Movies - TV
Rod Serling’s Favorite Twilight Zone Episode Was Also One Of The Saddest
By WILLIAM BIBBIANI
“The Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling wrote 92 of the series’ 156 episodes, but one tale he adapted from a short story by Lynn Venable is one of his favorites.
Episode 8 of the series, “Time Enough at Last,” features Burgess Meredith’s Henry Bemis, a mild-mannered bank teller who wants to read his books in peace.
Others hate Bemis for his love of reading, and he gets constantly harassed for it. The episode emphasizes the character’s plight, helping the audience sympathize with Bemis.
Saved by sheer luck because he took his break in the bank vault, Bemis emerges to find the world has been destroyed, and he is all alone with a mostly undamaged library.
Unfortunately, his prescription reading glasses break. Unlike other characters in “The Twilight Zone,” Bemis isn’t a bad person and doesn’t deserve this cruel fate.
Serling described the twist in “Time Enough at Last” as “sheer, pure, beautiful irony.” This iconic moment may be the saddest fate in the history of televised fiction.