Top 10 Twilight Zone Episodes

These are some of my faves. I guess I like the apocalyptic and time travel scenarios...

1. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Imagine being trapped in a tube at 20,000 feet with some creature determined to sabotage your flight. On top of this, no one believes your story. That is what makes this episode so effective. The claustrophobic environment, the helplessness, the knowledge that no one could help, and the monster itself. Having a young William Shatner, aka James T. Kirk, in the title role furthers the ambient fear.


2. Time Enough At Last: Burgess Meredith stars as a man that wants to be left alone with his books. He falls asleep in a bank vault as nuclear explosions signify the end of the world. Meredith awakens to find his dream has come true and then breaks his glasses.

3. Back There: Russell Johnson (the Professor from Gilligan’s Island) finds himself teleported back to the night Lincoln was shot. After some initial confusion, he desperately tries to alert the authorities and comes to the attention of John Wilkes Booth. In the end, Johnson can not change history on the macro level. However, he does manage to change the fortunes of a porter in his high society club after an encounter with the man’s ancestor. When he returns to 1961, the porter is now a rich club member.

4. The Dummy: Before Chucky, there was Willie. A ventriloquist (Cliff Robertson) believes his dummy (Willie) is alive and evil and locks it in a trunk. Why do wooden dummies scare people? Well, in the Twilight Zone, the evil Willie ends up switching places with the ventriloquist. The episode is made especially creepy by the mood lighting, shadows, and Willie’s cackling laughter.

5. The Howling Man: World War I devastated Europe. David Ellington (H.M. Bryant) is wandering through the postwar countryside and gets lost. He stops at a castle for help and collapses. The monks help Ellington who discovers they are holding a man captive. The man begs Ellington to help him escape, but Brother Jerome (John Carradine) warns that the captive is the Devil and if he is set loose, the world would suffer. Ellington does not believe Jerome and sets the Devil loose to launch World War II. Years later, Ellington tracks the Devil down and locks him up. It is his turn to warn his housekeeper to leave the man locked up, but she curiously removes the bar from the door.

6. The Midnight Sun: The world is ending. Earth is flinging itself toward the sun. Or is it? Just as it appears the world is going to be burned to a cinder, it appears that it is actually hurdling away from the sun. The Twilight Zone loved the apocalypse and this episode was prescient in that it predated the global cooling craze which was followed by the global warming craze.

7. The Masks: A dying millionaire makes his family wear masks to supposedly celebrate Mardi Gras. His real aim is to make them wear masks representing their horrid personalities. He forces them to keep the masks on until midnight or be disinherited. They acquiesce and when they remove them, they find that their faces have morphed into their masks.

8. The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms: Three national guardsmen from the present day end up in 1876 at the Little Big Horn. When their comrades search for the missing men, they find their names on a monument to the fallen.

9. A Stop at Willoughby: A poor, overworked, henpecked businessman wants to get away from the modern world. He sleeps on the train ride home from work and is transported to a pleasant turn of the century small town called Willoughby. The people are friendly and life is quiet. He longs for peace and rest. Eventually, he decides to stay in Willoughby rather than wake up. The townspeople embrace him and he goes off happily. His smiling body is found by the train conductor. The man jumped off the train in his sleep and was killed. Willoughby was the funeral home that took his body.

10. A Hundred Years Over the Rim: Another time travel episode…only this one has a happy ending! Cliff Robertson is a pioneer from 1847 and his son is sick with a high fever. So, he sets out searching for water and lands in the 1960s. While there, he procures the medicine that saves his son’s life. As a result of his time travel, the boy becomes a famous doctor.

The Greatest TV Episodes #51-60

51. Magnum P.I.: Limbo (1987): This was originally supposed to be the series finale, but people wanted Magnum back. In the episode, he is shot and ends up in limbo. Magnum tries to communicate with his friends to stop his ex-wife’s murder.

52. The Dick Cavett Show: John and Yoko (1971& 1972): John talks candidly about a whole range of subjects in these classic interviews. He even calls people randomly to tell them he loves them. Footage later appears in Forest Gump.

http://www.openculture.com/2009/10/john_lennon_and_yoko_ono_on_the_dick_cavett_show.html

53. Star Trek Deep Space Nine: In the Pale Moonlight (1998): Sisko and Garak engineer the assassination of a Romulan senator to get the Romulans to enter into the war against the Dominion. Some point to this as the beginning of the end of Star Trek as producers move away from Roddenberry's utopian vision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTgGtJ-PisA


54. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001): Buffy arrives home to find her mom dead. The Scoobies have to deal with natural death as opposed to demons and vampires.

55. Friends: The One with the Prom Video (1996): The friends watch Rachel and Monica’s prom video. The gang look ridiculous in their 80s fashions. At the end, Rachel learns about Ross’ feelings ending almost two years of Ross-Rachel crap and launching another decade of it.

56. Rockford Files: So Help Me God (1974): Once again, Rockford has to dodge those that would do him ill. The episode is famous for its lesson in civil liberties as an innocent man is railroaded.

57. Star Trek: TNG: Tapestry (1993): Picard takes a knife through the heart and dies. In the afterlife, he meets Q. The two travel back to Picard’s graduation and events that led to his artificial heart which killed him. Picard changes the past and ends up a lowly junior officer. Q allows him to return to the past to put things right.

58. I Love Lucy: Lucy meets Harpo Marx (1955): This episodes includes the now famous mirror routine.

59. Twilight Zone: Back There (1961): Four braniacs are discussing time travel. Peter Corrigan, played by Russell Johnson (aka The Professor from Gilligan’s Island), leaves for the night. After leaving his snooty club and friends, he finds himself in April, 1865. Corrigan tries to warn the police about Lincoln's impending assassination, but no one will listen. John Wilkes Booth himself later drugs Corrigan who awakes in time to hear news of the assassination. He could not change history; or could he? When he returns to 1961, the club’s waiter was now a millionaire.

60. X-Files- Duane Berry/Ascension (1994): Scully is abducted in one of the iconic pop culture moments of the decade.

Looking Back: Some 2010 Anniversaries

Happy New Year! The New Year is always a time to look to the future and reminisce about the past. It also provides a time to examine anniversaries of historical events. So, without delay, here are some anniversaries worth noting:

Five Years Ago (2005): Hurricane Katrina wipes out New Orleans. Over 1800 people died when Katrina struck. Government red tape and corruptions kept the levees from being upgraded to withstand a storm of that magnitude. Additionally, local and state officials failed to evacuate citizens in New Orleans resulting in a massive body count. On top of all this, the federal response was slow and incompetent thus demonstrating why government should not be allowed to run anything.

Ten Years Ago (2000): Bush vs. Gore. Gore won the popular vote, but Bush won the electoral college. It all came down to Florida's electoral vote. Gore decided to contest Democratic counties in Florida. During the multiple recounts, Gore made steady progress and cut into Bush’s lead in Florida. In recounts, the person leading the vote usually gains votes. Gore’s progress denotes possible vote fraud which led to protests. The Bush Campaign went to court. After a couple rounds in the Florida Supreme Court, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. On a 5-4 vote, they ended the madness in Florida and Bush became president. Gore’s mistake was not requesting a statewide recount at the beginning of this fiasco.

Twenty Years Ago (1990): Iraq invades Kuwait. Saddam Hussein decided to annex Kuwait. Iraq claimed it as a province. Hussein sent feelers to the Bush Administration about the invasion beforehand. The administration failed to warn off Hussein. As a result, Saddam felt he had a free hand and launched the invasion.

Twenty-Five Years Ago (1985): Gorbachev takes command. The Soviet Union buried three leaders during the Reagan Administration. Privately, President Reagan complained that he could not deal with the Soviets if their leaders kept dying. The Communist Party selected Mikhail Gorbachev to lead the country. Gorbachev was young and vigorous as opposed to the walking corpses that previously led the nation. Eventually, the new leader instituted reforms which backfired and helped destroy the USSR.

Fifty Years Ago (1960): Kennedy defeats Nixon. In the closest election anyone could remember, John Kennedy edged Vice-President Richard Nixon for the presidency. The election served as the transition in leadership from the Lost Generation to the G.I. Generation. Additionally, the first debate between Nixon and Kennedy proved the power of television. Radio listeners believed Nixon won the debate. Unfortunately for Nixon, more people saw the debate on television.

Seventy-Five Years Ago (1935): The Dust Bowl. Years of mismanagement of the nation’s farmland came home to roost. The topsoil was destroyed by generations of mismanagement and the great plains literally blew away. People on the east coast watched in amazement as Oklahoma blew into the ocean.

100 Years Ago (1910): Jack Johnson defeats Jim Jeffries. African-American boxer Jack Johnson beat all challengers. Whites demanded former champ Jim Jeffries return from retirement to defeat Johnson. Eventually, Jeffries relented and Johnson won the bout. Race riots broke out all over the country because a black man knocked out a white man in a boxing ring.

150 Years Ago (1860): Lincoln wins! In a bizarre presidential election, Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates for the presidency. There were two elections in 1860. In the South, John C. Breckinridge and John Bell squared off. Lincoln was not on the ballot. In the North, Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen Douglas battled. The North had the population and Lincoln won the North. So, Lincoln won the White House and the South left the Union.

200 Years Ago (1810): Macon’s Bill Number 2. Thomas Jefferson destroyed the American economy with his embargo. Congressman Nathaniel Bacon and President James Madison wanted to correct Jefferson’s error. President Jefferson believed Europe needed American goods and he could coerce the British and French into behaving on the high seas through an embargo. The two powers were seizing American ships to stop trade. Bacon’s bill promised to lift the embargo on whatever power promised to stop seizing American ships. Napoleon agreed, the U.S. dropped the embargo on France, and British-American relations suffered eventually leading to war in 1812.
300 Years Ago (1710): The Tuscarora Tribe protest land seizures. In 1710, the Tuscarora Indians sent a protest to the Pennsylvania colonial government. They complained about whites stealing their lands and enslaving their people.400 Years Ago (1610): Jamestown re-supplied. The winter of 1609-1610 was known as “the starving time” in Jamestown. The colonists lacked food and were surrounded by hostile Indians. They resorted to cannibalism. Eventually, the colony was re-supplied and repopulated with new colonists. This saved English North America.

500 Years Ago (1510): Slavery comes to the Americas. In 1510, Spanish King Ferdinand officially opened the New World to African slavery. This began 500 years of racial antagonism between whites and blacks in the Americas.

Presidential Legacies: Civil War and Reconstruction

This next grouping is intimately tied to the Civil War and Reconstruction. The war began in 1861 and ended in 1865 consuming Lincoln’s Presidency. Lincoln toyed with Reconstruction in the occupied South. However, he died before being able to start Reconstruction in the South. The Reconstruction issue dominated Johnson’s Presidency and led to his impeachment. In the North, Reconstruction waned as an issue in the Grant Years before ending with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes.

Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865): We know the story. The South left the Union and Lincoln brought them back. Lincoln knew he had the edge, but could not find a general to win the war. They all wanted to be Napoleon. Instead, he got guys like Ambrose Burnside. Eventually, he found Grant and the South was pounded into submission.

While on the way to reunification, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Technically, this freed no one, but Lincoln turned the war into a battle against slavery. This undercut the South. They were now the bad guys and the Civil War became a moral war. Lincoln worked on the 13th Amendment to end slavery. He died before it passed.

Andrew Johnson (1865-1869): At first, Johnson appeared to be the right man to punish the South. He talked tough and announced tough policies. Then, he worked to get the Southern states readmitted as quickly as possible with the pre-war status quo. This angered the Republicans. A war between the executive and legislative branches began.

During the 1866 Congressional Elections, Johnson went campaigned against the GOP. Presidential campaigning was unheard of. They were supposed to sit at home and rest on their records while others campaigned. People were suspicious. He compounded his miscalculation by giving the same speech from stop to stop. It was reprinted in the papers. The audience in Cleveland recited the speech as Johnson tried to give it. He melted down. The Republicans won a decisive victory and Johnson was irrelevant.

The Republicans worked to help blacks in the South while Johnson worked to undermine their rights. The two branches of government continued to collide and Johnson was finally impeached. He survived conviction in the Senate. Johnson’s interference in Reconstruction gave a defeated South new life. It helped lead to the Ku Klux Klan, Night Riders, and other paramilitary terror groups in the South. The country remained at war despite the peace at Appomattox. As a result of Johnson’s actions, the South continued to resist and eventually reclaimed the South and instituted Jim Crow. Perhaps if Lincoln had survived, a second Reconstruction in the 1960s would not have been needed.

U.S. Grant (1869-1877): Grant’s Administration avoided Reconstruction where possible to concentrate on economic development. As money flowed from the Feds, a series of scandals rocked the Grant Administration. Grant’s presidency suffered from the most presidential scandals until the Clintons came to town.

While the administration dealt with scandal, it dealt with a destabilizing force in the South. The Klan was running wild. Grant sent in the troops, declared martial law, and crushed the Klan. The KKK would not be a problem again until the 20th century. However, once the economy tanked, and Northerners decided it best to let the South decide their own fate, Grant was powerless to stop Klan-like groups from emerging in Mississippi and spreading throughout the South.

Rutherford B Hayes (1877-1881): Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote in 1876. However, three states had suspicious returns. Without Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, Samuel Tilden was one electoral vote short of the presidency. Hayes needed all three states to be president. Democrats worked hard in these states to suppress the vote and stuff the ballot box. Republicans cried foul. Eventually, the two parties cut a deal. Hayes would be president. In return, the military occupation of the South would end. This is a case where the president’s legacy is tied directly to something out of his control. Hayes was a good president and became a hero in Paraguay. However, he is best remembered as Rutherfraud B. Hayes and the Compromise of 1877.

History Bracketology: Greatest American Final

Washington beat Lincoln.

Sweet 16: Greatest American

Early America
1. George Washington vs. 5. James Madison (GW wins)
2. Thomas Jefferson vs. 3. Alexander Hamilton (Jefferson wins)

Antebellum through Civil War
1. Abraham Lincoln vs. 13. John Quincy Adams (Lincoln wins)
2. John Marshall vs. 3. Andrew Jackson (Jackson wins)

Recon through WW2
1. FDR vs. 12. Albert Einstein (Einstein wins)
6. Henry Ford vs. 7. Theodore Roosevelt (TR wins)

Modern
1. MLK vs. 4. Dwight Eisenhower (MLK wins)
2. Ronald Reagan vs. 14. Richard Nixon (Reagan wins)

The Greatest Inaugural Addresses

I have read every Presidential Inaugural Address from Washington to W. I have seen every Inaugural Address from Kennedy to W (Thank you C-Span). So, here is my list of the five greatest addresses and four honorable mentions...They are arranged chronologically.

1. Thomas Jefferson (1801): Jefferson tried to heal wounds caused by a decade of intense partisanship. People think today's politics are hyper-partisan. However, the 1790s were worse. As Obama has been doing, Jefferson attempted to reach across the aisle and proclaimed one American nation with the refrain, "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."

2. Abraham Lincoln (1865): The partisanship of Jefferson's time was intense, but not as intense as the 1850s. By 1860, compromise was not possible and war broke out after Lincoln's inaugural in 1861. Speeches do not have to be long to be good. Lincoln's second address was short and to the point. He wanted to heal the nation, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

3. Franklin Roosevelt (1933): FDR reassured a nation deep in despair by promising "that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Compared to the dour Herbert Hoover, this was a breath of fresh air. Additionally, with improvements in technology, we can see and hear FDR's speech today.

4. John F. Kennedy (1961): JFK's inaugural was a call to arms for a new generation. It was a message of hope. Mankind can eliminate poverty and other social problems. Liberty will spread. America's good words would be transformed into good deeds. Kennedy also challenged Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

5. Ronald Reagan (1981): Reagan always performed for his audience. After four years of the Carter Malaise, and almost 20 years of bad luck, divisions, and disasters, Reagan had come on his white horse to set things right. Reagan promised a new beginning. As a result of leftist policies, the economy was shattered and America's prestige abroad at an all time low. Like today, solutions to problems does not come from government. Instead, America's problem was government.

Honorable Mentions:

1. Andrew Jackson (1829): Jackson's election marked the beginning of a new age. (It also led to the greatest party in American History as the White House got trashed). Jackson's address was similar to Reagan's. Liberty is more important than government expansion.

2. Abraham Lincoln (1861): The South left the Union. How would Lincoln respond? He attempted to alleviate Southern worries, but he also let it be known that states can not leave the Union. He asks Southerners to be patriots and appeals to their "better angels."

3. Benjamin Harrison (1889): Harrison was known to be "icy." He was not very likable, but he managed to get elected. Despite his inability to be warm and fuzzy, he gave a pretty good address. It was a celebratory unity speech.

4. Richard Nixon (1969): Nixon came back from the abyss to win the presidency in 1968. During his exile, he became an expert in foreign affairs. Like Kennedy, he appealed to something bigger than himself. It was a "Summons to Greatness." Nixon pushed for a peaceful world. He asked Americans to seize the opportunity for greatness. It was time to end war, "The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker."

The Greats

There are three presidents that deserve to be in a category all their own. They are the saviors. Each one faced a crisis that could have destroyed the country and steered the country through. At various points in their presidencies, America could have ceased being America. They are listed chronologically.
1. George Washington. When Washington took office, no one was sure what the Constitution meant. He put the skin on the skeletal document. On top of this, his force of will kept people in line. He was not dictatorial. Instead, people worshiped and respected him. When Jeffersonian clubs threatened to tear the country apart, he told them to disband and they did. When Whiskey Rebels threatened the government's authority, he put down their revolt (and then pardoned them). Washington was no king. Instead of serving for life, he stepped down after two terms. On his way out, he warned against factionalism and foreign alliances/entanglements. Had Washington not been president, there was a real chance the U.S. would have broken up into 13 countries.
2. Abraham Lincoln. The South left the Union and Lincoln forced them to come back. Along the way, he freed the slaves, limited states' rights, modernized government, and centralized federal power. If someone else had been president during the war, the U.S. and C.S.A. would have been two countries. Many wanted to let the South go. Lincoln said no and used everything in his power to keep them from leaving.
3. Franklin Roosevelt. FDR faced two crises. The Great Depression ravaged America and the government seemed helpless. His New Deal did not end the depression, but it gave people hope, modernized government, saved capitalism, and staved off revolution. While Germany produced Hitler, America produced Roosevelt. FDR was quick to recognize the Nazi threat and mobilized as best he could for war. When it came, he put the full force of the United States into winning it. His advocacy of basic human rights and stance against fascism helped save the world.

Mac Will Bring the Union Back: 1864

Lincoln believed he would lose his bid for re-election in 1864. The Civil War had dragged on since 1861 and people were tired and frustrated. Undaunted, Lincoln was renominated. He then moved to form a National Union ticket. He dumped his loyal Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin for Andrew Johnson. Johnson was the only southern senator to remain loyal to the union. Johnson proved more loyal to the Union during the war than the Democratic candidate.
The Democrats nominated Union General George B. McClellan. During the war, McClellan proved an able organizer and kept his casualty rates relatively low. His troops loved him. However, he was also arrogant and overly cautious. His caution kept him from pressing the war and cost him his job.
The Democrats thought they had the perfect candidate to unseat Lincoln. They promised, "Mac will bring the Union back!" They planned to negotiate a peace with Jefferson Davis. On the other hand, Lincoln promised to press the war and warned voters not "to change horses in the middle of a stream." George W. Bush borrowed this line in 2004. However, without battlefield success, Lincoln was pessimistic about his chances.
Lincoln made plans for the transition to a McClellan Administration. Everyone believed Mac would win until General Sherman intervened. On September 2, 1864, William Tecumseh Sherman took Atlanta. Northerners could see an end to the war. The Democrats looked bad. Why would anyone vote to end the war when Sherman showed it could be won?
The result was predictable. Lincoln won in a landslide. He received 55% of the total vote and 70% of the soldiers' vote. Lincoln's re-election spelled doom for the Confederacy. The CSA hoped to negotiate an end to hostilities with the Democrats. Lincoln would not negotiate.

The Final Straw: Lincoln's Election:1860

In 1860, there were two presidential elections in the United States. One took place in the North and one in the South. The South decided they did not like either the Republican or Democratic nominees and refused to allow them on their ballots. The split allowed Abraham Lincoln to win with 40% of the vote.
The Republicans believed they could win and needed a moderate candidate to allay fears they were extremists. They settled on Lincoln. Lincoln was a party organizer and moderate. He was also from a key state, Illinois.
The Democratic Convention was chaos. Stephen Douglas refused to allow provision in the party platform calling for Federal protection of slavery. He won the nomination, but the Southern delegates bolted and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge as the "National" Democratic candidate.
Meanwhile, the remnants of the Whig Party decided to form a "Constitutional Union" Party. This party wanted to keep the union together and disliked both the Democratic and Republican Parties. They nominated John Bell.
In the North, the election was between Lincoln and Douglas. In the South, it was Bell vs. Breckinridge. Since the Republicans were a Northern Party, the bulk of the population lived in the North, and the Democrats split, Lincoln captured the White House with just 40% of the vote. Shortly thereafter, South Carolina left the union. Lame Duck James Buchanan did nothing. Before he was even in office, Lincoln had a Civil War on his hands.