October 29, 2025 • 40 mins
Happy Halloween! This episode takes us to Rod Serling’s series The Twilight Zone, which redefined science fiction and horror on TV. We explore how its storytelling, social commentary, and unforgettable twists continue to unsettle TV audiences decades later.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Keith Loria (00:00):
Welcome to season three of Don't Touch That Dial,
a classic TV pocket.
So join us as we remember theshows that made watching TV in
the days of antennas so muchfun.
Anthony Stoeckert (00:09):
Grab your remote and get ready for some
fun and laughs.
Keith Loria (00:13):
And remember, Don't Touch That Dial.
Anthony Stoeckert (00:16):
Hello, TV fans, and welcome to a very
scary and suspenseful episode ofDon't Touch That Dial, a
classic TV podcast.
This week we are entering theTwilight Zone.
I'm Anthony Stecker.
Jody Schwartz (00:31):
And I'm Jody Schwartz, and I'm Keith Alaurea.
Anthony Stoeckert (00:34):
So it's Halloween time, and we thought
it would be that's why wethought it would be fun to talk
about the Twilight Zone.
But at the same time, we alsothought uh we would share a uh
Halloween memory or two, if wecan think of any, because we
just came up with this idea like10 seconds ago.
Jody, you raised your hand.
Jody Schwartz (00:52):
Yes, one just did come to mind, and it's nothing
spectacular, but it it'samusing.
Uh when I was in the eighthgrade, I was going to a uh a
costume party.
A friend of mine was having aparty.
I don't remember if it wasactually on Halloween or around
Halloween, but he was having acostume, she was having a
costume party, and I decided Iwas gonna dress up as Tom Sieber
(01:14):
for uh for this uh costumeparty.
Anthony Stoeckert (01:17):
What grade is this again?
Jody Schwartz (01:18):
Eighth.
Anthony Stoeckert (01:18):
Eighth, okay.
Jody Schwartz (01:19):
Eighth grade.
And I had a Met jersey, and Iuh I I I didn't have like
regular Met pants, but I didhave the baseball pants from
Little League.
And so I wore those and I woremy Met hat.
And then my father ruined itfor me because he said, Well,
you know, you're notleft-handed.
You're you're left-handed,you're not right-handed.
Come on, I'm a left hand.
He's like, It's gonna, I'mlike, oh my god, it's gonna look
(01:41):
he should have been JerryKuzman with John Matlock.
Well, that that was I actuallysince switched it to that
because uh the jersey I had didnot have a name or a number, it
was just it was just a Metjersey.
It didn't in those days it wasnot easy to get uh jerseys with
players' names on it.
Like maybe get one anywhere inthose days, so it was just a
generic Met jersey.
(02:01):
And yeah, I actually then said,Yeah, I'm Kuzman.
I switched on the fly.
Anthony Stoeckert (02:06):
This isn't uh this just reminded me of this,
and it doesn't really haveanything to do with what we're
talking about, but um I don'twant to say who it is, Jody, but
it's someone you and I knew whoI worked with, and um sadly he
passed away a couple of yearsago.
But he he threw lefty andbatted righty, or vice versa, on
like in Little League, and hecould not get over Field of
(02:28):
Dreams how they got Shulish JoeJackson wrong.
Yeah, and like you couldn'ttalk about the movie with him.
He just and and it's like, butit's such a good movie.
I don't care what side of theplate Shulish Joe is batting
from.
I'm like, and maybe there'ssome sort of mysterious thing
about it, and he's like, No,they're like it's just he just
couldn't take it.
Maybe in heaven or whateverthis world that they were coming
(02:48):
from, that's where thelegitimate he would he would not
accept that.
Jody Schwartz (02:54):
I actually remember being out with you and
this person and him saying that.
Keith Loria (02:59):
But he but he accepted that dead people just
came in from a cornfield.
Anthony Stoeckert (03:03):
That was probably the rest of it's the
rest of it's fine, everythingelse, but that that just drove
him crazy, yeah.
So yeah, he loved players whobatted lefty and threw righty.
So I guess did Shulas Joe throwrighty?
Jody Schwartz (03:17):
He he did throw righty.
Uh you know what?
I was just the opposite.
I threw lefty and battedrighty.
Anthony Stoeckert (03:21):
If you can call what I did batting, but
Keith, do you have a Halloweenstory?
Keith Loria (03:29):
I mean, I have a lot of Halloween memories.
I I remember, you know, I usedto read Great Pumpkin Charlie
Brown to my kids every year whenthey were little.
I remember going out with youknow the Ben Cooper masks,
Fonzi, and Batman.
I think we may have talkedabout that in our last.
Anthony Stoeckert (03:43):
What was our last Halloween?
Um, so I'm gonna call itBradley Cooper.
Keith Loria (03:53):
I'm gonna talk about um my first Halloween in
college.
For whatever reason, theydecided to do trick-or-treating
in the dorm that I lived in, um,you know, which was fun.
And me and my roommates wantedto dress up as the Cotter, the
sweat hogs.
Anthony Stoeckert (04:05):
Yeah, yeah.
Keith Loria (04:06):
Um were you Barberino?
I was Barberino.
Jody Schwartz (04:10):
Yeah, I could have guessed, yeah.
Keith Loria (04:12):
But but we didn't do it, we didn't go through it
because we couldn't find the thecostumes, we couldn't get like
what we needed to get, but itwas perfect because one roommate
really was a dead ringer forfor Epstein, just with the
different color hair, but youknow, curly hair, it would have
worked nice, and my otherroommate would have been great
for Washington.
Jody Schwartz (04:30):
My hair was like that when I was in college, too.
Although I gotta tell you, Iwould have been a perfect
Horschak.
Keith Loria (04:34):
That's what we needed.
So yeah, but we didn't do it,so I I went out, I I wound up
going as Charlie Chaplin, anduh, you know, could have been
Groucho just as easily, I guess,with a mustache.
Um, but I remember there wasthis one girl.
So this this was the funniestpart of the story.
There's a girl that wastrick-or-treating, she just had
on like a black um bodysuit witha moon on it, and nobody knew
(04:58):
who she was.
And I like I we were kind oflike behind her in the
trick-or-treating lines, and shejust got disappointed every
time, like no one could guesswhat she was.
She was night, that was herthing.
Anthony Stoeckert (05:10):
Oh, okay.
Keith Loria (05:11):
No one was ever gonna get it, but but I ran into
her later and I was like, and Isaw her costume, I go, and I
pointed, and I go, night, right?
She's like, Oh my god, yeah,she was so happy that someone
knew it.
And I only knew because youknow, I heard her say it like 30
times to people, so that wasvery nice of you, and we became
friends, and we became friendsafter that, and but I never told
(05:33):
her that.
Jody Schwartz (05:33):
That that was very nice, but you cheated on
the test.
Anthony Stoeckert (05:37):
I hope she's not listening.
Keith Loria (05:39):
Oh, of course she's listening.
Come on, do we have millions oflisteners?
How could she not be?
Yes, but she only listens atnight.
Exactly.
Anthony Stoeckert (05:47):
The only uh story that I can think of, and
it has to do with the Ben Coopercostumes, is I really wanted to
be Batman.
I was Jody was a Marvel guy, Iwas a DC Comics guy.
I was an Archie guy, I reallywanted to be Batman, but I guess
the store didn't have Batman,so my mother very nicely got me
Superman, and the mask was justlike a red Lone Ranger mask.
(06:11):
Yeah, I remember that.
Like, what the F is this?
I'm like, you don't want towalk around.
I wanted one of the plasticmasks, you know, not a Lone
Ranger thing.
Jody Schwartz (06:23):
I remember the plastic mask.
Someone I I remember a friendof mine having the Superman one.
Anthony Stoeckert (06:26):
The Superman one.
I think later on when we wereolder, they made one with like a
Superman face on it.
But when, you know, when I wasin like first or second grade,
the Superman costume was a redLone Ranger mask.
Jody Schwartz (06:38):
Yep, I remember that.
I remember that.
Um I I was I I had one of thoseSpider-Man ones one one year,
being a Marvel guy.
Yes, the Spider-Man.
The Spider-Man one was um, Iguess like a lot of them.
Though those masks were veryuncomfortable.
And and you could feel like thesteam of your breath like in
the mask.
It was yes, it was very gross,actually.
Anthony Stoeckert (06:59):
It was yeah, and then you would lift it up,
and then the the rubber bandwould break.
Jody Schwartz (07:02):
And yeah, yeah, yeah.
You were lucky if you gotthrough the whole, you know,
through the whole hollow thewhole trick-or-treating
experience without the maskbreaking.
Anthony Stoeckert (07:10):
Lucky if you got in that to an hour, yeah.
It was a staple.
Jody Schwartz (07:15):
Yeah, it was it was and not even a good one, you
know.
Anthony Stoeckert (07:20):
So but all right, so let's talk Twilight
Zone.
Jody Schwartz (07:23):
Yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (07:24):
You know, we this is a show we saw in reruns,
uh, for those in New York,Channel 11.
Scariest show ever.
Jody Schwartz (07:31):
Freaky.
Not every episode was actuallyscary, but they were all they
were all freaky.
They they all made you like,oh, you know what I mean?
They that some of them werescary, some of them were
outright scary, some of themwere just like, ooh, you know,
like disturbing.
Disturbing, some of them madethink a little bit.
Very thought thought provoking.
Very thought-provoking.
People really think aboutthings, very, very
thought-provoking.
(07:51):
Uh, you there was always, youknow, and you know, there was
always that wrap-up at the end,you know, where when Rod
Sterling would would tell you,you know, how it you know
connected with the world, youknow.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, this is why you suck,and this is why it happened.
You know, so uh, but yeah,definitely some episodes
outright scary.
There's one I want to talkabout, which was definitely a
scary one.
Keith Loria (08:11):
Yeah, can we say Twilight Zone might have been
the first TV series that I everbinged, just because they would
have them, was it New Year's oroh July 4th.
Oh, July 4th, okay.
Yeah, they would just have themfor 24 hours.
24 hours.
Jody Schwartz (08:26):
It was great.
Keith Loria (08:27):
And they didn't do that with a lot of shoes back
then where they would bingethings.
Jody Schwartz (08:31):
So yeah, those those they used to call them
marathons, those marathons werebinging before that was a thing.
Anthony Stoeckert (08:37):
Yeah, yeah, I don't think they used the word
binging.
No, no, no.
Jody Schwartz (08:40):
They called them marathons, they would say the
Twilight Zone Marathon, and theywould do it on New Year's Day
with the odd couple, the oddcouple marathon, the honeymoon's
marathon.
Honeymooners marathon, yeah.
Also, and most uh mostimpressively, the It's a
Wonderful Life marathon, whichall through Christmas.
Anthony Stoeckert (08:56):
Yeah, yeah.
So, but um, and I I never likewatch those marathons, I would
just see episodes when they wereon.
It's a like you would want towatch one after another.
Oh, I love doing that.
Jody Schwartz (09:07):
Loved it.
Yeah, yeah, well, I I I agree,but that was a good show to
watch one after the other if youwere in that kind of mood, you
know.
Anthony Stoeckert (09:13):
Yeah, I would feel like after two or three,
it would be like, okay, I'm I'vegot enough I'm I'm scared
enough, I'm disturbed enough.
I, you know.
Jody Schwartz (09:22):
You go hide in the basement.
Anthony Stoeckert (09:26):
All right, well, Jody, why don't you talk
about the episode you wanted totalk about?
Jody Schwartz (09:29):
Okay, well, in terms of scariness, this doesn't
it doesn't get much scarierthan an episode called Living
Doll, which was a season five,episode six episode from
November of 63.
I believe it was the lastepisode aired just ahead of the
assassin the Kennedyassassination.
Anthony Stoeckert (09:45):
Oh wow.
Jody Schwartz (09:45):
Yeah.
Anyway, Telly Savalas was uhwas in that episode and he
played a uh a man who uh thisthis is thing he he could not
have children and he he was uhhe he uh just physically
couldn't have children.
He was married to a woman whohad a daughter from a previous
marriage, and he was prettyhostile toward the daughter
(10:06):
because he was angry that hecouldn't have um children of his
own with his with his wife.
And the daughter brings home anew doll she got called Talkie
Tina, and he's you know veryupset.
You know, again, he's has thishostility toward the kid as it
is, and now he doesn't like thewife wasting money on the doll.
And the the dot talkie Tinasays, My name is Talkie Tina and
(10:26):
I love you.
And but she, you know, he'svery hostile to it.
And then when he takes the dollaway from the girl, the doll
says to him, My name is TalkieTina, and I don't like you.
So right off the bat, he throwsthe doll away, the doll calls
him.
The doll calls from wherever Idon't know where the doll found
a phone, but the doll calls himand change.
(10:48):
In those days there were nocell phones, you actually had to
get quarters, not evenquarters, dimes.
The doll calls him and andthreatens him, and then he goes
back in and he looks in thedaughter's room and his
stepdaughter's room, and the andthe uh the doll is in bed with
the girl.
The doll had returned from fromthe trash that he threw her.
He he tries to destroy the dollwith a vice, with a blowtorch,
(11:11):
and with a saw, and cannot doit.
This doll will not die.
And then again, the doll, youknow, comes back into the uh
into the house, and finally hejust you know, he just breaks
down or he just accepts that youknow he he was trying, he's
gonna try to be nice.
Oh, by the way, there's onepoint when he takes the doll
away from the little girl, andthe little girl starts crying
and calls him daddy, and shesaid he yells at her, I'm not
(11:33):
your daddy.
I mean, he was very, very meanin this in this episode.
Little little girl, too.
Anthony Stoeckert (11:37):
He was nicer on Alice.
Jody Schwartz (11:39):
Oh, Telly Zavalis was much nicer when he was no
question.
No, no question.
She was much nicer in in allthe in uh Battle of the Network
stars, too.
Keith Loria (11:48):
But who loves you, baby?
Jody Schwartz (11:50):
Who loves you, baby?
Yes.
That's uh then he just decidesthat you know he's he's
sufficiently scared where he'sgonna accept the fact that he
loves the daughter and you knoweverything.
He gets up to check on the girlbecause he hears a noise, and
the doll who had been sleepingwith the girl is no longer
there.
He hears noise downstairs, hegoes down.
The doll is now laying on thefloor and trips him and he dies.
(12:12):
He he he he hits his head andhe dies.
The doll literally kills him.
Anthony Stoeckert (12:17):
Wow.
Jody Schwartz (12:17):
The wife comes down, sees her husband lying
there dead, picks up the doll,and the the doll says, My name
is Talkie Tina, and you betterbe nice to me.
Anthony Stoeckert (12:27):
Wow.
Jody Schwartz (12:28):
And that is how this episode ends.
Anthony Stoeckert (12:31):
Did that freak you?
When did you watch this for thefirst time?
Jody Schwartz (12:34):
The first time I watched it, I was I was a I was
a kid.
I I don't know exactly how oldI was, but I'm guessing I was 12
or 13.
Whatever, whatever age I wasstaying up and watching
Twilight.
It was usually me on the onlike a Friday night, you know.
So so it wasn't, but so therewas one night where uh yeah, I
was up late on a on a Fridaynight and I was watching it.
So I'm guessing I was around 11or 12.
And yeah, it scared the crapout of me watching, watching
(12:56):
that episode.
And you know what?
I've seen it many times sincethen, and it's always you know,
gives me a little yeah.
I actually watched it thismorning, and I'm still like is
that why you're under the covershiding?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That you know, I I I used tosay, you know, because I have I
have two sons, I'm like, I'mglad we didn't have daughters
because the dolls would scarethe crap out of me because
(13:20):
anyone know that's that's reallyscary and intense.
Anthony Stoeckert (13:24):
Yeah.
Did were there was was the showcontroversial?
Controversial?
I'm saying the word wrong inthe day, like did they have
warnings?
Did they let their kids watchit?
Because when I was a kid, I waslike, well, if it's in black
and white from the 50s or 60s,it must be completely family
friendly.
Jody Schwartz (13:42):
Yeah, no.
Anthony Stoeckert (13:44):
Does anyone know if the what what the the
the Yeah?
Keith Loria (13:47):
I mean it wasn't a family show, I'm sure.
Jody Schwartz (13:49):
No, but it it pushed the envelope.
It definitely, you know, andthat's what Sterling wanted, you
know.
Rod Sterling created it, henarrated it, you know, he did
that little wrap-up at the end,you know.
He did the intro in thebeginning and he wrote most of
the shows.
Anthony Stoeckert (14:01):
But like, do you think like adults told the
kids, all right, go to bed,we're gonna watch Tele Zavalis
get killed by a doll?
Jody Schwartz (14:06):
I think there had to have been a point where I I
don't rem I don't know what timethey showed it when it aired
originally, but you had tofigure that it wasn't shown
during a time when they thoughtkids would be watching.
Yeah, I agree.
Anthony Stoeckert (14:17):
Interesting.
Jody Schwartz (14:18):
You know, I I I I you know what I think one thing
about television shows, youknow, from from you know the 50s
and 60s as opposed to and maybeeven the 70s as opposed to
later was that I think a lot oftimes the networks were saying,
okay, you know what, parents,you have to do your job here.
Don't don't don't depend on usto police this for you.
Anthony Stoeckert (14:36):
You know, well they always referred to 8
p.m.
as the family hour.
Jody Schwartz (14:39):
Right.
Yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (14:41):
So I guess you wouldn't show anything um,
you know, scary or too scary oranything then.
Jody Schwartz (14:46):
No, I I'm my guess is when it aired.
I don't even I don't know, youknow what?
I I always knew it as somethingthat aired late at night until
they started doing the themarathons, you know, on July
4th.
I I I always thought it was Ialways considered it one of
these things that aired late atnight.
You watched right, right?
Anthony Stoeckert (15:00):
Yeah, yeah.
How about you, Keith?
You got an episode?
Keith Loria (15:03):
I do, and I I I almost uh don't want to talk
about it because I have a flightin about three hours.
You're not gonna top livingdoll.
I'll tell you that right now.
But but my favorite nightmareat 20,000 feet.
Jody Schwartz (15:16):
Great one.
Keith Loria (15:18):
Let me let me read off the the the narration.
Portrait of a frightened man,Mr.
Robert Wilson, 37, husband,father, and salesman on sick
leave.
Isn't my serling impersonationamazing?
I thought he was here.
Anthony Stoeckert (15:31):
I was about to say that's a great
impression.
Can you do Rod Serling?
Keith Loria (15:37):
Mr.
Wilson has just been dischargedfrom his sanitarium, where he
spent the last six monthsrecovering from a nervous
breakdown, the onset of whichtook place on an evening not
dissimilar to this, on anairliner, very much like this
one.
So, in general, William Shatnerin this episode plays a man who
had a nervous breakdown on aflight, which I don't know if I
knew that before I just readthis.
(15:58):
And he was flying again.
You know, he's very nervous,he's having a lot of problems,
you know, sitting down, he asksfor water, he's the stewardess
comes over to him, and they werecalled stewardesses back then
to ask him what was wrong.
And what happens is he seessomething on the wing.
And it it's it's it's you know,this this monster, and he's
trying to do something to thewing, and no one believes him.
(16:20):
Every time he calls someoneover to look, gets his uh seat
companion to look, nobody seesit but him.
I oh my god, I I hate flying,and this this frightened me the
hell out of me when I was a kid.
That's what I'm saying.
That's what I'm saying.
Jody Schwartz (16:35):
And I'm oh I am still wrapping my head around
the fact that Keith hatesflying.
Uh you're on a plane more thananyone I know.
Keith Loria (16:43):
I know.
I do it a lot, but I don't Idon't enjoy it.
I hate every second of it.
Jody Schwartz (16:49):
Wow.
Wow.
I don't know that there's beena week that you haven't been on
a plane.
Anthony Stoeckert (16:54):
So I don't know if this is going to be
controversial.
Yes, it's a great episode.
I actually like the version inthe movie better with John
Lithgow.
Why?
I just think the the thegremlin's scarier.
The gremlin and the Shatnerone's just this guy in a big
furry suit.
Yeah.
And the gremlin in the movieversion is um you know scarier.
(17:14):
And you know, the productionvalues are it's very well done.
The production values arehigher, and uh, you know, I well
it was 30 years later.
I love William Shatner, butJohn Lithgow's a slightly better
actor.
Jody Schwartz (17:26):
Yeah, that that's that's just what it is.
John Lit are fighting words.
Don Lithgow's an incredibleactor, and William.
Yeah, William William Shatner'sWilliam Shatner.
Keith Loria (17:35):
So there was an episode of Third Rock from the
Sun.
Yes, I was about to get tothat.
Where Shatner guest stars andhe cut and uh Litgow Lithgow
picks him up at the airport andand they do a joke about you
know being something being onthe wing.
Jody Schwartz (17:50):
Yeah, so well well Shatner says something was
on the wing, and then Lithgowsays, Hey, the same thing
happened to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I Shatner is playing the biggiant head.
Yes, they're their uh theirextreme leader.
Anthony Stoeckert (18:04):
I think with the movie, the thing is they
really didn't change thatepisode.
They basically followed thestory and told it really well
with you know more bettereffects, but they didn't go
overboard.
Whereas, like with the uh theone about the mean boy, they
completely changed the story andand made it worse.
Jody Schwartz (18:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And let's not even get into thekiller segment.
Anthony Stoeckert (18:26):
Well, yeah, yeah, well, yeah, that's not uh
bringing things down.
Jody Schwartz (18:30):
So but uh but yeah, basically with with that
segment on the movie, they didthe same thing with a better
actor.
Anthony Stoeckert (18:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So but and again, the episode'sstill great, don't get me
wrong.
Amazing, but yeah, you know, Ijust think the movie version is
um is better.
And I happen to like that movieoverall.
So I have another WilliamShatner one.
Jody Schwartz (18:50):
Yeah, oh I know what you're gonna say.
It's gonna be a good one.
Anthony Stoeckert (18:52):
Oh my god, this thing creaked me out so
much.
It's called The Nick of Time.
Yeah, and Shatner and his wifeare in a small town.
Are they waiting?
Did their car break down?
Is that what it is?
Jody Schwartz (19:03):
I think that's why they were there originally.
Anthony Stoeckert (19:04):
And they're waiting for their car to be
repaired, so they go to a diner,and the diner has this fortune
telling machine.
Oh, yes, yes, and there's likethis demon head sort of thing on
the and they, you know, oh, forfun, they go, Oh, uh and that
demon head thing was scary.
Oh yeah, yeah.
It's this little plastic demonheading on it, yeah, on a
(19:26):
spring.
Jody Schwartz (19:26):
Yeah, that scared the crap out of me.
Anthony Stoeckert (19:28):
And the fortunes are basically just
telling them, you know, don'tleave.
You you you should never leavethis town or something.
Jody Schwartz (19:34):
Not even that.
He says, Is it a good time toleave?
He actually asks and he says,No, there's danger, you know.
So you know, you know, yeah.
It was like a magic eight ball.
Anthony Stoeckert (19:45):
And does he dismiss the first one?
And but and then and then toprove how silly it is, he does
another one and they keepgetting worse and worse.
So, and it it you know, it'svery tense and all, and then at
the end they finally decide thatthey are just gonna leave.
They're not gonna let thismachine dictate their life, but
(20:05):
they're really nervous.
And then when they come back,they they leave, and then this
young couple comes back at theend, and I don't know if it's
the husband or the wife says,Maybe today's the day we can
leave.
Yeah, oh my god.
Jody Schwartz (20:19):
That was that's a freaky one.
Yeah, that's a freaky one.
And it's not it's no talkietina, but it's freaky.
Keith Loria (20:26):
They used that fortune teller thing before,
like that there was otherepisodes that had a similar
theme with a fortune teller onuh oh really, yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (20:34):
Yeah, all the future stars who were on this,
uh I should have looked at it.
I know Robert Duvall was onone.
Robert Redford played death inan episode, if I recall
correctly.
Jody Schwartz (20:45):
The the the professor from Gilligan's
Island?
Anthony Stoeckert (20:47):
Yes, he he uh tried to save Lincoln from he
tried to stop the the Lincolnassassination.
Yeah, didn't he work?
Jody Schwartz (20:55):
He couldn't fix a hole in a boat.
Anthony Stoeckert (20:56):
How is he gonna Jack Clugman was in I
think three episodes at least,yeah, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (21:03):
Yeah.
Was it three?
There were two I can think of,but but okay.
Anthony Stoeckert (21:06):
He played the guy, he um he played pool with
Jonathan Winters.
Keith Loria (21:10):
Was he really the devil or something?
Anthony Stoeckert (21:12):
Jonathan Winters was the devil, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I think so.
And then um there's one wherehe's like he seems funny when
you think about it, JonathanWinters.
There's one where Jack Klugmanfinds a boy in an amusement park
or something, and it's his deadson or something.
Am I getting that right?
Jody Schwartz (21:32):
I oh god, it's been a while.
I think I don't remember that.
I haven't seen that one in awhile.
Anthony Stoeckert (21:36):
Yeah, I and then um he's like the um he's
like the captain of a spaceshipin another one.
Keith Loria (21:41):
The space, the the ones that dealt with like uh
aliens and spaceships, those arealways really cool, especially
when it was you know with thetwist endings.
Like I remember one where it'sa cookbook.
There were there were twoastronauts, a man and a woman,
that landed on a planet.
They realized they couldn't gethome and they had no
communication with anybody, andthey're like, Oh, I guess we're
forced to live here now.
(22:02):
And at the end, you find outtheir names were Adam and Eve.
Jody Schwartz (22:05):
Yeah, oh wow, it's cool.
Keith Loria (22:07):
Yeah, it was really cool.
And I just remember the firsttime I saw that when I was a
kid, and I'm not even sure I'veseen it again.
Maybe I saw it in one of themarathons, but that one just
always really stood out to me.
And the other one where thetown is is losing their power
and everyone keeps blaming theirneighbors.
Anthony Stoeckert (22:24):
Monsters would do on Maple Street with
Claude Atkins.
Keith Loria (22:26):
Yeah, oh, another great one, and again, it was
just aliens kind of playing withthem.
Anthony Stoeckert (22:31):
Well, you don't find out till the end,
they're all like they all turnagainst each other.
I mean, we're summarizing it ina minute, but it goes on for 20
minutes.
Jody Schwartz (22:39):
That's a great, that's a great episode.
Anthony Stoeckert (22:41):
And the aliens say yeah, you see the
aliens on the hill, on the thehill watching them going, see,
we don't have to uh we don'thave to kill them, we can just
you know they'll they say, yeah,you know, we we've done this
with so many communities.
Keith Loria (22:54):
Wherever we do this, the same outcome happens.
They all turn on each other.
Anthony Stoeckert (22:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Jody Schwartz (23:00):
The the episode to serve man, when you know,
when he goes up in the spaceshipand she's like, It's a
cookbook.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (23:05):
Yeah, and the Simpsons parried in it
beautifully.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (23:09):
How to serve Man and he blows off it's space
dust.
It's space dust.
It's like a how to serve man adelicious meal.
How to serve man a deliciousmeal.
I like the the uh the alienslike if your goal was to make
Zarkov to prepare a cry, missionaccomplished.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:27):
We were once in a bookstore and Jody grabbed
a book, a cookbook, and it's acookbook.
Jody Schwartz (23:33):
For years I couldn't stop myself from doing
that.
Keith Loria (23:36):
Oh, you still do it.
Jody Schwartz (23:38):
Oh, without question.
Except there are no morebookstores.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:42):
So the first episode I saw, do you remember
the one with the dolls in the inthe drum?
I don't know what it was, not adrum, a barrel, a garbage.
It was a donation thing fortoys.
Oh yeah.
Keith Loria (23:53):
Oh yeah, I definitely remember that.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:55):
That was the first one I ever saw.
Keith Loria (23:56):
Oh, wow, you remember?
I don't remember the show.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:58):
I remember that, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because I didn't watch it likea lot when I was young, and I
don't know what led to me.
I was probably over at afriend's house and we watched
it.
Keith Loria (24:07):
So but you had a friend?
It wasn't me.
Anthony Stoeckert (24:10):
I had some friends a strong word.
He he let me watch TV with himif I brought snacks.
Jody Schwartz (24:16):
We didn't know you then, so how about that?
Keith Loria (24:17):
Yeah, I was gonna say, how can I have a friend?
Jody Schwartz (24:18):
We didn't we didn't know you like them.
Keith Loria (24:20):
So Jody, I know you watched a couple others, like
what other ones did you?
Jody Schwartz (24:22):
Well, the actually the first episode I
ever saw, and I just re-watchedthis morning, was one called The
Shelter, which is from uhseason three, episode three,
September of 61.
And this doctor, Dr.
Bill uh Stockton, he had builta nuclear shelter in his house.
And he built it just with justwith just enough room and air
(24:43):
and provisions for him and hiswife and his son.
And he's having people over hishouse one night, as you know,
his neighbors, and they'rehaving just like a fun time, and
they're even kidding him alittle bit about being so
paranoid that he built thisshelter.
And then they hear on, youknow, you should know that the
climate at that time, this thiswas 1961.
There was always this fear thenthat you know we we were gonna
(25:04):
be attacked, you know, a nuclearattack was was very real in
people's minds.
And there was a uh a newsreport that came on the radio
that there was someunidentified, you know, flying
objects, and they were afraid itmight be a nuclear attack of
some kind.
And all his neighbors now knowhe has this nuclear uh shelter,
and they want, you know, theywant to be in the shelter, they
(25:24):
want to save themselves, andhe's not, you know, there's not
enough room for them.
And they all, you know, likethe aliens when they start to
turn on each other, and theyactually now all the neighbors
are now saying how some of theneighbors shouldn't go in
because they're not as you knowpatriotic as we are.
There's a Hispanic neighbor whothey're all saying you're not
remembering this now, yes.
Yeah, you're not a realAmerican.
(25:44):
By the way, Jack Albertson isin it um from Chico and the Man,
and uh he is not playing a niceguy.
Anthony Stoeckert (25:50):
And um so maybe he's playing the character
from Chico and the Man 20 yearsearlier.
Jody Schwartz (25:56):
Yeah, but he's not a lovable, uh a lovable
crank.
He he's a movie.
Anthony Stoeckert (26:00):
Maybe he became more of a lovable crank
as he got older.
Jody Schwartz (26:04):
Maybe, maybe.
And but it is funny because hedoes he does accuse an Hispanic
person of not being a realAmerican.
Anthony Stoeckert (26:11):
Yeah, there you go.
I'm on this one.
Jody Schwartz (26:13):
So, you know, so the writers were paying
attention.
In any event, there there's thethe the the big scene is the
neighbors get a battering ram.
Now, I want to stop on this aminute.
I I don't know how anybody evergets a battering ram.
Like the neighbors actually gettogether.
Anthony Stoeckert (26:27):
What is a battering ram?
Jody Schwartz (26:28):
It's like a long metal pole that you use to break
down like a door.
Anthony Stoeckert (26:32):
Oh, okay.
Jody Schwartz (26:33):
Yeah, yeah, a battering ram.
I I'm I may I may be saying itwrong, but that they No, I I had
heard the phrase, but I neverknew what it was.
So they're they're now going tothe nuclear shelter where you
know, to the shelter where thefamily is, and they're pounding
on it, they're trying to get in,they're breaking the door down.
And then um at this point,they've already, you know, said
mean things to each other, it'salready become horrible.
(26:53):
And then there's a radio reportsaying it was a false report,
it's harmless, not nothing,nothing to worry about.
And now they have to kind ofand now they're all trying to
get back to normal, butobviously they can't.
Too much is too much has beensaid.
Anthony Stoeckert (27:05):
Wow, wow, cool.
Jody Schwartz (27:06):
Yeah, and that is the first one I ever saw.
And I didn't I didn't evenknow, I'll give you a little
story here.
I didn't even know what thewhat the Twilight Zone was at
that point.
My cousin, who was, I guess shewas around 15 or 16 at the
time.
I was 11, 10 or 11.
And um, she she was watching usone night.
She actually lived with us, andshe was, you know, uh uh
(27:28):
babysitting for us, and shewould always let us stay up
late.
And she said, You gotta watchthis show.
And she was trying to describeit to me, but you know, it's
hard to describe.
It is.
And then we watched thisepisode, and you know, that that
was a lot for my you know,11-year-old mind to absorb.
Anthony Stoeckert (27:44):
Do you think that episode was inspired a
little bit by the whole OrsonWells War of the Worlds thing?
Jody Schwartz (27:49):
A little bit, I think it was.
I think the the climate at thetime it inspired by, but yeah,
yeah, yeah, definitely.
But what's amazing to me isthat it's still kind of relevant
to now, you know, to no doubt.
Yeah, and and you know, butwhen I was watching it today,
the things that they were sayingto each other in their anger
and their panic, I'm like, yeah,I could I could see people
saying that now.
(28:09):
You know, I could see thiscoming up now.
Anthony Stoeckert (28:12):
Yeah.
There was something about likethe look and the feel of those
episodes because they tried tobring the Twilight Zone back and
they can three times at least,and they can never forget it.
And some of it might have beenthe limitations of production
values back then, but thosethose, you know, they're all
obviously sets and probably notthe most elaborate sets because
(28:34):
how many sets can you build fora show?
But it created a feel, youknow.
Keith Loria (28:39):
You know, I I disagree a bit.
I I've seen a lot of maybe notthe most recent ones, but the
ones that they introduced backwhen The Amazing Stories was on.
They did one with and thenthere was another one Forest
Whitaker hosting.
And I watched episodes of both,and I enjoyed them both.
Anthony Stoeckert (28:52):
I could not get into the the hour.
I remember the hour-long onethat would have like two or
three stories in it, and Icouldn't get into that or the
Forest Whitaker one.
Jody Schwartz (29:01):
There was one one of the more updated ones in the
80s when Elliot Gould was uhwas a restaurant critic who took
who took pride in um writingbad reviews on restaurants and
putting them out of business.
Like he that was his that washis thing.
Anthony Stoeckert (29:15):
He would yeah, yeah, no, he was.
Jody Schwartz (29:18):
He was a bad guy, and he would go to restaurants
with the idea he's just gonnagive them a bad review no matter
what, because he wants to showhis power of putting restaurants
out of business.
And he actually had a little uhlike a box with dirt, and he
would put a matchbook from theum from the restaurant as like a
graveyard after each one wentout of business.
Keith Loria (29:36):
Oh wow, yeah, and what was the twist?
Jody Schwartz (29:39):
Well, he goes to this Chinese restaurant that he
hears about that everyone seemsto like, but again, he's going
there with the idea in mind he'sgoing to ruin it, yeah.
And then they give him afortune cookie, and the fortune
cookie says you're gonna getmoney or something.
I don't remember exactly whatit says, and then he writes the
bad review, and then he um hethe the fortune cookie comes
true.
He gets he Gets money from it.
(30:00):
And now he's like, Oh my god,he's really, you know, he's
really um happy about it.
And he goes back, and now thethe uh the the guy who owns the
restaurant is kind of pissed athim because he's like, you know,
you did this to me, and nowpeople are canceling
reservations.
And he says that he promiseshe'll write him a good review if
he could, you know, get anotherfortune cookie, and he does it,
and this one says, You're goingto die.
(30:21):
Yeah.
And in the end, he does die,and you actually see in that
little graveyard he made uh amatchbook cover with his name on
it.
And the uh that's kind of cool.
So that that that was as far asthe the updated one goes, that
that was and I'm telling you allthis from memory from a few
years ago, so I there might bethings I've I've gotten wrong on
that episode, but I don't know.
Anthony Stoeckert (30:42):
Are any of those reboots available?
Do they show them anywhere?
Jody Schwartz (30:46):
Or the the one I just described, I know I saw it
again on YouTube.
Anthony Stoeckert (30:50):
YouTube, okay.
Jody Schwartz (30:51):
Yeah, YouTube has everything.
Yeah, YouTube has everything.
Keith Loria (30:53):
No, I don't watch, but isn't the Black Mirror show
kind of like a Twilight Zone?
Anthony Stoeckert (30:58):
Suppose yeah, I've seen a couple of episodes.
There's a famous Star Trek typeepisode that I saw.
Um, yeah, it's an anthology,it's horror.
Everything though with that isrelated to technology, I think.
Like every episode has somesort of statement to make about
how technology affects our worldand all.
But yeah, it's it's it's prettymuch there.
Keith Loria (31:17):
All right.
I I want to get back to uhanother episode I really liked,
and yeah, probably you guys didtoo.
Um, it's probably one of themost famous ones.
It's Burgess Meredith, TimeEnough at Last.
Anthony Stoeckert (31:27):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Keith Loria (31:28):
You know, it's just for those who may not have seen
it, and Burgess Meredith was infour episodes, which I didn't
know.
Anthony Stoeckert (31:33):
Um, four.
I knew about that one and Mr.
Dingle.
I can't think of the other two.
Keith Loria (31:37):
Um, so he he plays a bank teller who loves to read.
You see him, you know, getannoyed when he's reading his
book, and people, his customerscome in and want him to hell
about, which is kind of funny.
He was reading DavidCopperfield in the beginning.
Um and then but people soundlike second.
This is funny, like his wifewas really mean to him.
His wife was like, Oh, I wantyou to read poetry to me.
(31:57):
And he was so excited becausehe loves to read.
And then when he looks at thebook, she like X'd out
everything, like he like almostwith like a black sharpie, so he
couldn't read anything.
And she laughed at him.
Yeah, I was like, That's kindof mean.
Um so what happens is he goesin uh the bank vault to read
during his lunch hour every day,and while he's there, he's
reading the newspaper, and itsays, you know, H bomb capable
(32:19):
to total destruction.
Um and he hears a big, youknow, bomb go off, and he opens
the vault and comes out, andeverybody's dead.
The whole world, you know,nuclear bomb, destruction
everywhere.
Jody Schwartz (32:30):
But he's safe because he was in the vault.
Right, right.
Keith Loria (32:33):
And he walks around town and you know, nobody's
there, and he's just his life'sover and he wants to end it.
He wants to kill himself.
And he decides, you know, hegets a gun, he decides to kill
himself, but then he sees thelibrary.
And though, for some reason,the library is still intact.
He goes in and books galore, hefinds food, there's canned food
galore, so he's enough food tolive the rest of his life.
He's got the books to read.
Jody Schwartz (32:54):
There's a scene where he says, Well, I guess I'm
not gonna starve.
Keith Loria (32:57):
Right, I'm not gonna starve.
And so the best best world forhim.
And then, of course, he trips,his glasses fall off, breaks the
glasses, and now he can't see.
Jody Schwartz (33:07):
And it ends with him saying, But there was so
much time.
There was time at last.
But rock, there was so muchtime, rock.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:15):
Now it's a great episode.
Jody Schwartz (33:16):
He also said that in Rocky.
Quack, quack, quack, quack.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:19):
It's a great episode, but couldn't he have
gone to like someophthalmologist office and found
a pair of glasses?
Jody Schwartz (33:25):
Well, most of the buildings were destroyed.
Well, I'm sure there was amagnifying glass somewhere.
Yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:31):
I don't know.
I would think somewhere alongthe line there'd be a you know,
a Pearl Vision Center that wasstill open that he could have
gotten a pair of glasses at.
Jody Schwartz (33:38):
Or found the magnifying glass.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:40):
Yeah, you think a magnifying glass would
have done it?
I mean, if he had aprescription, I don't know.
I don't know.
He could have tried, he didn'thave to give up right now.
Keith Loria (33:48):
He could have looked around.
Someone probably had a similarpair of glasses.
He could have just kept findingglasses.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:53):
Yeah, there had to be something somewhere.
I mean, there's books in cannedfood.
There's got to be a pair ofglasses somewhere.
Keith Loria (33:58):
So I guess his eyes were really terrible, and they
made that point pretty clearearly on.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:03):
Couldn't you see like his eyes like almost
magnify?
Jody Schwartz (34:05):
Because his glasses were yeah, his glasses,
he had these really thickglasses.
Keith Loria (34:08):
Yeah, so maybe he couldn't have even seen to get
out of the library.
Who knows?
Jody Schwartz (34:12):
Those glasses looked so thick, it looks like
they wouldn't even broken if uhif they that's true, that's
true.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:18):
Rod Serling is in the afterlife going oh for
crying out loud, guys.
Just uh how bad were theglasses?
Keith Loria (34:24):
It was just a television show, guys.
I don't remember that either.
Were they completely broke likea tip picture?
They were shattered, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (34:30):
They were they were shattered.
Keith Loria (34:31):
Okay.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:33):
They had one little Nick, but he was um, you
know, he was very uh he was veryanal retentive, so I can't wear
these.
Jody Schwartz (34:41):
I'm actually like that with my glasses.
I get one little Nick and I'mlike, I gotta get new ones.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:45):
Well, yeah, but it was the end of the world
and you couldn't get anotherpair, you'd live with them.
Jody Schwartz (34:48):
And he didn't wear glasses in Rocky.
Come on.
I have and he was much older inRocky, too.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:56):
I have one more episode I wanted to talk
about, and it's a scary one.
The hitchhiker.
Keith Loria (35:01):
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, it's the guy thatkeeps she keeps picking up the
same guy, right?
Anthony Stoeckert (35:07):
Does she pick him up or she keeps driving by
him?
Keith Loria (35:10):
Probably just keeps driving by him.
Anthony Stoeckert (35:11):
I'm not sure, yeah, but this woman's driving,
and I think she passes by himbecause that's how that's that's
why it's scary that he keepsshowing up.
Keith Loria (35:21):
Gotcha.
Anthony Stoeckert (35:21):
And she's really freaked out, she thinks
he's following him, she doesn'tknow how she's doing it.
And then she pulls over and shecalls her mother, and then
she's told by someone, Well, no,uh, whatever her mother's name
is, Mrs.
whatever Mrs.
Hughes can't talk right now.
She hasn't gotten over thedeath of her daughter.
And then the hitchhiker'sthere, and the the girl turns
(35:44):
around and the hitchhiker goes,I believe you're going my way.
Jody Schwartz (35:51):
Frightening.
Anthony Stoeckert (35:52):
Yeah, that was good.
Jody Schwartz (35:53):
Scary stuff.
You we talked about BurgessMeredith, you know, and and
about uh we also talked aboutthe uh the movie from the early
80s, and he didn't he I think henarrated the movie, yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (36:03):
He had the Rod Sterling up Yeah, as a sort
of nod to the fact that he wasin, you know, so many iconics.
Jody Schwartz (36:08):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think that thatwraparound with with Dan Aykroyd
and um Albert Brooks.
Albert Brooks.
Yeah, I think they mentionedthe the one with Burgess
Meredith.
Keith Loria (36:17):
I think they think they said that's how they start
talking.
That's how they start talking,yeah.
Jody Schwartz (36:21):
Yeah, yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (36:22):
Basically, this episode was like that
wraparound.
It's them just talking abouttheir favorite episodes.
Jody Schwartz (36:31):
And now I'm gonna peel off my mask.
You want to see somethingreally scary?
Anthony Stoeckert (36:36):
Yeah, yeah.
I liked that movie.
I don't think it got the bestreviews, but I remember really
enjoying it.
And I saw it like 10 years agoand still enjoyed it.
Jody Schwartz (36:43):
Yeah, uh, it it wasn't bad.
Uh, you know, it was you know,obviously the accident on the on
the set dominated everything.
Anthony Stoeckert (36:50):
Yeah, I don't know how aware of that I was as
a when it came out though, whenI was like what, 15 or 16.
Keith Loria (36:56):
I'm not sure how much I feel like I knew about
it, like it was reported.
Jody Schwartz (37:01):
I didn't see the movie until after it came on
HBO.
Like I didn't I didn't see itin the theaters, and so by the
time I saw it, you'd heard verymuch about you know what had
happened.
Keith Loria (37:11):
I saw it in the movies.
Anthony Stoeckert (37:12):
Yeah, I saw it in the movie, and I had the
novelization.
Oh wow, written by RobertBloch, who wrote the novel
Psycho.
Jody Schwartz (37:20):
Interesting.
How was that?
How was the novelization of it?
Anthony Stoeckert (37:22):
Fantastic.
I mean, you know, I was 15 whenI read it.
Jody Schwartz (37:26):
He's still reading it today.
Can I can I can I please get afull review of second?
Come on.
Keith Loria (37:31):
I actually was gonna read it uh last week, but
my glasses broke.
Jody Schwartz (37:35):
Yeah, yeah.
I hear you.
While you were eating cannedfood.
Exactly.
Anthony Stoeckert (37:41):
All right, anything else or are we good?
Jody Schwartz (37:44):
Oh, we've exhausted this topic.
Um, no, but we should best onequick one, a classic one to
mention, Eye of the Beholder,which this woman, um, you the
episode you don't see anybody'sfaces.
And this woman, she hasbandages on her face because she
apparently had some sort ofoperation that was supposed to,
she's supposedly ugly anddisfigured, and um she's living
(38:06):
in this like uh utopian state,it's called the state.
And basically, if if if thisdidn't work on her face, she was
gonna be sent to live withother people who look like her,
and then they remove thebandages and like didn't work at
all.
There's no change.
They they take the bandagesoff, and it turns out she's
beautiful, and everybody elsehas like disfigured, ugly faces.
Anthony Stoeckert (38:25):
Yeah, from our point of view, from our
point of view, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (38:28):
And there's another guy there who's also
looks like a handsome guy, andhe's gonna go live with her in
this place.
She goes, Well, where we'regonna go, you're gonna be
considered beautiful.
Yeah, very, very creepy.
And you don't for the entireepisode, though, you don't see
anyone's face, and you see backsof people and you know, sides
that you know, it's really it'sthinking about it.
Anthony Stoeckert (38:44):
There's not a lot just from talking about
these, there's not a lot ofplot.
Like we're just sort of sayinga setup and then the ending, but
they're all the episodes aregreat, they all hold your
attention.
Jody Schwartz (38:52):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, we'd be talking foreverif we went into every detail of
these plots.
Anthony Stoeckert (38:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (38:58):
So by the way, everybody listening to this,
spoiler alert.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:04):
All right, we should remember which episodes
we've talked about because wecould easily do another one of
these.
Jody Schwartz (39:09):
This could be an annual Halloween event.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:11):
Or fourth of July, maybe, in honor of the
honor of the marathons.
Jody Schwartz (39:15):
We should do one where we're watching the
marathon together and record.
We're live from the marathon.
Keith Loria (39:21):
All right.
Well, I'm about I'm about totake my flight and hopefully um
go.
This could be my last episode,depending on the good luck,
Shatner.
It's been nice knowing youguys.
Um don't look out the window.
Jody Schwartz (39:34):
Yeah, keep that thing closed, but God's.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:35):
I don't look out the window when I fly.
I don't know about you guys.
I don't like looking out thatwindow.
Jody Schwartz (39:39):
Nah, I'm not a fan of that.
You know what?
I'd rather read or sleep.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:43):
Yeah, yeah, but I I don't, I mean, I'm not
like as bad as Keith, but I Idon't need to be reminded where
I am when I'm on a flight.
Jody Schwartz (39:50):
And I agree.
There's there's reallyvirtually no reason to look out
that window.
There's no reason to do it.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:56):
That's like the opening of uh high anxiety
when I'm looking at it.
Happy Halloween, everyone.
Jody Schwartz (40:02):
That's a great way to end this.
Keith Loria (40:06):
Thanks for listening to Don't Touch That
Dial, a classic TV podcast.
If you like what you heard, besure to subscribe.
Please leave a review oniTunes, Spotify, or wherever you
listen.
We'll be back soon with anotherjourney back in time to the
days of static, laugh tracks,and seven channels.
Welcome to season three of Don't Touch That Dial,
a classic TV pocket.
So join us as we remember theshows that made watching TV in
the days of antennas so muchfun.
Anthony Stoeckert (00:09):
Grab your remote and get ready for some
fun and laughs.
Keith Loria (00:13):
And remember, Don't Touch That Dial.
Anthony Stoeckert (00:16):
Hello, TV fans, and welcome to a very
scary and suspenseful episode ofDon't Touch That Dial, a
classic TV podcast.
This week we are entering theTwilight Zone.
I'm Anthony Stecker.
Jody Schwartz (00:31):
And I'm Jody Schwartz, and I'm Keith Alaurea.
Anthony Stoeckert (00:34):
So it's Halloween time, and we thought
it would be that's why wethought it would be fun to talk
about the Twilight Zone.
But at the same time, we alsothought uh we would share a uh
Halloween memory or two, if wecan think of any, because we
just came up with this idea like10 seconds ago.
Jody, you raised your hand.
Jody Schwartz (00:52):
Yes, one just did come to mind, and it's nothing
spectacular, but it it'samusing.
Uh when I was in the eighthgrade, I was going to a uh a
costume party.
A friend of mine was having aparty.
I don't remember if it wasactually on Halloween or around
Halloween, but he was having acostume, she was having a
costume party, and I decided Iwas gonna dress up as Tom Sieber
(01:14):
for uh for this uh costumeparty.
Anthony Stoeckert (01:17):
What grade is this again?
Jody Schwartz (01:18):
Eighth.
Anthony Stoeckert (01:18):
Eighth, okay.
Jody Schwartz (01:19):
Eighth grade.
And I had a Met jersey, and Iuh I I I didn't have like
regular Met pants, but I didhave the baseball pants from
Little League.
And so I wore those and I woremy Met hat.
And then my father ruined itfor me because he said, Well,
you know, you're notleft-handed.
You're you're left-handed,you're not right-handed.
Come on, I'm a left hand.
He's like, It's gonna, I'mlike, oh my god, it's gonna look
(01:41):
he should have been JerryKuzman with John Matlock.
Well, that that was I actuallysince switched it to that
because uh the jersey I had didnot have a name or a number, it
was just it was just a Metjersey.
It didn't in those days it wasnot easy to get uh jerseys with
players' names on it.
Like maybe get one anywhere inthose days, so it was just a
generic Met jersey.
(02:01):
And yeah, I actually then said,Yeah, I'm Kuzman.
I switched on the fly.
Anthony Stoeckert (02:06):
This isn't uh this just reminded me of this,
and it doesn't really haveanything to do with what we're
talking about, but um I don'twant to say who it is, Jody, but
it's someone you and I knew whoI worked with, and um sadly he
passed away a couple of yearsago.
But he he threw lefty andbatted righty, or vice versa, on
like in Little League, and hecould not get over Field of
(02:28):
Dreams how they got Shulish JoeJackson wrong.
Yeah, and like you couldn'ttalk about the movie with him.
He just and and it's like, butit's such a good movie.
I don't care what side of theplate Shulish Joe is batting
from.
I'm like, and maybe there'ssome sort of mysterious thing
about it, and he's like, No,they're like it's just he just
couldn't take it.
Maybe in heaven or whateverthis world that they were coming
(02:48):
from, that's where thelegitimate he would he would not
accept that.
Jody Schwartz (02:54):
I actually remember being out with you and
this person and him saying that.
Keith Loria (02:59):
But he but he accepted that dead people just
came in from a cornfield.
Anthony Stoeckert (03:03):
That was probably the rest of it's the
rest of it's fine, everythingelse, but that that just drove
him crazy, yeah.
So yeah, he loved players whobatted lefty and threw righty.
So I guess did Shulas Joe throwrighty?
Jody Schwartz (03:17):
He he did throw righty.
Uh you know what?
I was just the opposite.
I threw lefty and battedrighty.
Anthony Stoeckert (03:21):
If you can call what I did batting, but
Keith, do you have a Halloweenstory?
Keith Loria (03:29):
I mean, I have a lot of Halloween memories.
I I remember, you know, I usedto read Great Pumpkin Charlie
Brown to my kids every year whenthey were little.
I remember going out with youknow the Ben Cooper masks,
Fonzi, and Batman.
I think we may have talkedabout that in our last.
Anthony Stoeckert (03:43):
What was our last Halloween?
Um, so I'm gonna call itBradley Cooper.
Keith Loria (03:53):
I'm gonna talk about um my first Halloween in
college.
For whatever reason, theydecided to do trick-or-treating
in the dorm that I lived in, um,you know, which was fun.
And me and my roommates wantedto dress up as the Cotter, the
sweat hogs.
Anthony Stoeckert (04:05):
Yeah, yeah.
Keith Loria (04:06):
Um were you Barberino?
I was Barberino.
Jody Schwartz (04:10):
Yeah, I could have guessed, yeah.
Keith Loria (04:12):
But but we didn't do it, we didn't go through it
because we couldn't find the thecostumes, we couldn't get like
what we needed to get, but itwas perfect because one roommate
really was a dead ringer forfor Epstein, just with the
different color hair, but youknow, curly hair, it would have
worked nice, and my otherroommate would have been great
for Washington.
Jody Schwartz (04:30):
My hair was like that when I was in college, too.
Although I gotta tell you, Iwould have been a perfect
Horschak.
Keith Loria (04:34):
That's what we needed.
So yeah, but we didn't do it,so I I went out, I I wound up
going as Charlie Chaplin, anduh, you know, could have been
Groucho just as easily, I guess,with a mustache.
Um, but I remember there wasthis one girl.
So this this was the funniestpart of the story.
There's a girl that wastrick-or-treating, she just had
on like a black um bodysuit witha moon on it, and nobody knew
(04:58):
who she was.
And I like I we were kind oflike behind her in the
trick-or-treating lines, and shejust got disappointed every
time, like no one could guesswhat she was.
She was night, that was herthing.
Anthony Stoeckert (05:10):
Oh, okay.
Keith Loria (05:11):
No one was ever gonna get it, but but I ran into
her later and I was like, and Isaw her costume, I go, and I
pointed, and I go, night, right?
She's like, Oh my god, yeah,she was so happy that someone
knew it.
And I only knew because youknow, I heard her say it like 30
times to people, so that wasvery nice of you, and we became
friends, and we became friendsafter that, and but I never told
(05:33):
her that.
Jody Schwartz (05:33):
That that was very nice, but you cheated on
the test.
Anthony Stoeckert (05:37):
I hope she's not listening.
Keith Loria (05:39):
Oh, of course she's listening.
Come on, do we have millions oflisteners?
How could she not be?
Yes, but she only listens atnight.
Exactly.
Anthony Stoeckert (05:47):
The only uh story that I can think of, and
it has to do with the Ben Coopercostumes, is I really wanted to
be Batman.
I was Jody was a Marvel guy, Iwas a DC Comics guy.
I was an Archie guy, I reallywanted to be Batman, but I guess
the store didn't have Batman,so my mother very nicely got me
Superman, and the mask was justlike a red Lone Ranger mask.
(06:11):
Yeah, I remember that.
Like, what the F is this?
I'm like, you don't want towalk around.
I wanted one of the plasticmasks, you know, not a Lone
Ranger thing.
Jody Schwartz (06:23):
I remember the plastic mask.
Someone I I remember a friendof mine having the Superman one.
Anthony Stoeckert (06:26):
The Superman one.
I think later on when we wereolder, they made one with like a
Superman face on it.
But when, you know, when I wasin like first or second grade,
the Superman costume was a redLone Ranger mask.
Jody Schwartz (06:38):
Yep, I remember that.
I remember that.
Um I I was I I had one of thoseSpider-Man ones one one year,
being a Marvel guy.
Yes, the Spider-Man.
The Spider-Man one was um, Iguess like a lot of them.
Though those masks were veryuncomfortable.
And and you could feel like thesteam of your breath like in
the mask.
It was yes, it was very gross,actually.
Anthony Stoeckert (06:59):
It was yeah, and then you would lift it up,
and then the the rubber bandwould break.
Jody Schwartz (07:02):
And yeah, yeah, yeah.
You were lucky if you gotthrough the whole, you know,
through the whole hollow thewhole trick-or-treating
experience without the maskbreaking.
Anthony Stoeckert (07:10):
Lucky if you got in that to an hour, yeah.
It was a staple.
Jody Schwartz (07:15):
Yeah, it was it was and not even a good one, you
know.
Anthony Stoeckert (07:20):
So but all right, so let's talk Twilight
Zone.
Jody Schwartz (07:23):
Yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (07:24):
You know, we this is a show we saw in reruns,
uh, for those in New York,Channel 11.
Scariest show ever.
Jody Schwartz (07:31):
Freaky.
Not every episode was actuallyscary, but they were all they
were all freaky.
They they all made you like,oh, you know what I mean?
They that some of them werescary, some of them were
outright scary, some of themwere just like, ooh, you know,
like disturbing.
Disturbing, some of them madethink a little bit.
Very thought thought provoking.
Very thought-provoking.
People really think aboutthings, very, very
thought-provoking.
(07:51):
Uh, you there was always, youknow, and you know, there was
always that wrap-up at the end,you know, where when Rod
Sterling would would tell you,you know, how it you know
connected with the world, youknow.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, this is why you suck,and this is why it happened.
You know, so uh, but yeah,definitely some episodes
outright scary.
There's one I want to talkabout, which was definitely a
scary one.
Keith Loria (08:11):
Yeah, can we say Twilight Zone might have been
the first TV series that I everbinged, just because they would
have them, was it New Year's oroh July 4th.
Oh, July 4th, okay.
Yeah, they would just have themfor 24 hours.
24 hours.
Jody Schwartz (08:26):
It was great.
Keith Loria (08:27):
And they didn't do that with a lot of shoes back
then where they would bingethings.
Jody Schwartz (08:31):
So yeah, those those they used to call them
marathons, those marathons werebinging before that was a thing.
Anthony Stoeckert (08:37):
Yeah, yeah, I don't think they used the word
binging.
No, no, no.
Jody Schwartz (08:40):
They called them marathons, they would say the
Twilight Zone Marathon, and theywould do it on New Year's Day
with the odd couple, the oddcouple marathon, the honeymoon's
marathon.
Honeymooners marathon, yeah.
Also, and most uh mostimpressively, the It's a
Wonderful Life marathon, whichall through Christmas.
Anthony Stoeckert (08:56):
Yeah, yeah.
So, but um, and I I never likewatch those marathons, I would
just see episodes when they wereon.
It's a like you would want towatch one after another.
Oh, I love doing that.
Jody Schwartz (09:07):
Loved it.
Yeah, yeah, well, I I I agree,but that was a good show to
watch one after the other if youwere in that kind of mood, you
know.
Anthony Stoeckert (09:13):
Yeah, I would feel like after two or three,
it would be like, okay, I'm I'vegot enough I'm I'm scared
enough, I'm disturbed enough.
I, you know.
Jody Schwartz (09:22):
You go hide in the basement.
Anthony Stoeckert (09:26):
All right, well, Jody, why don't you talk
about the episode you wanted totalk about?
Jody Schwartz (09:29):
Okay, well, in terms of scariness, this doesn't
it doesn't get much scarierthan an episode called Living
Doll, which was a season five,episode six episode from
November of 63.
I believe it was the lastepisode aired just ahead of the
assassin the Kennedyassassination.
Anthony Stoeckert (09:45):
Oh wow.
Jody Schwartz (09:45):
Yeah.
Anyway, Telly Savalas was uhwas in that episode and he
played a uh a man who uh thisthis is thing he he could not
have children and he he was uhhe he uh just physically
couldn't have children.
He was married to a woman whohad a daughter from a previous
marriage, and he was prettyhostile toward the daughter
(10:06):
because he was angry that hecouldn't have um children of his
own with his with his wife.
And the daughter brings home anew doll she got called Talkie
Tina, and he's you know veryupset.
You know, again, he's has thishostility toward the kid as it
is, and now he doesn't like thewife wasting money on the doll.
And the the dot talkie Tinasays, My name is Talkie Tina and
(10:26):
I love you.
And but she, you know, he'svery hostile to it.
And then when he takes the dollaway from the girl, the doll
says to him, My name is TalkieTina, and I don't like you.
So right off the bat, he throwsthe doll away, the doll calls
him.
The doll calls from wherever Idon't know where the doll found
a phone, but the doll calls himand change.
(10:48):
In those days there were nocell phones, you actually had to
get quarters, not evenquarters, dimes.
The doll calls him and andthreatens him, and then he goes
back in and he looks in thedaughter's room and his
stepdaughter's room, and the andthe uh the doll is in bed with
the girl.
The doll had returned from fromthe trash that he threw her.
He he tries to destroy the dollwith a vice, with a blowtorch,
(11:11):
and with a saw, and cannot doit.
This doll will not die.
And then again, the doll, youknow, comes back into the uh
into the house, and finally hejust you know, he just breaks
down or he just accepts that youknow he he was trying, he's
gonna try to be nice.
Oh, by the way, there's onepoint when he takes the doll
away from the little girl, andthe little girl starts crying
and calls him daddy, and shesaid he yells at her, I'm not
(11:33):
your daddy.
I mean, he was very, very meanin this in this episode.
Little little girl, too.
Anthony Stoeckert (11:37):
He was nicer on Alice.
Jody Schwartz (11:39):
Oh, Telly Zavalis was much nicer when he was no
question.
No, no question.
She was much nicer in in allthe in uh Battle of the Network
stars, too.
Keith Loria (11:48):
But who loves you, baby?
Jody Schwartz (11:50):
Who loves you, baby?
Yes.
That's uh then he just decidesthat you know he's he's
sufficiently scared where he'sgonna accept the fact that he
loves the daughter and you knoweverything.
He gets up to check on the girlbecause he hears a noise, and
the doll who had been sleepingwith the girl is no longer
there.
He hears noise downstairs, hegoes down.
The doll is now laying on thefloor and trips him and he dies.
(12:12):
He he he he hits his head andhe dies.
The doll literally kills him.
Anthony Stoeckert (12:17):
Wow.
Jody Schwartz (12:17):
The wife comes down, sees her husband lying
there dead, picks up the doll,and the the doll says, My name
is Talkie Tina, and you betterbe nice to me.
Anthony Stoeckert (12:27):
Wow.
Jody Schwartz (12:28):
And that is how this episode ends.
Anthony Stoeckert (12:31):
Did that freak you?
When did you watch this for thefirst time?
Jody Schwartz (12:34):
The first time I watched it, I was I was a I was
a kid.
I I don't know exactly how oldI was, but I'm guessing I was 12
or 13.
Whatever, whatever age I wasstaying up and watching
Twilight.
It was usually me on the onlike a Friday night, you know.
So so it wasn't, but so therewas one night where uh yeah, I
was up late on a on a Fridaynight and I was watching it.
So I'm guessing I was around 11or 12.
And yeah, it scared the crapout of me watching, watching
(12:56):
that episode.
And you know what?
I've seen it many times sincethen, and it's always you know,
gives me a little yeah.
I actually watched it thismorning, and I'm still like is
that why you're under the covershiding?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That you know, I I I used tosay, you know, because I have I
have two sons, I'm like, I'mglad we didn't have daughters
because the dolls would scarethe crap out of me because
(13:20):
anyone know that's that's reallyscary and intense.
Anthony Stoeckert (13:24):
Yeah.
Did were there was was the showcontroversial?
Controversial?
I'm saying the word wrong inthe day, like did they have
warnings?
Did they let their kids watchit?
Because when I was a kid, I waslike, well, if it's in black
and white from the 50s or 60s,it must be completely family
friendly.
Jody Schwartz (13:42):
Yeah, no.
Anthony Stoeckert (13:44):
Does anyone know if the what what the the
the Yeah?
Keith Loria (13:47):
I mean it wasn't a family show, I'm sure.
Jody Schwartz (13:49):
No, but it it pushed the envelope.
It definitely, you know, andthat's what Sterling wanted, you
know.
Rod Sterling created it, henarrated it, you know, he did
that little wrap-up at the end,you know.
He did the intro in thebeginning and he wrote most of
the shows.
Anthony Stoeckert (14:01):
But like, do you think like adults told the
kids, all right, go to bed,we're gonna watch Tele Zavalis
get killed by a doll?
Jody Schwartz (14:06):
I think there had to have been a point where I I
don't rem I don't know what timethey showed it when it aired
originally, but you had tofigure that it wasn't shown
during a time when they thoughtkids would be watching.
Yeah, I agree.
Anthony Stoeckert (14:17):
Interesting.
Jody Schwartz (14:18):
You know, I I I I you know what I think one thing
about television shows, youknow, from from you know the 50s
and 60s as opposed to and maybeeven the 70s as opposed to
later was that I think a lot oftimes the networks were saying,
okay, you know what, parents,you have to do your job here.
Don't don't don't depend on usto police this for you.
Anthony Stoeckert (14:36):
You know, well they always referred to 8
p.m.
as the family hour.
Jody Schwartz (14:39):
Right.
Yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (14:41):
So I guess you wouldn't show anything um,
you know, scary or too scary oranything then.
Jody Schwartz (14:46):
No, I I'm my guess is when it aired.
I don't even I don't know, youknow what?
I I always knew it as somethingthat aired late at night until
they started doing the themarathons, you know, on July
4th.
I I I always thought it was Ialways considered it one of
these things that aired late atnight.
You watched right, right?
Anthony Stoeckert (15:00):
Yeah, yeah.
How about you, Keith?
You got an episode?
Keith Loria (15:03):
I do, and I I I almost uh don't want to talk
about it because I have a flightin about three hours.
You're not gonna top livingdoll.
I'll tell you that right now.
But but my favorite nightmareat 20,000 feet.
Jody Schwartz (15:16):
Great one.
Keith Loria (15:18):
Let me let me read off the the the narration.
Portrait of a frightened man,Mr.
Robert Wilson, 37, husband,father, and salesman on sick
leave.
Isn't my serling impersonationamazing?
I thought he was here.
Anthony Stoeckert (15:31):
I was about to say that's a great
impression.
Can you do Rod Serling?
Keith Loria (15:37):
Mr.
Wilson has just been dischargedfrom his sanitarium, where he
spent the last six monthsrecovering from a nervous
breakdown, the onset of whichtook place on an evening not
dissimilar to this, on anairliner, very much like this
one.
So, in general, William Shatnerin this episode plays a man who
had a nervous breakdown on aflight, which I don't know if I
knew that before I just readthis.
(15:58):
And he was flying again.
You know, he's very nervous,he's having a lot of problems,
you know, sitting down, he asksfor water, he's the stewardess
comes over to him, and they werecalled stewardesses back then
to ask him what was wrong.
And what happens is he seessomething on the wing.
And it it's it's it's you know,this this monster, and he's
trying to do something to thewing, and no one believes him.
(16:20):
Every time he calls someoneover to look, gets his uh seat
companion to look, nobody seesit but him.
I oh my god, I I hate flying,and this this frightened me the
hell out of me when I was a kid.
That's what I'm saying.
That's what I'm saying.
Jody Schwartz (16:35):
And I'm oh I am still wrapping my head around
the fact that Keith hatesflying.
Uh you're on a plane more thananyone I know.
Keith Loria (16:43):
I know.
I do it a lot, but I don't Idon't enjoy it.
I hate every second of it.
Jody Schwartz (16:49):
Wow.
Wow.
I don't know that there's beena week that you haven't been on
a plane.
Anthony Stoeckert (16:54):
So I don't know if this is going to be
controversial.
Yes, it's a great episode.
I actually like the version inthe movie better with John
Lithgow.
Why?
I just think the the thegremlin's scarier.
The gremlin and the Shatnerone's just this guy in a big
furry suit.
Yeah.
And the gremlin in the movieversion is um you know scarier.
(17:14):
And you know, the productionvalues are it's very well done.
The production values arehigher, and uh, you know, I well
it was 30 years later.
I love William Shatner, butJohn Lithgow's a slightly better
actor.
Jody Schwartz (17:26):
Yeah, that that's that's just what it is.
John Lit are fighting words.
Don Lithgow's an incredibleactor, and William.
Yeah, William William Shatner'sWilliam Shatner.
Keith Loria (17:35):
So there was an episode of Third Rock from the
Sun.
Yes, I was about to get tothat.
Where Shatner guest stars andhe cut and uh Litgow Lithgow
picks him up at the airport andand they do a joke about you
know being something being onthe wing.
Jody Schwartz (17:50):
Yeah, so well well Shatner says something was
on the wing, and then Lithgowsays, Hey, the same thing
happened to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I Shatner is playing the biggiant head.
Yes, they're their uh theirextreme leader.
Anthony Stoeckert (18:04):
I think with the movie, the thing is they
really didn't change thatepisode.
They basically followed thestory and told it really well
with you know more bettereffects, but they didn't go
overboard.
Whereas, like with the uh theone about the mean boy, they
completely changed the story andand made it worse.
Jody Schwartz (18:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And let's not even get into thekiller segment.
Anthony Stoeckert (18:26):
Well, yeah, yeah, well, yeah, that's not uh
bringing things down.
Jody Schwartz (18:30):
So but uh but yeah, basically with with that
segment on the movie, they didthe same thing with a better
actor.
Anthony Stoeckert (18:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So but and again, the episode'sstill great, don't get me
wrong.
Amazing, but yeah, you know, Ijust think the movie version is
um is better.
And I happen to like that movieoverall.
So I have another WilliamShatner one.
Jody Schwartz (18:50):
Yeah, oh I know what you're gonna say.
It's gonna be a good one.
Anthony Stoeckert (18:52):
Oh my god, this thing creaked me out so
much.
It's called The Nick of Time.
Yeah, and Shatner and his wifeare in a small town.
Are they waiting?
Did their car break down?
Is that what it is?
Jody Schwartz (19:03):
I think that's why they were there originally.
Anthony Stoeckert (19:04):
And they're waiting for their car to be
repaired, so they go to a diner,and the diner has this fortune
telling machine.
Oh, yes, yes, and there's likethis demon head sort of thing on
the and they, you know, oh, forfun, they go, Oh, uh and that
demon head thing was scary.
Oh yeah, yeah.
It's this little plastic demonheading on it, yeah, on a
(19:26):
spring.
Jody Schwartz (19:26):
Yeah, that scared the crap out of me.
Anthony Stoeckert (19:28):
And the fortunes are basically just
telling them, you know, don'tleave.
You you you should never leavethis town or something.
Jody Schwartz (19:34):
Not even that.
He says, Is it a good time toleave?
He actually asks and he says,No, there's danger, you know.
So you know, you know, yeah.
It was like a magic eight ball.
Anthony Stoeckert (19:45):
And does he dismiss the first one?
And but and then and then toprove how silly it is, he does
another one and they keepgetting worse and worse.
So, and it it you know, it'svery tense and all, and then at
the end they finally decide thatthey are just gonna leave.
They're not gonna let thismachine dictate their life, but
(20:05):
they're really nervous.
And then when they come back,they they leave, and then this
young couple comes back at theend, and I don't know if it's
the husband or the wife says,Maybe today's the day we can
leave.
Yeah, oh my god.
Jody Schwartz (20:19):
That was that's a freaky one.
Yeah, that's a freaky one.
And it's not it's no talkietina, but it's freaky.
Keith Loria (20:26):
They used that fortune teller thing before,
like that there was otherepisodes that had a similar
theme with a fortune teller onuh oh really, yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (20:34):
Yeah, all the future stars who were on this,
uh I should have looked at it.
I know Robert Duvall was onone.
Robert Redford played death inan episode, if I recall
correctly.
Jody Schwartz (20:45):
The the the professor from Gilligan's
Island?
Anthony Stoeckert (20:47):
Yes, he he uh tried to save Lincoln from he
tried to stop the the Lincolnassassination.
Yeah, didn't he work?
Jody Schwartz (20:55):
He couldn't fix a hole in a boat.
Anthony Stoeckert (20:56):
How is he gonna Jack Clugman was in I
think three episodes at least,yeah, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (21:03):
Yeah.
Was it three?
There were two I can think of,but but okay.
Anthony Stoeckert (21:06):
He played the guy, he um he played pool with
Jonathan Winters.
Keith Loria (21:10):
Was he really the devil or something?
Anthony Stoeckert (21:12):
Jonathan Winters was the devil, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I think so.
And then um there's one wherehe's like he seems funny when
you think about it, JonathanWinters.
There's one where Jack Klugmanfinds a boy in an amusement park
or something, and it's his deadson or something.
Am I getting that right?
Jody Schwartz (21:32):
I oh god, it's been a while.
I think I don't remember that.
I haven't seen that one in awhile.
Anthony Stoeckert (21:36):
Yeah, I and then um he's like the um he's
like the captain of a spaceshipin another one.
Keith Loria (21:41):
The space, the the ones that dealt with like uh
aliens and spaceships, those arealways really cool, especially
when it was you know with thetwist endings.
Like I remember one where it'sa cookbook.
There were there were twoastronauts, a man and a woman,
that landed on a planet.
They realized they couldn't gethome and they had no
communication with anybody, andthey're like, Oh, I guess we're
forced to live here now.
(22:02):
And at the end, you find outtheir names were Adam and Eve.
Jody Schwartz (22:05):
Yeah, oh wow, it's cool.
Keith Loria (22:07):
Yeah, it was really cool.
And I just remember the firsttime I saw that when I was a
kid, and I'm not even sure I'veseen it again.
Maybe I saw it in one of themarathons, but that one just
always really stood out to me.
And the other one where thetown is is losing their power
and everyone keeps blaming theirneighbors.
Anthony Stoeckert (22:24):
Monsters would do on Maple Street with
Claude Atkins.
Keith Loria (22:26):
Yeah, oh, another great one, and again, it was
just aliens kind of playing withthem.
Anthony Stoeckert (22:31):
Well, you don't find out till the end,
they're all like they all turnagainst each other.
I mean, we're summarizing it ina minute, but it goes on for 20
minutes.
Jody Schwartz (22:39):
That's a great, that's a great episode.
Anthony Stoeckert (22:41):
And the aliens say yeah, you see the
aliens on the hill, on the thehill watching them going, see,
we don't have to uh we don'thave to kill them, we can just
you know they'll they say, yeah,you know, we we've done this
with so many communities.
Keith Loria (22:54):
Wherever we do this, the same outcome happens.
They all turn on each other.
Anthony Stoeckert (22:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Jody Schwartz (23:00):
The the episode to serve man, when you know,
when he goes up in the spaceshipand she's like, It's a
cookbook.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (23:05):
Yeah, and the Simpsons parried in it
beautifully.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (23:09):
How to serve Man and he blows off it's space
dust.
It's space dust.
It's like a how to serve man adelicious meal.
How to serve man a deliciousmeal.
I like the the uh the alienslike if your goal was to make
Zarkov to prepare a cry, missionaccomplished.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:27):
We were once in a bookstore and Jody grabbed
a book, a cookbook, and it's acookbook.
Jody Schwartz (23:33):
For years I couldn't stop myself from doing
that.
Keith Loria (23:36):
Oh, you still do it.
Jody Schwartz (23:38):
Oh, without question.
Except there are no morebookstores.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:42):
So the first episode I saw, do you remember
the one with the dolls in the inthe drum?
I don't know what it was, not adrum, a barrel, a garbage.
It was a donation thing fortoys.
Oh yeah.
Keith Loria (23:53):
Oh yeah, I definitely remember that.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:55):
That was the first one I ever saw.
Keith Loria (23:56):
Oh, wow, you remember?
I don't remember the show.
Anthony Stoeckert (23:58):
I remember that, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because I didn't watch it likea lot when I was young, and I
don't know what led to me.
I was probably over at afriend's house and we watched
it.
Keith Loria (24:07):
So but you had a friend?
It wasn't me.
Anthony Stoeckert (24:10):
I had some friends a strong word.
He he let me watch TV with himif I brought snacks.
Jody Schwartz (24:16):
We didn't know you then, so how about that?
Keith Loria (24:17):
Yeah, I was gonna say, how can I have a friend?
Jody Schwartz (24:18):
We didn't we didn't know you like them.
Keith Loria (24:20):
So Jody, I know you watched a couple others, like
what other ones did you?
Jody Schwartz (24:22):
Well, the actually the first episode I
ever saw, and I just re-watchedthis morning, was one called The
Shelter, which is from uhseason three, episode three,
September of 61.
And this doctor, Dr.
Bill uh Stockton, he had builta nuclear shelter in his house.
And he built it just with justwith just enough room and air
(24:43):
and provisions for him and hiswife and his son.
And he's having people over hishouse one night, as you know,
his neighbors, and they'rehaving just like a fun time, and
they're even kidding him alittle bit about being so
paranoid that he built thisshelter.
And then they hear on, youknow, you should know that the
climate at that time, this thiswas 1961.
There was always this fear thenthat you know we we were gonna
(25:04):
be attacked, you know, a nuclearattack was was very real in
people's minds.
And there was a uh a newsreport that came on the radio
that there was someunidentified, you know, flying
objects, and they were afraid itmight be a nuclear attack of
some kind.
And all his neighbors now knowhe has this nuclear uh shelter,
and they want, you know, theywant to be in the shelter, they
(25:24):
want to save themselves, andhe's not, you know, there's not
enough room for them.
And they all, you know, likethe aliens when they start to
turn on each other, and theyactually now all the neighbors
are now saying how some of theneighbors shouldn't go in
because they're not as you knowpatriotic as we are.
There's a Hispanic neighbor whothey're all saying you're not
remembering this now, yes.
Yeah, you're not a realAmerican.
(25:44):
By the way, Jack Albertson isin it um from Chico and the Man,
and uh he is not playing a niceguy.
Anthony Stoeckert (25:50):
And um so maybe he's playing the character
from Chico and the Man 20 yearsearlier.
Jody Schwartz (25:56):
Yeah, but he's not a lovable, uh a lovable
crank.
He he's a movie.
Anthony Stoeckert (26:00):
Maybe he became more of a lovable crank
as he got older.
Jody Schwartz (26:04):
Maybe, maybe.
And but it is funny because hedoes he does accuse an Hispanic
person of not being a realAmerican.
Anthony Stoeckert (26:11):
Yeah, there you go.
I'm on this one.
Jody Schwartz (26:13):
So, you know, so the writers were paying
attention.
In any event, there there's thethe the the big scene is the
neighbors get a battering ram.
Now, I want to stop on this aminute.
I I don't know how anybody evergets a battering ram.
Like the neighbors actually gettogether.
Anthony Stoeckert (26:27):
What is a battering ram?
Jody Schwartz (26:28):
It's like a long metal pole that you use to break
down like a door.
Anthony Stoeckert (26:32):
Oh, okay.
Jody Schwartz (26:33):
Yeah, yeah, a battering ram.
I I'm I may I may be saying itwrong, but that they No, I I had
heard the phrase, but I neverknew what it was.
So they're they're now going tothe nuclear shelter where you
know, to the shelter where thefamily is, and they're pounding
on it, they're trying to get in,they're breaking the door down.
And then um at this point,they've already, you know, said
mean things to each other, it'salready become horrible.
(26:53):
And then there's a radio reportsaying it was a false report,
it's harmless, not nothing,nothing to worry about.
And now they have to kind ofand now they're all trying to
get back to normal, butobviously they can't.
Too much is too much has beensaid.
Anthony Stoeckert (27:05):
Wow, wow, cool.
Jody Schwartz (27:06):
Yeah, and that is the first one I ever saw.
And I didn't I didn't evenknow, I'll give you a little
story here.
I didn't even know what thewhat the Twilight Zone was at
that point.
My cousin, who was, I guess shewas around 15 or 16 at the
time.
I was 11, 10 or 11.
And um, she she was watching usone night.
She actually lived with us, andshe was, you know, uh uh
(27:28):
babysitting for us, and shewould always let us stay up
late.
And she said, You gotta watchthis show.
And she was trying to describeit to me, but you know, it's
hard to describe.
It is.
And then we watched thisepisode, and you know, that that
was a lot for my you know,11-year-old mind to absorb.
Anthony Stoeckert (27:44):
Do you think that episode was inspired a
little bit by the whole OrsonWells War of the Worlds thing?
Jody Schwartz (27:49):
A little bit, I think it was.
I think the the climate at thetime it inspired by, but yeah,
yeah, yeah, definitely.
But what's amazing to me isthat it's still kind of relevant
to now, you know, to no doubt.
Yeah, and and you know, butwhen I was watching it today,
the things that they were sayingto each other in their anger
and their panic, I'm like, yeah,I could I could see people
saying that now.
(28:09):
You know, I could see thiscoming up now.
Anthony Stoeckert (28:12):
Yeah.
There was something about likethe look and the feel of those
episodes because they tried tobring the Twilight Zone back and
they can three times at least,and they can never forget it.
And some of it might have beenthe limitations of production
values back then, but thosethose, you know, they're all
obviously sets and probably notthe most elaborate sets because
(28:34):
how many sets can you build fora show?
But it created a feel, youknow.
Keith Loria (28:39):
You know, I I disagree a bit.
I I've seen a lot of maybe notthe most recent ones, but the
ones that they introduced backwhen The Amazing Stories was on.
They did one with and thenthere was another one Forest
Whitaker hosting.
And I watched episodes of both,and I enjoyed them both.
Anthony Stoeckert (28:52):
I could not get into the the hour.
I remember the hour-long onethat would have like two or
three stories in it, and Icouldn't get into that or the
Forest Whitaker one.
Jody Schwartz (29:01):
There was one one of the more updated ones in the
80s when Elliot Gould was uhwas a restaurant critic who took
who took pride in um writingbad reviews on restaurants and
putting them out of business.
Like he that was his that washis thing.
Anthony Stoeckert (29:15):
He would yeah, yeah, no, he was.
Jody Schwartz (29:18):
He was a bad guy, and he would go to restaurants
with the idea he's just gonnagive them a bad review no matter
what, because he wants to showhis power of putting restaurants
out of business.
And he actually had a little uhlike a box with dirt, and he
would put a matchbook from theum from the restaurant as like a
graveyard after each one wentout of business.
Keith Loria (29:36):
Oh wow, yeah, and what was the twist?
Jody Schwartz (29:39):
Well, he goes to this Chinese restaurant that he
hears about that everyone seemsto like, but again, he's going
there with the idea in mind he'sgoing to ruin it, yeah.
And then they give him afortune cookie, and the fortune
cookie says you're gonna getmoney or something.
I don't remember exactly whatit says, and then he writes the
bad review, and then he um hethe the fortune cookie comes
true.
He gets he Gets money from it.
(30:00):
And now he's like, Oh my god,he's really, you know, he's
really um happy about it.
And he goes back, and now thethe uh the the guy who owns the
restaurant is kind of pissed athim because he's like, you know,
you did this to me, and nowpeople are canceling
reservations.
And he says that he promiseshe'll write him a good review if
he could, you know, get anotherfortune cookie, and he does it,
and this one says, You're goingto die.
(30:21):
Yeah.
And in the end, he does die,and you actually see in that
little graveyard he made uh amatchbook cover with his name on
it.
And the uh that's kind of cool.
So that that that was as far asthe the updated one goes, that
that was and I'm telling you allthis from memory from a few
years ago, so I there might bethings I've I've gotten wrong on
that episode, but I don't know.
Anthony Stoeckert (30:42):
Are any of those reboots available?
Do they show them anywhere?
Jody Schwartz (30:46):
Or the the one I just described, I know I saw it
again on YouTube.
Anthony Stoeckert (30:50):
YouTube, okay.
Jody Schwartz (30:51):
Yeah, YouTube has everything.
Yeah, YouTube has everything.
Keith Loria (30:53):
No, I don't watch, but isn't the Black Mirror show
kind of like a Twilight Zone?
Anthony Stoeckert (30:58):
Suppose yeah, I've seen a couple of episodes.
There's a famous Star Trek typeepisode that I saw.
Um, yeah, it's an anthology,it's horror.
Everything though with that isrelated to technology, I think.
Like every episode has somesort of statement to make about
how technology affects our worldand all.
But yeah, it's it's it's prettymuch there.
Keith Loria (31:17):
All right.
I I want to get back to uhanother episode I really liked,
and yeah, probably you guys didtoo.
Um, it's probably one of themost famous ones.
It's Burgess Meredith, TimeEnough at Last.
Anthony Stoeckert (31:27):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Keith Loria (31:28):
You know, it's just for those who may not have seen
it, and Burgess Meredith was infour episodes, which I didn't
know.
Anthony Stoeckert (31:33):
Um, four.
I knew about that one and Mr.
Dingle.
I can't think of the other two.
Keith Loria (31:37):
Um, so he he plays a bank teller who loves to read.
You see him, you know, getannoyed when he's reading his
book, and people, his customerscome in and want him to hell
about, which is kind of funny.
He was reading DavidCopperfield in the beginning.
Um and then but people soundlike second.
This is funny, like his wifewas really mean to him.
His wife was like, Oh, I wantyou to read poetry to me.
(31:57):
And he was so excited becausehe loves to read.
And then when he looks at thebook, she like X'd out
everything, like he like almostwith like a black sharpie, so he
couldn't read anything.
And she laughed at him.
Yeah, I was like, That's kindof mean.
Um so what happens is he goesin uh the bank vault to read
during his lunch hour every day,and while he's there, he's
reading the newspaper, and itsays, you know, H bomb capable
(32:19):
to total destruction.
Um and he hears a big, youknow, bomb go off, and he opens
the vault and comes out, andeverybody's dead.
The whole world, you know,nuclear bomb, destruction
everywhere.
Jody Schwartz (32:30):
But he's safe because he was in the vault.
Right, right.
Keith Loria (32:33):
And he walks around town and you know, nobody's
there, and he's just his life'sover and he wants to end it.
He wants to kill himself.
And he decides, you know, hegets a gun, he decides to kill
himself, but then he sees thelibrary.
And though, for some reason,the library is still intact.
He goes in and books galore, hefinds food, there's canned food
galore, so he's enough food tolive the rest of his life.
He's got the books to read.
Jody Schwartz (32:54):
There's a scene where he says, Well, I guess I'm
not gonna starve.
Keith Loria (32:57):
Right, I'm not gonna starve.
And so the best best world forhim.
And then, of course, he trips,his glasses fall off, breaks the
glasses, and now he can't see.
Jody Schwartz (33:07):
And it ends with him saying, But there was so
much time.
There was time at last.
But rock, there was so muchtime, rock.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:15):
Now it's a great episode.
Jody Schwartz (33:16):
He also said that in Rocky.
Quack, quack, quack, quack.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:19):
It's a great episode, but couldn't he have
gone to like someophthalmologist office and found
a pair of glasses?
Jody Schwartz (33:25):
Well, most of the buildings were destroyed.
Well, I'm sure there was amagnifying glass somewhere.
Yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:31):
I don't know.
I would think somewhere alongthe line there'd be a you know,
a Pearl Vision Center that wasstill open that he could have
gotten a pair of glasses at.
Jody Schwartz (33:38):
Or found the magnifying glass.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:40):
Yeah, you think a magnifying glass would
have done it?
I mean, if he had aprescription, I don't know.
I don't know.
He could have tried, he didn'thave to give up right now.
Keith Loria (33:48):
He could have looked around.
Someone probably had a similarpair of glasses.
He could have just kept findingglasses.
Anthony Stoeckert (33:53):
Yeah, there had to be something somewhere.
I mean, there's books in cannedfood.
There's got to be a pair ofglasses somewhere.
Keith Loria (33:58):
So I guess his eyes were really terrible, and they
made that point pretty clearearly on.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:03):
Couldn't you see like his eyes like almost
magnify?
Jody Schwartz (34:05):
Because his glasses were yeah, his glasses,
he had these really thickglasses.
Keith Loria (34:08):
Yeah, so maybe he couldn't have even seen to get
out of the library.
Who knows?
Jody Schwartz (34:12):
Those glasses looked so thick, it looks like
they wouldn't even broken if uhif they that's true, that's
true.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:18):
Rod Serling is in the afterlife going oh for
crying out loud, guys.
Just uh how bad were theglasses?
Keith Loria (34:24):
It was just a television show, guys.
I don't remember that either.
Were they completely broke likea tip picture?
They were shattered, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (34:30):
They were they were shattered.
Keith Loria (34:31):
Okay.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:33):
They had one little Nick, but he was um, you
know, he was very uh he was veryanal retentive, so I can't wear
these.
Jody Schwartz (34:41):
I'm actually like that with my glasses.
I get one little Nick and I'mlike, I gotta get new ones.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:45):
Well, yeah, but it was the end of the world
and you couldn't get anotherpair, you'd live with them.
Jody Schwartz (34:48):
And he didn't wear glasses in Rocky.
Come on.
I have and he was much older inRocky, too.
Anthony Stoeckert (34:56):
I have one more episode I wanted to talk
about, and it's a scary one.
The hitchhiker.
Keith Loria (35:01):
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, it's the guy thatkeeps she keeps picking up the
same guy, right?
Anthony Stoeckert (35:07):
Does she pick him up or she keeps driving by
him?
Keith Loria (35:10):
Probably just keeps driving by him.
Anthony Stoeckert (35:11):
I'm not sure, yeah, but this woman's driving,
and I think she passes by himbecause that's how that's that's
why it's scary that he keepsshowing up.
Keith Loria (35:21):
Gotcha.
Anthony Stoeckert (35:21):
And she's really freaked out, she thinks
he's following him, she doesn'tknow how she's doing it.
And then she pulls over and shecalls her mother, and then
she's told by someone, Well, no,uh, whatever her mother's name
is, Mrs.
whatever Mrs.
Hughes can't talk right now.
She hasn't gotten over thedeath of her daughter.
And then the hitchhiker'sthere, and the the girl turns
(35:44):
around and the hitchhiker goes,I believe you're going my way.
Jody Schwartz (35:51):
Frightening.
Anthony Stoeckert (35:52):
Yeah, that was good.
Jody Schwartz (35:53):
Scary stuff.
You we talked about BurgessMeredith, you know, and and
about uh we also talked aboutthe uh the movie from the early
80s, and he didn't he I think henarrated the movie, yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (36:03):
He had the Rod Sterling up Yeah, as a sort
of nod to the fact that he wasin, you know, so many iconics.
Jody Schwartz (36:08):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think that thatwraparound with with Dan Aykroyd
and um Albert Brooks.
Albert Brooks.
Yeah, I think they mentionedthe the one with Burgess
Meredith.
Keith Loria (36:17):
I think they think they said that's how they start
talking.
That's how they start talking,yeah.
Jody Schwartz (36:21):
Yeah, yeah.
Anthony Stoeckert (36:22):
Basically, this episode was like that
wraparound.
It's them just talking abouttheir favorite episodes.
Jody Schwartz (36:31):
And now I'm gonna peel off my mask.
You want to see somethingreally scary?
Anthony Stoeckert (36:36):
Yeah, yeah.
I liked that movie.
I don't think it got the bestreviews, but I remember really
enjoying it.
And I saw it like 10 years agoand still enjoyed it.
Jody Schwartz (36:43):
Yeah, uh, it it wasn't bad.
Uh, you know, it was you know,obviously the accident on the on
the set dominated everything.
Anthony Stoeckert (36:50):
Yeah, I don't know how aware of that I was as
a when it came out though, whenI was like what, 15 or 16.
Keith Loria (36:56):
I'm not sure how much I feel like I knew about
it, like it was reported.
Jody Schwartz (37:01):
I didn't see the movie until after it came on
HBO.
Like I didn't I didn't see itin the theaters, and so by the
time I saw it, you'd heard verymuch about you know what had
happened.
Keith Loria (37:11):
I saw it in the movies.
Anthony Stoeckert (37:12):
Yeah, I saw it in the movie, and I had the
novelization.
Oh wow, written by RobertBloch, who wrote the novel
Psycho.
Jody Schwartz (37:20):
Interesting.
How was that?
How was the novelization of it?
Anthony Stoeckert (37:22):
Fantastic.
I mean, you know, I was 15 whenI read it.
Jody Schwartz (37:26):
He's still reading it today.
Can I can I can I please get afull review of second?
Come on.
Keith Loria (37:31):
I actually was gonna read it uh last week, but
my glasses broke.
Jody Schwartz (37:35):
Yeah, yeah.
I hear you.
While you were eating cannedfood.
Exactly.
Anthony Stoeckert (37:41):
All right, anything else or are we good?
Jody Schwartz (37:44):
Oh, we've exhausted this topic.
Um, no, but we should best onequick one, a classic one to
mention, Eye of the Beholder,which this woman, um, you the
episode you don't see anybody'sfaces.
And this woman, she hasbandages on her face because she
apparently had some sort ofoperation that was supposed to,
she's supposedly ugly anddisfigured, and um she's living
(38:06):
in this like uh utopian state,it's called the state.
And basically, if if if thisdidn't work on her face, she was
gonna be sent to live withother people who look like her,
and then they remove thebandages and like didn't work at
all.
There's no change.
They they take the bandagesoff, and it turns out she's
beautiful, and everybody elsehas like disfigured, ugly faces.
Anthony Stoeckert (38:25):
Yeah, from our point of view, from our
point of view, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (38:28):
And there's another guy there who's also
looks like a handsome guy, andhe's gonna go live with her in
this place.
She goes, Well, where we'regonna go, you're gonna be
considered beautiful.
Yeah, very, very creepy.
And you don't for the entireepisode, though, you don't see
anyone's face, and you see backsof people and you know, sides
that you know, it's really it'sthinking about it.
Anthony Stoeckert (38:44):
There's not a lot just from talking about
these, there's not a lot ofplot.
Like we're just sort of sayinga setup and then the ending, but
they're all the episodes aregreat, they all hold your
attention.
Jody Schwartz (38:52):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, we'd be talking foreverif we went into every detail of
these plots.
Anthony Stoeckert (38:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jody Schwartz (38:58):
So by the way, everybody listening to this,
spoiler alert.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:04):
All right, we should remember which episodes
we've talked about because wecould easily do another one of
these.
Jody Schwartz (39:09):
This could be an annual Halloween event.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:11):
Or fourth of July, maybe, in honor of the
honor of the marathons.
Jody Schwartz (39:15):
We should do one where we're watching the
marathon together and record.
We're live from the marathon.
Keith Loria (39:21):
All right.
Well, I'm about I'm about totake my flight and hopefully um
go.
This could be my last episode,depending on the good luck,
Shatner.
It's been nice knowing youguys.
Um don't look out the window.
Jody Schwartz (39:34):
Yeah, keep that thing closed, but God's.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:35):
I don't look out the window when I fly.
I don't know about you guys.
I don't like looking out thatwindow.
Jody Schwartz (39:39):
Nah, I'm not a fan of that.
You know what?
I'd rather read or sleep.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:43):
Yeah, yeah, but I I don't, I mean, I'm not
like as bad as Keith, but I Idon't need to be reminded where
I am when I'm on a flight.
Jody Schwartz (39:50):
And I agree.
There's there's reallyvirtually no reason to look out
that window.
There's no reason to do it.
Anthony Stoeckert (39:56):
That's like the opening of uh high anxiety
when I'm looking at it.
Happy Halloween, everyone.
Jody Schwartz (40:02):
That's a great way to end this.
Keith Loria (40:06):
Thanks for listening to Don't Touch That
Dial, a classic TV podcast.
If you like what you heard, besure to subscribe.
Please leave a review oniTunes, Spotify, or wherever you
listen.
We'll be back soon with anotherjourney back in time to the
days of static, laugh tracks,and seven channels.
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