The Twilight Zone’s Dirty Dozen

“We had some real turkeys, some fair ones, and some shows I’m really proud to have been a part of. I can walk away from this series unbowed.” — Rod Serling

Turkeys? Serling may have been his own harshest critic, but he wasn’t entirely wrong here. Even a series as distinguished as The Twilight Zone, with a hit-to-miss ratio that most TV producers would kill for, had a few misfires along the way.

But which ones missed the mark? It’s entirely subjective. One man’s gem is another man’s junk. Bring up “The Bewitchin’ Pool,” and you’ll hear from people who consider it a delightful fantasy, and others who think it’s a clunker. Many people find “One for the Angels” sweet and charming; others can’t get past the fact that Ed Wynn is hardly convincing as a fast-talking pitchman.

I even spoke to a man once who’d been going through TZ in order and said he had finally hit a dud. Curious, I asked which one. His reply: “The Invaders,” which nearly everyone hails as a Zone classic.

But these debates are part of the fun. It’s interesting to compare notes, as we do with our favorite TZs, and discuss what we don’t like — and why.

Here are the 12 episodes you’ll find at the bottom of my list. Now, I’m not saying every one is an irredeemable time-waster. Even the worst TZ is better than much of what you’ll find on TV; they fall short mainly when measured against TZ’s routine excellence. And there are some aspects of nearly every episode below that I do like.

But for my money, the fifth-dimensional flops include:

Saving “Almost Human”

I’ve been running this blog for almost three years now, but I’ve never written about anything other than the works of Rod Serling. Until today.

I’m making an exception because I don’t just believe in the past when it comes to high-quality science fiction. I believe in the future as well. And for my money, the series Almost Human is a prime example of that future.

I’m not putting it on a par with The Twilight Zone, which is in a class by itself. But Almost Human is a show that can make you laugh and make you think. Most of all, it’s a show that keeps you entertained.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time excoriating Fox for cancelling it, or making a detailed case for keeping it. I urge you to check it out on Hulu or iTunes or whatever service or site you use to watch TV shows.