In this episode of The Twilight Zone, a thief is shot by the police and finds himself in the afterlife. After a life of struggle and crime, the thief finally finds himself with the opportunity to have everything that he’s ever wanted. Even if you’ve never seen this episode before, you’ll probably be able to guess the twist after a minute or two. But it’s still a pretty good episode, featuring good performances from Larry Blyden and Sebastian Cabot and an typically fun script from Charles Beaumont.
A Nice Place To Visit originally aired on April 15th, 1960.
For tonight’s horror on TV, we have an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled The Fever. In this one, Franklin (Everett Sloane) and his wife Flora (Vivi Janiss) visit Las Vegas. Franklin detests gambling but, once he finds himself in Vegas, he finds himself being pursued by a slot machine that, literally, calls his name.
This episode was written by Rod Serling and directed by Robert Florey. (Reportedly, Serling wrote it after losing a good deal of money in Vegas.) It originally aired on January 29th, 1960.
I like this episode. Everett Sloane, who played the beloved Mr. Bernstein in Citizen Kane, gives a great performance and the taunting slot machine starts out as slightly ludicrous but then becomes genuinely menacing as the episode reaches its conclusion.
For tonight’s horror on TV, we have another episode of Baywatch Nights! In this one, David Hasselhoff and friends battle a half-woman, half-fish creature named Silver Eyes! That’s right — it’s basically Killer Mermaid all over again but this time, David Hasselhoff’s involved!
And yes, it’s just as silly as you’d think. But that’s okay. Sometimes, we need a little silliness…
This episode, entitled The Creature, originally aired on October 6th, 1996.
So, my original plan for tonight and tomorrow was to post the Graduation Day two-part season 3 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But, without any warning, Hulu has decided that they are no longer going to offer season 3 of Buffy for free. Now, if you want to watch season 3, you have to subscribe to Hulu.
And, quite frankly, that’s not a bad idea. I subscribe to Hulu. I like it. But, at the same time, if you’re going to advertise a show as being free then it should at least remain free until November.
Anyway, the point is that I like subscribing to Hulu but I’m not going to demand that our readers do the same thing just so they can watch something on this site. So, with Buffy no longer an option, I’m instead going to share an episode from another supernatural show from the 1990s. On Baywatch Nights, David Hasselhoff battled supernatural creatures while defending the beaches of California. And it’s all just as campy and silly as you might think.
And, even better, every episode of Baywatch Nights is available (for free!) on YouTube. (Or, at least they are until the copyright holder finds out…) Anyway, here’s the 1st episode of the 2nd season of Baywatch Nights. It originally aired on September 29th, 1996 and it features David Hasselhoff and a sea monster!
This episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer made me cry the first time I saw it. And it’s made me cry every time that I’ve watched it since.
(Along with She’s All That, It also left me with a totally unrealistic expectation of what my senior prom would be like but that’s okay.)
The Prom originally aired on May 11th, 1999.
(10/13/2015 update: Oh my God, y’all! I am so pissed off at Hulu right now! This entire show was available when I first created this post. And now, that I’ve actually published it, Hulu suddenly just wants to provide a 90-second preview. Please accept my apologies.)
In this episode of The Twilight Zone, Ollie Pope (Edward Andrews) kills a boy in a hit-and-run accident. Ollie tries to cover up the crime and frame an innocent man. His car, however, has a different idea.
This episode originally aired on January 3rd, 1964.
In this episode of The Twilight Zone (which was originally aired on May 4th, 1962), a neurotic ventriloquist named Jerry (Cliff Robertson) has a bizarre relationship with his dummy. Not only does Jerry seem to hate his inanimate partner but the dummy doesn’t seem to be too fond of Jerry either.
You’ll probably already figured out The Dummy‘s twist but it’s still extremely well-done, featuring a great performance from Cliff Robertson and expressionistic direction from Abner Biberman.
In this episode of The Twilight Zone, bitter millionaire Paul (Joseph Wiseman, who also played the title character in Dr. No around the same time that this episode as shot) offers three people safety from a nuclear war on one condition. They must apologize to him for insults that are both real and imagined.
This episode originally aired on January 12th, 1962.
In this episode of The Twilight Zone, Marsha White (played by Anne Francis) discovers some strange things happening in a department store. If you’re like me and you find mannequins to be super creepy, this episode is for you!
In this episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy gets infected with the blood of a demon and develops the ability to hear other people’s thoughts. Along with allowing her to discover that Xander is obsessed with sex (like she needed telepathy for that) and that Giles and her mom did it twice on the hood of a police car, it also allows her to discover that one of her classmates might be planning on doing something violent.
This is one of my favorites episodes of Buffy, largely because it uses the paranormal as a way to expose a very real issue and to explore everyone’s shared humanity. Plus, I’ve always felt that, even after playing Buffy and starring in the wonderful guilty pleasure Ringer, Sarah Michelle Gellar remains a sadly underrated actress. This episode features her at her best.
Through the Shattered Lens 