The Unnatural

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General manager: Want to look at a pitcher?

Mouth McGarry (Jack Warden): At this point, I'll even look at you.

General manager: He's a lefty.

Mouth McGarry: Lefty, schmefty. What's the difference? If he's got more than one arm and less than four, he's for us.

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Twilight Zone is absolutely one of my favorite TV series of all time. But no series is perfect, and Twilight Zone certainly had its share of misfires. I have mentioned before how I always watch the Syfy Channel's semiannual Twilight Zone marathons on New Year's and the Fourth of July and how there are certain episodes I always make it a habit to watch, whenever they happen to be aired.

Likewise, there are episodes I avoid. Those are the episodes I loathed the first time I saw them. Oddly enough, those episodes often turn out to be the most popular among other Twilight Zone fans. (I've never been able to explain that. It's kind of like being in my own personal Twilight Zone episode.)

That seems to be the case with the episode that first aired on this date in 1960 — "The Mighty Casey," a title that was inspired by Ernest Thayer's 1888 poem "Casey at the Bat." Now, I will admit that I have always liked baseball — more when I was a boy than now, I suppose — but I just never warmed up to this episode.

Others did, though.

The tale was about a fictional down–and–out baseball team called the Hoboken Zephyrs that was so bad it had to call a single victory a streak. The story opened with the team holding tryouts — and drawing a pretty motley crew.

Jack Warden played the beleaguered manager. He was convinced there were no — ahem — diamonds in the rough.

And then an older man came to the dugout. Warden thought it was a joke — a middle–aged man angling for a role as a rookie pitcher? No, he was a scientist who wanted to introduce Warden to the pitching prospect, s somber–faced fellow named Casey. The older man was Casey's creator. Casey, you see, was a robot.

Warden sent him out to the mound to throw a few pitches. His fastball scorched the catcher's mitt.

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His off–speed stuff bewildered batters who tried to hit it. Granted, they were Zephyrs — and wannabe Zephyrs. The real test would come when he faced legitimate big–league batters.

Warden figured he had nothing to lose — his club was already 31 games out of first place — so he put Casey on his roster.

And it really seemed to pay off. The mysterious Casey appeared unbeatable. He went on a shutout binge; he put together a real winning streak and had Warden dreaming of winning a pennant.

Then disaster struck. Casey got beaned in a game and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. While he was there, it was determined that he had no pulse, no heartbeat.

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Baseball rules clearly state that a lineup must be made up of nine men — and Casey didn't qualify, but his creator said he could give Casey a heart if that was what was necessary to earn the designation of human.

And that's what he did.

But, when Casey rejoined the club, there was a problem. The addition of a heart had given him something he had never had before — compassion.

It was obvious right away that something was different. He was smiling.

And when he took the mound, it was crystal clear that something was different. His pitches didn't baffle hitters. They were connecting — and frequently, spraying hits everywhere and driving in runs in bunches.

In the locker room, the scientist and Casey tried to explain to the manager that he no longer had the killer instinct that had served him so well before.

Casey said the scientist had urged him to go into social work, and that was what he was going to do. "I want to help people," he said as he left the locker room.

And the Zephyrs were back where they had been before Casey came along.

The scientist left Casey's blueprints with the manager — and it was strongly implied that those blueprints eventually were used to create a pitching staff that enjoyed great success.

As I say, I just never really cared for this episode. There were times during its run that Twilight Zone dabbled in stories about robots, and I never really liked them.

A Different Drummer

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Secretary: Can I get you anything, sir?

Gart (James Daly): Yes, a sharp razor and a chart of the human anatomy showing all the arteries.

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"A Stop at Willoughby," the episode of the Twilight Zone that premiered on this day in 1960, has always been one of my favorite episodes from the series — and I'll be damned if I know why.

I do know that Rod Serling said it was his favorite episode from the first season of the Twilight Zone, but I'm not certain that he ever said why. Maybe he didn't know.

I'm a devotee of the Twilight Zone marathons on Syfy every Fourth of July and New Year's. Most of the time, the marathon is composed of episodes from the original series, but once it was half episodes from the series that ran in the mid–1980s — which I enjoyed even though most of my friends didn't care for the second incarnation of the series — and I had fun getting to see those episodes again.

My point is, though, that every time Syfy has a Twilight Zone marathon, I look for "A Stop at Willoughby" in the schedule, and I am sure to watch it, whenever it is on, even if it is in the middle of the night. I've been known to get up out of bed to watch it.

I still can't tell you why I like it so much. I can only tell you that there are a handful of Twilight Zone episodes that are like that for me. I haven't met a Twilight Zone fan who is not like that about certain episodes. Some of them can tell you exactly why they like the episodes so much, but most seem to be like me. I can't tell you why I like certain episodes the way I do — nor can I tell you why I dislike certain episodes, too. There are some that I will look for in the schedule so I will know when not to watch the marathon.

The only conclusion I have been able to reach is that we Twilight Zone fans are a discerning bunch. We can be passionate about watching certain episodes — and just as passionate about not watching other ones.

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It probably has something to do with the fact that the protagonist feels trapped in his job, his life, his everything. He didn't think he was being true to himself. I've felt that way. I know exactly how he felt. Most of us probably do.

Anyway, "A Stop at Willoughby" was about an advertising executive named Gart (James Daly) who had been pushed to his limits by the stress of his business. As the audience was just getting to know him, he was in a high–pressure meeting waiting for his young protege, who had been given a $3 million account to handle.

Turned out, the protege had resigned and taken the $3 million account with him to another agency. We all have bad days, but Gart's was textbook bad. On the train ride home, after glancing out at the falling snow, Gart dozed off. He was probably in a hurry to get the day over with.

And Gart began to dream — a really odd dream that had him riding in a turn–of–the–century train and visiting a turn–of–the–century place called Willoughby in the summer of 1888. It was a serene place of town squares and horse–drawn wagons, barefoot boys with fishing poles and band concerts — very appealing for a man who preferred a slower pace. Gart could see it from his window. But before Gart could leave the train, he woke up and he was back in the present day with all of his problems.

He found no sympathy when he got home. He found a wife whose opinion of him was that he lacked the drive to succeed.

That's what the episode was about — the pressure to produce even if one works in a field he loathes. Sometimes that can be done. Apparently, at one time, Gart had been one of those people who could produce in spite of a work environment he detested. But no more — and he knew it.

"Some people aren't built for competition," Gart told his wife, "or big, pretentious houses they can't afford. Or rich communities they don't feel comfortable in. Or country clubs they wear around their necks like a badge of status."

Gart dreamed of Willoughby again when he was commuting on the train, but again he was unable to get off before the train started to move. He resolved to get off the next time.

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And he did.

He reached his breaking point at the office and called his wife, begging her to be home when he got there, but she hung up on him.

He was next seen riding the train again. He fell asleep again, too, but not before expressing the desire to return to Willoughby again. And he did. He got off the train and mingled with the people there.

The next thing the viewers saw was the modern train stopped along the tracks. A passenger had jumped from the train and was lying dead in a snow bank. A hearse was on the scene to pick up the body. After the body was loaded, the hatch was closed, and the audience could see "Willoughby & Son Funeral Home" written on it.

Gart had escaped.

The Return of the Twilight Zone Marathon

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One of the pleasures I permit myself is the Syfy Channel's Twilight Zone Marathon, traditionally held twice a year — around New Year's Day and around the Fourth of July.

I don't know how long this has been done. When I first became aware of it, the marathon was two, even three days long. It always included the holiday, and it included the day before and/or the day after the holiday as well.

Over the years, the marathon has grown gradually smaller. At some point, it was reduced to two days, and now it is only one day. It makes me wonder if this tradition's days are numbered — so to speak.

A few years ago, Syfy experimented with the format a little. Most of the time, the marathon had been strictly episodes from the original Rod Serling–hosted series, but one year, half of the marathon was devoted to those original episodes and half of the marathon was episodes from the reincarnation of the series in the mid–1980s.

I rather liked that arrangement. It gave me an opportunity to see some episodes I hadn't seen in more than 20 years. But Syfy hasn't done that since.

Anyway, I am writing all this because the Fourth of July Marathon is two weeks from today, and I have been looking at the online schedule to see which episodes are being shown.

I wish I could report that a rarely seen episode will be shown at a certain time, but I saw nothing on the schedule that I haven't seen fairly frequently over the years. The marathon starts at 7 a.m. (Central) on the Fourth of July and wraps up at 5 a.m. the next day.

I've always had a fondness for the Twilight Zone's historical episodes, but my favorites — "Back There," which was about the Lincoln assassination, and "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms," which was about Custer's Last Stand — are not scheduled.

Most of the episodes that are considered iconic today are scheduled to be shown, like "Nick of Time," in which William Shatner and his new bride are prisoners of a fortune–telling machine in a diner; "Where Is Everybody," the very first episode in which Earl Holliman hallucinates in a sensory deprivation unit; "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," in which Shatner believes he sees a gremlin trying to sabotage the plane in which he is traveling; and a couple of Burgess Meredith's best episodes, "The Obsolete Man," about a librarian who is declared obsolete, and "Time Enough at Last," about a voracious reader who survives a nuclear exchange and suddenly finds himself with enough time on his hands to read all the books he has always wanted to read.

(Those last two, incidentally, will be shown back to back.)

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Another classic episode is "To Serve Man," about a group of seemingly generous benefactors from outer space whose only real objective is to fatten the people of earth so they can be a food source for aliens.

That one will be shown on Fourth of July night. You can watch it if you don't have to go to a fireworks display somewhere.

In the absence of any rarely seen episodes on the schedule, I guess I will warn you not to watch certain episodes that I find tedious. (Obviously, you may disagree with me on one, some or all of these so please take my recommendations with the customary grain of salt.)

At noon (Central), the marathon will feature "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You," a futuristic episode in which every person undergoes a transformation into his/her choice of one of several perfect bodies. A girl (Collin Wilcox) who is about to be transformed resists, preferring to hold on to her individual identity.

That would have been a good message — except the character capitulated in the end.

I always skip that one. I also skip the one that is scheduled to follow it, "I Sing the Body Electric," which was about a family without a mother. The father was torn between his duty as a breadwinner and his role as a parent. The solution seems to be a robotic grandmother.

There were some abandonment issues that were raised by the story, but it didn't have the Twilight Zone's usual punchy ending. Written by Ray Bradbury, it was mostly the basis for a short story Bradbury would publish a few years later.

"It's a Good Life," which is scheduled for 3 p.m. (Central), starred Bill Mumy as Anthony, a little boy who could wish things away — and consequently terrorized his little town.

A lot of people regard it as one of the best episodes of the series, but I don't. I suppose I liked it well enough when I first saw it, but it didn't have the staying power with me that it had with others. Some of the episodes I can watch over and over again, but not this one. Maybe Mumy is too solidly entrenched in my memory as the little boy from Lost in Space, one of my TV favorites from early in my childhood.

Whatever the reason, I generally skip that episode. I plan to skip it two weeks from today, too.

Other than that, though, I'm fine with the schedule, and I'll probably spend most of the Fourth of July in the Twilight Zone. As usual.

The Twilight Zone Marathon Returns

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The cable channel formerly known as the Sci Fi Channel (and now known as the Syfy Channel) will resume its Fourth of July tradition of a multi–day marathon of Twilight Zone episodes.

This time last year, I mentioned here that this tradition had been disrupted, but it will be restored this year — according to the Syfy online schedule.

If you're familiar with the history of the original Twilight Zone series, you know that nearly all the episodes were 30 minutes long. The series ran for five years (1959–64), and, in nearly every season, the episodes were half an hour, (the fourth season, in which episodes were an hour in length, was the sole exception).

In past marathons, Syfy has shown the hour–long episodes in the early hours of the morning or in the middle of the afternoon. Prime time was reserved for the classic half–hour episodes.

I've looked at the schedule, and I have seen none of the hour–long episodes listed so I have to conclude that the fourth season will be left out of this year's marathon entirely.

I have discovered a few nuggets of rarely seen Twilight Zone gold that you may want to watch while you have the opportunity.

On Sunday, July 3, may I recommend:

• "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" at 10 a.m. (Central).
  
  I rarely see this episode, and you probably won't recognize anyone in the cast — but it's a great story about a young man who died — and then sat up in his coffin at his funeral. He began behaving in a — shall we say? — bizarre fashion thereafter.
  
  Looking for a chill on a hot summer day? This will get you there.


• "Death's Head Revisited" at 5 p.m. (Central).
  
  I always liked this episode, and I have seen it far too infrequently over the years. It is about a Nazi officer who once presided with an iron hand over the prisoners in a World War II concentration camp. He returns, after years of hiding, and is confronted by the ghosts of his victims.
  
  If you have never seen it, I highly recommend it.

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• "The Howling Man" at 7:30 p.m. (Central).
  
  I've seen this one a little more frequently. It's about a mysterious monastery that has the devil under lock and key, but a man seeking shelter for the night releases him, not realizing the identity of the prisoner.
  
  And the devil was unleashed upon the world, bringing to an end a period of relative harmony in the world. Perfect harmony, as Brother Jerome tells the man, is not possible, but unchecked evil makes things worse than they have to be.

And next Monday the Fourth, why not give these episodes a glimpse?

• "The Hunt" at 9 a.m. (Central).
  
  Remember the old Rip Van Winkle story? This episode always kind of reminded me of that one. It wasn't exactly a re–telling of the story, but it certainly could have been inspired by it.
  
  An old man and his dog drown while on a nighttime hunting trip. Unaware that they have died, their spirits return to their home, where no one can see them. The rest of the story deals with their adjustment to the afterlife.
  
  OK, the ending is a little corny.

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• "And When the Sky Was Opened" at 2:30 p.m. (Central).
  
  Three astronauts return from a trip to outer space, then, one by one, they vanish, leaving no trace that they were ever around.
  
  In the past, this one has been part of Syfy's marathon sometimes — and sometimes it hasn't.
  
  This year, it is. Catch it while it's on.


• "The Obsolete Man" at 5 p.m. (Central).
  
  I wrote about this one earlier this month — on the 50th anniversary of its debut.
  
  You can see three of the four Burgess Meredith Twilight Zone episodes in this year's Fourth of July marathon, and this is one of them. I recommend it.

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• "A Stop at Willoughby" at 8:30 p.m. (Central).
  
  If you aren't going out to see a fireworks display, may I suggest that you catch this episode?
  
  It's kind of a cautionary tale, still relevant in today's high–pressure environment, even though it first aired more than 50 years ago.
  
  James Daly plays an advertising executive who dozes off on the commuter train and wakes up in the 19th century — on board an old–fashioned train that stops in a sleepy village called Willoughby where the pace is slow and people go fishing and attend band concerts, not staff meetings.

Well, that's just a sample of what is available on Sunday and Monday, at just about any hour of the day or night (there are a couple of hours in the early morning when paid programming will air — gotta pay the bills, don't you know).

You can catch a good episode just about any time you tune in on Sunday or Monday.

Have a good holiday weekend.

What You Need

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Within the next 48 hours, we will say goodbye to 2010.

For some of us, the year can't end too soon. It's a time to look ahead to the future.

But, once again, the Syfy Channel (formerly the SciFi Channel) urges us to look to the past as a new year begins. It does so with its annual New Year's Eve and New Year's Day Twilight Zone marathon.

It may be just what you need.

I say that after having glanced through Syfy's online schedule for the marathon listings, and it does not appear that a first–season episode — which aired for the first time on Christmas Day 1959 — called "What You Need" is going to be shown.

That's too bad — because it has always been one of my favorite episodes — and it seems to be the right message.

Simply put, it's the story of a hoodlum (Steve Cochran) and an old man (Ernest Truex). The old man is a sidewalk salesman who always knows precisely what people will need before they need it. The hoodlum decides that what he needs is to take advantage of the situation.

It's a good episode, and, as I say, it would have made a good theme for the TZ marathon. But I'll see it again. I'm sure I will because Syfy does show it from time to time — as do other channels.

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What always intrigues me in these marathons is the opportunity to see the episodes that I seldom see — and one such episode practically jumps out at me tomorrow morning — "The Four of Us Are Dying" — about a gangster (Harry Townes) who can "twitch a muscle, move a jaw, concentrate on the cast of his eyes, and he can change his face."

It's a good episode, not a great one. And I have seen it before — but not often.

And I'll watch it if I'm awake. It's on fairly early tomorrow — 7:30 a.m. Central.

Here's hoping you all have a safe and happy new year.

The End Must Be Near

For nearly 17 years, it went by the name Sci–Fi Channel — or some variation — but just about a year ago, the name was changed to Syfy.

It began its existence devoted to science fiction and fantasy programming. My interest in those genres is somewhat minimal so I rarely watched Sci–Fi — but I always tuned in on the Fourth of July and New Year's Day to see at least part of the channel's traditional Twilight Zone marathons, which typically ran for two or three days.

I don't know when this tradition began. I first became aware of it about 10 years ago, purely by accident, and I've been watching the marathons ever since. For many years, the channel showed only episodes from the series' original run back in the late 1950s and early 1960s — but last Fourth of July, Sci–Fi devoted half of its three–day marathon to seldom–seen episodes from the series' second run in the mid– to late 1980s.

Just after last year's marathon, the channel changed its name. Why? Well, I can only assume from what I have read that the channel wanted to broaden its appeal. Sci–Fi apparently was too restricting, drawing only the fringe elements of the audience.

Science fiction and fantasy haven't been discontinued on the network, we have been assured, but reality programming and more mainstream entertainment have enhanced roles in the channel's marketing strategy. Hence, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will be added to the lineup in October.

Last year, the founder of the Sci–Fi Channel said, "The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular. ... We spent a lot of time in the '90s trying to distance the network from science fiction, which is largely why it's called Sci Fi."

Presumably, the moniker Syfy — which, apparently, was chosen because it is the way it would be written in a text message — makes the channel appear less geeky and more appealing to mainstream viewers, especially females. It is intended to be visually unique while still pronounced the same, although some have taken to derisively pronouncing it "Siffy."

The change had no discernible influence on the tradition of the New Year's Twilight Zone marathon so it caught me by surprise recently when I went to Syfy's website to look at the Fourth of July schedule to see when my favorite episodes would air.

I was stunned when I found that, while there will be a marathon on that channel for the Fourth of July, it will be dedicated to episodes of The Greatest American Hero.

Maybe the Fourth of July marathon has been moved to another holiday. Maybe it has been discontinued. I don't know.

All I know is, if Syfy wants me to remain in its audience — even in what was my limited, usually twice–a–year way — it's doing all the wrong things.

And if anyone from Syfy is reading this, I have only one word of advice: Bring back Twilight Zone.

Time for the Twilight Zone Marathon

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In two weeks, the new year will be upon us. The arrival of a new year is an occasion to indulge in some established, well–known traditions, like drinking champagne, getting a kiss for luck and singing "Auld Lang Syne."

Some traditions are not as obvious but are, nevertheless, significant.

For example, if you're like me, you love the original Twilight Zone TV series — the one that had Rod Serling and some great writers and some great performers.

And, if you love the Twilight Zone, perhaps you've gotten in the habit of watching the annual New Year's and Fourth of July Twilight Zone marathons on SciFi — excuse me, that is Syfy now.

Well, I have some news. If you watched the marathon last summer, you know that the first half of the marathon was devoted to episodes from the series' second incarnation — in the mid–1980s. Some Twilight Zone purists never really took to the revival. I don't know why. Maybe it was because it was in color or because Serling wasn't part of the project. Neither of those things could be changed. Television had long since converted to color programming by the time the revival came on the air, and Serling had been deceased for a decade.

Personally, I enjoyed the revival series, and I enjoyed seeing some of those episodes again last summer. I have seldom had the opportunity to see them since the first time they were shown.

Well, I've been looking at the schedule for the New Year's marathon at the Syfy website, and, unfortunately, it does not appear that the episodes from the second series will be part of it.

As I say, some Twilight Zone fans will see that as a good thing, and I guess it is hard to argue the point. It means there will be two consecutive days and nights, Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, of Rod Serling's original Twilight Zone, which is probably appropriate, since 2009 marked half a century since the debut of the Twilight Zone.

Anyway, I want to alert you to some of the best episodes and when you can see them.

I like to refer to TV.com on these things. Visitors can rate every episode of every TV series on that site, and last year I did a rundown of the series' top 10 — and when viewers could see them. Let's see if the top 10 episodes have changed and when each will be shown this year. (By the way, all times are Central because that is the time zone where I live.)

OK. I'll spare you some suspense. The order changed (based on visitors' ratings during the year), but nine of the Top 10 are the same as they were a year ago.

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1. The most popular episode is unchanged. "The Eye of the Beholder" from 1960 will be shown at 8:30 p.m. on New Year's Day. It stars Donna Douglas, who later played Elly Mae Clampett.


2. Number 2, also from 1960, "A Stop at Willoughby," moves up from #3. It can be seen at 5:30 p.m. on New Year's Day.


3. The third–rated episode, "The Midnight Sun," aired in 1961 and was rated second last year. It will be shown at 10:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve.


4. "The After Hours" from 1960 made a rather dramatic jump, from sixth to fourth. I've never been terribly wild about it so it's hard for me to understand, but I guess it's a matter of taste. Judge for yourself at 9:30 p.m. on New Year's Day.


5. The fifth–rated episode, 1962's "To Serve Man," is unchanged from last year. It will be shown at 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve.


6. "It's a Good Life," from 1961, moves up from #8. It is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on New Year's Day.


7. "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You," from 1964, tumbled from #4, which was fine with me. It airs at midnight on New Year's Eve.


8. "The Masks," also from 1964, moved up from #9. Check it out at 8 p.m. on New Year's Day.


9. "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" from 1961 moves up from 10th last year. It will be shown at 10 p.m. on New Year's Day.


10. The newcomer to the top 10, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" from 1963, replaces 1961's "Five Characters in Search of an Exit," which was rated seventh last year but fell all the way out of the top 10. It's on at 5 p.m. on New Year's Eve.

Actually, these episodes are always on the Syfy marathon. What I look for are the episodes one seldom sees. And there are always a few.

• One of the things you seldom see are the one–hour episodes, which were originally aired exclusively in the fourth season (1962–63). There were only 18 of them, and they have a somewhat different tone from the others.
  
  As I understand it, the Twilight Zone had been replaced in the fall 1962 lineup by an hour–long sitcom, which didn't last. Twilight Zone was brought back as a mid–season replacement in the sitcom's time slot, but that meant producing hour–long episodes instead of half–hour episodes. Apparently, few of those who worked on the series were wild about the change.
  
  You can catch one of my favorites, "Valley of the Shadow," at 7 a.m. on New Year's Eve. In this episode, a reporter is trapped in a small town where people can do all kinds of fantastic things.

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  Then, if you happen to be up at 6 a.m. on New Year's Day, you can catch another one that I always recommend, "He's Alive," which stars a young Dennis Hopper as a neo–Nazi leader being advised by a shadowy figure — who turns out to be Hitler himself. Planning to sleep in on New Year's Day? Use your TiVo or a DVR and record it. Even after nearly 50 years, it is a timely story.
  
  Then, at 7 a.m. on New Year's Day, you can watch "Death Ship," which is probably more dated. Three men on board a spacecraft land on a planet where they find the wreckage of a ship that looks a lot like theirs. Two of the men believe it is their ship and they are now dead.


• I also look for half–hour episodes that I rarely see.

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  One that doesn't seem to be shown often is "Deaths–Head Revisited" from 1961. A former Nazi captain returns to the concentration camp he ran during the war — only he encounters the ghosts of the prisoners he victimized.
  
  You can see it at noon on New Year's Day.


• Another seldom seen episode, 1960's "The Last Flight," will be shown at 10 a.m. on New Year's Eve. It's about a World War I pilot who flies through a cloud and finds himself at a modern air base.
  
  You might not recognize the English actor who plays the pilot. His name is Kenneth Haigh, and I think most of his work has been done on English productions. However, he did have a relatively small role in the Beatles' first motion picture, "A Hard Day's Night."

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• I guess I'm sort of partial to episodes about flight, and one of my favorites, which also seems to be shown fairly infrequently, is "The Odyssey of Flight 33" from 1961.
  
  In the episode, an airliner is making what seems to be a routine trip from London to New York, but along the way it takes a trip back in time ... way back in time. In the attached clip, you will see a couple of brief segments using a dinosaur model from Jack Harris' 1961 film "Dinosaurus." Using that footage cost the producers of the show $2,500, making it the most expensive sequence aired in the original series.


• If you happen to be up at 1 a.m. (again, that's Central time) on New Year's morning, you can catch 1961's "The Grave," an old West tale about a hired gun (played by Lee Marvin) who comes to a town looking for an outlaw who has already been killed in an ambush. As he was dying, the outlaw vowed to reach up from his grave and grab Marvin if he ever came near his resting place.
  
  Of course, he does.


• Immediately after that episode, you can see another episode from 1961, "Two," about two people — a man and a woman — from opposing armies, the only survivors of an apocalyptic war. Played by Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery, the two adhere, at first, to the mutual suspicions of their former governments, but they realize, as the show goes on, that they have no reason to fight anymore.
  
  I always assumed that, because Bronson spoke in English and Montgomery spoke in what sounded (to my ear, at least) like Russian, it was an allegory for the U.S.–Soviet Union Cold War clash that raged at the time. Thus, it may seem quite dated now, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and nearly 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
  
  But it's still worth watching, especially since it is rarely seen on TV anymore.

Half a Century in the Zone

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Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the debut of "The Twilight Zone."

It's always been one of my favorite shows. I guess I have seen every episode at least once now.

When the original series — with Rod Serling doing his now–famous intros — first appeared on America's TV screens half a century ago, the first episode was "Where Is Everybody?" starring Earl Holliman, who marked his 81st birthday last month.

The first season of "The Twilight Zone" featured some of the series' most classic episodes and boasted some great guest stars, like Ed Wynn, Burgess Meredith, Ida Lupino, Gig Young, Jack Warden, Rod Taylor, Fritz Weaver, Everett Sloane, Dick York, Vera Miles, Claude Akins, Roddy McDowall, Sebastian Cabot, George Grizzard, Jack Klugman, Orson Bean, Anne Francis and Keenan Wynn.

The Syfy Channel (formerly the Sci–Fi Channel) will be showing "Twilight Zone" episodes all day tomorrow in honor of the occasion, and that first episode will kick things off at 7 a.m. (Central).