3/28/2020
Seven ‘Twilight Zone’ Episodes that are Eerily Timely During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Breaking Newstags: popular culture, science fiction, television, coronavirus
“The barrier of loneliness: the palpable, desperate need of the human animal to be with his fellow man. Up there … is an enemy known as isolation.”
So goes creator and host Rod Serling’s closing narration from the debut 1959 episode of “The Twilight Zone,” aptly titled “Where Is Everybody?,” in which a man loses his grip when there is no human companionship to be found anywhere.
Six decades later, “The Twilight Zone” can be found on multiple channels (including MeTV and Syfy) and streaming services (Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video), largely because its themes on the human condition ring eternal. Time travel, cosmic exploration, the power of new technology, the experiences that bedevil us, the nostalgia that summons us — so much of what fascinated Serling speaks to our sense of existential threats, including ways in which shortsighted behavior might hasten our own extinction.
As we live under self-quarantine or enforced lockdown during this covid-19 pandemic of more than a half-million confirmed cases, some “Twilight Zone” stories are especially relevant. Or some episodes of the classic series—which CBS rebooted last year—can be a diverting emotional escape.
comments powered by Disqus
News
- What Happens When SCOTUS is This Unpopular?
- Eve Babitz's Archive Reveals the Person Behind the Persona
- Making a Uranium Ghost Town
- Choosing History—A Rejoinder to William Baude on The Use of History at SCOTUS
- Alexandria, VA Freedom House Museum Reopens, Making Key Site of Slave Trade a Center for Black History
- Primary Source: Winning World War 1 By Fighting Waste at the Grocery Counter
- The Presidential Records Act Explains How the FBI Knew What to Search For at Mar-a-Lago
- Theocracy Now! The Forgotten Influence of L. Brent Bozell on the Right
- Janice Longone, Chronicler of American Food Traditions
- Revisiting Lady Rochford and Her Alleged Betrayal of Anne Boleyn