CBS To Reboot 'The Twilight Zone' (hollywoodreporter.com) 125
phalse phace writes: During CBS's Thursday evenings conference call for their 3rd quarter earnings, CEO Leslie Moonves revealed that CBS was planning to reboot the classic fantasy science-fiction television series "The Twilight Zone." According to the Hollywood Reporter, "the show hails from Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw banner, with Marco Ramirez set to pen the script and serve as showrunner." This wouldn't be the first time CBS has brought the show back. "The network revived the series in the 1980s that ran for three seasons and again in 2002 for a season on UPN with host Forest Whitaker. The franchise has also been licensed to a new stage play set to premiere in December at the Almeida Theatre in London and run through January. The original series won three Emmys during its 156-episode run and explored topics including humanity's hopes, despairs, prides and prejudices."
Storylines (Score:5, Funny)
In the first episode, an outspoken Billionaire reality TV star wins the Presidency against the bitter wife of a former President who believes it's her turn next...
Re:Storylines (Score:5, Funny)
So it is a prequel to the episode where the guy lost his glasses.
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That is fantastic. I don't need to read anymore Slashdot today.
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LOL, perfect.
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In the first episode, an outspoken Billionaire reality TV star wins the Presidency against the bitter wife of a former President who believes it's her turn next...
Actually, that would make a classic traditional Twilight Zone episode!
She rabidly rants about all those folks who cost her the election during the entire show.
But at the end, it is revealed to her that she, herself, was responsible for losing the election.
Hey, Hillary! Most people don't like you . . . have you got that yet . . . ?
I mean, losing an election to someone like John McCain would have been honorable . . . but to lose to the joke that is Donald Trump . . . you must really suck!
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I don't know. I think that plot would seem to far out there. But yet is some how seems familiar.....
Cool... (Score:5, Interesting)
The hard part is the philosophy. Acting/special effects/costumes/lighting/etc. are certainly important - but the key to it actually being a good Twilight Zone is that it's exploring a twist in philosophy.
It's not supposed to be horror, grimdark, author-insert, perspective writing, or anything like that - it's a show about exploring philosophy and implications You can certainly use tropes from other genres to get TO your philosophy, but if you're not exploring and really playing with the concepts, you're not really doing a proper twilight zone.
Jordan Peele is actually farily appropriate in my odd mind - he's got a nice twist to his comedy that might work well. Perhaps not just like Rod Serling or anything - but worth exploring. The Orville ended up being a good exploration of Star Trek concepts, also from a comedy director - so I'll give this a chance!
Ryan Fenton
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It's a bit deeper than that, and it's the reason why the subsequent versions were ultimately forgotten.
"The Twilight Zone" was a _Writer's_ Show. Of the 156 episodes, 92 were written or rewritten by Serling, he Executive Produced, and he hosted. He had a roster of really good Writers, including Matheson, and every show was self-contained; every Cast different, no goddam Story Arcs.
That is what an Anthology Show was back then. There were variations; Hitchcock Produced, but didn't write, or except for one occ
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You had me right to the end, up to where you wrote that the host has to smoke.
Why exactly does the host have to smoke?
Because Serling smoked? No. If we can make concessions to the modern world, one of them can be not smoking.
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Why exactly does the host have to smoke?
Dude, you can't get high without smoking.
Well, maybe you could brew some tea or bake some brownies, but it takes a very long time until they kick in.
Rod Serling did it right, and entertained us while he was going off to the "Magic Kingdom" . . .
. . . now, where did he put his sweater . . . ?
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For the same reason master criminals have to stroke cats.
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Because Serling smoked? No. If we can make concessions to the modern world, one of them can be not smoking.
Maybe he could have a nice bowl of quinoa while committing micro-aggressions against the audience by wearing dreadlocks or displaying a native American symbol on his shirt. O The Horror!
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Because Serling smoked? No. If we can make concessions to the modern world, one of them can be not smoking.
Maybe he could have a nice bowl of quinoa while committing micro-aggressions against the audience by wearing dreadlocks or displaying a native American symbol on his shirt. O The Horror!
That sounds more like something that Alfred Hitchcock would do.
Cigarette company sponsored Twilight Zone (Score:2)
Rod Serling had to smoke on camera as product placement because the Twilight Zone -- like many other popular TV shows -- was sponsored by the Chesterfeld cigarette company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
"Liggett & Myers [who produced Chesterfeld cigarettes] sponsored Dragnet, both on radio and on TV, during the 1950s. The 1954 theatrical version of Dragnet also had Chesterfield product placements, such as advertisements in scenes taking place at drug stores and news counters, or cigarette vending mac
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Thanks for the interesting story, AC! Glad you had an Aunt like that. We had a family fried we called "Aunt" who broadened our world too. And good point about the importance of the Twilight Zone asking questions more than providing answers.
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Why exactly does the host have to smoke?
The host doesn't need to be smoking, but I do think it provides an important visual clue for the viewer.
It's typical for people to equate smoking to being relaxed, having time to tell a good story, that the day is done or at least one has enough time to think of something beyond the task at hand. Maybe the host should poor a drink. It doesn't have to be alcoholic but the implication that it likely is might be important. Think of people sitting down after the evening meal for a glass of wine, or having a
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Smoking kills a large fraction of people who do it.
Please tell me, what is that secret ingredient that has thus evaded being identified as causing cancer in smokes? Perhaps you should look into the matter yourself instead of accepting it solely on faith...
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Nicotine is fatally poisonous in small quantities, but it is not necessarily carcinogenic.
The nasty goo generally called "tars" in cigarette smoke contains chemicals generally considered carcinogenic
Just the high temperatures of the inhaled gasses from cigarettes may cause throat cancer.
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in all likelihood there will be a Weekly Cast, perhaps a Paranormal investigator and his perky Daughter, and it will turn into an "X-Files" clone, hosted by some dude who just shows up five minutes a week to recite a couple of opening lines, and a snarky/reflective/philosophical line at the end.
This remark brings me back to that Community episode where Pierce sits in on a focus group for an American remake of a British series, and pretty much singlehandedly ruins the new series with his "insightful" remarks. I hope that isn't what you just did...
But in all seriousness, that's probably what we'll get. With a generous helping of morality thrown in, I suspect. I loved the old Twilight Zone though... gotta find those DVDs I have lying around somewhere.
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The image projected by different types of smoking methods if very different.
Cigar: stinky, offensive, brusque
Pipe: thoughtful but stodgy
Hookah: drugged
Cigarette with holder: effeminate, shallow
Cigarette without holder, in hand: trying to make a stylish impression
Cigarette without holder, in mouth: lout, fool.
Re:Cool... (Score:5, Informative)
You're not tweiebly familiar with the original Teimighty Zone or Rod Serling, I see. Or the original Star Trek for that matter. Both Serling and Roddenberry were intensely interested in "social justice" and used science fiction or fantasy tropes as a means to explore social issues.
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I am re-watching the series right now.
You have it fairly well nailed on what the original show was. It was a fairly low budget show. If you watch them there is near to 0 special effects. Most of it is set pieces on existing sets or driving out to the desert. Someone needs to disappear? Pan away have actor react. Sometimes they would stop the camera then resume it for the pop removal. If they could not pull the effect off on set they did not do it.
What most people miss is how cheaply made the shows we
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It is a good exploration of similar issues we fight today. Those issues never went away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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There was always that twist. " A small talent for war" where the UN on Earth is advised that they must change their ways or face annihilation by aliens. But it was that Earth had to become more warlike rather than peaceful. Other times, all they needed to do is add one new device like a live-saving cocoon suit that would prevent a person from dying - the catch was that it didn't guarantee good health afterwards. Or the classic episode where someone is given a button to press with no explanation for what i
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It boils down to writing. Shows like The Twilight Zone are the drama equivalent of a short story, but we're in an age of epic, sprawling story arcs in TV. I welcome the idea of a counterbalance to that, but I'm a bit concerned that network suits might be thinking more in terms of a brand or a property.
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The viewers will love it, but the critics will hate it. Because it didn’t match their expectations because they figured it would be like the Futureramma clips while they got something different. So they are all mad and confused that a show didn’t fit into the box they were expecting.
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Don’t forget you will have to pay for CBS all access. Because we just want to pay $8 a month that has one station just to watch one or two shows that are interesting.
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I still get shivers up my spine everytime I see a ventriloquist's dummy, thanks to The Dummy. I must have been four or five when I first saw it, and I'm not sure I've ever been so freaked out before or after.
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Oh yeah just found out they have holo decks now.
needs to be on basic cable or free tv not that cbs (Score:2)
needs to be on basic cable or free tv not that cbs pay system (unless it's showtime)
I like the pinball machine too (Score:2)
"I like the pinball machine too", the geek says while looking at this Twilight Zone pinball in his livingroom.
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"I like the pinball machine too", the geek says while looking at this Twilight Zone pinball in his livingroom.
I take it you're a pal of Jonathan Dietz?
Meanwhile, I have to settle for the Pinball Arcade version :-(
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The next old series (Score:2)
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Hopefully no one dies this time around.
Re: The next old series (Score:1)
Starring an obese nonbinary non-white person.
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Starring an obese nonbinary non-white person.
An Orange one?
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If you mean this orange one [anonimag.es] then he already is starring in one. The Orange Coon of Washington DC, a new reality show taking place in the White House.
The CBS Family (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember, kids, that The Twilight Zone is part of the CBS Family, which sounds a little like the Manson Family [wikipedia.org]. As reported a few days ago, CBS sues man for copyright over screenshots of 59-year-old TV show [arstechnica.com]:
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The Twilight Zone part would be the show was filmed live 59-years into the future.
CBS "family" values monopoly, not community (Score:3)
They're also the "family" that brought you the Star Trek fan film restrictions [startrek.com]. How did these restrictions come about? For decades these restrictions did not exist and yet Star Trek made lots of money; fans made and distributed derivative works of Star Trek and all of this co-existed with the Star Trek shows and movies. Fans even collected money and donations used for making more fan fiction for all to see and share. But when Prelude to Axanar [wikipedia.org] came along and piqued CBS/Paramount's interest, and CBS/Paramoun
They've been beaten to it by SyFy (Score:2)
I think that the SyFy channel have got there first with Dimension 404 which seems very Outer limits / Twilight Zone.
That said, if the show made it over here on Netflix I'd watch it
But we already got a Twilight Zone reboot... (Score:3)
But we already got a Twilight Zone reboot [wikipedia.org]...
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And before it, the The Scary Door [theinfosphere.org]
Already is one. (Score:3)
It's called "Black Mirror". CBS will have a very hard time indeed outdoing it.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Already is one. (Score:2)
CBS providing "BM" quality in a series reboot is a little too on the nose.
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As yayoubetcha said above, Black Mirror consists of stories that hold a mirror to our modern society posing questions about where we're going with our technology.
The Twilight Zone is stories about almost anything, it could be magic, aliens, other dimensions, gods and demons, etc.
I see them as being similar but in two distinct categories, like fantasy vs science-fiction even though most services likes to lump them together in the same idiotic category.
Re: Already is one. (Score:2)
Agree, they're really not the same. It's mainly that there hasn't been a lot of good anthology TV since TZ.
What bugs me: Rod Serling's been dead lo these many years, but people started nibbling at his corpse. My first strong memory is the well-intentioned fiction anthology mag "Twilight Zone" from maybe the late 70s/early 80s. Even with Serling's wife involved, it was GOOD, but it was not TZ.
Black Mirror's best innovation might be staking out its own quadrant (personal tech/socmed/dystopia), setting its own
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Science fiction is usually about the new technology of the day and the fears it brings. It's no wonder Black Mirror finds loads of subject matter regarding omnipresent Internet and social contact.
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Black Mirror is trash. It's as shallow, tired, and hamfisted as a 15 year old's poetry.
Addams Family (Score:3)
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I know Futurama is over and all, but I'd watch The Scary Door if it was made into a series of its own. Hopefully they can make the episodes longer than 15 seconds or so. Under five minutes would be perfect, I think.
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Or the Twilight Zone parody on SNL: "We can make you squirm." (Puts ball of tinfoil in his mouth and chews it.)
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And again, another alt right snow flake that knows nothing about the original Twilight Zone
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I don't remember too much preachy, but I do remember a single twist ending lead into by a half an hour (or more) of mediocre dialog being somewhat common.
How do you reboot what has no contiguous story? (Score:1)
It's basically just producing more episodes.
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Insofar as yet another gremlin-on-a-wing story or a kid who rivals Q for power, it will be a reboot. Retelling, I suppose.
In Soviet Russia (Score:3)
In Soviet Russia, horizontal and vertical control YOU!
Rats' cocks, that's other one isn't it?
J.J Abrams (Score:2)
Don't let him anywhere near it.
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Also, don't let Damon Lindelof near it either.
Nooooooooo (Score:2)
Oh jesus, they'll fuck this up too. Just wait and see.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] ?
X-Files is also being brought back (Score:2)
Just thought I'd mention it.
Please stop.... (Score:4)
For the love of god please go find some original ideals.
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I don't think your criticism applies in this case. Rebooting the Twilight Zone isn't like rebooting Transformers or Star Wars.
Twilight Zone is an anthology of short stories.
If old episodes are remade, that's another story. But it's not an unoriginal idea to reboot the Twilight Zone in the same way that it's not an unoriginal idea to write a book. It's the content that's original or unoriginal. Twilight Zone implies very little about the content.
Rod Serling rolling in his grave (Score:2)
One problem is, (Score:4, Insightful)
Twilight Zone was a thinking person's show, and it seems people don't want to do that anymore.
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And virtually no one in Hollywood *can* do that any more.