarious.
I like you, Um. I like largeness...share
heh true creepy and hilarious sums it up
Worst one by far is grass on the grave. The story didn't even make any sense. If you don't remember the premise, a guy is framed for embezzling from his company. His partner was the one who committed the crime, and he was in on it with the innocent guy's wife. There was absolutely 0 evidence of this, and they were never even suspects.
At the funeral the son of the innocent tells the wife that his father stated on his death bed that no grass would grow on his grave until the truth came out. So of course, no grass grows on the grave, but who cares, right? Wrong, because the stupid wife starts to freak out about it for NO REASON! They still aren't suspects, and no one but the wife cares about the grass. But she starts complaining that her ex is taunting her by not letting the grass grow and that she needs to confess. Seriously? This is the story? It doesn't even make sense!
OMG, "The Grave" is one of my FAVORITES!! It makes perfect sense to me. :/ If you were guilty of that crime and such a threat were borne out, wouldn't you start feeling freaked? I was kinda disappointed that that one was fictional, but I thought it was a very original, creepy, great story. The utter refusal of the grass to grow over Elliot's grave was his way of haunting the guilty conscience of his wife and ensuring that justice was done.
shareLet's replace the wife with someone who has common sense. There is no grass growing on the grave. Okay, as someone with common sense, my reply to that is "big deal". I choose to ignore, and the end. Nothing happens. No one but the wife was interested in the grass. Legit no one cared. And the only reason she knew there was no grass growing was because she kept going back to check. lol, seriously?
The reason it doesn't make sense is because someone with even a tiny, miniscule shred of common sense would not have been affected by this one bit.
Let's go one step further. Let's say the son forgot to tell the mom what his father had said. Would she ever have cared that grass wasn't growing on his grave? Nope, and in fact, she probably wouldn't have even realized the lack of grass. She chose to gave attention to the most idiotic detail and caused her own demise. The story just made me angry at how stupid someone could be, and how a small dose of common sense would have made the entire story null and void.
Well, the lack of grass was a great mystery because it made no earthly sense. They did everything possible to make it grow, even calling in an expert and moving the body to a different, "more nutrient-rich" plot. No, she didn't necessarily HAVE to keep returning to check on it, but surely the cemetery owners and other people would find it strange for there to be one particular bare plot. They probably wouldn't be too happy with that, and would have contacted her to try and get it worked out, anyway. Perhaps she lives near the cemetery and passes it frequently, encouraging her to see the bare grave and become increasingly agitated--and again, her guilty conscience would compel her to continuously return to the scene.
Her husband knew what he was doing. He knew she'd become obsessed, and bring his vengeance upon herself and his former partner. He also knew he could count on his son to convey the message that would make the lack of grass not just weird, not just unusual and suspicious, but downright scary. I suppose she could have simply tried to ignore it and move on, but the longer it went on...it was like the tell-tale heart. At SOME point someone was going to snap, something was going to happen, someone else would realize how odd the situation was becoming, and the secret was going to come out somehow...because he wasn't going to relent until then. The guy's mysteriously, conspicuously naked grave sitting in the cemetery wasn't going to just go away and be paid no mind by anyone ever again.
Of course at some point people would notice, but it would spawn stories about a haunted grave. Not one person would look at that grave and think, "this must be do to some betrayal from the wife." In the end, it was her own idiocy that led to her downfall, and I guess that's what bothered me about the episode. Almost every single story in the series involved something outside the control of the main person. I'm not sure why exactly, but this story just annoyed me like crazy.
Interestingly enough, I absolutely loved the Tell-Tale Heart. One of my favorite short stories.
Ha, me too!
Well, that's cool. We all have our favorites; that just happens to be among mine, so I wanted to try and explain why it's a standout to me. It is different from most of the other stories, and you're right...she led herself into the trap...it was more the psychological torture than any physical force drawing her there again and again. She knew that Gordon was still around, and not going to rest until they'd confessed.
I do think that if they'd left it alone entirely, some legend would spring up about it being haunted, and someone would try to dig into the mystery...at which point they might or might not suspect that things weren't as they seemed, *maybe* even that she and/or his partner had somehow wronged him. Over time something might be discovered, they might be found out, but regardless...she wasn't exactly being logical. She felt that her dead husband's spirit was tormenting them for what they'd done, and that made her fearful--which, I can surely understand. She probably figured that if they could successfully plead for his forgiveness, then it would end...and if not, then she would end it herself by confessing, rather than waiting around in agony and worrying over what he might be able to do next, or that their crime would somehow eventually be uncovered by somebody else.
I know one thing we can both agree on: this was one of the best shows on TV. I rank it with Are You Afraid of the Dark. They need to bring both shows back. We need more shows like this and less like Honey boo boo
shareOh, you've got that right!!! This and Are You Afraid of the Dark? are two of my favorite series EVER. I absolutely never tire of watching them. You said it!! New TV would be a whole lot better if it took more cues from the really great shows instead of being more of the same inane "reality" junk that'll never become classic and beloved.
shareFarazmkhan70 is completely right, the grass on the grave is probably one of the stupidest stories that Beyond Belief ever used. It's clearly an attempt at modernizing Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart: the only problem is that' the story doesn't make sense. The dramatic ness of the wife is so bizarre that its not realistic. You did a pretty good job pointing out all the stupidity of the story, but what about the ending? That was one of the worst parts. Right when the guilty couple is on their knees asking for forgiveness, a mysterious dude gets in the plow and essentially runs them over? I mean ignoring all the other stupid details of the story, this causes it to become totally unbelievable.
share"The Grave" is one of my favorites.
Sure, the wife's behavior seems stupid and outlandish--for someone not being driven mad by their own guilt and the idea that the dead man is going to haunt you for the rest of your life. It is similar to The Tell-Tale Heart, yes. Characters' behaviors, just like real-life people's, aren't always rational and sensible. The end, to me, implied that the tractor was possessed by Gordon's spirit and plowed them into the open grave--probably burying them alive. As in "The Used-Car Salesman," it could also have been driven by an actual person who knew the truth...perhaps the son. They might have escaped it, but were clearly semi-paralyzed with fear and confusion, trying to figure out who was coming at them in a tractor that late at night.
I love that one, it's so happy-sad...
They need to bring this back :/.
My least favorites are all probably from season 1, I mean don't get me wrong season 1 has some gems, but it's not nearly as great as 2-4.
It would make my LIFE if somebody decided to revive this show...but how often do canceled series get that? :[ -sigh- This show started out awesome, and just kept getting better and more addicting as it went along. Actually, I think either Season 2 or 3 would be my vote for overall strongest, though I'm not quite sure which...
shareThe guy who becomes a super hero after changing his clothes (if I recall correctly). That was really cheesy.
The boy who disappears from the cupboard. I think this one was a bit, well, childish. Still, quite an entertaining segment.
Lol, yes..."Magic Mightyman" is a cute, funny, kinda corny one. I like it for those qualities, but it's not among my favorites because I prefer creepier and eerier ones.
It's a nice comic relief story. :)
And "Kid in the Closet" has to be the single most popular story, so that might be the first time I've heard somebody name it as a least favorite! xD To be honest, that one probably freaks me out more now as an adult than it did when I first saw it.
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thank you! super bear is the worst mainly because of the horrible acting by the kid!
shareBy far the worst story is "Phantom Drifter." So a couple has serious marital problems and some guy who obviously has watched way too many episodes of "Kung Fu" shows up starts spouting a bunch of crap that a third grader could come up with and saves their marriage.
It is completely and utterly idiotic. The notion of one person being able to solve the problems of a severely damaged marriage in a short ride is so utterly ludicrous. I am a psychologist so there might be some bias there, but I just can't stand how bad this story is.
Oh man, I adore that one. But yeah, it was a bit rushed...kinda had to be, given the segment lengths. It does seem unlikely that such deep issues could be magically resolved in one car trip. I think it was more like the drifter's calm, gentle wisdom facilitated their reaching a point where they were more able and willing to look at the big picture, and try to really listen to and understand each other. Knowing that he was apparently a spirit made such an impact that now they're going to work through their problems and make things right, rather than continue down the path that was probably going to lead to divorce. A bit of a stretch, maybe, but I always found that story really cool and touching. We've all got our favorites and least/lesser-faves, though. That's the beauty of anthology shows...so many individual tales; I love it!
Saluki momshare
Amen. "Static Man" was easily the worst episode ever on a usually brilliant show. My wife and I love watching this show to this day on Chiller TV. We both agree with you.
share:) Chiller is the bomb! And yeah, Static Man might be my least favorite story, if I had to pick one. I still like it for its goofiness, but it's a weaker one, and certainly doesn't represent the best the show has to offer.
Saluki momshare
i got this whole series on my computer and i just watched mightyman and i agree it sucked but was kinda funny, but static man has to be the worst story, i watch that series to get creeped out or at least entertained which most of the time i am but there is nothing good about static man, just a "fast forward this story" type oh i also almost forgot to mention the one called "murder on the 2nd floor" i thought it was kinda lame about the circus brothers killing some man that beat his wife and killed her but got away with it, it's season 2 like episode 7 if i'm not mistaking...
shareHaha, yeah, I think those two are kinda easy to pick out as least favorites--they're humorous, but just not as great as most. Others are funny, yet retain more of the eerie or serious nature of the show as well.
Oooh, that's "Murder on the Second Floor." I love that one myself. I think it's awesome how he starts piecing together the mystery, gathering all the clues that seem to add up to something impossible, and finally solving it--but then letting the brothers get away with avenging their sister. ;D
Saluki momshare
The one where the guy gets mugged and turned into a super hero. Not only was it cheesy, but how the hell was anyone supposed to think that was fact?
shareOf the ones I've seen, I'd say "Red Eyed Creature". Some people saw a weird red light in their house, and it looked like eyes. Then it was just some appliances. Finally, the nanny had glowing red eyes.
There was no suspicion on the nanny, and she didn't do anything evil. It was barely a story at all!
And why would that family have a live-in Irish nanny? If they could afford to pay her, they'd probably live in a nicer neighborhood.
There is no objective reality... and that's Sucker Punch