The Only Twilight Zone Episode With A Laugh Track

As "The Twilight Zone" was nearing the end of its third season in 1962, creator Rod Serling was feeling the strain of having to generate over half of the series' scripts. Though Serling was fortunate to have a regular network outlet through which he could prick the increasingly troubled consciences of an American public confronted with the Civil Rights Movement, the Cold War, and the military's expanding involvement in the Vietnam conflict, he was, off-camera at least, a very funny man. He liked to laugh. And if he had his druthers, he'd have a separate network outlet to make television viewers laugh as well.

So, late in the third season, Serling revisited "Mr. Bevis," a pilot premise he'd attempted in the first season of "The Twilight Zone," and gave it broader comedic spin. The result was "Cavender Is Coming," which, if it pleased his CBS overlords, would've become a sitcom vehicle for Jesse White (who was five years away from beginning his 30 year run as television advertising's bored and lonely Maytag repairman).

The hook was hardly novel. White stars as Cavender, a bumbling guardian angel who has been sent to Earth to improve the life of the equally bumbling Agnes Grep (Carol Burnett). Should he fail to do so in 24 hours, he will be demoted. Since viewers were accustomed to tuning into "The Twilight Zone" for something suspenseful or downright frightening, a laugh track was affixed to the episode.

That laugh track did "Cavender Is Coming" no favors. CBS didn't take Serling's pilot to series, and, nowadays, it often winds up on lists of the show's worst episodes. This is unfortunate because, despite its lack of originality, "Cavender is Coming" is a nifty comedic showcase for White and Burnett. And this is more readily apparent because that laugh track is mercifully no more.

One element working in Serling's favor was that the film he's blatantly ripping off, Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," had yet to become a beloved holiday classic. He also had a killer secret weapon in Burnett, who'd wowed theatergoers on Broadway as Princess Winnifred in the original Broadway run of "Once Upon a Mattress" but had yet to break out in movies or television.

But Burnett also proved to be his biggest problem. "Cavender Is Coming" was built around White. Each episode was supposed to find him helping out another hard-luck human in his seemingly never ending quest to finally obtain his wings. And while White is hilarious as the fun-loving angel who, much to the consternation of his cranky supervisor (Howard Smith), sneaks cigars and tips the elbow on occasion, Burnett blows him off the screen.

From the moment we see the clumsy, tongue-tied Agnes bungle her way out of a job as a movie theater usher, we'd prefer a sitcom that deals with her work and romance travails. After watching Burnett's Agnes interact with the flustered adults and attention-starved kids in her apartment building, it's disappointing to see Cavender quickly fix her life. And it's just flat-out wrong to hear manufactured laughter in response to Burnett's wonderfully awkward interactions with the high-society snobs whose acceptance Cavender believes she's craving. What she's doing exists on another plane of comedy –- which CBS would exploit with a consistently-doubled-over-with-laughter live studio audience when "The Carol Burnett Show" premiered in the fall of 1967.

Serling saw this, and went on to rue having wasted Burnett's talent.

According to Serling's daughter Anne, her father wrote a letter apologizing for having stranded her in a bum episode of "The Twilight Zone." Burnett felt his contrition was unnecessary (she was fine with "Cavender Is Coming"), and has happily promoted the episode over the years.

As someone who grew up groaning through the laugh-track version of "Cavender Is Coming" in syndication, I'm glad the episode is now unadorned with this cheap effect. Though Serling was unquestionably more comfortable writing drama and suspense, it's nice to see him indulge his Capraesque sentimental side. He might've taken a dim view of humanity, but "The Twilight Zone" was never a nihilistic wallow. He sought to wake his viewers up to the world's cruelties and injustices so that they might work to remedy them. So he deserved to cut himself –- and his audience –- some slack with an upbeat episode every now and then.

"Cavender Is Coming" is a pleasant 25 minutes of frivolity directed with supreme confidence by Christian Nyby (Howard Hawks' former editor, best known for helming the sci-fi/horror classic "The Thing from Another World"). It's a must-watch just to behold Burnett, on the cusp of comedy stardom, take a one-and-done sojourn into "The Twilight Zone."