Happy Birthday Danny boy!

[Dan Caviness]

Gentlemen:

It is impossible to discern, much less discriminate, between the genius of those two shows. Rod Serling inspired me to smoke two packs a day for several decades. Joe Stefano and Leslie Stevens made me weird(er) still. Also...Frontiere's haunting musical scores set an eerie tone to the OL that still resonates. Pun distended.

Serling was so far ahead of his time most of his audience never realized they were being educated. He respected the greats of SF, shamelessly stealing when needed, crediting when possible. They had something to say.

Nowadays you can't show either of these shows to anyone young. They lack the contextual frame of reference. They point out the cheesy, low budget effects, ignoring the story lines, and most importantly, the message. It was shot 4:3 ratio, black and white, mono. There were no effects then for the most part other than painting on the negatives. I've realized over the years they cannot understand what it was to be a young boy in the 1960's growing up hiding under your desk at school several times a year worrying about looking away from the nuclear flash. Not their fault, not ours, but that time in history was fairly unique in a dark, twisted way. We really thought we were going to war with the Russians.

Where to find a voice of quiet sanity in the midst of all this pre-apocalyptic hubbub?
You got it...the Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits...

Let's go to the tape...my favorite TL's...wow...tough to pare that down but a few choice ones include the following.

1. It's a Good Life (the one with Billy Mumy taking over the town)
2. Obsolete Man (with Burgess Meridith)
3. The Shelter (where the guy's "friends" pull him screaming out of his nuclear bunker)
4. The Howling Man (where a well meant traveler decided to let Satan...in the role of John Carridine...out of prison)
5. Two (with Elizibeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson)
6. Third From the Sun
7. The Masks (where the old man wear's the death's head skull)

Every one disturbing in it's own way.
Forced us to think they did.

For the Outer Limits...the list is shorter but every bit as juicy...

1. Nightmare (with a very young Martin Sheen)
2. Demon With a Glass Hand (Robert Culp)
3. OBIT

"We now return control of your TV set to you until next week."