It’s time for another episode of Beyond Belief! This episode was originally broadcast on July 22nd, 2002 and host Jonathan Frakes appears to be even more amused with it all than usual!
Can you figure out what’s fact and what’s fiction?
Tag Archives: television
Horror on TV: Sabrina The Teenage Witch 1.5 “A Halloween Story”
I used to love watching Sabrina The Teenage Witch when I was younger! This was mostly because I wanted to grow up to be a teenage witch.
Sabrina’s very first Halloween episode was first broadcast on October 25th, 1996. In A Halloween Story, Sabrina must use magic (surprise! surprise!) in order to be able to attend two Halloween parties at the same time. As so often happens with Sabrina, the laughs are surprisingly clever and the ending is nicely heart-warming.
Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 2.28 “Will The Real Martin Please Stand Up?”
Tonight’s episode of The Twilight Zone examines what happens when a freak snow storm breaks out, a bus makes a stop at a late night diner, and reports come in of a UFO landing somewhere in the area. The fun starts once the bus driver realizes that he has an extra passenger. Who is the alien? Or, any other words: Will the real Martian please stand up? This episode is a classic example of how a group of strangers trapped in one location can be used to generate a lot of suspense. It has a great ending as well!
This episode was originally broadcast on May 26th, 1961. It was written by Rod Serling and directed by Montgomery Pittman.
Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 1.8 “Time Enough At Last”
In this early episode of The Twilight Zone, poor and meek Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith) is literally the last man on Earth and that suits him just fine. He finally has time to read everything that he’s always wanted to read. This episode is best remembered for Burgess Meredith’s eccentric lead performance and the somewhat mean-spirited twist ending.
Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 3.8 “It’s A Good Life”
Don’t think bad thoughts or Anthony Freemont will turn you into a giant jack in the box!
That’s lesson to be learned from tonight’s example of televised horror. In this classic episode of The Twilight Zone, the citizens of Peaksville always have to be happy or else they’ll be punished by the cruel monster that lives among them. The big twist, of course, is that the monster is just a little boy and sometimes, it’s difficult to predict what exactly is going to upset him.
It’s A Good Life was originally broadcast on November 3rd, 1961.
Horror on TV: Thriller 1.36 “Pigeons From Hell”
In this episode of Thriller, two brothers from up north (played by Brandon De Wilde and David Whorf) have car trouble while driving through Louisiana and, naturally, they decided to spend the night in a deserted mansion that happens to be sitting in the middle of a swamp. Needless to say, as is usually the case whenever Yankees get stranded in the bayou, bad things happen….
Pigeons From Hell is actually a surprisingly effective horror story. Director John Newland creates a pervasive atmosphere of dread and De Wilde makes for a sympathetic protagonist. This episode was originally broadcast on June 6th, 1961 and watching it today, it’s hard not to suspect that a lot of the kids who watched Pigeons From Hell later grew up to the be the directors who made the slasher films of the late 70s and 80s.
Incidentally, Pigeons From Hell is based on a short story by native Texan Robert E. Howard. Apparently, Stephen King once said that this was one of his favorite TV shows ever but we won’t hold that against it.
Horror on TV: Thriller 1.29 “The Devil’s Ticket”
Down here in Dallas, channel 133 is the local Me-TV affiliate. Me-TV specializes in showing old TV shows from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The network sells itself as a nostalgic refuge for people who are several decades older than me, a place where they can go to escape from Seth McFarlane cartoons and Maury Povich conducted DNA tests.
But you know what?
I like Me-TV and I’m glad that it exists. It probably has something to do with me being a history nerd at heart. I love the chance to see what the world was once like. Add to that, some very good shows were produced in the 50s and 60s. Just because a lot of us weren’t there to experience them firsthand doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate them in rerun syndication.
Case in point: Thriller.
Thriller aired for two seasons in the early 60s. It was an anthology series, in the tradition ofThe Twilight Zone. Whereas The Twilight Zone was hosted by Rod Serling, Thriller was hosted by horror icon Boris Karloff, who always introduced the macabre material with a bemused gleam in his eyes.
The Devil’s Ticket was the 29th episode of Thriller and it originally aired on April 18th, 1961. It’s an effectively creepy little story about an artist (MacDonald Carey) who sells his soul to the Devil. It was directed by Jules Bricken and written by Robert Bloch.
Horror on TV: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Episode 3.13
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction aired off-and-on for about five years on the Fox network. A sign of just how randomly this show was scheduled can be found in the fact that season 3 started in 2000 while season 4 didn’t start until 2002. Reruns of the show currently air on the Chiller Network which is where I recently discovered it.
Hosted by Jonathan Frakes, each episode would present the viewers with five different stories. Each story would appear to defy logic and then, at the end of the episode, Frakes would reveal which of the stories were fact and which were fiction. The show was often incredibly silly and yet, it occasionally had an odd charm to it. A lot of this was due to Jonathan Frakes, who always seemed to be rather amused with it all.
Even more importantly, as bad as this show often was, it’s the perfect type of show to watch in October. It’s the television equivalent of a scary story being told around a campfire.
Below, you’ll find the final episode of the third season. Can you guess what’s fact and what’s fiction?
Horror On TV: That 70s Show 2.5 “Halloween”
Okay, so technically, this really isn’t horror. But who cares? It deals with Halloween traditions and, even more importantly, I loved That 70s Show.
This episode was originally broadcast on October 26th, 1999.
Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 5.26 “Living Doll”
Today’s televised horror is the Living Doll episode of The Twilight Zone. This memorably creepy episode takes a look at what happens when a suburban jerk of a father (played by Telly Savalas) gets into a fight with his daughter’s doll, Talky Tina (voiced by June Foray). Things do not end well for one of them.
Seriously, don’t mess with Talky Tina.
This episode was directed by Richard Sarafain, written by Charles Beaumont, and originally broadcast on November 1st, 1963.
Through the Shattered Lens