I’m actually OK with this.
TV viewers should be prepared: they may be heading back to “The Twilight Zone.”
CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves announced today during the company’s earnings call that a long-rumored reboot of the classic sci-fi anthology series was in the works. THR is also reporting that, while this has yet to be officially confirmed, “The Twilight Zone” reboot will be hailing from Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw banner.
On the other hand, I’m not OK with it going on CBS All Access. But on the gripping hand, if Star Trek and The Twilight Zone are on CBS All Access I’d think about getting that streaming service. Anyway: I’m OK with this because it’s not really a reboot, is it? The format’s still the same, they’re just going to be making new horror/SF episodes in it. And since there’s been a ton of perfectly good short stories written since the 1960s that can be turned into perfectly good episodes, I’m not seeing the downside to using the Twilight Zone name.
Assuming that it doesn’t suck, of course.
Via @CoachSharlotte
Given that The Twilight Zone was almost entirely comprised of morality tales.
Given that Hollywood wouldn’t know morality if it bit them on the butt.
Given that Virtue Signaling of Leftist shibboleths has replaced morality in Hollywood.
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It’s going to suck.
Well, they have already restarted/rebooted/continued/whatever you want to call it twice already. Hope no one notices my TinyMush is named Twilight Zone.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6139430-patterns
Found this by accident years ago and loved it. It’s a collection of four teleplays by Rod Serling with introductions by him. The historic introduction about the early days of the television industry is also priceless – Serling was one of the pioneers in the industry and he discusses how things we now take for granted were created. The most surprising part was – writing in the mid-1950’s – Serling mentions a person who he considered a mentor in the industry. For S&G’s I searched him as I was unfamiliar. He was then still teaching at one of the State Schools in California. Rod Serling. A man dead for half a century. His MENTOR was still active in the field. Mindboggling.
The 80s version was okay, as I recall. I see there was a 2002 revival as well. According to the Wikipedia page:
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> The series tended to address contemporary issues head-on; i.e. terrorism, racism, gender roles, sexuality, and stalking.
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Shockingly, it also says
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> The series did not enjoy the same level of critical or ratings success as the original series or the 1980s revival, and only lasted one season.
Count me among the minority who prefer the 80’s Twilight Zone to the 60’s version. I know it’s not as iconic, and for good reason. But it did the same things the 60’s show did well. And, being based on then-contemporary short stories or written by contemporary masters in large part, it did them in slightly less thuddingly moralistic ways. I also appreciated its willingness to stop telling a story when the story was over, instead of stretching it out to fill a regular block. (The first two seasons, anyway. The third can just fall down a hole into hell and die.)
Having said that, I remember the third version of the show from my college days. I remember sitting down eagerly to watch the first episode, which had Amber Tamblyn in it. And then I remember figuring out the big twist within the first two minutes of the episode. And then I remember being insulted, because it was so stupid. And then I remember subsequent episodes actually being worse, and preachier than the original. JustDave has it nailed.
Having said that, I’m not prepared to agree with Luke just yet. I saw “Get Out,” and was impressed. If anybody can pull this show off for a contemporary audience, Peele might just be the guy to do it. Seeing his name attached, I think, is a reassuring sign.