Anthology shows were common in the 50s and into the 60s. Wish they’d come back. The above list, IMHO, tends to slight the whimsical ones, which are usually my favorites. But it does mention “One for the Angels”, at least.
They’ve periodically tried to reboot the Twilight Zone over the years. The first was back in 1985 with no official host. Then again in 2002 hosted by Forest Whitaker and 2019 hosted by Jordan Peele. Of course there’s also been lots of other scifi/horror anthology shows over the years, like “The Outer Limits” (which orignally aired in the 60s and had a reboot back in the mid 90s), HBO’s “Tales from the Crypt”, “Night Gallery”, “Tales from the Darkside”, and Netflix’s “Black Mirror”. Most of the various reboots and imitators had a few good episodes here and there, but all pale in comparison to the the orginal.
I can’t seem to link to a free copy, but the WSJ Editorial take on Trump’s UN speech is downright glorious. Here it is for those with access.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Mr. Trump asked. “I’ve always said [the U.N.] has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.” Right.
Peacekeepers? “Not only is the U.N. not solving the problems it should, too often it is actually creating new problems for us to solve,” Mr. Trump said. Right again.
Mr. Trump didn’t say this but we will. Ukraine war? The U.N. has been hapless. Gaza? It’s mostly emboldened Hamas to refuse to compromise. China’s expansions in the South China Sea? Useless.
Mr. Trump also dared to violate the holiest of U.N. holies by casting doubt on its preoccupation with climate change. The “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” Mr. Trump said. That arguably goes too far, since global temperatures have climbed. But he’s surely right if he means that the trillions of dollars spent to stop the rise in temperature have accomplished nothing other than encourage political rent-seeking.
The AI generated narration was annoying. But I skimmed the timeline to check the episodes. I remember all of them, some more clearly than others. There has never been a better premise for a TV show: take a good strange short story, write a simple screenplay, and hire great actors to perform it. “One for the Angels” is an all time tear jerker, but I’d have picked “It’s a Good Life” as #1. I had the short story in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology a long time ago. It’s one of those rare instances where the screenplay was as good as the written story.
JWM
Great video on the Twilight Zone, and I think they did a terrific job picking out the episodes. I was flipping through the episodes just a few months ago and watched (#11) The Lonely, and enjoyed it. A striking actress and I always like Jack Warden’s performances.
My two favorites are (#12) The Nick of Time with Shatner, and (#10) The Hitchhiker. The first speaks for itself with fantastic writing. The second is very eerie and creepy in its own right, but even more so for me.
Inger Stevens is quite attractive in the episode, and I had seen her in a movie when I was very young and was taken by her stylishness then. The weird thing about the episode was the seeming connection between the fiction and real life, as the character becomes very alienated as it progresses, and Stevens herself was beset by alienation and eventually committed suicide.
Another great one (#8) It’s A Good Life is the Bill Mummy episode where the little boy has super powers. Cloris Leachman looks great at this age. This one was remade in the Twilight Zone, the movie, with Kathleen Quinlan starring. I don’t recall the other actors, but her performance, and the entire remade episode were terrific, and better than the original, I think.
AesopFan, thanks for your comment in yesterday’s Roundup re the rogue telecom network at https://thenewneo.com/2025/09/23/roundup-163/#comment-2823564
The agent said there are no arrests to announce at this time. I wonder if the culprits all escaped, and if there are informants. I also noticed that what he said didn’t rule out the FBI, so maybe inter-department rivalries were a factor?
I also agree with Chris Plante that “Matt McCool” is a great name for a Secret Service agent.
I was out of the country when this series first aired and I only ever remember seeing one: it had an alien running on the wing of an airliner in flight..Scared the heck out of me, and it’s not even mentioned in this revue.
F,
Actually, that episode is mentioned, but only in passing. It was the other William Shatner episode, Nightmare At 20,000 feet, mentioned at time 3:13 in the video. I believe that it got remade in The Twilight Zone, The Movie.
It’s quite famous, which is partly why the video creator skipped it. IMDB.com rates it as the #2 most popular episode, after Eye Of The Beholder, which is #1.
Of course they chose 13 episodes!
I never saw any of the original broadcast shows, I have no idea why. Nor did the reruns make it into any of my viewing. Also no idea why. But I have always known about the show, and seen isolated stories and clips.
Maybe I will get time to finally look at them all when the news cycle slows down a little bit.
Sometimes I think we are living in a Twilight Zone universe.
Radio is a better medium for sci-fi than television, and the all-time best anthology series were Dimension X and X Minus One.
Before we get to the year we are closing out, I have to report the latest just in. Jimmy Kimmel is returning to the air! To his own show! ABC have reversed their decision. Wow would you look at that? Commiserations to everyone who got excited that they were victims of their own fantasy Third Reich. Afraid not. You’ll have to resurrect Mussolini and vote him in for that. Never before now have I seen so much confirmation bias from never-Trumper media guzzlers desperate to prove that it’s happening – and by it, they mean the Holocaust, and they’re not talking about the 48 hostages remaining in Gaza. Oy.
I realized why Kimmel is the hero now. All the opposition have is the same old jokes about Trump. They’ve done all they can to dehumanize him. It’s lost the election. It’s continuing to lose. It’s the only plan of attack. Bullying the President and then calling the President the bully. The jokes are tired. They’re not selling any more for the networks. Hollywood is losing its influence and its grip. Who is the narcissist so desperate to control the narrative here?
So let me just say this to our Jews in Hollywood. The managers. The publicists. The agents. The bookers. The comedians. The writers. Etc. Find your ruach. That’s your inner being. I bid you all a pensive Rosh Hashanah, and I would like to give you something to chew over as we venture towards Yom Kippur. How dare you finally choose to speak out about a late night show host being suspended, opining about free speech, after spending the last 700+ days remaining completely silent as your talent, your products and your projects have waltzed down red carpets, signed petitions, jeopardized press campaigns and co-opted their acceptance speeches to promote Jew hatred, Islamism and Jihad. You haven’t so much as worn a yellow pin for the hostages yourselves. You haven’t said a word about Hamas, or the hostages. You haven’t posted a thing about October 7.
…
Anyway onto the real world.
While you’re all reeling about authoritarianism in America, I’d just like to update you that over in the UK and Australia and Canada (and now France, who are fashionably late), the leadership have recognized a state of Palestine, rewarding terrorism and Jihadists with sovereignty. Where, we don’t know. Because borders and people are undefined. That didn’t matter to these leaders who prize terrorism over common sense. It is so not serious, and a stain on the histories of these Western nations, reverse-winding them at speed to days of true colonialism. But worse. This time there is no personal gain and a guarantee of this returning with a blast upon their own shores pretty soon. Pay for slay is now state sanctioned by these former bastions of Western progress. In the 1940s, Great Britain defeated Nazism. In the 2020s, Great Britain surrendered to it.
Keir, Sir, do you know what we Jews did this year? We took out our enemies.
…
This weekend in America, there was another shooting outside a country club, and the shooter screamed Free Palestine before he fired. This move to recognize a state of Palestine does not Free Palestine. No, they have not just somehow come up with the magic solution that neither Israelis nor American diplomats haven’t been able to achieve in 80 years. “Free Palestine” is not about Palestinians or civilians in Gaza. “Free Palestine” is a call to violence. That’s why the Palestinian leadership have never once accepted any offer of land by which to name a state. “Free Palestine” will never exist other than in the bullets and knives and bombs that carry its message. This move to recognize a state is but a self-congratulatory hallucination, paid for by Qatar.
…
Let’s briefly turn our attention to the UN, aka Useless Nitwits. The UN Security Council has deliberately scheduled an important briefing regarding the war in Gaza for Tuesday, as in tomorrow, [9/23] as in the first day of Rosh Hashanah. The UN General Assembly will meet without Jews and Israelis. It’s like agreeing to a boxing match on the one day that the defending champion can’t show up, and going home with the medal. Could they be more pathetic?
…
David Levy [Jewish agent recently fired by artist Dua Lipa], I am sorry this happened to you. I have made the mistake of assuming they wouldn’t do it to me but every single one of them did, even the ones I had a personal history with. And I am glad they did, because now I can stop explaining myself to them. I can stop defending myself to them as they force me to turn out my empty pockets. I can stop believing and deluding myself that they were really good deep down and would understand. I can stop wondering why they insisted so much that they love Jews! Instead I can stand tall, alone, a Jew who won’t compromise.
Except I’m not alone. I’m with all of you.
Shana Tova everyone. This has been a year. And what I’m taking with me into the next one is that roots run deep, and so does loyalty – to myself, to my people, and to the age-old truth. Here’s to rebuilding as Am Yisrael, one bold and honest step at a time.
“If you want a state, kill some Jews. That’s the sick message Sir Keir Starmer has just broadcast to the world.”
OT and all that, reading French:
I’ve got a decent vocabulary and a decent grasp of grammar, but there are all these brief expressions with short words which baffle me.
Chat tells me: Of course you are confused. French schoolchildren are confused. They spend many hours in school rehearsing dictées (dictations) to get all those little distinctions straight.
The French actually have nationally televised contests on this stuff.
Good, I guess. I thought it was me.
@ huxley > “They spend many hours in school rehearsing dictées (dictations) to get all those little distinctions straight.”
“In France, every Frenchman knows his language from A to Zed — the French don’t care what you do, actually, so long as you pronounce it properly.” — Henry Higgins
Heh, Ha! AesopFan, yep — or maybe even (if we permit a bit of further imaginative license) Milei seems to be handing off the fight to a couple of guys name of Madison and Hamilton . . . and bingo:
bif, bop, BAM, splat
Can’t say I much care for their choice of episodes, but to each his own. My choice for best Twilight Zone episode is #65 “The Obsolete Man” starring Burgess Meredith. It was made in an age when naziism and communism were thought of as twins, not opposites.
#141 “Spur of the Moment” was also good and also the product of a different time if you watch it all the way through.
So many good episodes to choose from, which I guess is why the show is considered to be one of the all-time greats.
@mkent;
Yeah, “Spur Of The Moment” is a classic, and a fun time capsule. It would be interesting to remake it today and see what viewers say.
Pre 1960: Anne should listen to her father and marry Robert!
After 1960: Anne should listen to her heart and marry David!
Now: Anne should go to business school so she can learn to manage the estate herself and forget about marrying either one of them.
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Anthology shows were common in the 50s and into the 60s. Wish they’d come back. The above list, IMHO, tends to slight the whimsical ones, which are usually my favorites. But it does mention “One for the Angels”, at least.
Another piece of evidence for two propositions:
==
A. We’re an occupied country.
==
B. School administrators are this country’s enemies.
==
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/09/22/la-lausd-ban-fifth-grade-plays-about-u-s-history-culturally-insensitive/
==
The article does not tell you who made this asinine decision. The Superintendent of Schools in Los Angeles is Alberto M. Carvalho
—
https://superintendent.lausd.org/
They’ve periodically tried to reboot the Twilight Zone over the years. The first was back in 1985 with no official host. Then again in 2002 hosted by Forest Whitaker and 2019 hosted by Jordan Peele. Of course there’s also been lots of other scifi/horror anthology shows over the years, like “The Outer Limits” (which orignally aired in the 60s and had a reboot back in the mid 90s), HBO’s “Tales from the Crypt”, “Night Gallery”, “Tales from the Darkside”, and Netflix’s “Black Mirror”. Most of the various reboots and imitators had a few good episodes here and there, but all pale in comparison to the the orginal.
I can’t seem to link to a free copy, but the WSJ Editorial take on Trump’s UN speech is downright glorious. Here it is for those with access.
Trump Unplugged at Turtle Bay
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-united-nations-general-assembly-remarks-a2a3cdce
The AI generated narration was annoying. But I skimmed the timeline to check the episodes. I remember all of them, some more clearly than others. There has never been a better premise for a TV show: take a good strange short story, write a simple screenplay, and hire great actors to perform it. “One for the Angels” is an all time tear jerker, but I’d have picked “It’s a Good Life” as #1. I had the short story in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology a long time ago. It’s one of those rare instances where the screenplay was as good as the written story.
JWM
Great video on the Twilight Zone, and I think they did a terrific job picking out the episodes. I was flipping through the episodes just a few months ago and watched (#11) The Lonely, and enjoyed it. A striking actress and I always like Jack Warden’s performances.
My two favorites are (#12) The Nick of Time with Shatner, and (#10) The Hitchhiker. The first speaks for itself with fantastic writing. The second is very eerie and creepy in its own right, but even more so for me.
Inger Stevens is quite attractive in the episode, and I had seen her in a movie when I was very young and was taken by her stylishness then. The weird thing about the episode was the seeming connection between the fiction and real life, as the character becomes very alienated as it progresses, and Stevens herself was beset by alienation and eventually committed suicide.
Another great one (#8) It’s A Good Life is the Bill Mummy episode where the little boy has super powers. Cloris Leachman looks great at this age. This one was remade in the Twilight Zone, the movie, with Kathleen Quinlan starring. I don’t recall the other actors, but her performance, and the entire remade episode were terrific, and better than the original, I think.
AesopFan, thanks for your comment in yesterday’s Roundup re the rogue telecom network at https://thenewneo.com/2025/09/23/roundup-163/#comment-2823564
The agent said there are no arrests to announce at this time. I wonder if the culprits all escaped, and if there are informants. I also noticed that what he said didn’t rule out the FBI, so maybe inter-department rivalries were a factor?
I also agree with Chris Plante that “Matt McCool” is a great name for a Secret Service agent.
I was out of the country when this series first aired and I only ever remember seeing one: it had an alien running on the wing of an airliner in flight..Scared the heck out of me, and it’s not even mentioned in this revue.
F,
Actually, that episode is mentioned, but only in passing. It was the other William Shatner episode, Nightmare At 20,000 feet, mentioned at time 3:13 in the video. I believe that it got remade in The Twilight Zone, The Movie.
It’s quite famous, which is partly why the video creator skipped it. IMDB.com rates it as the #2 most popular episode, after Eye Of The Beholder, which is #1.
Of course they chose 13 episodes!
I never saw any of the original broadcast shows, I have no idea why. Nor did the reruns make it into any of my viewing. Also no idea why. But I have always known about the show, and seen isolated stories and clips.
Maybe I will get time to finally look at them all when the news cycle slows down a little bit.
Sometimes I think we are living in a Twilight Zone universe.
Radio is a better medium for sci-fi than television, and the all-time best anthology series were Dimension X and X Minus One.
Javier Milei lets the UN have it with all the barrels. Go, see, hear: https://x.com/LizaRosen0000/status/1970855191218970987
bof,
Art Bell used the effect of listening to radio at night to create brilliant theater. He was a true, broadcast genius!
The woman in the Masks with the lighter hair, Virginia Gregg, did the much of the voice over for “Mother” in “Psycho.” She was an interesting actress.
I haven’t seen many of those. Only a few.
@ sdferr – I listened to the full video.
Are Milei and Trump playing tag team wrestling?
Kinda sorta relevant to some of our recent topics here.
Eve Barlow is not a happy camper.
h/t PowerLine
https://evebarlow.substack.com/p/the-year-that-was-5785
Spiked! isn’t happy with Mr. Starmer either.
(also via PowerLine)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/09/22/keir-starmer-has-emboldened-the-enemies-of-humanity/
“If you want a state, kill some Jews. That’s the sick message Sir Keir Starmer has just broadcast to the world.”
OT and all that, reading French:
I’ve got a decent vocabulary and a decent grasp of grammar, but there are all these brief expressions with short words which baffle me.
Chat tells me: Of course you are confused. French schoolchildren are confused. They spend many hours in school rehearsing dictées (dictations) to get all those little distinctions straight.
The French actually have nationally televised contests on this stuff.
Good, I guess. I thought it was me.
@ huxley > “They spend many hours in school rehearsing dictées (dictations) to get all those little distinctions straight.”
“In France, every Frenchman knows his language from A to Zed — the French don’t care what you do, actually, so long as you pronounce it properly.” — Henry Higgins
Heh, Ha! AesopFan, yep — or maybe even (if we permit a bit of further imaginative license) Milei seems to be handing off the fight to a couple of guys name of Madison and Hamilton . . . and bingo:
bif, bop, BAM, splat
Can’t say I much care for their choice of episodes, but to each his own. My choice for best Twilight Zone episode is #65 “The Obsolete Man” starring Burgess Meredith. It was made in an age when naziism and communism were thought of as twins, not opposites.
#141 “Spur of the Moment” was also good and also the product of a different time if you watch it all the way through.
So many good episodes to choose from, which I guess is why the show is considered to be one of the all-time greats.
@mkent;
Yeah, “Spur Of The Moment” is a classic, and a fun time capsule. It would be interesting to remake it today and see what viewers say.
Pre 1960: Anne should listen to her father and marry Robert!
After 1960: Anne should listen to her heart and marry David!
Now: Anne should go to business school so she can learn to manage the estate herself and forget about marrying either one of them.