'Twilight Zone' celebrates 50th anniversary

Who knew in 1959 that the "Twilight Zone," a show that creator Rod Serling had a devil of time getting on the air, would turn into one of the medium's greatest and lasting success stories?

Now, half a century later, episodes are shown nightly on the SyFy Channel, which also hosts an annual marathon every New Year's Eve.

A couple of Christmases ago, I bought my brother a book called the "Twilight Zone Companion." The book has all kinds of information about the show such as a listing of episodes, their stars and the date it first aired. He said it was one of the best presents he ever got.

I used to work with a fellow named Tony Baranek, who claims to have every episode on tape. Every now and again we'd start discussing the show. One night I think we talked about the show for hours.

Few shows from that era are still popular today. A big part of that is today's generation doesn't generally embrace movies and TV shows that aren't shown in color, and shows from that era were filmed in black and white. It didn't make a lot of sense filming TV in color since nobody had color televisions in the 1950s and early 1960s.

"Twilight Zone" has stood the test of time. That's probably due to great writing, great acting and a haunting theme song.

 Everyone has a favorite episode. Most people probably have several favorites. All of the show's 156 episodes are available on video and DVD. Here are six of my favorites. If you have a favorite you'd like to share, post a comment here or on Facebook.

"Time Enough at Last" (Nov. 20, 1959) -- Burgess Meredith, who appears in four episodes, stars as a henpecked bank teller whose habit of lunching in the bank's vault saves him from a nuclear attack. This episode has probably the finest ending of them all.

"To Serve Man" (March 2, 1962) -- Lloyd Bochner stars in this episode about a race of giants that arrives on Earth and puts an end to war and hunger. As he's about to embark on a visit to their planet, Bochner finds out their true reason for coming to our planet. Richard Kiel co-stars as the alien leader (seen in photo above).

"People Are the Same All Over" (March 25, 1960) -- Roddy McDowall stars in this episode about an astronaut's fears that the people on another planet will be radically different from people on Earth.

"King Nine Will Not Return" (Sept. 30, 1960) -- Robert Cummings stars as a World War II pilot stranded alone in the North African desert with his crashed bomber. Or is he? This episode is the first to feature the familiar theme song and Rod Serling's on-camera narration.

"The Night of the Meek" (Dec. 23, 1960) -- Art Carney stars as a department store Santa fired for being drunk who gets once last chance at redemption.

"The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms" (Dec. 6, 1963) -- Three members of a National Guard tank unit start seeing and hearing strange things when they find themselves at the site where George Custer's 7th Cavalry was annihilated by the Sioux.

Watch "Twilight Zone" for free at:

http://www.cbs.com/classics/the_twilight_zone/

http://www.fancast.com/tv/The-Twilight-Zone/97525/full-episodes