UPN Has "Twilight" Zoned In For New Series (1 Viewer)

[Peter Kline]

From Hollywood Reporter

UPN signposts: 'Zone,' reality

Feb. 22, 2002

UPN is heading into "The Twilight Zone." In its first pilot order this season, the network has picked up a new version of the classic sci-fi anthology series, which originally ran on its corporate sibling CBS from 1959-65. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Pen Densham is writing and executive producing the new project, which his New Line-based Trilogy Entertainment Group is producing.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Wasn't he responsible for the recent Showtime/Sci-Fi/syndicated "The Outer Limits", too? It seems vaguely wrong for him to do both.

 

[John Berggren]

I'll certainly try this out. I enjoy the Twilight Zone. I even enjoyed the "new" Twilight Zone that was on for a while in the late 80s.

If it's done well, it will make a nice addition to this scifi/horror genre-friendly network.

 

[Mark Lungo]

This might have been good news, if not for the involvement of Pen Densham. I don't like his version of "The Outer Limits", with its nihilistic storylines and cheap production values, and I doubt his "Twilight Zone" will be any better.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I hope they aren't planning to replace Special Unit 2 with this. If they cancel SU2, I'll boycott its replacement! (Unless it involves appropriate nudity. . . )

 

[Jack Briggs]

Remember the last attempt at reviving this series? It sure was bad, though I enjoyed the dramatization of Harlan Ellison's "Shatterday."

The original series was a rare case of the right creative minds being at the right network at the right time--it was of its era, and is irrevocably "black-and-white" in mood as well as in fact.

So, somehow, given today's lowest-common-denoominator attitudes in Hollywood, I don't have much hope for this new project. Rod Serling was a writer's writer among television scribes. He made the original work so well.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Jack Briggs wrote:

Quote:

Yes, no show done now in color could ever hope to replicate the precise "tone" that lent the spooky or "drab" mood to those stories. (Note: the ST:NG episode "Frame of Mind", with its monochromatic blues, tried to do this.)
Moral: true "classics" aren't replicable. If the producers in Hollywood weren't so governed by and addicted to the tyranny of "marketing" madness---in this case, using old "brands"---a lot of the problems we get today in film/tv production could be avoided. Meeting expectations raised in the viewing public by the "marketing geniouses" is half of the task at hand.

 

[John Berggren]

To this day I remember "Button, Button" well, I think. If it's the one with the simple box with a button - if you press the button, someone you don't know will die, and they'll deliver a million dollars to you. Great episode. I wish I could find it in reruns.

If they get good writers to cycle through, and anthology series like Twilight Zone could be excellent. I imagine they'll have their pick of Star Trek actors and directors for the rest.

 

[Mark Lungo]

Actually, I liked the 1980's Twilight Zone. At least its creators liked and understood the original series, which doesn't seem to be the case with Pen Densham's Outer Limits.

To John Berggren (and anyone else who's interested): the 1980's Twilight Zone is currently being rerun on TNT. Unfortunately, they use it as middle-of-the-night filler, usually running it around 5:30 AM, or even earlier. The show deserves better.

 

[Chris Lock]

Anyone know the format of this- half hour (or hour) for one story, or an hour with multiple stories?

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Mark Lungo wrote:

is currently being rerun on TNT.

Yes, and with the terrible time, beware. Last spring they'd scheduled "Nightcrawlers" to be shown at 3:30 a.m. one Friday morning and I set aside time to stay up to watch it. Pre-empted by the NBA game (which was supposed only to delay the showing)!
Why doesn't Sci-Fi channel have this? Obviously, Ted Turner's people couldn't care less about it and don't know what to do with it (a la Babylon 5), and it would sure be a lot better than much of the junk "cablecast" on Sci-Fi.

 

[todd s]

Does anyone know who owns the rights to the 1980's version? I would love to see this on dvd. I loved the episode with the Kennedy assassination.

 

[Mark Lungo]

To Rex:

Maybe the 1980'sTwilight Zone should be on the Sci-Fi Channel. On the other hand, Sci-Fi edits all the older series they run extensively, and I'm sure TZ would be no exception. Me, I think it would be best if the entire run of the new TZ was released on DVD.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Rex Bachmann: Good post! JB

 

[Ric Easton]

Unfortunately, all of the new TZs that have been on TNT have been edited to fit in a half hour block. So a few favorites of mine like Paladin of the Lost Hour, which originally ran about 40 minutes were butchered. I would love these to be released on DVD with their original running times.

Another favorite of mine, from that series which hasn't yet been mentioned was "To See the Invisible Man"

-Ric

 

[Rex Bachmann]

todd s wrote:

Does anyone know who owns the rights to the 1980's version?

From Into the Twilight Zone: The Rod Serling Programme Guide by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier (pp. 130-132):
"After the 'returns' of Gilligan's Island, Leave It to Beaver and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., it was only a matter of time before CBS thought of resurrecting Rod Serling's show. . . ."
Hence the "rebirth" on network television, which stumbled on for two seasons but would've been cancelled except:
"That [the aborted 2nd season] would have been the end of The New Twilight Zone, except for the existence of the lucrative syndication market where television series ---even mediocre ones---can run for ever and generate an endless stream of cash for their producers. CBS had invested a lot of money in The New Twilight Zone, but did not have enough episodes to repackage it as a syndicated series. It . . . needed 30 more [half hours] to meet syndication's requirements. The conclusion was, therefore, obvious: more episodes had to be produced, and for as little money as possible.
"A third season of The New Twilight Zone was therefore put into production, done on limited budgets in Canada with local actors and directors. . . . When there were enough episodes to syndicate, the series was simply shut down."
Rod Serling sold his half interest in the original series to CBS (which he later came to rue!). CBS owns the series outright and, according to this source, the new series as well. (It's a CBS "brand", you see.) With the purchase of CBS by Viacom that should mean that the rights were with CBS Home Video, whose product after the merger is henceforward to be handled through Paramount Home Video. You will note that at the end of the credits for the original TW series now shown weekdays and nights on Sci-Fi it says "distributed by Viacom".