The Twilight Zone is a 2002 revival of Rod Serling

Rod Serling

Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...

's acclaimed 1950/60s television series, The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)

The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...

. It aired for one season on the UPN

UPN

United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...

 network, with actor Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker

Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...

 assuming Serling's role as narrator and on-screen host.

Series history

Broadcast in an hour format with two half-hour stories, it was canceled after one season. Reruns continue to air in syndication, and have aired on MyNetworkTV

MyNetworkTV

MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

 since summer 2008. The opening theme music was provided by Jonathan Davis

Jonathan Davis

Jonathan Houseman Davis is the lead vocalist and frontman for the nu metal band Korn. Davis was ranked 16th on Hit Parader 's list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists".-Early life:...

 (of the rock group Korn

Korn

Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...

).

The series tended to address contemporary issues head-on; i.e. terrorism, racism, gender roles, sexuality and stalking

Stalking

Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...

. Noteworthy episodes featured Jason Alexander

Jason Alexander

Jay Scott Greenspan , better known by his professional name of Jason Alexander, is an American actor, writer, comedian, television director, producer, and singer. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on the television series Seinfeld, appearing in the sitcom from 1989 to 1998...

 as Death

Death (personification)

The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...

 wanting to retire from harvesting souls, Lou Diamond Phillips

Lou Diamond Phillips

Lou Diamond Phillips is an American film, television, and stage actor and director. His breakthrough came when he starred in the film La Bamba. He earned a supporting actor Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in Stand and Deliver and a Tony Award nomination for his role in The King and I...

 as a swimming pool

Swimming pool

A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...

 cleaner being shot repeatedly in his dreams, Susanna Thompson

Susanna Thompson

Susanna Thompson is an American television and film actress. She is skilled in Aikido and stage combat. She is best known for her role as Karen Sammler on Once and Again.-Career:...

 as a woman whose stated wish results in an "upgrading" of her family, Usher

Usher (entertainer)

Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...

 as a policeman being bothered by telephone calls from beyond the grave, and Katherine Heigl

Katherine Heigl

Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...

 playing nanny to an infant who after death was switched with an infant Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

.

The series also includes remakes and updates of stories presented in the original Twilight Zone television series, including the famous "The Eye of the Beholder

The Eye of the Beholder

"The Eye of the Beholder" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:...

". One of the updates, "The Monsters Are on Maple Street", is a modernized version of the classic episode similarly called "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Originally aired when memories of the Second Red Scare were still fresh in the minds of viewers, the episode is often presented commercial-free as part of the Cable in the Classroom...

". The original show was about the paranoia surrounding a neighborhood-wide blackout. In the course of the episode, somebody suggests an alien invasion being the cause of the blackouts, and that one of the neighbors may be an alien. The anti-alien hysteria is an allegory for the anti-communist paranoia of the time, and the 2003 remake, starring Andrew McCarthy

Andrew McCarthy

Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the 1980s films St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero, and more recently for his role in the television shows Lipstick Jungle, White Collar and Royal Pains.-Career:McCarthy...

, replaces aliens with terrorists. The show also contains a follow-up episode to the events of "It's a Good Life

It's a Good Life (The Twilight Zone)

"It's a Good Life" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It is based on a 1953 short story of the same name by Jerome Bixby.-Synopsis:...

", an episode from the original series. Bill Mumy

Bill Mumy

Charles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is an American actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his work as a child television actor....

 returned to play the adult version of Anthony, the demonic child he had played in the original story, with Mumy's daughter, Liliana

Liliana Mumy

Liliana Berry Davis Mumy is an American teen actress and voice actress. Her most notable roles are as Jessica Baker in the Cheaper by the Dozen movies with Steve Martin, Lucy Miller in The Santa Clause sequels with Tim Allen, Mertle Edmonds on the Disney Channel original series Lilo & Stitch: The...

, appearing as Anthony's daughter, a more benevolent but even more powerful child. Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...

 also returned as Anthony's mother. Mumy went on to serve as screenwriter for other episodes in the revival.

Other guest stars include, but not are limited to: Jessica Simpson

Jessica Simpson

Jessica Ann Simpson is an American recording artist, actress, television personality, and fashion designer whose rise to fame began in 1999. Since that time, Simpson has achieved many recording milestones, starred in several television shows, movies, and commercials, launched a line of hair and...

, Wayne Knight

Wayne Knight

Wayne Eliot Knight is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor perhaps best known for his role as Newman in the TV sitcom Seinfeld...

, Christopher Titus

Christopher Titus

Christopher Todd Titus is an American comedian and actor. He grew up in Newark, California. Titus came to national attention with the eponymous FOX show Titus, of which he was the star, executive producer and co-creator...

, Eriq La Salle

Eriq La Salle

Eriq La Salle is an American actor and director, known for his portrayals of Darryl in the 1988 comedy film Coming to America and Dr. Peter Benton on the NBC drama series ER.-Early life:...

, Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman

Jason Kent Bateman is an American television and film actor. After appearing in several 1980s and 1990s sitcoms including It's Your Move, and The Hogan Family, Bateman came to prominence in the early 2000s for playing Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land, a Golden...

, James Remar

James Remar

James Remar is an American actor and voice artist. He has appeared in movies, video games, and TV shows. He is perhaps best known as Richard, the on-off tycoon boyfriend of Kim Cattrall's character in Sex and the City, as Ajax in The Warriors, as the homicidal maniac Albert Ganz in the 1982...

, Method Man

Method Man

Clifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man...

, Linda Cardellini

Linda Cardellini

Linda Edna Cardellini is an American television and film actress. She is best known for her roles as high school student Lindsay Weir on Freaks and Geeks, as Velma Dinkley in the live-action Scooby-Doo films, and as Samantha Taggart on ER.- Early life :Cardellini was born in Redwood City,...

, Jaime Pressly

Jaime Pressly

Jaime Elizabeth Pressly is an American actress and model. She is best known for playing Joy Turner on the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards, winning one, as well as a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award...

, Jeremy Sisto

Jeremy Sisto

Jeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. Sisto has had recurring roles as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order on television and also starred in the films Jesus, Clueless and Thirteen.-Early life:Sisto was born in Grass Valley, California, the...

, Molly Sims

Molly Sims

Molly Sims is an American model and actress. Sims is known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues and her role as Delinda Deline in the NBC drama Las Vegas. She is also an ambassador for Operation Smile...

, Tangi Miller

Tangi Miller

Tangi Miller is an American actress, model and dancer. As an actress she is known for the role of Elena Tyler on the popular television drama Felicity. In 2001 she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.-Early life:...

, Portia de Rossi

Portia de Rossi

Portia Lee James DeGeneres , known professionally as Portia de Rossi , is an Australian-American actress, best known for her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development...

, Christopher McDonald

Christopher McDonald

Christopher McDonald is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, Tappy Tibbons in Requiem for a Dream, and Mel Allen in the HBO film 61*.-Personal life:...

, Jeremy Piven

Jeremy Piven

Jeremy Samuel Piven is an American film producer and actor best known for his role as Ari Gold in the television series Entourage for which he has won three Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor....

, Samantha Mathis

Samantha Mathis

Samantha Mathis is an American actress. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in Pump Up the Volume , opposite Christian Slater...

, Ethan Embry

Ethan Embry

Ethan Philan Randall , although he is known and usually credited as Ethan Embry, is an American film and television actor. He is known for his role as Declan Giggs on the Showtime television series Brotherhood.-Personal life:...

, Shannon Elizabeth

Shannon Elizabeth

Shannon Elizabeth is an American actress and former fashion model. Elizabeth is well known for her roles in comedy films such as Scary Movie, American Pie, and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. She is also well known for her work in horror films such as Thirteen Ghosts, Cursed, and Night of the Demons...

, Jonathan Jackson

Jonathan Jackson (actor)

Jonathan Stevens Jackson is an American actor, best known for playing Lucky Spencer, son of supercouple Luke and Laura on the American daytime drama General Hospital...

, Amber Tamblyn

Amber Tamblyn

Amber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and poet. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine, followed by a starring role on the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia portraying the title character...

, Penn Badgley

Penn Badgley

Penn Dayton Badgley is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Humphrey on the CW television series Gossip Girl. He has also starred in the movies John Tucker Must Die, The Stepfather, and Easy A....

, Dylan Walsh

Dylan Walsh

Dylan Walsh is an American actor. He is best known as Dr. Sean McNamara in the FX television series Nip/Tuck.-Early life:...

, Robin Tunney

Robin Tunney

Robin Jessica Tunney is an American actress. She is best known for her lead roles in the movie The Craft and the television series Prison Break and The Mentalist.-Early life:...

, Michael Shanks

Michael Shanks

Michael Garrett Shanks is a Canadian actor who achieved fame for his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the long-running Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.-Early life:...

, Gordon Michael Woolvett

Gordon Michael Woolvett

Gordon Michael Woolvett is a Canadian-born actor from Hamilton, Ontario Canada, best known for his work as Seamus Zelazny Harper on the television series Andromeda . Previous to Andromeda he starred in another science fiction TV show, Deepwater Black...

, Keith Hamilton Cobb

Keith Hamilton Cobb

-Career:He is best known for his roles as the ruthless Nietzschean mercenaryTyr Anasazi in the science-fiction series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda from 2000 to 2002, and as Noah Keefer on All My Children from 1994 to 1996...

, Emily Perkins

Emily Perkins

Emily Jean Perkins is a Canadian actress, known best for her co-starring role as Brigitte Fitzgerald in the movie Ginger Snaps and its two sequels, Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning. Since the late 1980s she has appeared in various films and television series.-Life...

 and Elizabeth Berkley

Elizabeth Berkley

Elizabeth Berkley is an American television, film, and theatre actress. Berkley's most notable roles were in the television series Saved by the Bell, as brainy feminist Jessie Spano, and the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls, as exotic dancer Nomi Malone.-Early life:Berkley was born and raised...

.

DVD release

The complete series was released on DVD by New Line in a six disc box set on September 7, 2004. The episodes are presented in their production order, not their broadcast order.

See also

• The Twilight Zone
  The Twilight Zone
  The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
  
  
• The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
  The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
  The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
  
  
• The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)

External links