July 12, 2023- number 120

Spoilers

“The Bard”

The Twilight Zone just can not do comedy.

“The Bard” is currently my least favorite episode of The Twilight Zone.

“You’ve just witnessed opportunity, if not knocking, at least scratching plaintively on a closed door. Mr. Julius Moomer, a would-be writer, who if talent came 25 cents a pound, would be worth less than car fare. But, in a moment, Mr. Moomer, through the offices of some black magic, is about to embark on a brand-new career. And although he may never get a writing credit on the Twilight Zone, he’s to become an integral character in it.”

There are a ton of issues in this episode. First, the character of Julius Moomer is just as unlikable as any character we have seen in this series. I couldn’t stand listening to this idiot and his overbearing and obnoxious attitude. Second, the comedy was being overlaid with a series of weird sound effects and silly music that made the whole thing feel cartoony and childish. Third, the whole ‘black magic’ section of the plot made no sense and had little, if any, effect on the plot, outside of bringing Shakespeare to the present, a story beat that we see a ton in a series like Bewitched.

We do see an early appearance by Burt Reynolds, playing an actor in the play written by Shakespeare but plagiarized by Julius Moomer. Reynolds is clearly doin an imitation of Marlon Brando, even going as far as referencing ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ and other recent work from playwrights.

The episode had a message about how people not involved in the creative part of TV can change things with their simple say so. They include an advertiser in the scene who made a bunch of changes to the script, even going as far as saying that his wife didn’t like something. Rod Serling had famously had this very trouble and is using this episode to satirize the situation.

This is the final episode of season four. Season four has been up and down with some really strong parts and other episodes that are just horrendous. The Bard falls into that latter category as this episode is a huge clunker. This also marks the final episode of the hour format as season five returned to the half hour episodes. There were considerably more episodes that were hurt by the longer time than episodes that was helped by it.

Tomorrow, I will begin season five, the final season of the original run of The Twilight Zone. There are 36 episodes remaining in the classic EYG Hall of Fame series.