Top Ten Reasons to be Thankful in the Twilight Zone

With its twist endings and ironic turns of fate, even the most die-hard Twilight Zone fan might have trouble believing there’s much to give thanks for in the fifth dimension. But it turns out there are reasons to be grateful even in that elusive “middle ground between light and shadow”.

So here, to peruse sometime after the pumpkin pie and coffee is served, are the Top Ten Reasons to be Thankful in the Twilight Zone:

10) You finally got that new bomb shelter built — just in time to show the neighbors!

9) Global Airlines is offering half-off fares to the Jurassic era.

8) All that canned turkey you found? The old man in the cave says it’s safe to eat!

7) Maya the Cat Girl has a new roller coaster she can’t wait to show you.

“A Street in Dallas”: JFK and the Twilight Zone

November 22,1963 was just an ordinary Friday. For a while, anyway.

The Twilight Zone aired on Fridays during four of its five seasons. And on November 22, 1963, Richard Matheson’s “Night Call” was set to air. But when an assassin’s bullet cut down President John F. Kennedy earlier that day, every network immediately shifted to continuous coverage of the tragic news.

Every American alive then can tell you where he or she was when that news first hit. They wept. They prayed. And in the case of Rod Serling, they wrote.

“This is a Series for the Storyteller”: Serling on The Twilight Zone

Recently I was contacted by a reporter working on an article about the latest release of The Twilight Zone on DVD. We talked about many aspects of the show, but the first thing he asked was why I thought it continues to have such lasting appeal.

It’s a fair question. I mean, it’s been 50 years! TV shows come and go by the truckload. In an age of digital streaming and CGI wonders, what accounts for the popularity of some black-and-white series that premiered back when Dwight Eisenhower was president?

There are many ingredients you can point to: the acting, the photography, the twist endings. And quite rightly; TZ was a first-class affair from top to bottom.

TZ on DVD: “Definitive” No More

Planning to give the gift of imagination this Christmas? For the fifth-dimension fans in your life, The Twilight Zone on DVD is hard to top. But if you like extras on your discs, it will soon be hard to get.

That’s because Image Entertainment will stop offering their “Definitive Collection” DVDs on Dec. 1. Soon only independent vendors on Amazon, eBay and other websites will carry them.

That doesn’t mean the series won’t be available on DVD anymore. In fact, Image has been re-issuing the series a season at a time over the last year or two, and will unveil a boxed set of the whole collection on Nov. 19.