The Twilight Zone
(1958-1964)
This was a constant in my household. It was two decades after its cancellation by the time I got hold of it, but syndication brought it to my generation. And I loved every weird episode framed with supreme creepiness by Rod Serling. My personal fave was "The Masks" where the greedy family of wealthy old man are all sitting around waiting on him to croak so they can find out what he left them. Man, does he have something for them!
The Hitchhiker
(1983-1991)
In the early 80s, when HBO was just figuring out how to make their own original shows, they cut their teeth on this series, heavily inspired by The Twilight Zone. Instead of Rod Serling, each episode was introduced by a "mysterious" traveler known as...um...the Hitchhiker. Usually, there was a little nudity/sex along the way to a strange twist. I was probably too young to be watching it at 12, but it is what it is.
Tales From the Crypt
(1989-1996)
Like The Hitchhiker, there is no doubt this show was inspired by The Twilight Zone. The series treated us to entertaining and twisted stories told by The Crypt Keeper. My fave this time is an episode called "My Brother's Keeper" and involves a set of conjoined twins who are, shall we say, having some issues with the company they keep.
You may, or may not, remember that Brittani at Rambling Film won the latest Spot the Movie Titles Contest. It's not as good as winning over a billion dollars in the lottery, but she's getting lots of free pub, here. Seriously, she's a great blogger, so...
Tales from the Crypt was an awesome show. I thought about picking it but it felt too obvious as I sort of went on an Auteurs-based thing with my picks. I remember "My Brother's Keeper". That episode was awesome. There's several episodes in that series that I love. One with Joe Pesci who dates twins as he pretends to create a twin just to date both women only for things to go wrong. Another was directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger which was about an old guy trying to look young to woo Kelly Preston.
ReplyDeleteIt was beyond awesome. Can't remember that last episode you referenced. Might have to find that online (I hope).
DeleteOh man I loved Tales from the Crypt as a kid. So many episodes went so far over my head at that age, but I still liked watching it. I've only seen a few episodes of Twilight Zone and none from your other pick.
ReplyDeleteIt was so much fun, wasn't it?
DeleteOh I love, love, LOVE The Twilight Zone!!! So original and often unsettling but also challenging and invariably entertaining. Dozens of great episodes to choose from, The Invaders, Nothing in the Dark, Two, Number 12 Looks Just Like You and on and on, but my favorite remains The Hitch-Hiker with Inger Stevens. The 80's redo of the show wasn't always as strong but did have several brilliant segments-Shatterday with Bruce Willis and Her Pilgrim Soul with Anne Twomey are just great.
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch either of the other two shows with any regularity but did on occasion. They weren't in the same class as TZ but I remember each having episodes I enjoyed.
As with films horror TV shows are by and large not my thing, I tried with American Horror Story but it's just to gross for me, so I reached back as well and didn't stick strictly to scary.
Dark Shadows (1966-1971)-The first and probably only daytime horror soap opera. Young governess Victoria Winters arrives at the Collins' estate-Collinwood, in Collinsport, Maine. Greeted by shut-in matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (40’s film noir queen Joan Bennett) and other various members of the family including cousin Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) and the seemingly sweet but truly evil Angelique (Lara Parker). She is soon plunged into a world of strange occurrences and terrifying happenings that includes vampires, ghosts, werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. Enormously popular in its day this spawned a couple of theatrical features during its run, an unsuccessful relaunch in prime time in the 80’s and the Tim Burton misfire.
Cop Rock (1990)-A police drama in musical form! Truly peculiar show that tried to blend those two disparate elements. For example in the premiere as the judge addresses the jury they rise as one and sing the verdict-“He’s Guilty”-Gospel style! There’s also dancing shootouts and harmonizing lineups! In the late 80’s no one was a hotter ticket in TV than producer Steven Bochco following the successes of Hill Street Blues & L.A. Law and he had achieved a level of carte blanche rarely achieved. This is what he did with it? It has been cited as both one of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time and the single most bizarre TV musical ever.
American Gothic (1995-1996)-Taking place in the town of Trinity, South Carolina the story revolves around the seemingly good natured but corrupt Sheriff Lucas Buck (Gary Cole), a murderous rapist manipulating people to "fulfil their potential" usually towards evil pursuits by way of supernatural powers. His main goal is to control and mold Caleb Temple (Lucas Black) into his image. Dark secrets abound including the fact that Caleb is Buck’s son via a rape committed in front of Caleb's older sister Merlyn (Sarah Paulson), who is murdered in cold blood by Buck in the first episode but whose ghost guides Caleb aided by the town’s newly arrived Dr. Crower (Jake Weber) and Caleb’s out-of-town cousin Gail Emory (Paige Turco). Pitch black, truly eerie and brilliantly acted especially by Cole and Black this was conceived by Shaun Cassidy of all people and ex-produced by Sam Raimi. Sadly it only lasted one season.
Cop Rock! So...so...weird. No, WEIRD, in all caps. What a nutty show that was, fully deserving of its notoriety.
DeleteSomehow, I've never seen Dark Shadows. If I did, I was too young to remember any of it. I did see the Tim Burton version. Yeah, they could've kept that.
I know of American Gothic, but don't think I've seen any episodes.
Tales from the Crypt! Love that show. Some of the best and most disturbing twists ever!
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteThe Twilight Zone is the only I'm familiar with and I really want to see it.
ReplyDeleteAt least watch a few episodes They'll be well worth your while.
DeleteOh man...am I later getting here. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Twilight Zone and the episode you cited is one of my favourites along with The Hitchhiker with Inger Stevens. I love how well Rod Serling knew the mob mentality which he often portrayed as paranoid dumbnuts..hmmm...kind of like what is happening now in the states. The 2 i like is where an alien comes down but the people are scared and believe his gift is a weapon. The other are where a group on a street start turning on one another believing the other might be an alien. I also love the one about the mannequins. I have never seen the 2nd one but sounds like a fun one. I saw only a few episodes of Tales from the Crypt but they weren't bad.
ReplyDeleteAll of those episodes are great choices! The Hitchhiker was very fun, or at least it was back then. I haven't seen it in over 20 years. Curious to see how it holds up after all this time.
DeleteI have seen a few episodes of The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt. I don't remember much, but they were usually weird and creepy.
ReplyDeleteYour memory serves you well.
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