“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge”.
Unless I am otherwise mistaken, you’ve surely heard that intro phrase before but if you haven’t, then boy do I have some work to assign you. It’s the famed opening narrative of the television series “The Twilight Zone”. Now if I haven’t declared this to be a tradition yet over the course of the years doing this type of post, then I am for sure doing it now as I welcome our readers once again to the now annual rundown of “The Twilight Zone” marathon that’s going to air on the SyFy network over the next few days. This is the perfect kind of post for our Pop Culture side of the fence and truth be told I am a very longtime fan of the classic Science Fiction/Mystery series. After doing this a few times with one of the most important years to keep people inside being 2020, I felt that this was the kind of feature to keep on doing and close out the year with something that a wide group would find interesting. These days, the going crazy revelry isn’t what it used to be like in the days before pandemic with many deciding since that time that they will just sit out the New Year’s Eve madness and what better way to keep oneself entertained than with a marathon of this kind. What impresses me still to this day about the show is how well it has held up over the years and how many other properties it has inspired. Over the years I’ve managed to see all of the original series and some of the relaunches except the Jordan Peele stuff since I was not subscribing to the network where they were broadcast. The show still impresses me with some of its themes and twists and surprises that still shock you even after you’ve seen the episode a half dozen times or more. This year the marathon appears to be quite extensive and begins early on Saturday morning, 12/30. It will run from then on through all of Sunday (New Year’s Eve) and Monday (New Year’s Day) before wrapping it up with a few additional episodes on Tuesday, January 2nd. This list was culled from the actual listings on the SyFy website so if anything changes or something you were looking to see doesn’t play, don’t yell at me. Send them an email. Let’s take a look at this truly massive rundown.
Saturday, December 30th
8:00AM – The Lonely
8:30AM – Time Enough At Last
9:00AM – Perchance To Dream
9:30AM – Judgement Night
10:00AM – And When The Sky Was Opened
10:30AM – What You Need
11:00AM – The Four Of Us Are Dying
11:30AM – Third From The Sun
12:00PM – I Shot An Arrow Into The Air
12:30PM – The Hitch-hiker
1:00PM – The Fever
1:30PM – The Last Flight
2:00PM – The Purple Testament
2:30PM – The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street
3:00PM – A World Of Difference
3:30PM – Long Live Walter Jameson
4:00PM – People Are Alike All Over
4:30PM – The Big Tall Wish
5:00PM – A Nice Place To Visit
5:30PM – Nightmare As A Child
6:00PM – A Stop At Willoughby
6:30PM – A Passage For Trumpet
7:00PM – Mr. Bevis
7:30PM – The After Hours
8:00PM – The Mighty Casey
8:30PM – A World Of His Own
9:00PM – King Nine Will Not Return
9:30PM – A Man In The Bottle
10:00PM – Nervous Man In A Four Dollar Room
10:30PM – A Thing About Machines
11:00PM – The Howling Man
11:30PM – Eye Of The Beholder
Sunday, December 31st
12:00AM – Nick Of Time
12:30AM – The Lateness Of The Hour
1:00AM – The Trouble With Templeton
1:30AM – A Most Unusual Camera
2:00AM – Night Of The Meek
2:30AM – Dust
3:00AM – Back There
3:30AM – The Whole Truth
4:00AM – The Invaders
4:30AM – A Penny For Your Thoughts
5:00AM – Twenty-two
5:30AM – Mr. Dingle, The Strong
6:00AM – Static
6:30AM – A Hundred Yards Over The Rim
7:00AM – The Rip Van Winkle Caper
7:30AM – The Silence
8:00AM – Shadow Play
8:30AM – Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up
9:00AM – The Obsolete Man
9:30AM – The Arrival
9:55AM – The Mirror
10:20AM – The Grave
10:45AM – It’s A Good Life
11:10AM – Death’s Head Revisited
11:35AM – The Midnight Sun
12:00PM – Five Characters In Search Of An Exit
12:25PM – Dead Man’s Shoes
12:50PM – The Hunt
1:15PM – A Piano In The House
1:40PM – The Last Rites Of Jeff Myrtlebank
2:05PM – Little Girl Lost
2:30PM – Person Or Persons Unknown
2:55PM – The Gift
3:20PM – The Little People
3:45PM – The Dummy
4:10PM – Cavendar Is Coming
4:35PM – A Kind Of Stopwatch
5:00PM – The Last Night Of A Jockey
5:25PM – Living Doll
5:50PM – The Old Man In The Cave
6:15PM – Night Call
6:40PM – Probe 7 Over And Out
7:05PM – The 7th Is Made Up Of Phantoms
7:30PM – A Short Drink From A Certain Fountain
7:55PM – Ninety Years Without Slumbering
8:20PM – Ring-a-ding Girl
8:45PM – You Drive
9:10PM – Black Leather Jackets
9:35PM – From Agnes With Love
10:00PM – Spur Of The Moment
10:25PM – An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
10:50PM – What’s In The Box
11:15PM – The Masks
11:40PM – I AM The Night – Color Me Black
Monday, January 1st
12:05AM – Sounds And Silences
12:30AM – The Encounter
12:55AM – Mr. Garrity And The Graves
1:20AM – Come Wander With Me
1:45AM – The Fear
2:10AM – The Bewitchin’ Pool
2:35AM – Stopover In A Quiet Town
3:00AM – Two
3:25AM – The Shelter
3:50AM – The Passersby
4:15AM – A Game Of Pool
4:40AM – Queen Of The Nile
5:05AM – The Jungle
5:30AM – Nothing In The Dark
5:30AM – Nothing In The Dark
6:00AM – Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville
7:00AM – Where Is Everybody
7:30AM – One For The Angels
8:00AM – Mr. Denton On Doomsday
8:30AM – Escape Clause
9:00AM – The Brain Center At Mr. Whipple’s
9:30AM – The Long Morrow
10:00AM – Steel
10:30AM – In Praise Of Pip
11:00AM – I Sing The Body Electric
11:30AM – The Changing Of The Guard
12:00PM – Four O’clock
12:30PM – One More Pallbearer
1:00PM – A Quality Of Mercy
1:30PM – Once Upon A Time
2:00PM – The Prime Movers
2:30PM – The Odyssey Of Flight 33
3:00PM – The Chaser
3:30PM – Mirror Image
4:00PM – Elegy
4:30PM – The Sixteen-millimeter Shrine
5:00PM – Number Twelve Looks Just Like You
5:30PM – Uncle Simon
6:00PM – Still Valley
6:30PM – Long Distance Call
7:00PM – The Trade-ins
7:30PM – The Self-improvement Of Salvadore Ross
8:00PM – To Serve Man
8:30PM – The Fugitive
9:00PM – Hocus-pocus And Frisby
9:30PM – Nightmare At 20,000 Feet
10:00PM – Kick The Can
10:30PM – Young Man’s Fancy
11:00PM – Showdown With Rance Mcgrew
11:30PM – Execution
Tuesday, January 2nd
12:00AM – Caesar And Me
12:30AM – The Jeopardy Room
1:00AM – The Parallel
2:00AM – I Dream Of Genie
3:00AM – No Time Like The Past
6:00AM – Walking Distance
*** end of rundown ***
PiercingMetal Thoughts: So there you have it After reviewing the rundown you will see that there are “142” episodes featured in this year’s marathon and since it begins on the day before New Year’s Eve and continues past New Year’s Day this is likely the longest one yet. I know that the original series only had “156” shows in total and while I didn’t compare the episodes against each individual season based on time constraints, I think that they are playing some from other incarnations of the franchise this time around. Don’t be cross with me if this assumption is incorrect. Now last year I scanned the list and plugged the absolute favorites onto the DVR to be recorded and watched at a later time but this year I will not be recording a single episode since I don’t foresee having enough time to clear off the space on said DVR. I will most likely leave it running in the background while I attend to other agenda items as the 2023 year wraps up and the brand-new 2024 begins. I will of course stop what I am doing if a favorite gets aired. One year I recorded them all and after it was practically filling my DVR I used Wikipedia to get the exact order of the episodes and watched them in sequence. That was fun but nothing I figure I will do this time around. My posting is being done early enough for you to do some planning. The interested might want to know that I will also be featuring the rundown of “The Honeymooners” marathon that airs each year on PIX 11 once again but that post will be loaded up over on “The Chronicles of Piercing Ken” website. In case this is the day that you sign off for the year let me wish you all a very safe and fun New Year’s Eve celebration. Don’t be embarrased if you are one of those who keeps it very simple with a small group of friends or even sits back on the couch doing nothing. To many, NYE is amateur night and sometimes that’s best to be avoided. I look forward to entertaining you in 2023 and pushing the creative envelope with this site on a regular basis. Closing up I’d love to hear any comments from lifelong fans of the series if they fell like chiming in. Outside of complaints which should go to the network, I am very interested in learning what your favorite episodes are and why so please consider doing that. See you next time around, please stay safe out there.
From The Editor (12/20/2023): My post about the marathon of “The Honeymooners” episodes has premiered on “The Chronicles of Piercing Ken” and you can check that out by clicking HERE.
Official: https://www.syfy.com/schedule
Official Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(1959_TV_series)