The (New) Twilight Zone - Surprise: Its shit

[sasazuka]

I thought tonight's episode with the Mars mission was the best yet. Probably because it didn't really have an obvious political message beyond "nuclear war is bad" (it happens in the first few minutes, that's not the twist).

 

[Mola Ram]

Eh, I think this article does a good job explaining why the series sucks:

https://spectator.us/failure-jordan-peele-twilight-zone/

That article's point about Rod Serling being restrained by the executives is a really telling one. Never mind the rose-tinted glasses (there were absolutely some dreadfully heavy-handed Twilight Zone episodes; they've merely been ignored over the decades); we have a perfect example of what Rod Serling created when his producers were simpatico with his politics. It's called Carol for Another Christmas, and it's about a trio of Christmas ghosts teaching an isolationist industrial tycoon named Daniel Grudge why we need the UN.

You've probably never seen it. Intended to be first in a series of United Nations-backed tv specials extolling the UN's virtues, it flopped so hard they never made another one, and it went unaired for 48 years, only to be revived to fill out Turner Classic Movies' Christmas schedule in 2012. I caught it during a late night showing -- not sure if it was 2012 or some later program -- and ... hoo boy. I've heard less preaching in church. Yet somehow this seems to be the new TZ's business model. Down the hatch.

 

[The Pink Panther]

That article's point about Rod Serling being restrained by the executives is a really telling one. Never mind the rose-tinted glasses (there were absolutely some dreadfully heavy-handed Twilight Zone episodes; they've merely been ignored over the decades); we have a perfect example of what Rod Serling created when his producers were simpatico with his politics. It's called Carol for Another Christmas, and it's about a trio of Christmas ghosts teaching an isolationist industrial tycoon named Daniel Grudge why we need the UN.

You've probably never seen it. Intended to be first in a series of United Nations-backed tv specials extolling the UN's virtues, it flopped so hard they never made another one, and it went unaired for 48 years, only to be revived to fill out Turner Classic Movies' Christmas schedule in 2012. I caught it during a late night showing -- not sure if it was 2012 or some later program -- and ... hoo boy. I've heard less preaching in church. Yet somehow this seems to be the new TZ's business model. Down the hatch.

That's very interesting. I think the blocking of Serling's politics allowed for more variety.

Honestly, what I'm upset about, is so far there haven't any episodes that were like The Mind and The Matter, The Bard, The Self Improvement Of Salvadore Ross, or A Kind of Stopwatch wherein normal people just get some powers and then shit happens with this powers. I haven't seen a single episode like that. Where are those kinds of those episodes that get in touch with how the common man would handle fantastical powers instead of these big political messages or whatnot? No episodes I've heard of are like that yet.

 

[Quijibo69]

See for yourself:

That was the worst episode so far that and The comedian.

 

[sasazuka]

Tonight's episode, "Not All Men", is about how all men become violent sociopaths when given the opportunity.

The women are immune to becoming sociopaths, obviously.

 

[Quijibo69]

Tonight's episode, "Not All Men", is about how all men become violent sociopaths when given the opportunity.

The women are immune to becoming sociopaths, obviously.

I feel so woke and embiggen after watching that episode. The new Twilight Zone is really shitty.

 

[The Pink Panther]

Tonight's episode, "Not All Men", is about how all men become violent sociopaths when given the opportunity.

The women are immune to becoming sociopaths, obviously.

Jeez, how woke can you get?

I'm wondering if Peele has a deal sorted out with CBS where every odd episode is overtly political and every even isn't, because it's been a pretty consistent pattern so far.

Dude, you were fucking right. We got a toxic masculinity episode on our hands.

 

[The Nothingness]

Honestly, what I'm upset about, is so far there haven't any episodes that were like The Mind and The Matter, The Bard, The Self Improvement Of Salvadore Ross, or A Kind of Stopwatch wherein normal people just get some powers and then shit happens with this powers. I haven't seen a single episode like that. Where are those kinds of those episodes that get in touch with how the common man would handle fantastical powers instead of these big political messages or whatnot? No episodes I've heard of are like that yet.

Also where are the episodes that have more of comedic elements such as "Mr. Bevis", "The Mighty Casey", and "Showdown with Rance McGrew"? While the examples I gave are not memorable ones from the original series, they provided a variety of storytelling for the show rather than sticking to political or sci-fi dramas.

Also where are the episodes that have heartwarming moments that give the main character a happy ending? One episode from the original run that comes to my mind is "The Changing of the Guard". It takes place on Christmas Eve and has those warm feelings you associate with the holiday even though its original air date was in June. As you watch the episode and it comes to this pivotal scene, I won't be surprised if it brings a tear to your eye.

 

[sasazuka]

I know the kid president episode was supposed to be Twilight Zone 2019's version of "It's a Good Life" but I still hope that season 2 gives us a proper continuation of the "It's a Good Life" saga. People might not know or remember that "It's a Good Life" had a sequel episode during the 2nd revival series (2002-2003), "It's Still a Good Life", with Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprising their roles as Anthony Fremont and his mother Agnes over 4 decades later.

I'm not going to say what happened in the 2003 episode but the ending set up nicely for a possible continuation in a new setting.

 

[FuckedUp]

I know the kid president episode was supposed to be Twilight Zone 2019's version of "It's a Good Life" but I still hope that season 2 gives us a proper continuation of the "It's a Good Life" saga. People might not know or remember that "It's a Good Life" had a sequel episode during the 2nd revival series (2002-2003), "It's Still a Good Life", with Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprising their roles as Anthony Fremont and his mother Agnes over 4 decades later.

I'm not going to say what happened in the 2003 episode but the ending set up nicely for a possible continuation in a new setting.

Nah, I don't think there's really anything to do with that ending. They should just leave it be.

 

[Super Color Up]

I recently stumbled across something tucked away, and despite this all being said in a different time, it’s interesting to think about what’s been said in the context of today, especially with that sexy voice of his.

"As long as you are not ashamed of anything you write if you're a writer, as long as you're not ashamed of anything you perform if you're an actor, and I'm not ashamed of doing a television series; I could have done probably 30 or 40 films series over the past 5 years. I presume at least I've turned down that many. With great guarantees of cash, with great guarantees of financial security... But I turned them down because I didn't like them. I did not think they were quality. And god knows they were commercial. [...] this suggestion made by many people is that you can't have public acceptance and still be artistic. And as I say, I reject that."


Hearing these words are massively depressing not because of what's being said, but why he's saying it. He was a man ahead of his time for sure, and Twilight Zone only reflected his feelings on artistry and the world at large. It's an honest-to-god crying fucking shame barely anyone in entertainment feels the same way he does. Thanks for finding that interview, it was a real treat to watch.

 

[KO 864]

Tonight's episode, "Not All Men", is about how all men become violent sociopaths when given the opportunity.

The women are immune to becoming sociopaths, obviously.

Oh god, I thought you were joking

 

[Rootbeer]

What the hell is going on with the views and like/dislike numbers? The disparity is crazy:

Are they spoofing the view numbers to make it seem like people actually give a damn about their garbage show?
Or does this trailer play in the CBS All Access app and that's where the views come from?

 

[Quijibo69]

Saw yesterday's episode, it totally ripped-off an episode of South Park called The Goobacks. No joke!

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

I thought tonight's episode with the Mars mission was the best yet. Probably because it didn't really have an obvious political message beyond "nuclear war is bad" (it happens in the first few minutes, that's not the twist).

And Russia and North Korea was gonna nuke. What's wrong? Scared to offend China?

 

[sasazuka]

I thought last week's episode, "the Blue Scorpion", about a gun that influences the mind of anyone unfortunate to have it in its possession, was actually really good. It had a subtle gun control message but it didn't beat you over the head with it and the owners of guns shops and shooting ranges were portrayed as responsible people instead of Hollywood caricature gun nuts. Plus it had kind of a happy ending for the protagonist although the episode ends with the gun choosing its next owner, a late elementary school or early junior high-aged boy.

And Russia and North Korea was gonna nuke. What's wrong? Scared to offend China?

I'd say it's because they want to sell the show in China but it could be as much about avoiding blowback that could affect whether other, potentially more profitable CBS and Viacom/Paramount franchises like the Star Trek TV shows and the Transformers movies will continue to be allowed in China. CBS also recently censored an animated segment from The Good Fight about Chinese censorship before it even aired (well, streamed) thus proving their point.

 

[kadoink]

A big part of what made Serling a good writer is that he went out into the world and experienced a lot of shit. WW2, lost friends in the war, was a paratrooper, was a teacher, and even a boxer. He saw the world at its worst and learned how to write cautionary tales to remind a generation we weren't that far away from it happening again.

He was convinced that bigotry was the leading cause of trouble in humanity, and sure enough you have a generation of writers now proving that he was right by doing exactly what he advocated against. So many people in Hollywood don't really experience anything but Hollywood, or film school, or college.

You know what really makes you a good storyteller? Knowing the importance of fucking up and figuring out how you fucked up. Theres shit that happens to you that you can't avoid, and then theres shit you do to yourself based on your own personality flaws.

 

[Commander X]

Some classic Sterling from 1957 "The Comedian" as produced for the Playhouse 90 series, adapted from a novella by Ernest Lehman (whose "Sweet Smell of Success" was also adapted as a film that same year), directed by John Frankenheimer. Mickey Rooney plays the comedian Sammy Hogarth. He has his own big TV comedy/variety show, packed with skits and musical numbers. He's the funny man who leaves his loyal viewers laughing, is always with the jokes in public, and he brutally cracks the whip over the people in his life, staff and family. Sammy just isn't a cranky diva, he mentally tortures all who work for him, demanding that they constantly acknowledge his importance and their own relative insignificance. Most of his venom is reserved especially for his beaten-down, servile younger brother Lester (Mel Torme) who is often the butt of biting jokes in Sammy's weekly monologues. His brother portrays him as a bungling idiot deserving of ridicule. Lester is Sammy's punching bag onstage and off. Lester's wife (Kim Hunter) has had it with Sammy's abusive behavior and Lester's inability to stand up to his brother and has threatened to leave him.

Al Preston (Edmond O'Brien), Sammy's head writer is desperate to come up with fresh material for the show and keep his job. His creative well has run dry and he's become less a writer and more an editor for lame ideas from his hack junior writers. Certainly, he gets no help from them as they toss around dated gags and jokes that make Al's writer's block seem inspired. After Sammy threatens to fire him if the material doesn't improve, Al resorts to stealing skits written by a young comedy writer he knew who had died at the Battle of the Bulge and had left some unused grade-A material behind.

The focus of the story is about an atrocious person like Sammy Hogarth, and how those in his immediate circles are there just to serve him, for now, and be grateful for the rewards that flow their way, but at what cost? Lester and Al both have things they crave - love and acceptance and take increasingly unwise risks for them. Even Sammy isn't immune from wanting acceptance and respect, as Al puts it: "He’s an addict. And the dope he craves doesn’t come in a needle. He needs the adulation of 40 million people."

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

Saw yesterday's episode, it totally ripped-off an episode of South Park called The Goobacks. No joke!

holy fuck that episode is over 15 years old

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

So I have seen the first 3 episodes. Uhh, not looking great.

Spoiler: The Comedian

The Comedian: OK opens with stupid gun control spiel, but then, the audience hates it too, so hard to accuse them of trying to make the message sympathetic. The message is simple "The audience doesn't care what you think, the audience wants you". Dude goes mad with the power of being able to disappear people.

Not terrible, could have been half the length but thematically it works as a twilight zone episode. They did start off with a bad taste in my mouth with that ridiculous anti gun argument.

Spoiler: Nightmare at 30000 feet

Nightmare at 30,000 feet: A classic set up, paranoid dude flying who's scared. Scary shit happens.
Then... the plot sorta grinds. OK, so this paranoid dude is getting accurate predictions from his magic podcast. He does what any sensible person getting messages about danger from the future would do, and tries to warn people. Through sitcom style refusals to look at the evidence nobody cares.

EXCEPT! A crazy old pilot believes him. And the magic podcast has the keycode for the door! So obviously our hero does the one thing he can, tells the crazy old pilot the door code, and the pilot promises to save them all.

But oh no! Don't you see! Doing that causes the exact disaster predicted by the magic podcast! The crazy old pilot is suicidal and plans to kill them all!

Then they crash and everyone survived! Hooray! But they're mad this dude caused their plane to crash, and I guess they turned into zombies, so they kill him.

The moral of the story: "Fucked if I know"? If you get a magic tape predicting the future, ignore it? They forgot that the twilight zone usually had a moral along with the twist. I cannot imagine what the moral of this story is supposed to be. Some idiots claimed it was about racism, but the old pilot was white too so that doesn't work for me.

Spoiler: Replay: Here we go

Replay: Holy shit, it's as bad as everyone says.

So remember how the first episode, The Comedian, had a point early on, where the dude's political standup was utterly bombing and tracy morgan said "Nobody cares what you think"? Well I guess they completely forgot about that at this point, and assumed everyone really really wants to know what they think.

So a black lady and her son are driving the son to college. She has her dad's old vhs tape recorder. If she rewinds it, she goes back in time. She never goes back further than the diner where she first used the camera.

So her kid gets ketchup on his shirt, she accidentally rewinds, hey where'd the ketchup go? Weird.

They continue on their way. Oh also there's a fat white cop eating at that diner. Did I mention he's a white cop? Also he's white.

So the son is driving, and playing with the camera, and speeding. The cop pulls them over, lets them off for speeding, but gives them shit about the camera. Then he says some vaguely racist shit and hassles them some more. Eventually moms hits rewind.

OK! We're back in the diner. So mom figures fuck it, she'll drive since her son is kind of an idiot. So she drives almost the whole way to the school, then is like, oh yeah, that cop, so she decides they'll check into a hotel 15 minutes from the school. So then obviously the cop shows up at the hotel claiming there's been a noise complaint, and demands to see mom and son's IDs because he's a racist dick. Sonny boy knows his rights, copper don't care, the cop ends up tasing the kid. Fuck. Rewind!

Back to the diner. This time they just leave right away. So they're driving, then they pull over cuz mom's having a hard time. The son bizarrely parks blocking an off ramp. Like completely blocking it. Then, wouldn't you know it, here comes officer racism. The son is happy to see a cop, his mom is freaking out, he's like 'Hey cop we gotta get my mom to the hospital'. The cop is like "Yeah yeah maybe your mom is dying but I am not doing shit until you move the car a couple inches" because he's white, and a cop and racist. The kid wisely mouths off and charges the cop, the cop draws his taser, then mom hits rewind.

Back to the diner. Alrighty then, mom tries a new tack with officer shithead mcwhitey racist. She offers to buy him a coffee or a piece of pie. He's a fat white cop, so he can't say no to pie. They eat some pie, the moms nervously asking the cop about himself and trying to humanize herself "My son is all I have. He matters"(Cuz he's black(BLM!)) The cop tells a sad story about his dead wife. The moms and the cop have a nice moment. For whiteness reasons he randomly throws little racist comments throughout.

Then the mom goes to leave with her kid, the cop having been placated with kindness. Except! The cop cannot keep his racism in check any longer, and sinisterly asks the woman how she got the nice car she has. She tries to be polite in the face of this rudeness. They go out and are about to get in the car, but oh no! Officer dickhead follows them out and insists they show the title to the car immediately or he'll tow it. Because that's a thing that happens.
Moms is freaking out and arguing with the cop (Why? She knows this dude is kinda a psycho). The kid's like "Oh shit, I actually have a picture of the title on my phone, hold up". Meanwhile mom and cop keep arguing. The kid runs out of the car, whips his phone out of his pocket, and oh no! The cop shoots him. So the mom immediately rewinds.

Except, no she doesn't. She instead cries a bunch, and goes to the morgue to id her son's body. Then I guess she finally remembers about the magic camera. The morgue dude is like "Actually I have it right here". Then she finally rewinds.

Back to the diner. Mom is thrilled her kid's alive again. But she doesn't know how to avoid this damn cop. Oh but wait this whole time there's been this subplot about the kid wanting to visit his uncles but his mom really doesn't want to go back to her old home because bad memories or something. But fuck it, it's worth a try, and they successfully drive to mom's old house. Finally we're out of that stupid plot about the cop, thank god.

Hahahaha no we're not, fuck you.

So the mom's brother completely believes her about the magic camera. They have a conversation with the camera way the fuck too far away so we can have a black lives matter poster prominently featured in the shot. MESSAGE!

After some random complaining about gentrification and prices going up, uncle black panther offers to lead them a different way to the school that somehow involves going underground and through some buildings or something. Get it? Underground? Like the railroad? Like slavery times? GET IT?

Anyway, they take uncle coolguy's route, and emerge at the gate to the school. But guess who is there, waiting for them. That's right, officer dickface mc whiteguy. He's like "WTF are you doing coming out of that building?" Uncle genre savvy says "Fuck it, rewind lady, we'll try again". But no, moms has had enough of fuckface whiteguy copperson. Oh, at some point the rest of the police arrived to back up dickhead, and wouldn't you know it, they're all a bunch of hateful whities too.

So there's a crowd of black people behind the 3 main characters. Mom hits record instead of rewind. Evil bad copman the white guy says "Lady haven't you seen the news?" implying he don't give a fuck, he'll just shoot the kid on camera (At this point they seem to have dropped the pretense he wants anything except to kill this kid). Oh also the cops are literally blocking the kid from entering the gates to the school. GET IT? IT'S LIKE THAT CIVIL RIGHTS THING FROM THE 70s! But then all the black people take out their phones and start recording.

All the evil white cops realize... I dunno... the script says they give up now, so they give up, and they're like "Aww man, let's go officer dickhead, we'll get to murder them next time". So the kid goes through the gate. Mom is all triumphant like "Yeah officer racism, you're the one who's scared!"

Oh did I mention this is apparently a black school? So... kinda mixed message there I guess, since the whole blocking kids from going into a school was about desegregation...

Fast forward 30 years, because what, you thought this mess was over? LOL Fuck you. Now moms is older, the son has a daughter. Mom lets the kid play with the magic tape recorder, fuck it, who cares. The dumb kid drops it and breaks the time traveling camera. Oh then the son goes out and cop lights and sirens, because obviously ol' officer racist was just waiting for his spot!

The end.... almost.

Now Jordan Peele does his (actually pretty good) Rod Serling, and says something super fucking gay like "Even magic isn't enough to stop some evil in the world, evil that exists in the real world, and here, the Twilight Zone"

DO YOU GET IT?