Twilight Zone: Jeremy Fassler’s Top Picks

Jeremy Fassler has a wonderful tribute to the classic Rod Serling television series, “The Twilight Zone” on The Daily Banter.

Created as a response to his dissatisfaction with having his politically-heavy, current-events themed scripts censored by network executives, The Twilight Zone allowed Serling, as well as noted fantasy/sci-fi writers Charles Beaumont (The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao), Richard Matheson (the novel I Am Legend) and George Clayton Johnson (Logan’s Run) the opportunity to tell stories about the turbulent 1960s using monsters and aliens, but always reminding the audience that the greatest enemy is ourselves. This unique blend of fantasy and commentary influenced many of TV’s greatest writers, including JJ Abrams, Vince Gilligan, and George R.R. Martin, who, before writing the fantasy novels which made him famous, penned scripts for the 1980s Twilight Zone reboot.

Fassler recommends his favorite episodes, including the classic with Burgess Meredith as a book lover who thinks he has achieved his dream when he is left alone on earth with all the books in the world, until….And he recommends another with Burgess Meredith, “The Obsolete Man.”