Rod Serling’s classic series “The Twilight Zone” (which ran from 1959 to 1964) has been rebooted three times, and spawned a theatrical movie in 1983. The stories mixed together elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and psychological suspense into an intriguing cocktail for viewers to sip.
The latest version dropped its first two episodes on CBS All Access April 1st. In addition, CBS posted the first episode (“The Comedian”) on YouTube, which I have embedded below.
Let me say up front that I never really got into the original series (or any of the previous reboots). I’m not sure why. I would occasionally watch episodes when the reruns aired late at night (on KPTM when it was an independent station in the 80s featuring an awesome catalog of old movies and TV shows).
Because “The Twilight Zone” is an anthology series (each episode is its own standalone story with unique characters), I just didn’t feel a burning need to invest my time in it like say the original “Star Trek” series (which was a favorite of mine growing up).
That said, I thought the CBS All Access series looked interesting. With Jordan Peele producing, I felt like it’d be wise to give it a shot.
The first episode is titled “The Comedian,” and follows struggling stand-up artist Samir Wassan (Kumasi Nanjiani) — a principled comic who would rather poke fun at perceived hypocrisy in the world than play for cheap laughs in his act.
It is after one of those stand-up gigs that Samir meets his comedy idol J.C. Wheeler (Tracy Morgan). Wheeler gives Samir cryptic advice about being more personal in his act to improve audience engagement — advice that provides a boost to Samir’s career, but causes those who are fodder for his comedy to “vanish” from his life (as if they never existed).
It is sort of a take on the idea that comedians “kill on stage” when they serve up a successful set to an audience.
I’ve been a CBS All Access subscriber for the past couple of years. They’ve launched a handful of series exclusive to the streaming service (like “Star Trek: Discovery”). To be honest, I haven’t found most of them to be compelling enough to watch.
I was kind of surprised by the number of f-bombs dropped in the first episode. I wasn’t offended or anything, but the show definitely veers toward “TV-MA” territory.
“The Comedian” is an interesting diversion. I didn’t love it, but liked it enough to be curious about what Peele & Co. have in store for the rest of the season (10 episodes in total). You can check out “The Comedian” for yourself for free here:
Speaking of “the rest of the season,” the second episode of “The Twilight Zone” was also available on CBS All Access.
The second episode is titled “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” and is a remake of the classic “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (starring a young William Shatner) that aired during the show’s original run.
“Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” tells the story of Justin Sanderson (Adam Scott) — an investigative journalist on a flight to Tel Aviv who finds an MP3 player in the magazine pouch in front of his seat that has a podcast called “Enigmatique” on it.
Sanderson becomes unnerved by the information on the podcast, which foreshadows tragedy happening to his transatlantic flight. As he tries to convince the flight crew and passengers they need to turn the plane around to avoid disaster, his emotionally fragile mind starts to unravel.
For the sake of this blog post, I went back and watched “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (the original “Twilight Zone” series is also on CBS All Access).
In the original episode, Shatner plays Robert Wilson, a salesman who has just been discharged from a sanitarium, where he spent six months recovering from a nervous breakdown (a breakdown that occurred on a flight similar to the one he is traveling home on). Wilson is with his wife and is convinced there is a “gremlin” committing sabotage on the wing of the plane, but he is the only one who sees the creature.
The original episode is so strong, and stands as a classic piece of psychological horror (similar in feel to episodes of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” — another classic anthology series I’ve sampled throughout the years).
That probably has to do with the fact that original series creator Rod Serling had a symbiotic relationship with his show. A quality difficult to replicate in subsequent “reimaginings.”
Peele — who is a modern master of horror at the local multiplex — might rely too heavily on the original source.
Be that as it may, his version of “The Twilight Zone” shows promise.
So far, it feels sort of uneven.
One of the strengths of the original series was the fact that each episode was a snack-sized 25 minutes (perfect for an anthology series).
The first two episodes of Peele’s reboot varied considerably in length (hopefully illustrating that producers won’t “stretch” shows for the sake of meeting a time quota).
Despite a handsome production value — and the gravitas Peele brings to his “narrator” duties — the show (so far) is lacking a hook that makes it “must see” TV.
That’s not to say it isn’t interesting. They even include some “easter eggs” in the first two episodes create a thread. For example, there are characters named “Donner” in the first two episodes — an homage to Richard Donner (who directed the “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” episode in the 1960s, and has gone on to direct movies like “The Goonies” and the “Lethal Weapon” franchise).
Here’s hoping the show evolves during the first season and becomes something truly special.
Previous post: “Book Review: ‘Ballistic’ By Mark Greaney”
No comments:
Post a Comment