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May 26, 2012

Rod Serling, creepy man in your child's bedroom - VIDEO

by Adam Finley, posted Jan 4th 2007 7:32AM

rod serlingI loves myself some Twilight Zone, but when I watch repeats of the classic series I can't help but notice that the dialogue in Rod Serling's scripts was somewhat overwrought. I sometimes have trouble watching certain episodes and not imagining Serling hunched over his typewriter, giggling to himself at how clever he's being. That's not necessarily a criticism -- if anything, it's that mix of segments that made you roll your eyes and ones that truly gripped you that kept the series interesting and still makes it stand out even today.

Then there's this Radio Shack commercial. I mentioned this over on our sister site Ad Jab, but thought TV Squad readers would enjoy it, too. Using his classic Twilight Zone delivery, Serling tells us all about a fun electronic hobby kit, which I guess was a popular toy back in the day. I never had one, though. Instead, my parents gave me a broken toaster which I used to crack open walnuts until the Great Walnut Drought of '87. Times were simpler then.

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Noel Murray

Actually, if you listen to the old interviews on the TWILIGHT ZONE DVDs, Serling more or less acknowledges that his prose was overly purple. He seemed pretty aware of his strengths and weaknesses, andof what fit the style of the show he was doing.

January 04 2007 at 10:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

I don't remember the commercial, but I owned the 150 in 1 kit and have given them away to the next generation.

January 04 2007 at 8:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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