Periodically throughout the animated sci-fi sitcom "Futurama," the couch potato characters will sit in front of their 31st-century TV and take in an episode of "The Scary Door." "The Scary Door" is the future's take on "The Twilight Zone," complete with a Rod Serling-like announcer (played by Maurice Lamarche) explaining the weird ironies about to be witnessed. Naturally, the twist endings in "The Scary Door" go beyond irony and dive headfirst into absurdity.
In one episode, a gambler dies and awakens in an afterlife casino. He wins once and figures it must be Heaven. He wins twice and figures that it must be Hell; what gambler wants to win every time? But then he realizes that his afterlife casino is actually on a plane ... and there's a monster on the wing of the plane. When he calls someone for help, he realizes that he is also Adolf Hitler. He...
In one episode, a gambler dies and awakens in an afterlife casino. He wins once and figures it must be Heaven. He wins twice and figures that it must be Hell; what gambler wants to win every time? But then he realizes that his afterlife casino is actually on a plane ... and there's a monster on the wing of the plane. When he calls someone for help, he realizes that he is also Adolf Hitler. He...
- 2/22/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
One of the best reasons to watch "The Twilight Zone" even 60 years later is that you get to see just how much each episode had an effect on pop culture. Half the episodes will make you go, "Oh, so that's what that 'Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror sketch was making fun of," or "Oh, so that's where that 'Black Mirror' episode got that idea from." Although not all of these episodes were original themselves, they still brought the source material they were based on to a national audience. Not only did the show start off with a large viewership, but constant re-runs have helped the series stay relevant for years afterward. The result is that this show constantly turns out to be a source of inspiration for so many of the best speculative TV shows and movies we have today.
Case in point: "The Good Place." The...
Case in point: "The Good Place." The...
- 10/10/2023
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
When people remember "The Twilight Zone," they usually talk about the endings. Certainly, the show's endings are the greatest fodder for parodies — from "Treehouse of Horror" on "The Simpsons" to "The Scary Door," a show-within-a-show in "Futurama."
As an anthology series, each venture into the Twilight Zone stands on its own terms and ends conclusively; the only consistent face is series creator Rod Serling as the narrator. The whole point of the series is to put its characters in bewildering circumstances, so twist endings were a way to wring out one last bit of shock. That's not to say the endings were all about shock value; the best twist endings in "The Twilight Zone" reflect the episode's message or leave the viewer with a new perspective on what they just watched.
Happy endings aren't an impossibility in "The Twilight Zone," but they aren't the ones that people remember. Here are...
As an anthology series, each venture into the Twilight Zone stands on its own terms and ends conclusively; the only consistent face is series creator Rod Serling as the narrator. The whole point of the series is to put its characters in bewildering circumstances, so twist endings were a way to wring out one last bit of shock. That's not to say the endings were all about shock value; the best twist endings in "The Twilight Zone" reflect the episode's message or leave the viewer with a new perspective on what they just watched.
Happy endings aren't an impossibility in "The Twilight Zone," but they aren't the ones that people remember. Here are...
- 10/7/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Stephen Sondheim has almost never been more popular than in the two years since his passing in November 2021. In that time, celebrated revivals of “Company,” “Into the Woods,” and “Sweeney Todd” have come to Broadway, and successful remounting of “Assassins” and “Merrily We Roll Along” have played Off-Broadway, which is a testament to the enduring appeal of his works.
This fall will once again spotlight Sondheim. The tremendously successful Off-Broadway run of “Merrily” starring Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe opens on Broadway on October 10, which will mark the first remounting since its original, unsuccessful run in 1981. In addition, his final musical “Here We Are,” which is based on two Luis Buñuel films—“The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel”—will have its highly-anticipated world premiere Off-Broadway, opening on October 22.
In honor of another “season of Sondheim,” take a look back at every single Tony...
This fall will once again spotlight Sondheim. The tremendously successful Off-Broadway run of “Merrily” starring Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe opens on Broadway on October 10, which will mark the first remounting since its original, unsuccessful run in 1981. In addition, his final musical “Here We Are,” which is based on two Luis Buñuel films—“The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel”—will have its highly-anticipated world premiere Off-Broadway, opening on October 22.
In honor of another “season of Sondheim,” take a look back at every single Tony...
- 9/29/2023
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
Jerome Coopersmith, who received a Tony nomination for writing a 1965 Sherlock Holmes musical and penned more than two dozen episodes of the original Hawaii Five-o during the series’ first nine seasons, has died. He was 97.
Coopersmith died peacefully Friday in Rochester, New York, his family announced.
After earning a Purple Heart for his service during World War II, Coopersmith broke into television writing for quiz shows and historical programs. In the early 1950s, he and Horton Foote worked on the kids-focused Gabby Hayes Show and Johnny Jupiter, and the future Pulitzer Prize and Oscar winner behind To Kill a Mockingbird would become his mentor.
Coopersmith wrote 30 regular installments and two feature-length episodes of CBS’ Hawaii Five-o from 1968-76. Among those was the notable 1975 eighth-season installment Retire in Sunny Hawaii … Forever, which featured Helen Hayes in an Emmy-nominated guest-starring stint as the aunt of her real-life son, James MacArthur.
He then...
Coopersmith died peacefully Friday in Rochester, New York, his family announced.
After earning a Purple Heart for his service during World War II, Coopersmith broke into television writing for quiz shows and historical programs. In the early 1950s, he and Horton Foote worked on the kids-focused Gabby Hayes Show and Johnny Jupiter, and the future Pulitzer Prize and Oscar winner behind To Kill a Mockingbird would become his mentor.
Coopersmith wrote 30 regular installments and two feature-length episodes of CBS’ Hawaii Five-o from 1968-76. Among those was the notable 1975 eighth-season installment Retire in Sunny Hawaii … Forever, which featured Helen Hayes in an Emmy-nominated guest-starring stint as the aunt of her real-life son, James MacArthur.
He then...
- 7/27/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Christian Nyby, director of The Thing From Another World, is at the helm for a Western that finds a modern-day TV gunslinger transported magically to the Old West, facing down the real Jesse James. The Twilight Zone, Episode #85: "Showdown with Rance McGrew" (original air date February 2, 1962) The Plot: It's a classic Western set-up: an isolated, one-street small town in the Old West, with two cowboys waiting for the Marshal to ride into town. And ride he does ... only it's in a big honking' convertible, and the brave, indomitable Marshal is, in reality, an actor named Rance McGrew (Larry Blyden). Rance complains about everything, including "these miserable emotional scenes." He's clumsy and cowardly; whenever the physical action heats up just a touch,...
- 10/14/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Budd Schulberg, who won an Academy Award for the screenplay for "On the Waterfront" and penned the definitive portrait of a Hollywood hustler in his novel "What Makes Sammy Run?" died Wednesday. He was 95.
His wife Betsy told the Associated Press that he died of natural causes at his home in Westhampton Beach, N.Y. He was taken to a nearby medical center, where efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Alternately scorned and lionized by Hollywood during the course of his career, Schulberg, the son of a powerful studio executive, was a writer of varied forms, including magazine articles, novels and screenplays. He adapted his short story "Your Arkansas Traveler," about the rise and fall of a popular entertainer, for the screen as "A Face in the Crowd," which Elia Kazan directed in 1957.
Called before the House Un-American Activities Committee investigating allegations of Communism in the motion picture industry, Schulberg...
His wife Betsy told the Associated Press that he died of natural causes at his home in Westhampton Beach, N.Y. He was taken to a nearby medical center, where efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Alternately scorned and lionized by Hollywood during the course of his career, Schulberg, the son of a powerful studio executive, was a writer of varied forms, including magazine articles, novels and screenplays. He adapted his short story "Your Arkansas Traveler," about the rise and fall of a popular entertainer, for the screen as "A Face in the Crowd," which Elia Kazan directed in 1957.
Called before the House Un-American Activities Committee investigating allegations of Communism in the motion picture industry, Schulberg...
- 8/5/2009
- by By Duane Byrge and Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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