Exploring the Escapism in 'Twilight Zone'

The Twilight Zone is arguably one of the best and most influential shows in television history. The reason it endures, and is still being watched and talked about more than sixty years after its debut, can not only be traced to its superior storytelling and innovations in the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, but the fact that each episode is embedded with a lesson on how to grapple with life's moral and existential dilemmas.

Here to unpack those life lessons is Mark Dawidziak, author of Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Twilight Zone. Today on the show, Mark and I discuss the parable-like morals from a selection of Twilight Zone episodes, drawn from those that are my favorites, Mark's favorites, and simply classic. And, since Halloween is coming up, Mark and I both offer our picks for the just plain scariest episodes to watch.

Resources Related to the Episode

• Episodes referenced in the show:
  • "A Stop at Willoughby"
  • "Walking Distance"
  • "Time Enough at Last"
  • "A Nice Place to Visit"
  • "To Serve Man"
  • "Mr. Bevis"
  • "Kick the Can"
  • "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"
  • "The Obsolete Man"
• Mark's picks for the scariest Twilight Zone episodes:
  • "Twenty Two"
  • "Ring-a-Ding Girl"
• Brett's picks for the scariest Twilight Zone episodes:
  • "Living Doll"
  • "The Dummy"
  • "It's a Good Life"
• AoM articles inspired by Twilight Zone episodes:
  • Can’t Have the Sweet Without the Bitter (Inspired by "A Nice Place to Visit")
  • How Redundancies Increase Your Antifragility (Inspired by "Time Enough at Last")
  • Sunday Firesides: Things Don’t Get Old, We Do (The illustration is an Easter egg homage to "Walking Distance")

Connect With Mark Dawidziak

• Mark's Website