The Twilight Zone

the original twilight zone is one of the greatest shows ever aired. this new version is crap by comparison. i read the synopsis of the episode on one night, and it sounded like one of my favorites from the original series. i watched it and soon realized that it was a shoddy remake. it was predictable, trite, and boring. one of the things i love about the original is that you have to watch it from the begining because the show is so involved. if you miss even the first minute, you get lost, i missed the first 5 minutes of this, and i still knew what was going to happen within the next 5. the original is creative and suspensful, and fun to watch. often it doesn't even show a whole story, but just a glimpse at some outrageous situation. this show tries to show a message and tie the story up in a nice little bow. it's not the worst thing i've ever seen, but it pales in comparison to the original.

Sadly this second revival of The Twilight Zone ran only one season, but it should have been a contender. The episodes had an edgier tone to the 80s revival (which I liked by the way) dealing with race for example.

I also think some of the episodes (e.g. The Pool Guy) inspired Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror.

If all of the stories are similar to the first two then this will be a good show. It has a great host and good actors(so far). This show has a cool beginning. I like the tagline, "Leave Reality At The Door" or something like that. Jason Alexander was cool as "Death" in the second episode.

I get that the Twilight Zone series as a concept is very reactionary; taking the concerns of the shows time periods and presenting them in alternate forms, but the original run, along with the 80-90's version seemed to have a much more deft hand in writing. to compare: look at the original version of "The Monsters are due on Maple Street" when compared to the 2002 remake. they're both running along similar lines, but the remake is much less subtle, and much deeper rooted in reactionary paranoia.

it's interesting to see the twilight zone updated for the times, but the writing needs to be savvier, and take more care to lay out it's story's morals. I do hope they do another run of the series in the next ten years or so. Over all 7/10, needed work to give it longevity, but does well capturing that sense of the world at the start of the millennium.

I don't know why the some people seem to think this (2002) series was so bad. Sure, it's not the original. But like the remake in 1985, it has some good episodes and some weaker ones. we all loved Serling, but even some of the originals were a little weak at times. don't over-romanticize Serling. he was one of the greatest writers ever, but not just because of the twilight zone, but his great westerns, crime dramas, etc. and even the original series had a few clunkers - don't forget that he didn't write them all, anyways

Compared to what's out there, from predictable sitcoms to endless CSI/Law and Order formulaic shows, this one's not that bad. Heck, compare it to the absolutely horrible Sci-F channel movies,, yuck!

So, I say. I enjoy this version just fine. heck.. it's only TV.