List of The Twilight Zone episodes
The original The Twilight Zone anthology series began on October 2, 1959 and ended on June 19, 1964—with five seasons and 156 episodes. It was created by Rod Serling and broadcast on CBS.
Later popularity of the series brought about a 1983 feature film and two "revival" television series in 1985 and 2002.
Series overview
Except for season four, each episode is 30 minutes long (including commercials). Season four episodes ran for a full hour. The series is hosted by Rod Serling.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
Pilot | November 24, 1958 | |||
1 | 36 | October 2, 1959 | July 1, 1960 | |
2 | 29 | September 30, 1960 | June 2, 1961 | |
3 | 37 | September 15, 1961 | June 1, 1962 | |
4 | 18 | January 3, 1963 | May 23, 1963 | |
5 | 36 | September 27, 1963 | June 19, 1964 | |
Episodes
Pilot (1958)
Rod Serling wrote a teleplay intending for it to be the pilot episode of a new series called The Twilight Zone. Although it ended up airing on a different show, Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, it is considered the pilot episode and has even been adapted as one of The Twilight Zone radio-show episodes.
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
"The Time Element" | Allen Reisner | Rod Serling | November 24, 1958 | |
A man (William Bendix) visits a psychoanalyst, complaining about a recurring dream in which he imagines waking up in Honolulu just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which takes a major psychological toll. |
Season 1 (1959–60)
Note: Episode titles were not shown on screen, but were announced by Serling at the end of the preceding week's episode. "Where is Everybody?" is an exception, as it was the first episode. Serling's promotional announcements were stripped from syndicated versions of season one, but restored (often only in audio form) on the Image Entertainment DVD releases. They have since been fully restored on the Blu-ray releases.
No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Where Is Everybody?" | Robert Stevens | Rod Serling | October 2, 1959 | 173-3601 |
2 | 2 | "One for the Angels" | Robert Parrish | Rod Serling | October 9, 1959 | 173-3608 |
3 | 3 | "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" | Allen Reisner | Rod Serling | October 16, 1959 | 173-3609 |
4 | 4 | "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" | Mitchell Leisen | Rod Serling | October 23, 1959 | 173-3610 |
5 | 5 | "Walking Distance" | Robert Stevens | Rod Serling | October 30, 1959 | 173-3605 |
6 | 6 | "Escape Clause" | Mitchell Leisen | Rod Serling | November 6, 1959 | 173-3603 |
7 | 7 | "The Lonely" | Jack Smight | Rod Serling | November 13, 1959 | 173-3602 |
8 | 8 | "Time Enough at Last" | John Brahm | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: Lyn Venable | November 20, 1959 | 173-3614 |
9 | 9 | "Perchance to Dream" | Robert Florey | Charles Beaumont | November 27, 1959 | 173-3616 |
10 | 10 | "Judgment Night" | John Brahm | Rod Serling | December 4, 1959 | 173-3604 |
11 | 11 | "And When the Sky Was Opened" | Douglas Heyes | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: Richard Matheson | December 11, 1959 | 173-3611 |
12 | 12 | "What You Need" | Alvin Ganzer | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on the Short Story by: Lewis Padgett | December 25, 1959 | 173-3622 |
13 | 13 | "The Four of Us Are Dying" | John Brahm | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: George Johnson | January 1, 1960 | 173-3618 |
14 | 14 | "Third from the Sun" | Richard L. Bare | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on the Short Story by: Richard Matheson | January 8, 1960 | 173-3615 |
15 | 15 | "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" | Stuart Rosenberg | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on the Story by: Madelon Champion | January 15, 1960 | 173-3626 |
16 | 16 | "The Hitch-Hiker" | Alvin Ganzer | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on the Radio Play by: Lucille Fletcher | January 22, 1960 | 173-3612 |
17 | 17 | "The Fever" | Robert Florey | Rod Serling | January 29, 1960 | 173-3627 |
18 | 18 | "The Last Flight" | William Claxton | Richard Matheson | February 5, 1960 | 173-3607 |
19 | 19 | "The Purple Testament" | Richard L. Bare | Rod Serling | February 12, 1960 | 173-3619 |
20 | 20 | "Elegy" | Douglas Heyes | Charles Beaumont | February 19, 1960 | 173-3625 |
21 | 21 | "Mirror Image" | John Brahm | Rod Serling | February 26, 1960 | 173-3623 |
22 | 22 | "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" | Ronald Winston | Rod Serling | March 4, 1960 | 173-3620 |
23 | 23 | "A World of Difference" | Ted Post | Richard Matheson | March 11, 1960 | 173-3624 |
24 | 24 | "Long Live Walter Jameson" | Anton Leader | Charles Beaumont | March 18, 1960 | 173-3621 |
25 | 25 | "People Are Alike All Over" | Mitchell Leisen | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: Paul Fairman | March 25, 1960 | 173-3613 |
26 | 26 | "Execution" | David Orrick McDearmon | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: George Clayton Johnson | April 1, 1960 | 173-3628 |
27 | 27 | "The Big Tall Wish" | Ronald Winston | Rod Serling | April 8, 1960 | 173-3630 |
28 | 28 | "A Nice Place to Visit" | John Brahm | Charles Beaumont | April 15, 1960 | 173-3632 |
29 | 29 | "Nightmare as a Child" | Alvin Ganzer | Rod Serling | April 29, 1960 | 173-3635 |
30 | 30 | "A Stop at Willoughby" | Robert Parrish | Rod Serling | May 6, 1960 | 173-3629 |
31 | 31 | "The Chaser" | Douglas Heyes | Teleplay by: Robert Presnell, Jr. Based on the Short Story by: John Collier | May 13, 1960 | 173-3636 |
32 | 32 | "A Passage for Trumpet" | Don Medford | Rod Serling | May 20, 1960 | 173-3633 |
33 | 33 | "Mr. Bevis" | William Asher | Rod Serling | June 3, 1960 | 173-3631 |
34 | 34 | "The After Hours" | Douglas Heyes | Rod Serling | June 10, 1960 | 173-3637 |
35 | 35 | "The Mighty Casey" | Alvin Ganzer and Robert Parrish | Rod Serling | June 17, 1960 | 173-3617 |
36 | 36 | "A World of His Own" | Ralph Nelson | Richard Matheson | July 1, 1960 | 173-3634 |
Season 2 (1960–61)
Unlike season 1, episode titles were shown on screen during the end credits.
Six episodes of this season were recorded on videotape (not on film as were all other episodes) at CBS Television City, as a cost-cutting measure mandated by CBS programming head James T. Aubrey. They are "The Lateness of the Hour", "The Night of the Meek", "The Whole Truth", "Twenty-Two", "Static", and "Long Distance Call". These have a visual appearance which is distinctly different from those of episodes shot on film. In addition, videotape was a relatively primitive medium in the early 1960s; the editing of tape was next to impossible. Each of the episodes was therefore "camera-cut" as in live TV—on a studio sound stage, using a total of four cameras. The requisite multi-camera setup of the videotape experiment made location shooting difficult, severely limiting the potential scope of the storylines, so the short-lived experiment was abandoned.
No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
37 | 1 | "King Nine Will Not Return" | Buzz Kulik | Rod Serling | September 30, 1960 | 173-3639 |
38 | 2 | "The Man in the Bottle" | Don Medford | Rod Serling | October 7, 1960 | 173-3638 |
39 | 3 | "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" | Douglas Heyes | Rod Serling | October 14, 1960 | 173-3641 |
40 | 4 | "A Thing About Machines" | David Orrick McDearmon | Rod Serling | October 28, 1960 | 173-3645 |
41 | 5 | "The Howling Man" | Douglas Heyes | Charles Beaumont | November 4, 1960 | 173-3642 |
42 | 6 | "Eye of the Beholder" "The Private World of Darkness" | Douglas Heyes | Rod Serling | November 11, 1960 | 173-3640 |
43 | 7 | "Nick of Time" | Richard L. Bare | Richard Matheson | November 18, 1960 | 173-3643 |
44 | 8 | "The Lateness of the Hour" | Jack Smight | Rod Serling | December 2, 1960 | 173-3652 |
45 | 9 | "The Trouble with Templeton" | Buzz Kulik | E. Jack Neuman | December 9, 1960 | 173-3649 |
46 | 10 | "A Most Unusual Camera" | John Rich | Rod Serling | December 16, 1960 | 173-3606 |
47 | 11 | "The Night of the Meek" | Jack Smight | Rod Serling | December 23, 1960 | 173-3663 |
48 | 12 | "Dust" | Douglas Heyes | Rod Serling | January 6, 1961 | 173-3653 |
49 | 13 | "Back There" | David Orrick McDearmon | Rod Serling | January 13, 1961 | 173-3648 |
50 | 14 | "The Whole Truth" | James Sheldon | Rod Serling | January 20, 1961 | 173-3666 |
51 | 15 | "The Invaders" | Douglas Heyes | Richard Matheson | January 27, 1961 | 173-3646 |
52 | 16 | "A Penny for Your Thoughts" | James Sheldon | George Clayton Johnson | February 3, 1961 | 173-3650 |
53 | 17 | "Twenty-Two" | Jack Smight | Rod Serling Based on an Anecdote from: Bennett Cerf's "Famous Ghost Stories" | February 10, 1961 | 173-3664 |
54 | 18 | "The Odyssey of Flight 33" | Jus Addiss | Rod Serling | February 24, 1961 | 173-3651 |
55 | 19 | "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" | John Brahm | Rod Serling | March 3, 1961 | 173-3644 |
56 | 20 | "Static" | Buzz Kulik | Charles Beaumont Based on a Story by: OCee Rich | March 10, 1961 | 173-3665 |
57 | 21 | "The Prime Mover" | Richard L. Bare | Charles Beaumont | March 24, 1961 | 173-3647 |
58 | 22 | "Long Distance Call" | James Sheldon | Charles Beaumont and William Idelson | March 31, 1961 | 173-3667 |
59 | 23 | "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" | Buzz Kulik | Rod Serling | April 7, 1961 | 173-3654 |
60 | 24 | "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" | Jus Addiss | Rod Serling | April 21, 1961 | 173-3655 |
61 | 25 | "The Silence" | Boris Sagal | Rod Serling | April 28, 1961 | 173-3658 |
62 | 26 | "Shadow Play" | John Brahm | Charles Beaumont | May 5, 1961 | 173-3657 |
63 | 27 | "The Mind and the Matter" | Buzz Kulik | Rod Serling | May 12, 1961 | 173-3659 |
64 | 28 | "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" | Montgomery Pittman | Rod Serling | May 26, 1961 | 173-3660 |
65 | 29 | "The Obsolete Man" | Elliot Silverstein | Rod Serling | June 2, 1961 | 173-3661 |
Season 3 (1961–62)
Beginning with this season, episode titles were shown on screen after Serling's opening monologues.
No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
66 | 1 | "Two" | Montgomery Pittman | Montgomery Pittman | September 15, 1961 | 4802 |
67 | 2 | "The Arrival" | Boris Sagal | Rod Serling | September 22, 1961 | 4814 |
68 | 3 | "The Shelter" | Lamont Johnson | Rod Serling | September 29, 1961 | 4803 |
69 | 4 | "The Passersby" | Elliot Silverstein | Rod Serling | October 6, 1961 | 4817 |
70 | 5 | "A Game of Pool" | Buzz Kulik | George Clayton Johnson | October 13, 1961 | 4815 |
71 | 6 | "The Mirror" | Don Medford | Rod Serling | October 20, 1961 | 4819 |
72 | 7 | "The Grave" | Montgomery Pittman | Montgomery Pittman | October 27, 1961 | 3656 |
73 | 8 | "It's a Good Life" | James Sheldon | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: Jerome Bixby | November 3, 1961 | 4801 |
74 | 9 | "Deaths-Head Revisited" | Don Medford | Rod Serling | November 10, 1961 | 4804 |
75 | 10 | "The Midnight Sun" | Anton Leader | Rod Serling | November 17, 1961 | 4818 |
76 | 11 | "Still Valley" | James Sheldon | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: Manly Wade Wellman | November 24, 1961 | 4808 |
77 | 12 | "The Jungle" | William Claxton | Charles Beaumont | December 1, 1961 | 4806 |
78 | 13 | "Once Upon a Time" | Norman Z. McLeod | Richard Matheson | December 8, 1961 | 4820 |
79 | 14 | "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" | Lamont Johnson | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: Marvin Petal | December 15, 1961 | 4805 |
80 | 15 | "A Quality of Mercy" | Buzz Kulik | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on an Idea by: Sam Rolfe | December 22, 1961 | 4809 |
81 | 16 | "Nothing in the Dark" | Lamont Johnson | George Clayton Johnson | January 5, 1962 | 3662 |
82 | 17 | "One More Pallbearer" | Lamont Johnson | Rod Serling | January 12, 1962 | 4823 |
83 | 18 | "Dead Man's Shoes" | Montgomery Pittman | Charles Beaumont | January 19, 1962 | 4824 |
84 | 19 | "The Hunt" | Harold Schuster | Earl Hamner | January 26, 1962 | 4810 |
85 | 20 | "Showdown with Rance McGrew" | Christian Nyby | Rod Serling Based on an Idea by: Frederic L. Fox | February 2, 1962 | 4812 |
86 | 21 | "Kick the Can" | Lamont Johnson | George Clayton Johnson | February 9, 1962 | 4821 |
87 | 22 | "A Piano in the House" | David Greene | Earl Hamner | February 16, 1962 | 4825 |
88 | 23 | "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" | Montgomery Pittman | Montgomery Pittman | February 23, 1962 | 4811 |
89 | 24 | "To Serve Man" | Richard L. Bare | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Story by: Damon Knight | March 2, 1962 | 4807 |
90 | 25 | "The Fugitive" | Richard L. Bare | Charles Beaumont | March 9, 1962 | 4816 |
91 | 26 | "Little Girl Lost" | Paul Stewart | Richard Matheson | March 16, 1962 | 4828 |
92 | 27 | "Person or Persons Unknown" | John Brahm | Charles Beaumont | March 23, 1962 | 4829 |
93 | 28 | "The Little People" | William Claxton | Rod Serling | March 30, 1962 | 4822 |
94 | 29 | "Four O'Clock" | Lamont Johnson | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story by: Price Day | April 6, 1962 | 4832 |
95 | 30 | "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" | Lamont Johnson | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Story by: Frederic Louis Fox | April 13, 1962 | 4833 |
96 | 31 | "The Trade-Ins" | Elliot Silverstein | Rod Serling | April 20, 1962 | 4831 |
97 | 32 | "The Gift" | Allen H. Miner | Rod Serling | April 27, 1962 | 4830 |
98 | 33 | "The Dummy" | Abner Biberman | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Story by: Lee Polk | May 4, 1962 | 4834 |
99 | 34 | "Young Man's Fancy" | John Brahm | Richard Matheson | May 11, 1962 | 4813 |
100 | 35 | "I Sing the Body Electric" | William Claxton and James Sheldon | Ray Bradbury | May 18, 1962 | 4826 |
101 | 36 | "Cavender Is Coming" | Christian Nyby | Rod Serling | May 25, 1962 | 4827 |
102 | 37 | "The Changing of the Guard" | Robert Ellis Miller | Rod Serling | June 1, 1962 | 4835 |
Season 4 (1963)
This season was used as a mid-season replacement for the Fair Exchange on the 1962 fall schedule. To fill the time slot, episodes were lengthened to one hour and moved to Thursday nights.
No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
103 | 1 | "In His Image" | Perry Lafferty | Charles Beaumont | January 3, 1963 | 4851 |
104 | 2 | "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" | Perry Lafferty | Rod Serling | January 10, 1963 | 4857 |
105 | 3 | "Valley of the Shadow" | Perry Lafferty | Charles Beaumont | January 17, 1963 | 4861 |
106 | 4 | "He's Alive" | Stuart Rosenberg | Rod Serling | January 24, 1963 | 4856 |
107 | 5 | "Mute" | Stuart Rosenberg | Richard Matheson | January 31, 1963 | 4858 |
108 | 6 | "Death Ship" | Don Medford | Richard Matheson | February 7, 1963 | 4850 |
109 | 7 | "Jess-Belle" | Buzz Kulik | Earl Hamner, Jr. | February 14, 1963 | 4855 |
110 | 8 | "Miniature" | Walter Grauman | Charles Beaumont | February 21, 1963 | 4862 |
111 | 9 | "Printer's Devil" | Ralph Senensky | Charles Beaumont | February 28, 1963 | 4864 |
112 | 10 | "No Time Like the Past" | Jus Addiss | Rod Serling | March 7, 1963 | 4853 |
113 | 11 | "The Parallel" | Alan Crosland, Jr. | Rod Serling | March 14, 1963 | 4859 |
114 | 12 | "I Dream of Genie" | Robert Gist | John Furia, Jr. | March 21, 1963 | 4860 |
115 | 13 | "The New Exhibit" | John Brahm | Charles Beaumont | April 4, 1963 | 4866 |
116 | 14 | "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" | David Lowell Rich | Rod Serling Based on a Short Story "Blind Valley" by: Malcolm Jameson | April 11, 1963 | 4867 |
117 | 15 | "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" | Abner Biberman | Reginald Rose | April 18, 1963 | 4854 |
118 | 16 | "On Thursday We Leave for Home" | Buzz Kulik | Rod Serling | May 2, 1963 | 4868 |
119 | 17 | "Passage on the Lady Anne" | Lamont Johnson | Charles Beaumont | May 9, 1963 | 4869 |
120 | 18 | "The Bard" | David Butler | Rod Serling | May 23, 1963 | 4852 |
Season 5 (1963–64)
In the fifth and final season, the series went back to a half-hour format, returned to a fall start, and aired Friday nights at 9:30 pm (EST) on CBS.
No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
121 | 1 | "In Praise of Pip" | Joseph M. Newman | Rod Serling | September 27, 1963 | 2607 |
122 | 2 | "Steel" | Don Weis | Richard Matheson | October 4, 1963 | 2602 |
123 | 3 | "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" | Richard Donner | Richard Matheson | October 11, 1963 | 2605 |
124 | 4 | "A Kind of a Stopwatch" | John Rich | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Story by: Michael D. Rosenthal | October 18, 1963 | 2609 |
125 | 5 | "The Last Night of a Jockey" | Joseph M. Newman | Rod Serling | October 25, 1963 | 2616 |
126 | 6 | "Living Doll" | Richard C. Sarafian | Charles Beaumont | November 1, 1963 | 2621 |
127 | 7 | "The Old Man in the Cave" | Alan Crosland, Jr. | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Short Story "The Old Man" by: Henry Slesar | November 8, 1963 | 2603 |
128 | 8 | "Uncle Simon" | Don Siegel | Rod Serling | November 15, 1963 | 2604 |
129 | 9 | "Probe 7, Over and Out" | Ted Post | Rod Serling | November 29, 1963 | 2622 |
130 | 10 | "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Rod Serling | December 6, 1963 | 2606 |
131 | 11 | "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain" | Bernard Girard | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Story by: Lou Holz | December 13, 1963 | 2614 |
132 | 12 | "Ninety Years Without Slumbering" | Roger Kay | Teleplay by: Richard De Roy Story by: Johnson Smith | December 20, 1963 | 2615 |
133 | 13 | "Ring-a-Ding Girl" | Alan Crosland, Jr. | Earl Hamner, Jr. | December 27, 1963 | 2623 |
134 | 14 | "You Drive" | John Brahm | Earl Hamner, Jr. | January 3, 1964 | 2625 |
135 | 15 | "The Long Morrow" | Robert Florey | Rod Serling | January 10, 1964 | 2624 |
136 | 16 | "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" | Don Siegel | Teleplay by: Jerry McNeely Based on a Short Story by: Henry Slesar | January 17, 1964 | 2612 |
137 | 17 | "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" | Abner Biberman | Charles Beaumont and John Tomerlin | January 24, 1964 | 2618 |
138 | 18 | "Black Leather Jackets" | Joseph M. Newman | Earl Hamner, Jr. | January 31, 1964 | 2628 |
139 | 19 | "Night Call" | Jacques Tourneur | Richard Matheson | February 7, 1964 | 2610 |
140 | 20 | "From Agnes – With Love" | Richard Donner | Bernard C. Schoenfeld | February 14, 1964 | 2629 |
141 | 21 | "Spur of the Moment" | Elliot Silverstein | Richard Matheson | February 21, 1964 | 2608 |
142 | 22 | "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" | Robert Enrico | From a Story by: Ambrose Bierce Adapted by: Robert Enrico | February 28, 1964 | N/A |
143 | 23 | "Queen of the Nile" | John Brahm | Charles Beaumont | March 6, 1964 | 2626 |
144 | 24 | "What's in the Box" | Richard L. Bare | Martin M. Goldsmith | March 13, 1964 | 2635 |
145 | 25 | "The Masks" | Ida Lupino | Rod Serling | March 20, 1964 | 2601 |
146 | 26 | "I Am the Night—Color Me Black" | Abner Biberman | Rod Serling | March 27, 1964 | 2630 |
147 | 27 | "Sounds and Silences" | Richard Donner | Rod Serling | April 3, 1964 | 2631 |
148 | 28 | "Caesar and Me" | Robert Butler | Adele T. Strassfield | April 10, 1964 | 2636 |
149 | 29 | "The Jeopardy Room" | Richard Donner | Rod Serling | April 17, 1964 | 2639 |
150 | 30 | "Stopover in a Quiet Town" | Ron Winston | Earl Hamner, Jr. | April 24, 1964 | 2611 |
151 | 31 | "The Encounter" | Robert Butler | Martin M. Goldsmith | May 1, 1964 | 2640 |
152 | 32 | "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" | Ted Post | Teleplay by: Rod Serling Based on a Story by: Mike Korologos | May 8, 1964 | 2637 |
153 | 33 | "The Brain Center at Whipple's" | Richard Donner | Rod Serling | May 15, 1964 | 2632 |
154 | 34 | "Come Wander with Me" | Richard Donner | Anthony Wilson | May 22, 1964 | 2641 |
155 | 35 | "The Fear" | Ted Post | Rod Serling | May 29, 1964 | 2633 |
156 | 36 | "The Bewitchin' Pool" | Joseph M. Newman | Earl Hamner, Jr. | June 19, 1964 | 2619 |
External links
- Syfy.com
- The Original Twilight Zone Episode List
- Postcards from the Zone (Extensive episode guides for the 1980s series, including photos)
- The Twilight Zone Podcast (Audio reviews of every episode)