The rerun season kicked in on 5/30/1963 and ran for 17 uninterrupted weeks. There were only 18 episodes produced in season four, so other than the unfortunate
“Miniature” (which was tied up in litigation that would ultimately keep it out of sight for almost 20 years) and
“The Parallel” (which, for reasons unknown, was never repeated during the series’ original run, but has always been present in syndication) each episode got an encore summer airing.
“The Thirty-Fathom Grave” and
“In His Image,” however, had already been repeated during the spring, which means that they were aired THREE times in 1963. Worse yet,
“Printer’s Devil” was aired TWICE during summer ’63, so it too got three broadcasts in 1963.
5/30/1963
6/06/1963
6/13/1963
6/20/1963
6/27/1963
7/04/1963
7/11/1963
7/18/1963
7/25/1963
8/01/1963
8/08/1963
8/15/1963
8/22/1963
8/29/1963
9/05/1963
9/12/1963
9/19/1963
Season five began the following week on 9/27/1963 with the series’ original half-hour format restored. This wasn’t quite the end of the hour-long episodes, however: two years later, in the summer of 1965, CBS ran most of season four yet again (which is strange, since by then the series was officially cancelled and had been off the air for almost a year). As before,
“Miniature” and
“The Parallel” were absent, but the other 16 season four episodes aired. This means that
“In His Image,” “The Thirty-Fathom Grave” and
“Printer’s Devil” were broadcast on CBS a total of
FOUR times each.
5/16/1965
5/23/1965
5/30/1965
6/06/1965
6/13/1965
6/27/1965
7/04/1965
7/11/1965
7/18/1965
7/25/1965
8/01/1965
8/08/1965
8/15/1965
8/22/1965
8/29/1965
9/05/1965
You may have noticed that I didn't include any screen caps in this repeat report. To be blunt, I didn't feel like spending another minute on season 4, much less the hour or two it would've taken me. I've spent more time on these 18 episodes than any others so far, and I'm damned weary of 'em, period. I do like most of season 4, don't get me wrong, but....
...hell, I just need a break. It's funny: as the series winds down (just 36 episodes to go), it becomes increasingly limp and fatigued. I now know exactly how it feels, and I can't deny that I'm dreading coming back to this in the fall. I actually considered admitting defeat and stopping here, but I've come too far to give up now.
I have, however, decided to nix my plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
The Outer Limits this fall with a blog similar to this one (the framework is already online
here, but I'll probably take it down now that I've aborted it). The first season of
The Outer Limits is so, so much better than the fifth season of
The Twilight Zone, but there's no way in hell I can juggle both. I suppose there's a sliver of a chance that I could change my mind, but it's highly unlikely. If Sony sees fit to release the series on blu-ray between now and September, that may be just enough to get me back on board (but seeing as how that's only three and a half months away, an announcement would've happened by now).
