Bookman manages to outsmart Death, so Death chooses a replacement. Aired October 9, 1959Ī pitchman (something of a vanished job–think Family Dollar in a cart) named Bookman, played by the always excellent Ed Wynn, is informed by Death (Murray Hamilton, looking and sounding suspiciously like Rod Serling) that he’s gonna die at midnight. Serling assembled a hell of a crew: director Robert Stevens was a veteran of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Oscar-winning cinematographer Joseph LaShelle was a master of shadows and dread.Įpisode 2: One for the Angels. (Could the show’s low budget have something to do with this? Fewer actors, fewer paychecks.) Holliman never shuts up, which could have been about worry over whether you could keep an audience’s attention with one character who never talks, but I got to where I was wishing he’d shut the hell up. Not the strongest episode, although it introduces a lot of themes that the show would continue to address, especially isolation. Jocular at first, he slowly loses his mind. Food is still cooking, cigars are still smoking, but nobody is around. These are capsule reviews that were originally published at 1: Where Is Everybody?Īn amnesiac (Earl Holliman) wanders through an abandoned town, trying to figure out where everyone is and how he came to be there.

Twilight zone casino episode