I recently (re-)watched all of Twilight Zone seasons 1-3 & 5. In the past I have seen folks try to replicate TZ on radio, TV and flim but it just can't be done (although the radio version was pretty faithful). Prior to January, however, I had only ever seen one of the hour-long fourth season episodes, but I have since set my DVR to record them whenever they pop into rotation, and now I am excited to be watching "new" Twilight Zone episodes for the first time.
E13 - "The New Exhibit" - A wax museum employee (Martin Balsam) moves the figures of several notorious murderers into the basement of his home.
This is one of the ones I saw in early January so I did not watch it again, but I pretty much like Martin Balsam in every role he plays. Sometimes I try to "translate" the more fantastic aspects of a plot such as this into "what really happened," but I didn't have to do that in this case because the story itself makes it explicit.
E14 - "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" - A wealthy businessman (Albert Salmi) strikes a deal with Satan and relives his past. (Julie Newmar, John Anderson)
This is a mash-up of "The Devil and Daniel Webster," A Christmas Carol, and Atlas Shrugged. Julie Newmar (possibly my earliest "TV crush") plays Miss Devlin, the sexiest devil you have ever seen. It is written by Rod Serling, but based on the short story "Blind Alley" by Malcolm Jameson. The ending is somewhat reminiscent of the season two epsiode "Back there" starring Russell Johnson, but different enough to avoid negative comparison. Incidentally, Russell Johnson was also featured in the season one episode "Execution," which co-starred... Albert Salmi. Synchronicity!
E15 - "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" - A toy designer (Pat Hingle) visits his old neighborhood and finds it exactly as it was in his childhood.
An unhappy man retreats into his own past. This is a theme we have seen before, but it didn't have the ending I expected.
Another episode airs on SyFy this Sunday morning at 7:00am (CT).
I started watching Saturday Night Livealmost from the very beginning. The year was 1975, November. My brother was home from college for Thanksgiving and he told ne about this great new comedy show on NBC Saturday nights. I started watching it that week, and by the end of the year had caught the few episodes I missed on repeat. I continued to watch every single episode... right up until 1987. In 1987, the long-awaited return of Star Trek came to television, and it aired directly opposite Saturday Night Live in my market. I had a decision to make, and I opted for Star Trek (The Next Generation). It was a decision I would come to regret... "maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of my life." (Honestly, if I had opted for SNL over ST:TNG I probably would have regretted it just as much.)
I stopped pretty much cold turkey. Except for a prime-time special or two, I haven't watched an episode of SNL for 38 years. After watching the 50th anniverary special however, I am seriously considering catching up on all those episodes I missed on Peacock.
ClarkKent_DC > Jeff of Earth-JApril 27, 2025 at 12:43pm
I've been a regular viewer of Saturday Night Live for the past several years -- about when they introduced the stunt casting of Alec Balwdin as an improbable candidate for the presidency who actually won, much to his chagrin -- after about a decade of not even thinking about it, let alone watching it. I think the cast over that recent span has been strong, and the writing, as ever, is hit or miss.
I did watch the 50th anniversary special and came away disappointed for what it failed to include, like a reunion of the surviving original cast members or a true in memoriam segment for those no longer with us. The fake-out on that score was funny, but didn't make up for not honoring the dead. Also, some of the live sketches went on too long, as is typical of the regular show.
Far better was Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, the documentary directed by Questlove, leader of The Roots, the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. That film covered the span of musical moments, including the theme, skits like "Dick in a Box," Sinead O'Connor tearing up the photo of Pope John Paul II, more. As a bonus -- something that SHOULD have been in the 50th anniversary special -- there's a breakdown of how a typical SNL episode is made from beginning to end.
Since posting about SNL back in February, I have not yet made good on my intention to watch the 38 years I missed on Peacock, but I have been watching all of the new shows (plus the repeats that run between 9-10PM). Between 1975 and 1987, three things could be said of Saturday Night Live: 1) their sketches often went on too long, 2) they often did not know how to end them, and 3) the lame material was saved for after Weekend Update. In my opinion, at some point during the last 38 years, they have, for the most part, learned how not to go on to long and how to end a sketch. (In comparison, the concurrent much-more-mainstream Carol Burnett Showalways knew how to end a sketch.) they still save the lame sketches for the end, though.
I never was a terribly big fan of their musical acts, however. I would usually use that time to go make myself a snack back when I was actually watching it "live". I'm still not a big fan of the new acts, but I DVR the episode and FF through the musical acts. I am so hopelessly out of touch with American pop culture I honestly don't know who most of the hosts are (not to mention the musical acts or "Not Ready for Prime Time Players"). I just watch them without knowing any of the players, and if they're funny, they're funny. And some of them are very funny.
THE TIME TUNNEL - "Rendevouz with Yesterday" (S1,E1): Watched this one again in an effort to make up my mind whether or not to listen to the Big Finish sequel/continuation. I've watched the original series only once before, 16 years ago. As I recall it got a bit silly toward the end, but these early episodes are earnestly serious. In the first epsiode, Doug and Tony land onboard the Titanic. Next episode, they're on a rocketship to the Moon. I know I can trust BF to produce a serious treatment.
The Baron > Jeff of Earth-JMarch 4, 2025 at 5:46pm
I can't remember whether my "Time Tunnel" thread was on this iteration of the board, or an older one.
Replies
TWILIGHT ZONE: SEASON FOUR:
I recently (re-)watched all of Twilight Zone seasons 1-3 & 5. In the past I have seen folks try to replicate TZ on radio, TV and flim but it just can't be done (although the radio version was pretty faithful). Prior to January, however, I had only ever seen one of the hour-long fourth season episodes, but I have since set my DVR to record them whenever they pop into rotation, and now I am excited to be watching "new" Twilight Zone episodes for the first time.
E13 - "The New Exhibit" - A wax museum employee (Martin Balsam) moves the figures of several notorious murderers into the basement of his home.
This is one of the ones I saw in early January so I did not watch it again, but I pretty much like Martin Balsam in every role he plays. Sometimes I try to "translate" the more fantastic aspects of a plot such as this into "what really happened," but I didn't have to do that in this case because the story itself makes it explicit.
E14 - "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" - A wealthy businessman (Albert Salmi) strikes a deal with Satan and relives his past. (Julie Newmar, John Anderson)
This is a mash-up of "The Devil and Daniel Webster," A Christmas Carol, and Atlas Shrugged. Julie Newmar (possibly my earliest "TV crush") plays Miss Devlin, the sexiest devil you have ever seen. It is written by Rod Serling, but based on the short story "Blind Alley" by Malcolm Jameson. The ending is somewhat reminiscent of the season two epsiode "Back there" starring Russell Johnson, but different enough to avoid negative comparison. Incidentally, Russell Johnson was also featured in the season one episode "Execution," which co-starred... Albert Salmi. Synchronicity!
E15 - "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" - A toy designer (Pat Hingle) visits his old neighborhood and finds it exactly as it was in his childhood.
An unhappy man retreats into his own past. This is a theme we have seen before, but it didn't have the ending I expected.
Another episode airs on SyFy this Sunday morning at 7:00am (CT).
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE 50th ANNIVERSARY:
I started watching Saturday Night Live almost from the very beginning. The year was 1975, November. My brother was home from college for Thanksgiving and he told ne about this great new comedy show on NBC Saturday nights. I started watching it that week, and by the end of the year had caught the few episodes I missed on repeat. I continued to watch every single episode... right up until 1987. In 1987, the long-awaited return of Star Trek came to television, and it aired directly opposite Saturday Night Live in my market. I had a decision to make, and I opted for Star Trek (The Next Generation). It was a decision I would come to regret... "maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of my life." (Honestly, if I had opted for SNL over ST:TNG I probably would have regretted it just as much.)
I stopped pretty much cold turkey. Except for a prime-time special or two, I haven't watched an episode of SNL for 38 years. After watching the 50th anniverary special however, I am seriously considering catching up on all those episodes I missed on Peacock.
I've been a regular viewer of Saturday Night Live for the past several years -- about when they introduced the stunt casting of Alec Balwdin as an improbable candidate for the presidency who actually won, much to his chagrin -- after about a decade of not even thinking about it, let alone watching it. I think the cast over that recent span has been strong, and the writing, as ever, is hit or miss.
I did watch the 50th anniversary special and came away disappointed for what it failed to include, like a reunion of the surviving original cast members or a true in memoriam segment for those no longer with us. The fake-out on that score was funny, but didn't make up for not honoring the dead. Also, some of the live sketches went on too long, as is typical of the regular show.
Far better was Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, the documentary directed by Questlove, leader of The Roots, the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. That film covered the span of musical moments, including the theme, skits like "Dick in a Box," Sinead O'Connor tearing up the photo of Pope John Paul II, more. As a bonus -- something that SHOULD have been in the 50th anniversary special -- there's a breakdown of how a typical SNL episode is made from beginning to end.
Since posting about SNL back in February, I have not yet made good on my intention to watch the 38 years I missed on Peacock, but I have been watching all of the new shows (plus the repeats that run between 9-10PM). Between 1975 and 1987, three things could be said of Saturday Night Live: 1) their sketches often went on too long, 2) they often did not know how to end them, and 3) the lame material was saved for after Weekend Update. In my opinion, at some point during the last 38 years, they have, for the most part, learned how not to go on to long and how to end a sketch. (In comparison, the concurrent much-more-mainstream Carol Burnett Show always knew how to end a sketch.) they still save the lame sketches for the end, though.
I never was a terribly big fan of their musical acts, however. I would usually use that time to go make myself a snack back when I was actually watching it "live". I'm still not a big fan of the new acts, but I DVR the episode and FF through the musical acts. I am so hopelessly out of touch with American pop culture I honestly don't know who most of the hosts are (not to mention the musical acts or "Not Ready for Prime Time Players"). I just watch them without knowing any of the players, and if they're funny, they're funny. And some of them are very funny.
Another episode airs on SyFy this Sunday morning at 7:00am (CT).
TWILIGHT ZONE - S4, E16: "On Thursday We Leave for Home" - The leader (James Whitmore) of a colony stranded on an asteroid resists rescue.
This is another one that aired on New Year's Day so we did not watch it again. It is an excellent character study, though.
THE TIME TUNNEL - "Rendevouz with Yesterday" (S1,E1): Watched this one again in an effort to make up my mind whether or not to listen to the Big Finish sequel/continuation. I've watched the original series only once before, 16 years ago. As I recall it got a bit silly toward the end, but these early episodes are earnestly serious. In the first epsiode, Doug and Tony land onboard the Titanic. Next episode, they're on a rocketship to the Moon. I know I can trust BF to produce a serious treatment.
I can't remember whether my "Time Tunnel" thread was on this iteration of the board, or an older one.
It's on this board. I've gone back and re-read it a couple of times.
Thanks. For some reason, I have trouble with the search function on nthe latest iteration of the board.
Here it is.
https://captaincomics.ning.com/forum/topics/the-time-tunnel-reactio...
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