The Twilight Zone

Piggy sees something on the wing in Muppets Tonight

The Twilight Zone was an acclaimed, science-fiction themed anthology series, created and hosted by Rod Serling, whose deadpan delivery and phrases such as "Submitted for your approval" entered the popular vernacular. The series ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964, and was typified by weaving social commentary and themes within the sci-fi context, and often featured ironic endings. The series led to several spin-offs, including Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), with segments directed by John Landis and Steven Spielberg; a CBS revival series (1985-1987); a syndicated revival series (1988-1989); a UPN revival series (2002-2003); a syndicated radio series adapting the original episodes; and such diverse items as pinball machines and a theme park ride, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, located at the Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts.

References

• The third season Muppet Babies episode "The Weirdo Zone" is an extended Twilight Zone spoof, initiated by Baby Gonzo in the Rod Serling role. The episode involved a "reversed point of view" device, a frequent motif on the original series, as the other babies find out what it's like to be weird.

• The 1987 Muppet Meeting Films entry "The Safety Zone" is another take-off of the series, framed as a lesson in workplace safety and narrated by David Lazer Muppet.

• Neat Stuff To Know & To Do features Rodney (a caricature of Rod Serling), who takes viewers into an area known as "The Curious Zone." Marius Constant's Twilight Zone music is also spoofed.

• The Dog City episode "Rocketship K-9" features a Twilight Zone influenced ending. Ace Hart finds himself in a city surrounded by aliens, as Eliot Shag delivers a Serling-style ironic epilogue about what Ace has discovered in The Hydrant Zone.

• In the tag scene for Muppets Tonight episode 109, Miss Piggy is on an airplane when she spies a gremlin through the window, tearing up the wing. The scene spoofs the 1963 Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." The original star of the episode, William Shatner, makes a cameo.

Connections

Many actors who have played character roles in Muppet/Henson productions guest starred on The Twilight Zone or its spinoffs.

• Art Carney played Henry Corwin/Santa Claus in "The Night of the Meek" (1960)
• James Coburn played French in "The Old Man in the Cave" (1963)
• Peter Falk played Ramos Clemente in "The Mirror" (1961)
• Harold Gould played General Larrabee in "Probe 7, Over and Out" (1963)
• Pat Hingle played Horace Ford in "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" (1963)
• Russell Horton played Bartlett in "The Changing of the Guard" (1962)
• Ron Howard played the Wilcox Boy in "Walking Distance" (1959)
• Arte Johnson played Irv in "The Whole Truth" (1961)
• Martin Landau played Major Ivan Kuchenko in "The Jeopardy Room" (1964)
• Cloris Leachman played Mrs. Fremont in "It's a Good Life" (1961) and its sequel, "It's Still a Good Life" (2003)
• Howard Morris played George P. Hanley in "I Dream of Genie" (1963)
• Telly Savalas played Erich Streator in "Living Doll" (1963)
• William Schallert played a policeman in "Mr. Bevis" (1960)
• Olan Soule played an IRS man in "The Man in the Bottle" (1960)
• Robin Ward narrated the series from 1988 to 1989, and also redubbed narration on syndicated versions of the 1985-1987 episodes
• Jack Warden played Mouth McGarry in "The Mighty Casey" (1960)
• Fritz Weaver played William Sturka in "Third from the Sun" (1960) and the Chancellor in "The Obsolete Man" (1961)

Twilight Zone and its spin-offs also played host to the following celebrities, who cameoed as themselves in Muppet productions.

• Jason Alexander played Death in "One Night at Mercy" (2002) and several roles in the 2002 Twilight Zone radio adaptation, including Romney Wordsworth in "The Obsolete Man", Jonathan West and Little Caesar in "Caesar and Me," and one of "Five Characters In Search of An Exit."
• Carol Burnett played Agnes Grep in "Cavender Is Coming" (1962)
• Jean Marsh played Alicia in "The Lonely" (1959)
• Leonard Nimoy played Hansen in "A Quality of Mercy" (1961)
• Don Rickles played a gambler in "Mr. Dingle the Strong" (1961)
• William Shatner played Don Carter in "Nick of Time" (1960) and Bob Wilson in "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (1963)
• George Takei played Taro in "The Encounter" (1964)
• Jonathan Winters played "Fats" Brown in "A Game of Pool" (1961)