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I still can't get enough of the original series. It is and was a classic, not to mention damn hard to compete with. The Twilight Zone that was resurrected was pretty good in it's own right. The stories I remember most was the Nightcrawlers episode and Cat and Mouse. The same sense of horror, dread and irony filled this series as well. It was pretty good and enjoyable. It was just too bad that it was taken off. It was one of the better of the redone television series.

Rod Serling's series is resurrected and given new sparkle as these episodes were released in the mid-80's. They still capture the twist and intensity that the original Twilight Zone offered. Using a strong cast and many new names, at the time, the stories were able to keep viewers on the edge of their toes.

Season 1 has currently been released on DVD. Nostalgic enthusiasts who remember the show well may strongly be interested in adding this to their collection. Great stories like 'Button, Button', 'If She Dies', 'Kentucky Rye', and 'Nightcrawlers' have won fans over for the series.

I feel that in it's day, the people who set up the program schedules didn't really give it a chance. Though this is personal opinion, I believe that they had done that with several shows with strong potential. Great collection to add for any Zone Fanatic.

I honestly don't understand why someone would give a negative review for this show. To say it was "garbage" -as one commenter stated- is very inaccurate. I watched this show as a child...in fact, I grew up on it. The story lines were dark and original. The acting was actually pretty good in my estimation. Especially in comparison to the overabundance of bad acting in that day. The stories were so eerie and unique that they stayed in my head decades after I saw them. I actually had the pleasure of watching several episodes at a friends house recently and loved the nostalgic feelings they brought back. They were even more enjoyable now that I am older. I was able to pick up on the stuff that I had missed as a kid. My faves are the one about the man that was court ordered to be "invisible" for a year, the woman that had a magic necklace and could freeze the world by saying "shut up!", the woman that got offered a box with a button in it...and if she pressed the button she would win a large sum of money...but then a stranger had to be killed and SO many others!

Here's hoping that the 1985 and 1986 versions of The Twilight Zone will one day be released on DVD as it was an outstanding series with well written episodes. The beginning titles have a half-second animation of Rod Serling in them as a salute to the originator of the series. The episode "Nightcrawlers" was directed by William Freidkin and is brilliant. One episode called "Shatterday" features the TV debut of Bruce Willis. There is also a small budget third season which was made after cancellation to make up the numbers for syndication,but it's budget was small and apart from one good episode,where a man is possessed by what looks like Christ,it is a poor third season. But the first two seasons are brilliant.

The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) was a great show; the first revival (1985-1989) set a precedent for its resurrection, an exercise that's been repeated twice more. The '80s TZ makes some changes from Serling's old format. We never see the narrator; there isn't narration for the opening and closing of every story. But I actually think that's respectable - I really felt, watching the first season, that the makers recognized their show couldn't be the same as Serling's, and thought it was more important to try to capture the spirit of it. Also notable is that, despite the fact that non-sitcoms are expected to have hour-long episodes, the makers evidently agreed with Serling that the stories shouldn't be that long, telling two to three stories per episode. The flash of Serling in the new opening is a nice touch to show how important they felt it was to get the spirit right.

The problem in trying to capture the spirit of the original TZ is that the '80s series is inconsistent. It's hard to rate individual episodes, in fact, when the segments within the episodes are inconsistent - "To See the Invisible Man" is a novel concept but is followed by something stupid (and stupidly titled) like "Tooth and Consequences." ("The Elevator" is also in there- creepy and atmospheric, well made, though not totally TZ-esque). "Take My Life...Please!" is a weak piece that sets up "Devil's Alphabet", which is well made and atmospheric.

There are some great stories in season 1: "Nightcrawlers" features some phenomenal acting from Scott Paulin and spectacular scenes recalling the nightmare of the Vietnam War. Ditto Glynn Turman in "Paladin of the Lost Hour", despite the humiliating fact that episode was directed by Alan Smithee.

Ultimately, would Serling approve? I think, in answering that question, you have to keep in mind the fact that Serling himself wasn't infallible. There are less than stellar episodes of the original, and he personally wrote several of them.

Unfortunately, there's a noticeable quality drop in season 2, when the network began to lose faith in the show. "Nightsong" is soap opera-esque and predictable; something like "Lost and Found" is a jokey throwaway before going into "The World Next Door" which is a drag despite starring Jeffrey Tambor (who appeared in the brilliant "Dead Woman's Shoes", a superior reimagining of an original TZ episode). However, "Shelter Skelter" is great, followed by "Private Channel" which is gripping enough. The quality drop is steeper and more severe in season 3, where the narrator Charles Aidman (who didn't really sound like Serling but had the right tone) was replaced by Robin Ward, who sounded way too upbeat. The acting across season 3 becomes, on average, terrible; the production values are sacrificed. That said, there's still some great work here; I particularly found "The Hellgramite Method" terrifying. Altogether, the '80s TZ is head and shoulders above the 2000s version, but neither can touch Serling.