Twilight Zone Episodes, Ranked

Submitted for your approval: ten half-hours that ruined endings for everyone else.

Entries
10
Category
TV
Updated
  1. A bare, stark room with a single wooden chair, a Bible on the table and a large wall clock nearing midnight.

    10. The Obsolete Man

    The Twilight Zone · 1961

    Burgess Meredith again, as a librarian condemned by a state that has banned books. He picks his own method of execution, has it broadcast live, and invites the Chancellor over. Serling delivers the closing narration on camera, which he rarely did. He meant it.

  2. A tiny silver flying saucer crash-landed on the roof of a rustic farmhouse, a cleaver and a wool blanket on the floor inside.

    09. The Invaders

    The Twilight Zone · 1961

    Agnes Moorehead alone in a farmhouse, fighting tiny invaders from a tiny spaceship, with almost no dialogue for 25 minutes. Richard Matheson wrote it, Jerry Goldsmith scored it. The only real words come at the very end, and they explain everything about who the invaders are.

  3. A wind-up talking doll in a frilly dress sitting at the top of a dark staircase, its pull-string dangling.

    08. Living Doll

    The Twilight Zone · 1963

    Telly Savalas as a stepfather whose stepdaughter's doll, Talky Tina, starts saying she does not like him, then escalates. June Foray, who also voiced the real Chatty Cathy, did the voice. Mattel presumably did not use this as an ad. Talky Tina remains undefeated.

  4. A small-town park bandstand with initials carved into the railing, a carousel and a soda fountain glass on the steps.

    07. Walking Distance

    The Twilight Zone · 1959

    A burned-out ad man walks into his hometown and finds it is still his childhood. Bernard Herrmann wrote an original score; the park is modeled on one five blocks from Serling's boyhood home. His daughter says it was his favorite. Nobody can go home, especially Serling.

  5. An endless cornfield at dusk with a jack-in-the-box sitting at the edge, a vintage television glowing in a farmhouse window.

    06. It's a Good Life

    The Twilight Zone · 1961

    Bill Mumy as six-year-old Anthony, who rules an Ohio town with his mind; everyone thinks happy thoughts or goes to the cornfield. From Jerome Bixby's story, remade for the 1983 movie, and the only episode to get a sequel, in 2002. Every parent has felt this one.

  6. A 1950s suburban street at dusk with every porch light off, a lawnmower abandoned on a lawn and a meteor streak in the sky.

    05. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

    The Twilight Zone · 1960

    The power goes out on a suburban street at 6:43 p.m., a kid mentions a comic book about aliens disguised as families, and the neighbors take it from there. Serling wrote it; Time put it in the ten best. The aliens barely need to do anything, which is the point.

  7. An airplane wing seen through a rain-streaked oval window at night, a panel peeled back and lightning in the clouds.

    04. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

    The Twilight Zone · 1963

    Richard Matheson's story: William Shatner, six months after a breakdown, is the only passenger who can see a gremlin on the wing. He is not believed, which is the scariest part. George Miller remade it for the 1983 movie. Nobody has enjoyed a window seat since.

  8. A heavy alien book with strange glyphs on its cover lying on a kitchen counter beside a cookbook stand and a set of measuring spoons.

    03. To Serve Man

    The Twilight Zone · 1962

    Serling adapts Damon Knight's story about friendly nine-foot aliens carrying a book whose title sounds like charity. TV Guide named its ending the greatest twist of all time; Rolling Stone ranked it the best episode. Futurama and The Simpsons both borrowed the punchline.

  9. Shattered thick-rimmed reading glasses on the steps of a ruined library, stacks of books piled all around in the dust.

    02. Time Enough at Last

    The Twilight Zone · 1959

    Burgess Meredith as a bank teller who just wants to read, survives an H-bomb in the vault, and finally has all the time in the world. Then his glasses break. Twilight Zone Magazine readers named it the episode they remember most. Optometrists also remember it.

  10. A hospital bed in a shadowy room with a roll of surgical bandages unspooling onto the floor, a single lamp casting harsh shadows.

    01. Eye of the Beholder

    The Twilight Zone · 1960

    A woman's bandaged face, eleven state-mandated treatments, and doctors kept in shadow until the reveal. Director Douglas Heyes cast it with his back to the actors to find sympathetic voices. One actress plays her bandaged, another unwrapped. Beauty is a matter of policy.

Honorable mentions

  • A snowy 1960 commuter train window looking out onto a sunny 1880s town square with a bandstand and bicycles.

    A Stop at Willoughby

    The Twilight Zone · 1960

    An exhausted ad man dozes on his commuter train and wakes in an 1880s town of band concerts and fishing. Serling, who lived in Westport, called it his favorite story of season one; R.L. Stine calls it his favorite, period. The funeral home sign at the end stays with you.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A cigar resting on a cloud next to a pair of small angel wings and a banana peel.

    Cavender Is Coming

    The Twilight Zone · 1962

    Carol Burnett as a clumsy woman and Jesse White as an apprentice angel, in a backdoor pilot for a sitcom that never happened. It aired with a laugh track, the only Twilight Zone episode to have one. Modern versions removed it. The audience had been laughing at the wrong thing.

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