Love the iconic thriller and mystery show The Twilight Zone from the 1960’s? Well you’re in luck!
Welcome back to The Twilight Zone, 60 years later. It’s back for ten episodes on CBS’s streaming service.
The Twilight Zone first aired from Nov. 1958 to June 1964 and had five seasons.
It was created by Rod Serling and marketed as a horror and mystery show.
The show changed the landscape of television and created a demand for psychological mystery thrillers. However, it was one of a kind and Serling’s formula is difficult to replicate. So why now for the reboot?
Michael Chattalas, Ph.D., a specialist professor of marketing recognized a resurgance of old TV show comebacks.
“Every generation has an interest in ‘reliving’ a past era, which is typically perceived in an idealized manner, as compared to present times… networks often choose to revive successful television franchises, as it is quite hard to score a ratings success with brand new content concepts.”
While it may not be as unique as it was in the 1960’s when it came out, the episodes do put a modern spin on some of the stories which is thought-provoking especially to audiences at the college and young adult age, who did not watch the original.
Today’s reboot is hosted by Oscar winner Jordan Peele, the mastermind behind thrillers like Get Out and Us.
The first episode introduced by Peele is The Comedian, which follows the story of Samir Wassan who can only get laughs for his comedy shows when making fun of people or things in his own life.
In doing this, though, he slowly makes all of the people in his life disappear.
Discovering this power opens many doors for him and Samir begins to abuse this power.
The acting and directing are done extremely well, but its plot is bland. The “twist” at the end isn’t very surprising and doesn’t shock you the way they are expecting from such an iconic show.
This first episode is not a good representation of the original Twilight Zone, but luckily that isn’t the case for the second one.
Nightmare at 30,000 Feet, pays homage to one of the most recognizable episodes from the original Twilight Zone called Nightmare at 20,000 Feet from 1963.
The new episode puts a modern spin on the original story of a man who sees a gremlin out the window on a plane. He is the only one who can see it, so nobody believes him, and he is thought to be having a mental breakdown.
What stands out is the style in which the story was written.
By trying to run away from the fate the podcast predicts, he actually creates it. This is consistent with the way Greek tragedy was written for their theatre and is an interesting concept to follow.
Its storyline is much more interesting to viewers and the spin at the end is much more compelling than the first.
If the show sounds good enough for you and you want to check them out, they’re exclusively on CBS’s new streaming service, All Access.
It costs $5.99 per month with some commercials or $9.99 per month with no commercials.
If you just want to just binge The Twilight Zone, then you can use the service’s free week long trial. How do you think I wrote this article?
CBS All Access is similar to Netflix or Hulu, but only has CBS shows, rather than a collective service for shows and movies. This limits the viewership and interest in the service because there is not “something for everyone.”
Considering it may only appeal to CBS die-hards, the payment isn’t worth it, especially if they are only interested in The Twilight Zone and not the rest of the shows or options.
CBS’s decision to put The Twilight Zone exclusively on their streaming platform also makes it apparent that network television is feeling the pinch from its online competitors.
We’re living in a time where many people are cutting the cable chord, but CBS might be a little late.
But here’s the big $5.99 a month question: “is it worth getting All Access for the new Twilight Zone?”
Thus far, the show is decent and tells good stories, but it’s not worth the big bucks.
On the other hand, it is worth your time to check it out on the free trial.
Revivals of shows do not always hold up to originals, but the modern spin, incorporating technology and social issues, does give it refreshing free to an old classic and is worth the way.
Be careful though you may get sucked into the Twilight Zone.
