The series continues to be regularly satirized on television shows and comedy albums, in comic books, and on TV and radio commercials.
Early Twilight Zone parodies on television include a Jack Benny Show in which Jack gets lost in a fog, only to arrive at his house and find that noone knows him. The owner of the house (played by Rod Serling) introduces himself: Im the mayor of this town. In fact, they named it after me. Im Mr. Zone… . You can call me Twi. Benny flees his house, yelling for help. Serling turns to the camera and says, Hell be back… . Any man who claims to be thirty-nine as long as he has is a permanent resident of the Twilight Zone. On The Dick Van Dyke Show Robert Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) once found himself trapped in the Twilo Zone, in which humans suddenly lose their thumbs and an invading alien being resembles Danny Thomas. More recently, Saturday Night Live has kidded The Twilight Zone several times, most notably in a humorous skit in which guest-host Ricky Nelson, trying desperately to get home to Ozzie and Harriet, journeys through the sit-com dwellings of Leave it to Beaver; Father Knows Best, Make Room for Daddy and I Love Lucy.
Its a hell of a credit, says George Clayton Johnson. I can just feel people back away from me when I say I wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone. They dont believe me, its just like, How could he do that? Those things come from the dawn of time… .
I can tell you, for all of us concerned it was a very special time, says actor John Anderson (A Passage for Trumpet, The Odyssey of Flight 33, Of Late I Think of Cliffordville, The Old Man in the Cave). The scripts, of course, were invariably superior to the general run of shows around thenin addition to which you had a day of rehearsal. Rod was almost always on hand for an hour or two to take suggestions growing out of the rehearsal and would fix it during lunch break. Looking back on it, it was like a dreamwhen you consider todays pell-mell, hurly-burly approach.
Rod was extremely proud of The Twilight Zone says his brother Bob. You can watch them now and see how professional they were, what a beautiful thing, compared to some of the other anthologies. So many of them really had a message, very subtleit was a pill with sugar all over itbut you swallowed it and you learned something.
There was a magic to the show, says actor Don Gordon, and I think there still is and I think there always will be. It had the qualityand has the qualityof making us children, being frightened and saying, Ooh, whats going to happen next? It has the quality, really, that radio used to have before television, and its one of the few programs that does. Your imagination is allowed to work on Twilight Zone. Youre invited into think. Theyre not bombarding you and saying, Youre stupid, were going to tell you what this is all about. Youre a participant, and thats very important.
Perhaps the most telling statement comes from Earl Hamner, Jr. The Twilight Zone was an embodiment of great storytelling, he says. Back when we all sat around fires and had animal skins for clothing, there were great stories told around campfires, and those same principles are at work in The Twilight Zone. So it doesnt surprise me at all that it has universal and lasting appeal. Theyre great stories well told.
If, in his darkest moments, Rod Serling felt his accomplishments on The Twilight Zone were of a transient nature, these were only the passing fears of every writer that his lifes work has been of no consequence. The shining product of his imagination still flourishes, reborn each time a person turns on a television and sits before the glowing screen, caught in the spell. To those already acquainted, each new meeting is a reunion filled with delight. To those coming to it fresh, it is a revelation full of wonder and mystery and awe.
The Twilight Zone has endured. And like all lasting art eventually must, it has outlived its creator.Until next week, then … from all the citizenry of the Zone the witches and the warlocks, the elves and the gnomes, the odd ones and the not-quite-right onesyou are wished a most pleasant week. We hope you will join us again seven evenings hence, when once again we cross over into another dimension … the Twilight Zone.
Serlings closing narration, used in the original syndication run of Twilight Zone in Great Britain.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marc Scott Zicree was born in Santa Monica, California, but his family soon migrated to Los Angeles. He is an alumnus of the Clarion Writers Workshop and has a B.A. in painting, sculpture, and graphic arts from UCLA and an M.F.A. from Lowell Darlings Fat City School of Finds Art. His short stories, articles, and photographs have appeared in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and anthologies, and he has sold numerous scripts to all three commercial television networks. He currently lives in Hollywood with a marvelous wife and a vile little dog.
Twilight Zone Companion Page 49