Subject: Lesley is here now.
Posted by: lesley153
Date: Nov 09 09
I'd always thought that once you got a blog you had a blog in perpetuity, and could continue to add to it, whether you were a paying member or not. That may have been right at one time, but it isn't now.
I wrote an update yesterday, a few hours after I'd had an email to tell me that my paying membership had expired, and got an "access denied" message. I thought it was a shame to waste it. Off I go...
Posted by: lesley153
Date: Nov 09 09
I'd always thought that once you got a blog you had a blog in perpetuity, and could continue to add to it, whether you were a paying member or not. That may have been right at one time, but it isn't now.
I wrote an update yesterday, a few hours after I'd had an email to tell me that my paying membership had expired, and got an "access denied" message. I thought it was a shame to waste it. Off I go...
6099 replies. 1 300 301 302 303 304 305
sadwings 
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I clearly remember that TZ episode with Donna Douglas, Anne. That was indeed pretty freaky! Kind of reminded me about the one with the old man who was dying and he had a little get-together with his family - all of them just wanting him to hurry up and die so they could cash in on his will. But they all had to do one thing if they wanted their part of the will - they had to put on masks and wear them all evening until midnight. Remember that one? How creepy and spooky! How about the one where a guy has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life on an asteroid and they brought him that female robot and all that. I know, that one wasn't really spooky, just interesting and entertaining. Oh, here's a spooky one. I believe Agnes Moorehead was in a number of TZ episodes, but the one I'm thinking about was the one where her character is poisoned by her daughter or her nurse - someone who just wants her gone and out of the way - and shortly after her death, this very mysterious and unexplained shadow appears on the wall of her sitting in her rocking chair, and it WON'T GO AWAY! :-( That was a spooky one. Then how about the one where the little boy is talking to his dead grandmother on his little toy phone, and the mom finally grabs the phone away from him and actually hears the grandmother's voice on the other end! :-( So many spooky TZ episodes. Reply #6081. Feb 25 18, 4:22 PM |
Memorycat65
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Kevin - you're so right about the absolutely amazing number of well-knowns who began their careers on TZ. They are too many to name, but Dick York (of "Bewitched" fame) figured in 3-4 - also Jack Klugman and Martin Landeau. Several child actors made their debut here, too: Billy Mumy and Ann Jillian. You mentioned Agnes Morehead (she'd been around since Orson Welles "Citizen Kane" in the 1940s. The only episode of TZ where no dialogue occurred was "The Invaders" starring this great actress. She plays a woman alone in a remote farmhouse who is besieged by an alien spacecraft. She fights them off and makes her face and inarticulate cries do all the acting. The ending is classic TZ: She's a giant, while the "aliens" sport the red, white, and blue on their tiny spacecraft! brm50 - I couldn't agree more with you - what a pity studio heads wouldn't leave well enough alone. It DOES leave one to wonder what Serling could have produced, had he lived longer. I think both of us touched on the brilliant stable of writers Serling employed on this show. One of them was Earl Hamner, Jr. (later of "The Waltons") Many other shows were influenced by TZ. One thing is for sure; no one of our generation (and even today's kids who watch this program in reruns) will ever forget the theme music and Serling's iconic intros. Serling, more than any other person in network TV of that era sought to explore themes of racial and ethnic prejudice, war, hate, and those of wonder and awe at the human condition. What a trailblazer! BTW, are any of you familiar with a show that shared a few years of airtime with TZ (on another channel) called "Thriller?" It was hosted by the urbane and charming Mr. Boris Karloff. I don't remember watching it at the time, but here in Memphis we get ME TV, which airs tons of old programming. They tend to rotate the shows around, but right before they stopped showing it on the last cycle, I caught several super episodes and hope to catch it in its entirety next time around. Also, are any of you fans of the old 77 "Sunset Strip", "Hawaiian Eye," "Honey West," "The Untouchables,"or "Naked City?" Great actors/actresses starred in all of them and were viewed faithfully at my house. "Watch the signpost up ahead, your next stop is the - TZ". Anne Reply #6082. Feb 25 18, 5:21 PM |
brm50diboll
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Considering that the Twilight Zone is a very old show and is in black and white, the fact that it is still being shown in reruns and is familiar to so many who weren't even born when it was on the air is a testament to its high quality and essential timeless quality. Yes, there were clunkers in the 156 episodes. Yes, we can argue about which ones were good and which ones weren't. But it has survived the test of time. Television is still a brand new medium when we consider the entire history of humanity and culture. It is my opinion, though neither I nor anyone else who may be reading this now will be able to prove, that in 100 years there will be college courses on The Twilight Zone just as there are courses on Shakespeare and Chaucer today. I'll take Serling's "Escape Clause" over "Titus Andronicus" any day, actually. I realize that's an unfair comparison, since I'm comparing a classic TZ episode with a play regarded as one of Shakespeare's worst and a fair comparison would be good against good, but then we'd be back into that argument over what is good again. I've read all 38 plays attributed to Shakespeare and seen all 156 of the original Twilight Zone episodes. The Zone stands up well. I encourage anyone to see them all. It's not that hard. Walmart in my little town of Corsicana carries the complete DVD set, so it must be available in more populous and cultured areas, not to mention off Amazon and the like or even just the internet. And if you aren't familiar with "Escape Clause", do what I do whenever I have a question about anything: Google it. Mr. Cadwallader has a deal for you. Reply #6083. Feb 25 18, 5:30 PM |
| Memorycat65
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brm50 - what you say is true. I have a young friend (Thirtyish), who told me the other day, that she won't watch anything that's not "in color." Too boring, she says. She's entitled to her opinion, and I didn't argue about it, but she's missing out on so much. One the other hand, I've talked to lots of young people who reference TZ and other older shows. Maybe there's hope yet....One other word about TZ: one of my best memories of those Friday nights when TZ would air would be of my whole family clustered around the set. When the show was over, my brother and I would oftentimes have questions about what we'd just seen. My parents (Bless 'em) would explain it in terms that we could understand. Considering the time period, (1959-1965), we had lots to relate to, and my brother and I learned many serviceable moral lessons, as well as having the bejeebers scared out of us. Newton Minnow was busy calling TV "The Vast Wasteland," a lot of it probably was, yet, there were so many quality shows that came out of that period. Because there were only three major networks (public TV being in its infancy), everybody watched what was available, and it truly had a homogenizing effect on the public consciousness, much as radio did in the 1930s-40s. I'm sure that not all parents were discussing TV programming with their kids, but I'm also sure that many were, and to good effect. Today, we have a tremendous number of choices available about what we watch, but those very choices have taken away a lot from society too; they oftentimes serve to fragment, rather than unite us. Anne Reply #6084. Feb 25 18, 9:29 PM |
terraorca
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Rod Serling got his writing chops going here in S.W. Ohio at WKRC and WLW. television stations. I too enjoyed "The Twilight Zone." Reply #6085. Feb 25 18, 9:36 PM |
| brm50diboll
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I didn't watch The Twilight Zone when it was originally on the air, and, for a very good reason: I was born August 10, 1963. While I was alive before The Twilight Zone went off the air, babies and toddlers don't watch much TV of any kind, and, even if they do, they don't remember it. The median age in the US is something like 38, so most people in the US could not possibly have seen that show when it was on the air, and the fact that it is so well-known is due to its long life in reruns. I believe SyFy still shows the old episodes from time to time. Reply #6086. Feb 25 18, 9:36 PM |
| terraorca
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One of my favorites was William Shatner in a plane and seeing the creature on the wing. Reply #6087. Feb 25 18, 9:39 PM |
| terraorca
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I am old enough to have seen TZ on their original air dates. Reply #6088. Feb 25 18, 9:40 PM |
| brm50diboll
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Shatner was in two TZ episodes. The one you refer to was "Nightmare at 20,000 feet", which was remade in the troubled 1983 Twilight Zone movie. They had wanted Shatner to reprise his performance for that, but he was unavailable at the time, as he was in the middle of the shooting for Wrath of Khan at the time. So they went with John Lithgow and renamed that part of the movie "Nightmare at 35,000 feet". The other TZ Shatner was in was "Nick of Time" in which he played an extremely superstitious man with his newlywed wife in a small town diner. Reply #6089. Feb 25 18, 9:57 PM |
| terraorca
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One of the other episodes that I remember somewhat well was about a beautiful woman who was shunned and ridiculed by the rest of humanity because she was perceived to be different/horrible looking. I also remember a man in a controlled environment and he looks out his window and sees a crowd looking at him, he sees a sign that says something like "Human Being." Reply #6090. Feb 25 18, 11:14 PM |
| brm50diboll
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Not 100% sure, but the first episode you mentioned might be "Eye of the Beholder", which Anne mentioned in post #6081 above, and the second one might be "People Are Alike All Over", which I discussed in my very first post of my own virtual blog "Science Fiction Interpretations". The sign at the end of that one read "Earth Creature in his Native Habitat". Reply #6091. Feb 25 18, 11:25 PM |
| terraorca
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Sounds about right. I wonder if they have those episodes on youtube? Thanks for the conversation. Reply #6092. Feb 25 18, 11:36 PM |
| Memorycat65
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Mark - I had no idea Serling got his writing start in Ohio! My personal scare factor spiked with an episode titled "To Serve Man." It was about a man who got a chance to visit some really "friendly" aliens. They presented the people of Earth a book called "To Serve Man." Just as the spaceship was about to blast off, a friend raced forward (too late) to inform our hapless hero that the book was a cookbook! BTW, Mark, I see that you are from Ohio - my grandmother was raised in Versailles and I had a great aunt who lived in Dayton for many years. Spent a lot of my childhood visiting in that neck of the woods. One of my big childhood memories is seeing the National Cash Register building with the big cash register on top. Glad to know your classes are going well. Anne Reply #6093. Feb 26 18, 4:55 PM |
satguru
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Come on Lesley, I've been off for a while but the old gang needs to get back on board. Reply #6094. May 26 18, 6:25 PM |
lesley153
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Reply #6095. Feb 25 24, 5:35 PM |
| lesley153
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Reply #6096. Feb 25 24, 5:36 PM |
| lesley153
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Reply #6097. Mar 05 24, 7:20 PM |
6099 replies. 1 300 301 302 303 304 305
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