The July 4, 2010 Twilight Zone Marathon

All is not lost. If you want to watch a Twilight Zone marathon, you're in the right place. As many of you know by now, Syfy has committed one of the biggest blunders in TV history since The Heidi Bowl by choosing not to run the annual Fourth of July Twilight Zone Marathon. For many of us, this is a tradition that predates the existence of Syfy (AKA The Sci Fi Channel). I started watching the marathons on New York's 11 Alive back in the 1980s.

Inspired by the Facebook event called "Create Your Own Twilight Zone Marathon" I've done just that. Sure, it would be easier to settle in with my DVDs and enjoy higher quality and commercial free episodes. But I've got my reasons. Besides nostalgia and tradition, the marathons are a communal experience for me. Watching online episodes with thousands of other fans is closer to that than watching DVDs on my own. Plus, I figure that CBS keeps track of the hits they get, and maybe word will get back to the Syfy folks (or some other channel interested in The Twilight Zone's rights.)

The idea for "Create Your Own Twilight Zone Marathon" is that on Sunday July 4th from 6:00 AM until midnight, we all go to cbs.com and watch the episodes posted there. The quality isn't as good as DVD, that's for sure. Plus episode choice is severely limited. CBS posts less than a third of the episodes on a rotating basis. Many of the best episodes aren't currently on the site. You can also watch episodes on Fancast, Hulu, and TV.com, but they look to be limited to the same episodes that CBS currently has posted. That rules out iconic episodes like "Living Doll," "The Eye of the Beholder," and "Nightmare at 20,ooo Feet." In honor of Dennis Hopper's recent passing, I wanted to include, "He's Alive." Also not available. The same thing goes for some of my other favorites like "Nick of Time" and "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" Still I managed to pick 36 episodes to cover the 18 hours. Yes, the actual running times are 25-26 minutes, but that gives me a little time between episodes. Maybe, I'll even "bank" some time by getting ahead of schedule. So, make your own marathon, or feel free to follow mine posted below. I've linked to each episode I chose. So if you're following my marathon, you might find it easier to come back here after each episode and click the link for the next episode rather than search cbs.com's thirteen pages of Twilight Zone episodes.

So, without further adieu, here's my marathon:

1.	6:00 − 6:30 AM	A World of Difference	An actor believes he’s really the character he plays in a TV show. Script: Richard Matheson
2.	6:30 − 7:00 AM	Still Valley	A Confederate soldier gets a chance to win the war for the South with black magic. Adapted from A Manly Wade Wellman story that appeared in Weird Tales. Script: Rod Serling
3.	7:00 − 7:30 AM	The Odyssey of Flight 33	An airliner travels back and forth through time. Script: Rod Serling
4.	7:30 − 8:00 AM	One for the Angels	A street peddler makes a pitch to The Grim Reaper. Script: Rod Serling
5.	8:00 − 8:30 AM	The Whole Truth	A cursed car has an inconvenient effect on a used car salesman. Script: Rod Serling
6.	8:30 − 9:00 AM	The After Hours	One word: mannequins. Script: Rod Serling
7.	9:00 − 9:30 AM	The Hitch-Hiker	A creepy hitchhiker follows a young woman (Inger Stevens) across the country. Adapted from Lucille Fletcher’s radio play. Script: Rod Serling
8.	9:30 − 10:00 AM	Third From the Sun	Two families attempt to escape a world on the brink of nuclear war. Adapted from Richard Matheson’s story. Script: Rod Serling
9.	10:00 − 10:30 AM	The Passerby	At the end of The Civil War, soldiers pass a woman’s porch as she waits for her husband. Script: Rod Serling
10.	10:30 − 11:00 AM	Dead Man's Shoes	A homeless man puts on a pair shoes haunted by a gangster. Script: Charles Beaumont and OCee Ritch
11.	11:00 − 11:30 AM	Execution	An old west outlaw escapes - - into the 20th Century. Adapted from George Clayton Johnson’s story. Script: Rod Serling
12.	11:30 − 12:00 PM	Two	After an apocalyptic war, two soldiers, a man and a woman, from opposing armies meet. Starring Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery. Script: Montgomery Pittman
13.	12:00 − 12:30 PM	A Hundred Yards Over the Rim	A 19th century pioneer finds the future while trying to save his son and guide his wagon train to safety. Script: Rod Serling
14.	12:30 − 1:00 PM	The Rip Van Winkle Caper	Criminals pull off a heist and seek to escape by going into suspended animation. Script: Rod Serling
15.	1:00 − 1:30 PM	Back There	A man tries to prevent Lincoln’s assassination. Script: Rod Serling
16.	1:30 − 2:00 PM	A Penny for Your Thoughts	A coin lands on edge and a man gains the power to read minds. Script: George Clayton Johnson
17.	2:00 − 2:30 PM	Shadow Play	A man on trial for his life claims he’s living the same day over and over again. Script: Charles Beaumont
18.	2:30 − 3:00 PM	Five Characters in Search of an Exit	A soldier, a clown, a ballerina, a hobo, and a bag pipe player find themselves in a mysterious prison. Adapted from Marvin Petal’s story. Script: Rod Serling
19.	3:00 − 3:30 PM	A Stop at Willoughby	Stressed out by work, a tyrannical boss, and an unsympathetic wife, a man finds a haven on the train ride home. Script: Rod Serling
20.	3:30 −4:00 PM	I Shot an Arrow into the Air	A space ship crash lands, and the commander who tries to maintain order is pitted against a crew member who thinks survival means every man for himself. Based on an idea by Madelon Champion. Script: Rod Serling
21.	4:00 − 4:30 PM	The Obsolete Man	A librarian is on trial for his life in a totalitarian future where books are banned. Script: Rod Serling
22.	4:30 − 5:00 PM	The Shelter	One man has the foresight to build a bomb shelter. His neighbors chuckle until a nuclear strike appears imminent. Script: Rod Serling
23.	5:00 −5:30 PM	A Quality of Mercy	Although Rod Serling’s script was based on an idea by Sam Rolfe, also a prolific screen writer, this story touches on personal ground for Serling, who fought in the Phillipines as a member of the now defunct 11th Airborne Division. Script: Rod Serling
24.	5:30 − 6:00 PM	The Howling Man	A traveler seeks shelter in an isolated monastery where a group of apparent fanatics hold a prisoner. Script: Charles Beaumont. (Adapted from his own short story)
25.	6:00 − 6:30 PM	Hocus Pocus and Frisby	A homespun variation of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Adapted from Frederic Louis Fox’s story. Script: Rod Serling
26.	6:30 − 7:00 PM	The Arrival	A plane arrives with no crew, no passengers. Script: Rod Serling
27.	7:00 − 7:30 PM	The Invaders	An old woman is tormented by tiny aliens. Script: Richard Matheson
28.	7:30 − 8:00 PM	To Serve Man	Aliens promising Utopia leave behind a book which reveals their true motives. Based on a Damon Knight story and first broadcast over 20 years before the first version of V. Script: Rod Serling
29.	8:00 − 8:30 PM	Walking Distance	One of TZ’s most highly regarded episodes. A stressed out business executive tries to return to his childhood home town. Script: Rod Serling
30.	8:30 − 9:00 PM	Time Enough at Last	A man who just wants time to read, finds himself all alone with a library full of books after a nuclear war. Adapted from Lynn Venable’s story. Script: Rod Serling
31.	9:00 − 9:30 PM	What You Need	A street peddler gives people things they need at the right moment. Adapted from Lewis Padgett’s (AKA Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore) story. Script: Rod Serling
32.	9:30 −10:00 PM	Death’s-Head Revisited	A Nazi war criminal returns to the scene of his crimes. Script: Rod Serling
33.	10:00 − 10:30 PM	Night of the Meek	Art Carney as a down and out department store Santa Claus who finds a miraculous bag.
34.	10:30 − 11:00 PM	The Grave	Even though there isn’t much action, it’s a weird western with Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef, and the “What we have here is failure to communicate” guy. Script: Montgomery Pittman
35.	11:00 − 11:30 PM	The Fever	An uptight, puritanical guy vacations in Las Vegas. Script: Rod Serling
36.	11:30 −12:00 PM	Nothing in the Dark	An old woman hides from Mr. Death. Starring Robert Redford. Script: George Clayton Johnson