The Twilight Zone: Season 1 (1959 - 1960)

Mike Ferris (Earl Holliman) doesn't know where he's been or where he's going, but he has a rough idea of where he is -- in a typical small American town. This is all well and good, except for one detail: the town is utterly devoid of people. The explanation is more "logical" than one might expect from a Twilight Zone episode, but that may be because this was the pilot show, and the producers wanted to "sell" the property to sponsors who might otherwise be skeptical about a weekly sci-fi/fantasy anthology. Scripted by series creator Rod Serling and filmed on the familiar Universal backlot, "Where Is Everybody?" was telecast as the Twilight Zone debut episode on October 3, 1959.

Ed Wynn guest stars as Lew Bookman, an aging and not altogether successful sidewalk salesman. When Mr. Death (Murray Hamilton) shows up to "collect" Lew, the latter refuses to go. This leaves Mr. Death no other choice but to claim an alternate soul in Lew's place -- a little girl named Maggie (Dana Dillaway). Adapted from a script he'd written during his days in Cincinnati television, Rod Serling's "One for the Angels" made its Twilight Zone bow on October 9, 1959.

First telcast October 16, 1959, this episode stars Dan Duryea as Al Denton, a once-legendary gunslinger fallen on hard times. Now the town drunk and the object of ridicule, Denton dreams of the day that he will regain his skills with a sixgun. That day comes sooner than expected, thanks to a travelling peddler named Henry J. Fate (Malcolm Atterbury) -- but there's a bizarre price tag attached. Written by Rod Serling, this Twilight Zone episode features an impressive cast of future TV-series stars, including Martin Landau as town bully Hotaling, Doug McClure as punkish fast gun Pete Grant, and Jeanne Cooper as faded saloon girl Liz. Incidentally, this dramatic episode was originally intended as a comic story titled "You Too Can Be a Fast Gun," with a timid schoolteacher unexpectedly gaining renown as a gunfighter.

Ida Lupino stars as Barbara Jean Trenton, a 1930s movie queen who refuses to admit that she's grown too old to play romantic roles. As her loyal agent Danny Weiss (Martin Balsam) looks on with a mixture of pity and disgust, Barbara insists upon sitting in her Hollywood mansion watching her old films. A surprise visit from her now-decrepit leading man Jerry Hearndon (Jerome Cowan) forces Barbara to face reality -- or does it? Bearing traces of Sunset Boulevard, but with a poignant Twilight Zone twist, "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" was written by Rod Serling and directed by Mitchell Leisen (one of the last assignments for this veteran); the episode originally aired October 23, 1959.

One the finest of all Twilight Zone episodes, "Walking Distance" benefits not only from a superb Rod Serling script and a magnificent starring performance by Gig Young, but also from an evocative musical score by Bernard Herrmann (which would be cannibalized many times on subsequent episodes). Young is cast as 35-year-old businessman Martin Sloan, who, while waiting for his car to be repaired, takes a sentimental journey to his home town of Homewood. Gradually, Martin begins to realize that the town has not changed one bit in 25 years: In fact, his parents are still alive, and there's a young boy running around who is the living image of 10-year-old Martin Sloan. Watch for Ron Howard in a three-line bit role. "Walking Distance" was first telecast October 30, 1959.

Hypochondriac Walter Bedecker (David Wayne) would do anything to feel better -- including making a deal with the Devil. When His Satanic Majesty makes an appearance in the form of the jovial Mr. Cadwallader (Thomas Gomez), Walter enters into a contract whereby he will be given perfect health and immortality. Unfortunately, Walter soon discovers that eternal life isn't all it's cracked up to be, while his wife Ethel suffers spectacularly from Walter's efforts to "spice up" his existence. Several 1960s TV icons appear in supporting roles, including commercial "stars" Virginia Christine (aka Mrs. Olsen) and Dick Wilson) (Mr. Whipple), The Beverly Hillbillies' Raymond Bailey, and McHale's Navy's Joe Flynn. First telecast November 6, 1959, "Escape Clause" was written by Rod Serling.

Discounting the pilot "Where Is Everybody?", "The Lonely" was the first Twilight Zone episode to be produced, though not the first to be shown. Jack Warden stars as futuristic convicted murderer James Corry, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment on a lonely asteroid. Out of compassion for Corry, Captain Allenby (John Dehner), leader of the supply ship that makes biannual stopovers at the asteroid, presents the prisoner with a "companion" -- a beautiful female android named Alicia (Jean Marsh). Future Mary Tyler Moore Show regular Ted Knight appears unbilled as a hostile crew member. Blessed with a poignant Bernard Herrmann musical score (which incorporates the first-season Twilight Zone theme music), "The Lonely" originally aired November 13, 1959.

In his first Twilight Zone appearance, Burgess Meredith stars as Henry Bemis, a miopic bank clerk who wants nothing more out of life than to be left alone to read his precious books. He unexpectedly gets his wish when, while hiding in a bank vault with a book in his hands, a hydrogen bomb devastates the city around him. The sole survivor of this nuclear attack, Henry is at first stricken with panic, then becomes delighted at the prospect of reading to his heart's content, without being nagged by his wife (Jacqueline De Wit) or his boss (Vaughn Taylor). The episode's ironic payoff is so well known that it does not bear repeating here; suffice to say that the ending was invoked in the first few moments of 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie. First telecast November 20, 1959, "Time Enough at Last" was scripted by Rod Serling from a short story by Lynn Venable.

Originally telecast November 27, 1959, "Perchance to Dream" was writer Charles Beaumont's first contribution to The Twilight Zone. Richard Conte stars as Edward Hall, a man who lives in mortal fear of falling asleep. Visiting a psychiatrst (John Larch), Hall explains that he has a weak heart, and that his recurring dream of a beautiful woman (Suzanne Lloyd) luring him to his doom will surely result in a fatal coronary. Alas, the psychiatrist's nurse is the spitting image of the woman in Hall's nightmares. Superbly directed by Robert Florey and boasting an eerie musical score by Nathan Van Cleave, "Perchance to Dream" is enough to give anyone nightmares.