50 Fun Facts About Twilight Zone

Roughly how many of the original series' 156 episodes did Rod Serling write or co-write himself?

He wrote or co-wrote 92, while also serving as executive producer, host and narrator.

On which network did The Twilight Zone originally air from 1959 to 1964?

CBS had wanted a rating of at least 21; early numbers were so poor the network considered replacing Serling with Orson Welles.

How many seasons did the original series run?

The final two seasons were marketed simply as Twilight Zone, without the 'The'.

How many episodes of the original series were made?

Serling, Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson between them wrote 127 of them.

In 'Time Enough at Last', what happens to Henry Bemis as he settles down to read?

Burgess Meredith's bank teller had survived the H-bomb in a vault, surrounded at last by all the books he could want.

Which actor plays the book-loving Henry Bemis in 'Time Enough at Last'?

He returned to the series in 'The Obsolete Man' as a librarian sentenced to death by the state.

In 'To Serve Man', what does the alien book of that title turn out to be?

The nine-foot Kanamits had promised to end hunger and war on Earth, and technically they were fattening everyone up.

What is the name of the towering alien race in 'To Serve Man'?

Richard Kiel, later Jaws in the Bond films, played the visiting alien.

In 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet', William Shatner's character sees a creature doing what?

Richard Matheson wrote the story; Richard Donner directed, the first of six episodes he made for the show.

Which future Superman director directed 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet'?

It was the first of six Twilight Zone episodes he directed, all in the fifth season.

In 'Living Doll', what is the name of the talking doll that torments Telly Savalas's character?

June Foray, the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and the real Chatty Cathy doll, voiced her.

In 'It's a Good Life', where does six-year-old Anthony Fremont send people who displease him?

Billy Mumy played Anthony; the town has been cut off from the rest of the world by his powers.

In 'It's a Good Life', in which fictional town has the rest of the world disappeared?

The story came from a 1953 short story by Jerome Bixby; Serling adapted it.

In 'Eye of the Beholder', what do the doctors and nurses look like when they are finally revealed?

Janet Tyler, the 'ugly' patient under the bandages, is beautiful by our standards; two actresses played her, one bandaged, one unmasked.

In 'The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street', what first triggers the neighbours' paranoia?

The twist reveals aliens on a hill watching, having simply flicked the lights to let the humans destroy themselves.

In the episode about Nan Adams' cross-country drive, what does she finally realise about herself?

The hitchhiker who keeps reappearing along her cross-country drive is Death, waiting patiently for her to catch on.

In 'The Invaders', the tiny spacemen menacing Agnes Moorehead's farm woman turn out to be from where?

Moorehead never speaks; the only dialogue is the astronaut's frantic warning about a planet of giants.

In 'Nick of Time', William Shatner becomes obsessed with what in a small-town diner?

The 'Mystic Seer' answers yes-or-no questions; a shot of it appears in the 2019 revival episode 'Replay'.

In 'A Stop at Willoughby', where does the exhausted commuter find himself when his train stops?

Serling named it his favourite story of the first season.

In 'Kick the Can', residents of which retirement home discover the secret of youth?

Steven Spielberg remade the story as his segment of the 1983 movie.

In 'The Midnight Sun', what is happening to the Earth?

The twist reveals the sweltering scenes as a fever dream — the planet is really drifting away from the Sun and freezing.

Who directed 'The Masks', the only woman to direct an episode of the original series?

She had also acted in the season-one episode 'The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine', making her the only person to both act in and direct the show.

What was the title of the very first episode, broadcast on October 2, 1959?

Season two opened with 'King Nine Will Not Return', which Serling wrote as a fresh take on the same idea.

Which composer wrote the famous dissonant guitar-and-bongo theme introduced in season two?

He was a French avant-garde composer, and the cues were commissioned by CBS as work-for-hire library music.

Which composer wrote the original season-one theme, later replaced?

Herrmann, of Psycho and Vertigo fame, also scored seven episodes including the pilot.

What was the plot of the 1957 pilot pitch 'The Time Element'?

CBS shelved it until it aired on Desilu Playhouse in 1958; its success got The Twilight Zone made.

Which legendary filmmaker did CBS reportedly offer the hosting job to when the show struggled in season one?

He turned it down, and the network reversed course and expanded Serling's on-camera role instead.

Which run of the show was expanded to hour-long episodes?

CBS had dropped the show for a sitcom called Fair Exchange, then brought it back mid-season to fill that hour slot.

What did the show's creator do with his 40% share after it ended?

He did not foresee syndication, and missed out on the royalties that followed.

What was the creator's later anthology series, which debuted in 1969?

He had vowed to leave the supernatural behind after The Twilight Zone, but returned to it within five years.

In which US Army unit did the show's creator serve during World War II?

He fought at Leyte and Luzon in the Philippines and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

In which upstate New York city did the show's creator spend most of his youth?

He was born in Syracuse and later taught at Ithaca College until his death in 1975.

How many Emmy Awards for dramatic writing had the creator won by the end of the show's second season?

The first season brought an unprecedented fourth, the second a fifth.

Which two producers made the 1983 film Twilight Zone: The Movie?

Landis wrote an original story; Spielberg, Dante and Miller each remade an original episode.

Which actor was killed with two child actors in a helicopter crash while filming Twilight Zone: The Movie?

The tragedy in John Landis's segment led to criminal trials and lasting changes to child-labour and safety rules on film sets.

Who developed the 2019 revival of The Twilight Zone alongside Simon Kinberg and Marco Ramirez?

It premiered on CBS All Access and was renewed for a second season halfway through its first.

Disney's Twilight Zone drop ride is set in which fictional building?

The first version opened at what was then Disney-MGM Studios in July 1994.

In which year did the Tower of Terror ride open at Walt Disney World?

Versions later followed at Tokyo DisneySea and Disney California Adventure, though the latter has since been rethemed.

Which two writers, along with the show's creator, wrote nearly every first-season script?

The trio was responsible for 127 of the series' 156 episodes.

Which cost-cutting experiment did CBS force on six season-two episodes?

Serling called the result 'neither fish nor fowl'; it saved only about $6,000 an episode and was never repeated.

In 'Number 12 Looks Just Like You', what happens to everyone upon reaching adulthood?

Fashion model Suzy Parker played seven different characters in the episode.

In 'The Masks', a dying man forces his relatives to wear grotesque masks during which celebration?

When the masks come off, the relatives' faces have permanently taken on the ugly shapes.

Which FCC chairman praised the show in his 1961 'vast wasteland' speech about television?

He singled it out as one of the few quality series on the air, calling it 'dramatic and moving'.

Which classic episode adapted Lucille Fletcher's radio play about a woman on a cross-country drive?

Inger Stevens played Nan Adams; it is regularly ranked among the show's finest half-hours.

Which season-five episode was actually a French short film that won the 1963 Academy Award for best short?

Based on the Ambrose Bierce story, it could only be aired twice under the deal with its filmmakers and was never syndicated.

Which hour-long sitcom replaced The Twilight Zone on CBS's fall 1962 schedule, only to be replaced by it in January?

Filling that slot is why the fourth season had to expand to hour-long episodes, an idea Serling disliked.

Which company replaced Kimberly-Clark as a sponsor when the show nearly died after season one?

Instead of dropping Serling as host, CBS expanded his role by having him deliver an on-camera opening introduction too.

Which actor narrates the BBC radio-drama version of The Twilight Zone, taking Rod Serling's role?

Producer Carl Amari licensed the rights in 2002; each 40-minute episode stars a Hollywood name such as Jim Caviezel or Jane Seymour.

Syfy traditionally airs Twilight Zone marathons on the Fourth of July and which other holiday?

Episodes are often re-cut for extra commercials so they fit 22- or 44-minute slots.

Which writer's brain disease meant his last scripts were ghostwritten by Jerry Sohl and John Tomerlin?

He, Serling and Matheson had written 127 of the show's 156 episodes between them.