Around the dial

Photo by Stockcake.com

Let's start this week at Comfort TV, where David takes three classics and three wasted trips into Season 3 of The Twilight Zone. No arguments from me on either list, especially when it comes to Rod Serling's disastrous track record on comedies. But, then, we can't all be geniuses in multiple genres, can we?

Let's now keep that TZ vibe going, as Jordan at The Twilight Zone Vortex asks what kind of stories would have made great episodes for an imagined sixth season of the series. This really is a great question, given the disappointment many fans have with the final season. Some of these suggestions are quite intriguing, and all of them would make great episodes of a future anthology series, if anyone out there is reading this.

Looking at the latest entry at Cult TV Blog gives me a chance to once again thank John for his terrific piece that ran on Wednesday (read it here if you haven't already), and his series on similarities between The Prisoner and Soviet Russia continues this week with "The Schizoid Man" and "The General," and you should check it out.

Staying across the pond, at Classic Film & TV Cafe Rick gives us seven things to know about The Avengers, another of my favorite imports. If you consider yourself a fan of the series, here's your chance to prove it: how many of these seven things did you know?

More from British TV: Prunella Scales, one of the stars of the all-time classic comedy Fawlty Towers, tied last week, age 93. Her career covers far more than that one program, of course, and Terence has the highlights in this tribute at A Shroud of Thoughts.

This must be my lucky week: Cult TV Lounge focuses on yet another favorite of mine, Naked City, which makes the list not only as one of the best police dramas on televisison, but one of the best drama series, period. What sets it apart? This look at season two (the first in its hour-long format) gives you a good idea.

Martin Grams gives us another book review of a classic radio moment: John Gosling's Waging the War of the Worlds: A History of the 1938 Radio Broadcast and Resulting Panic. Orson Welles' immortal, much-misunderstood, always fascinating broadcast. No matter what you know about this, it isn't enough.

Remember Mike the skunk? He's the newest member of the A-Team, and at The View from the Junkyard, Roger looks at his debut in the episode "The Battle of Bel Air." Actually, that's not quite right: this episode also introduces Tawnia, the replacemenbt for Amy. 

Finally, the classic TV director Ralph Senensky died this week, age 102. His credits are too numerous to mention, and one of the few things that can compare to his resume is his ability to write about his experiences, which you can read about at his webite. TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!