4x12 "2Quarantine 2Confidential"

This week, host Craig checks out “Reap What You Sow,” a fan-made Twilight Zone episode in the spirit of the original series, then gazes backward at his own (sadly unrealized) dream of creating... well, something along the same lines. Friend of the show Carson Cohen returns for some much-needed fact checking, then we wrap up with some reportage on an exciting Rod Serling-related crowdfunding campaign. Oh, it’s also Hallowe’en, which we’re apparently not observing at all this year. Boo indeed. 

Theme: “Neither Here nor There (Yet Another Revision version)” by Twin Loops (used by permission). 

“Two Semi-Metallic Human Beings” composed by Howard Shore (from album David Cronenberg’s Crash: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, copyright 1996 by Milan Records). 

“Babylon” performed by Control X (from the album To Abort Transmission, copyright 1995 by Instinct Ambient Records). 

As Timeless as Infinity: A Rod Serling Monument Kickstarter campaign:  https://bit.ly/3w1kcpH 

If you haven’t seen “Reap What You Sow,” go watch it before CBS issues a cease-and-desist notice!  https://youtu.be/f5GOQVgeAzk 

The Twilight Zone is a trademark of CBS, Inc. 

Between Light and Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107.  

4x11 "Nathan Van Cleave in The Twilight Zone... and Beyond"

Nathan Van Cleave, The Twilight Zone’s most prolific composer, finally gets a well-deserved spotlighting in this special installment of the podcast, made complete by an appearance by musician and friend of the program Carson Cohen. Enjoy! 

Stream William Castle’s Project X (1968) here: https://amzn.to/2SuPUg4 

Watch 1959’s Destination: Space here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED6Z_o1vupA 

Read Dirk Wickenden’s interview with Fred Steiner about Nathan Van Cleave here: https://bit.ly/3neaD35 

The Twilight Zone is a trademark of CBS, Inc.

Between Light and Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107.  

4x07 "Bolie à Deux"

This week Craig referees an epic bout between the classic Twilight Zone episodes “The Big Tall Wish” and “Steel.” One of ‘em will take home the championship belt, and the other will limp home with dashed hopes and shattered dreams. In between rounds, fan-favorite Dr. Reba Wissner pops in to give us the lowdown on the musical underscore. You can’t get this on Pay-Per-View, folks.

A goldmine of fake product labels: http://www.theearlhayspress.com/index.html

Get Dr. Reba Wissner’s essential A Dimension of Sound: Music in The Twilight Zone here:

https://www.amazon.com/Dimension-Sound-Music-Twilight-Media/dp/1576472167/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=REBA+WISSNER&qid=1591390085&sr=8-1

While you’re at it, snag Ron Rodman’s Tuning In: American Narrative Television Music:

https://www.amazon.com/Tuning-American-Narrative-Television-Oxford/dp/0195340248/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tuning+in+ron+rodman&qid=1591400600&sr=8-1

“Metal Health” performed by Quiet Riot (from the album Metal Health, copyright 1983 by Pasha Records).

 “This Is a Brawl” composed and conducted by Danny Elfman (from the album Real Steel: Original Motion Picture Score, copyright 2011 by Varèse Sarabande Records).

“Love theme from Chinatown (End Title)” composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith (from the album Chinatown: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, copyright 1974 by ABC Records)

The Twilight Zone is a trademark of CBS, Inc.

Between Light and Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107. 

4x01 "Cupid Is as Cupid Does"

We’re back! Love is in the air as Craig gazes seductively into the eyes of the first two Twilight Zone episodes he ever saw (“The Chaser” and “Jess-Belle”). Along the way he completely undermines his own efforts to be more “woke” when it comes to lusting after the opposite sex… just in time for Valentine’s Day (which was two weeks ago, so our perfect record of always being late remains intact). It’s a heady brew of Paley Center complaints, surprising Psycho tangents, and more cast connections than you can shake a silver hairpin at. Draw a warm bath, light some candles, and crack open the Courvoisier. Ooh la la!

Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards ballot: https://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/?p=890

“I’m in the Mood for Love” performed by the Jackie Gleason & His Orchestra (from the album Music for Lovers Only, copyright 1953 by Capitol Records)


“Love Potion No. 9” performed by The Clovers (copyright 1959 by Capitol Records)


“Every Breath You Take” performed by The Police (from the album Synchronicity, copyright 1983 by A&M Records)


“The Ballad of Jess-Belle (single edit)” performed by Terrea Lea (copyright 1963 by CBS Music)


“I Wonder as I Wander” performed by Terrea Lea (from the album Folk Songs and Ballads, copyright 1958 by HiFi Records)


“The Ocelot” composed and conducted by Joseph Mullendore (from the album Honey West: Original Music from the Soundtrack, copyright 1965 by ABC Records)


“Love Potion No. 9 (instrumental)” performed by Enoch Light and The Light Brigade (from the album Discotheque Vol. 2, copyright 1965 by Command Records)

The Twilight Zone is a trademark of CBS, Inc.

Between Light and Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107.

2x17 "I'll Be Zone for Christmas"

It’s Christmastime again, so of course we’ve cooked up a special treat for y’all---- two, count ‘em, TWO special guests grace our RSS feed this week: Dr. Reba Wissner talks shop about the music score for the Twilight Zone classic “What You Need” (which we’re covering this week… I probably should’ve mentioned that first), then the irrepressible Fred from The Twilight Pwn returns to lend us some much-needed TZ ‘cast credibility. It’s a heart-warming holiday special for the whole family (assuming they’re all over 18 and aren’t easily offended), so pour yourself a tumbler of your best cherry brandy and prepare to get festive. Oh, we’re also unveiling two new jingles this week, for those keeping track. And hey, make sure you stick around after the credits for a last-minute tribute to Outer Limits composer Dominic Frontiere (1931-2017).

Tom Elliot reads Lewis Padgett’s “What You Need”: 

http://thetwilightzonepodcast.com/special-tom-elliot-reads-need-2/

The Twilight Pwn’s coverage of “What You Need”

http://twilightpwn.libsyn.com/episode-78-what-you-need

Theme Music: “Neither Here nor There (3.6)” by Twin Loops

“Nature Boy” performed by Stan Getz (from the album Cool Velvet, copyright 1960 by Verve Records)

“Sex and Candy” performed by Marcy Playground (from the album Marcy Playground, copyright 1997 by Capitol Records/EMI)

“Home (Where Shadows Fall)” performed by the Jackie Gleason & His Orchestra (from the album Merry Christmas, copyright 1956 by Capitol Records)

The Twilight Zone is a trademark of CBS, Inc.

Between Light and Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107.

2x10 "Is That a Rocket in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?"

This week, Craig watches helplessly as two different spaceship crews make emergency landings and get themselves into all sorts of crazy unpredictable jams. Strap yourselves in, kids, ‘cuz it’s gonna be one helluva bumpy ride when we launch the Twilight Zone episodes “Elegy” and “People are Alike All Over” into orbit simultaneously and see which one comes back unscathed... and which one burns up on reentry. Along the way, Craig marvels at the fashion choices of future astronauts and struggles with the pronunciation of Liebfraumilch.

nscatathed.uch s as we

Marc Scott Zicree’s “Rod Serling and Ray Bradbury: The Untold Story”:

https://youtu.be/8bhvb8Tmi38

Marc Scott Zicree’s “Mr. Sci-Fi” YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkKt7gHnZpcY0nreBdPhwmQ

Brandi Jackola reads ‘Brothers Beyond the Void’ (Tom Elliot’s The Twilight Zone Podcast):

http://thetwilightzonepodcast.com/the-twilight-zone-podcast-brandi-jackola-reads-brothers-beyond-the-void-2/

Jim Moon Reads ‘Elegy’ (Tom Elliot’s The Twilight Zone Podcast):

http://thetwilightzonepodcast.com/jim-moon-reads-elegy-2/

Theme Music: “Neither Here nor There (3.3)” by Twin Loops

“Phoenix.beacon10” performed by SETI (from the album Pharos, copyright 1995 by Instinct Ambient Records)

“Is It Wrong” performed by Golden Suits (from the album Kubla Khan, copyright 2016 by Hit City USA)

“Don’t Wanna Fight No More” performed by Alabama Shakes (from the album Sound & Color,  copyright 2015 by ATO / Fontana North / MapleMusic Recordings)

“Bullet with Butterfly Wings” performed by Smashing Pumpkins (from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,  copyright 1995 by Virgin Records)

“Lost-Found” performed by Space Monkey Death Sequence (from the album People Are Alike All Over,  copyright 2015 by Space Monkey Death Sequence)

Check out Space Monkey Death Sequence’s full catalogue at:

https://spacemonkeydeath.bandcamp.com

Elton John’s “Rocket Man” performed by William Shatner (The Science Fiction Film Awards, 1978)

The Twilight Zone is a trademark of CBS, Inc.

Between Light and a Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107.

1x09 "Nocturnal Immersions"

This week, Craig celebrates his birthday by spotlighting two of his all-time favorite Twilight Zone episodes: “Perchance to Dream” and “Shadow Play,” two masterpieces from the mind of Charles Beaumont. Tangents include Craig’s unresolved crush on Maya the Cat Girl and his lamentable inability to dream in the third person.  Fan favorite Dr. Reba Wissner pops in to set him straight about the curious lack of the Theremin in The Twilight Zone, and of course he gets the usual familial abuse from Teresa and Kendyl. Happy birthday, my ass.

Dr. Reba Wissner’s A Dimension of Sound: Music in The Twilight Zone

https://www.amazon.com/Dimension-Sound-Music-Twilight-Media/dp/1576472167/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478659363&sr=8-1&keywords=reba+wissner

Dr. Reba Wissner’s We Will Control All That Your Hear: The Outer Limits and the Aural Imagination

https://www.amazon.com/Will-Control-All-That-Hear/dp/1576472531/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478659363&sr=8-2&keywords=reba+wissner

http://www.dreams.ca/interpretation.htm

“Windmills of Your Mind” by Noel Garrison (from the album The Thomas Crown Affair original motion picture soundtrack, copyright 1998 by Rykodisc)

“The Technological Womb” by Mysteries of the Universe (from the album The Erotic Nature of Automated Universes, copyright 1995 by Instinct Records)

“Smokey Sax” by Hollywood Trailer Music Orchestra (from the album Film Noir: Vintage Cinema Classics, copyright 2015 by Megatrax Music)

Opening theme: “Neither Here nor There” by Twin Loops

Between Light and a Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107. 

Episode Spotlight: "I Am the Night - Color Me Black" (3/27/1964)

Season 5, Episode 26 (146 overall)

Originally aired 3/27/1964

Cayuga Production # 2630

“The man I killed was the white knight.  He did what his other pals in this town wanted to but didn’t have the guts. He was the cross burner, the bomb thrower. He handled the whipping of some poor, scared colored guy.”

That’s Jagger, the town iconoclast, on the morning he is to be hanged. Sheriff Koch, Deputy Pierce, and Colbey (the editor of the local paper) ruminate about Jagger’s precarious conviction, and how all three of them may have skewed the facts to secure it. Odd meteorological detail: the sun hasn’t come up yet in their little town, even though it’s daylight everywhere else.

At 9:00, the townspeople gather at the gallows, and it’s still dark. Folks are starting to get concerned.

Jagger is finally brought to the gallows. Offered the opportunity to speak his last words, he vehemently refuses to apologize, incensing the crowd to demand that the hanging commence. Reverend Anderson, the only African American in sight, thanks Jagger for “sticking up for me and mine,” but does have a question: did he enjoy the killing? Jagger acknowledges that he did, satisfying Anderson’s lingering doubts of his guilt. Jagger is hung, at which point the darkness becomes thicker and more impenetrable. Anderson attributes it to the outpouring of hatred he’s witnessed in the Jagger case.

Back at the station, Colbey turns on the radio. The announcer reports that similar pockets of darkness have appeared all over the world: the Berlin Wall, North Vietnam, Dealey Plaza in Dallas… the list goes on and on.

.

Rod Serling’s script is one of the more obvious examples of his tendency to overwrite dialogue. The characters do express a number of interesting insights, but they’re less impressive when they’re buried under unrealistic verbiage. Still, there are enough powerful moments to carry the piece. It’s an interesting combination of themes addressed previously in season one’s “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” (the dangers of mob mentality) and season two’s “Dust” (the questionable morality of the death penalty), both of which were Serling efforts, but “I Am the Night – Color Me Black” never feels like a rehash. In the director’s chair is Abner Biberman, back for his fourth and final TZ stint (he previously directed “The Dummy,” “The Incredible World of Horace Ford” and, more recently, “Number 12 Looks Just like You.” He also directed “The Human Factor” over on ABC’s The Outer Limits as well as four episodes of NBC’s The Fugitive.

This of course isn’t The Twilight Zone’s first hanging. Season one’s “Execution” found an Old West outlaw being strung up, only to vanish in the nick to time (courtesy of a time-tampering scientist from the future). Season two’s “Dust” found a convicted murderer granted an unexpected reprieve when his rope snapped in the nick of time (thanks to a sprinkling of magic dust). But here the hanging occurs without supernatural intervention… it’s as if the third time, as the saying goes, was the charm.*

The crane shot late in act one as the townspeople gather around the gallows, the clock tower clanging in the distance, is effectively eerie. As they wonder aloud about the inexplicable darkness, it suddenly feels a lot like the aforementioned “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” which featured a similar scene of neighbors discussing their sudden lack of electricity.

My favorite moment in the episode comes when Jagger, having incited the crowd to near-riot levels, turns and looks up the gallows. Everything goes completely and immediately silent. His face is framed in the noose, and the reality of the moment is suddenly very evident on his face.

. THE MUSIC

“I Am the Night – Color Me Black” is stock scored, almost exclusively with cues from earlier works by Bernard Herrmann. 

The first piece we hear, right at the beginning of the prologue, is Herrmann’s “The Cellar,” which sounds like a selection from his Outer Space Suite, but actually comes from his score for Collector’s Item, an unsold pilot from 1958. The Collector’s Item score was first released on vinyl in 1985 as part of Cerberus Records’ Bernard Herrmann: Music for Radio and Television album, the contents of which were released on CD in 2003 on Prometheus Records’ Bernard Herrmann at CBS, Volume 2: American Gothic. 

Next we hear a brief snippet from Herrmann’s radio score for “The Hitch-hiker," which was first released on vinyl in 1983 as part of Cerberus Records’ Bernard Herrmann: The Outer Space Suite album. The suite later appeared on CD in 1999 as part of Silva Screen’s 4-disc Twilight Zone 40th Anniversary Collection.

The bulk of the episode is scored with cuts from Herrmann’s score for “Where Is Everybody?” from season one, a score that has seen three distinct releases. First, it appeared on the second volume of TZ scores from Varese Sarabande (an album which was released on both vinyl and cassette in 1983, then on CD in 1992--- in Japan only). It also appeared on Varese Sarabande’s The Best of The Twilight Zone CD in 1990 and, finally,  the aforementioned 4-disc Twilight Zone 40th Anniversary Collection in 1999.

One non-Herrmann cue is heard a few times: “Now We Move” by Nathan Van Cleave, from his score for the “Alice” episode of Have Gun, Will Travel. This score has never been released to my knowledge, and since “I Am the Night – Color Me Black” doesn’t have an isolated music track on the Season 5 DVD and Blu-ray sets, this particular cue is unattainable…. or so a less dedicated blogger might have you believe. If you’re aching to possess Van Cleave’s “Now We Move” cue, it can be found on the isolated music track for “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville” on both the Definitive DVD and Blu-ray releases of Season 4. The cue is heard three different times, so you can’t miss it. So if your heart is set on assembling a complete soundtrack for this episode…. well, now you can. You’re welcome.


DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Sheriff Charlie Koch is played by Michael Constantine in his only TZ appearance. He'd cross paths with Rod Serling again in the Night Gallery episode "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes"  but, before that, he popped up on the "Counterweight" episode of The Outer Limits.

Rev. Anderson is played with appropriate gravitas by Ivan Dixon, whom we know better as boxer Bolie Jackson from season one's "The Big Tall Wish." Dixon also appeared twice on The Outer Limits ("The Human Factor" and the two-part "The Inheritors"... so maybe we should call that three appearances). He also directed six episodes of The Greatest American Hero, which was my favorite show when I was in the 6th grade (incidentally, I’m strongly considering doing a blog about it at some point).

Colbey, the newspaper editor, is played by Paul Fix, who is probably best remembered by genre fans as Dr. Piper in the "Where No Man Has Gone Before" episode of Star Trek, which is the only regular series episode of the series in which Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy does not appear.

If Terry Becker (Jagger) looks familiar to you, it may be that you enjoyed him as Chief Francis Ethelbert Sharkey) on TV's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Ella Koch (the sheriff's wife) is played by Eve McVeagh, who previously appeared in season three's "Kick the Can." She did four stints on Alfred Hitchcock Presents "Coyote Moon," "The Gloating Place," "The Test" and "What Frightened You, Fred?" as well as two Alfred Hitchcock Hours ("Last Seen Wearing Blue Jeans" and "The Second Wife"). George Lindsey (Deputy Pierce) appeared in the memorably disturbing Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "The Jar" (which co-starred TZ alum Collin Wilcox and was scored by Bernard Herrmann), but let's be honest: he'll always be Goober Pyle (of The Andy Griffith Show fame).

"I Am the Night - Color Me Black" is Serling's final leftist political rant of the series. I'm not knocking leftist politics (I'm pretty liberal myself), but when you get preachy... well, pointing at a racist and yelling "racist!" isn't going to open his/her mind. I totally agree with the sentiment, but.....

Ahem. It's still pretty decent, thanks mostly to powerful performances by Terry Becker and Ivan Dixon. And as you can see from the screen captures, the episode is beautifully dark and noirish. And speaking of going dark.... we now have ten episodes left.

Next week:

You might want to turn a deaf ear to next week's offering. No, seriously.

*Of course we also saw a successful hanging just a few weeks ago in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” but I’m not counting it since it’s technically not a Twilight Zone episode.

Episode Spotlight: "From Agnes - With Love" (2/14/1964)

Season 5, Episode 20 (140 overall)

Originally aired 2/14/1964

Cayuga Production # 2629

50 years ago tonight, The Twilight Zone presented a love-themed tale for Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, it’s the equivalent of handing your sweetheart a box of shit instead of chocolates.

“From Agnes – With Love” starts somewhat promisingly: Agnes, the world’s most advanced supercomputer, is in complete disarray, and Fred Danziger, the programmer assigned to maintain her, has gone off the deep end. Fellow programmer and über-nerd James Elwood is called in to take charge of the situation. And it’s here, roughly 57 seconds in, that things go straight to hell in a painfully sharp vertical drop… unless you’re a big Wally Cox fan, that is. I am not. He is so horrendously annoying that, before the prologue ends, he’s already managed to displace James B.W. Bevis as the single most irritating character in the entire series.

OBNOXIOMETER™

Agnes begins coaching Elwood on wooing Millie, a coworker he’s crushing on. However, it becomes apparent very quickly (well, to us anyway) that Agnes is actively undermining his attempts by giving him bad advice. However, the oblivious and socially awkward Elwood somehow still manages to get Millie into his apartment, where she kills the lights and cuddles up to him… but of course he cluelessly fucks it up. Of course he does.

Agnes then instructs Elwood to introduce Millie to an “inferior” male in order to repair things. That “inferior” male is Walter Holmes, another programmer who would probably give Don Draper some serious competition in the bedding-all-the-ladies-in-the-office-pool department. Of course Millie immediately falls for him, and Elwood’s chances--- slim as they may have been--- are completely dashed. Of course they are.

“What did I ever do to you?” Elwood demands of Agnes, who reveals that there’s a better woman available to him: her! Elwood’s already-frazzled mind comes completely unhinged, forcing his supervisor to bring in yet another replacement: Walter Holmes. Repeat cycle ad infinitum.

“From Agnes – With Love” is the single worst episode of the fifth season. It’s not quite the worst of the entire series, but it resides squarely near the bottom of the barrel with other failures like “Mr. Bevis” and “Four O’clock.” It’s just awful. Stupid. Pointless. I could go on hurling negative adjectives at it for several paragraphs, but my goal is to waste as little time as I can on this (I’m already close to 400 words). 

So when we boil it all down, we have a supercomputer meddling in the lives of humans. Sound familiar? It should. We just saw this a few months ago in “The Old Man in the Cave.” I deemed that episode mediocre at best but, compared to this dreck, it suddenly looks like first season quality. 




Season five is peppered with man vs. technology stories beyond the two already mentioned. “Steel” and “The Brain Center at Whipple’s” are variations on this theme, as are (less obviously) “Uncle Simon” and “Number 12 Looks Just Like You.” Five different writers are responsible for these six scripts, so it’s not a simple matter of Serling going overboard with the self-borrowing. It seems that, at least around Cayuga’s offices, man’s relative lack of control over his own technology was a very real concern. And it’s certainly a marvelous topic for exploration… it’s unfortunate that, more often than not, this potential is squandered by lazy, half-baked teleplays.

THE MUSIC

“From Agnes – With Love” inexplicably was deemed worthy of an original musical score, so Nathan Van Cleave was brought in. Van Cleave can usually be counted on for greatness (“Perchance to Dream”; “The Midnight Sun”), but there’s nothing of value here--- just more comedic crap along the lines of Fred Steiner’s “The Bard” or Van Cleave’s own “A Kind of a Stopwatch” from earlier this season. Like all fifth season original scores, it’s never had a soundtrack release; however, unlike most of them, it’s NOT available as an isolated track on the DVD and blu-ray releases (just like his “Black Leather Jackets” two weeks ago). This means the only way to listen to Van Cleave’s score (if you wanted to, that is) is to watch the episode. No thanks.

FAMILIAR FACES

An actor like Wally Cox isn’t likely to have much in the way of sci-fi/horror/fantasy on his résumé, but Cox actually surprises with stints on Lost in Space (“The Forbidden World”) and Kolchak: the Night Stalker (“The Night Strangler”). Cox would cross paths with Rod Serling again in 1971 on Night Gallery (“Junior”).

Ralph Taeger (Don Drap--- er, Walter Holmes) may have gotten this gig based on his past work with director Richard Donner, whose 1961 film X-15 he co-starred in (along with TZ alums Charles Bronson and James Gregory). If the lovely Sue Randall (here playing Millie) looks familiar, it’s because we met her in season one’s “And When the Sky Was Opened” (incidentally the episode I attribute to making me a lifelong fan) playing a nurse. Is she a TZ Babe? Why yes, I’d say so.

Elwood’s unnamed supervisor is played by three-time TZ alum Raymond Bailey (we saw him previously in season one’s “Escape Clause” and season two’s “Back There”). Bailey has another very dear connection for me: he had a minor role in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 masterpiece Vertigo (he played James Stewart’s doctor), which is my favorite film of all time. He also played doctors in 1957’s The Incredible Shrinking Man (written by frequent TZ scribe Richard Matheson) and 1958’s The Space Children (which was scored by--- yup, Nathan Van Cleave).

Don Keefer returns for his third and final Twilight Zone appearance (he was the travel agent in season four’s “Passage on the Lady Anne” and, more famously, the ill-fated Dan Hollis in season three’s “It’s a Good Life”). But his TZ connection goes even further back: he had a minor role in “The Time Element,” a 1958 production on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse that was written by Rod Serling and is considered by many to be The Twilight Zone’s true pilot.

Nan Peterson plays an unnamed secretary in her third and final TZ appearance (she played two similarly unnamed characters in season one’s “Walking Distance” and season two’s “The Whole Truth”). Incidentally, “From Agnes – With Love” was her final acting gig… maybe she was sick of going nameless. If it makes her feel any better, she qualifies as a TZ Babe with ease.

“From Agnes – With Love” is directed by Richard Donner (yes, that Richard Donner), who should’ve known better even this early in his impressive career (The Omen, Superman, and five other TZ episodes: “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” “Sounds and Silences,” “The Jeopardy Room,” “The Brain Center at Whipple’s” and “Come Wander With Me,” all from this season).

With irredeemable crap like “From Agnes –With Love” being produced, even a diehard Twilight Zone fan like me is starting to look forward to the end. I get no pleasure out of saying that, but there you go. There are still a few decent efforts to come, but it’s mostly subpar from here on out. Gauge your expectations accordingly.

Next week:

Horseback chases! Time warps! Love triangles! Sounds awesome, right?  Um....