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When I have a night off and I’m at home what do I do? I read, do laundry, watch a movie, clean, cook, dance, etc. It’s strange doing all these things at night. When I look at the clock, part of my brain tells me it’s time to sleep but the other part reminds me that I need to stay awake. So I make myself some coffee and I turn on telly.

Though, as I’m sure you know, there is precious little to watch at 3am. I keep the TV on mostly to drive away the silence. Not that I don’t enjoy the silence. It’s just that it can be overbearing at times. So I’ve fallen into a TV pattern: from 10-12 it’s the Golden Girls, my comfort food. Then Fraiser, a program I find entertaining enough until two. Then Cheers comes on and I either turn off the TV or completely tune out as I do something else.

It’s usually about this time I turn to Netflix. And lately I’ve been watching one show in particular: The Twilight Zone.

da na na na, da na na na

i always have to remind myself
that it's Serling, no Sterling

I adore this show. The original, mind you. Black and white with the fabulously brilliant Rod Serling introducing each episode, cigarette in hand. His voice just get to me. And his writing is outstanding. Timeless. Perfection. Behind every “nightmare” there is a moral, a lesson, some message he’s trying to get across. Messages that still need to be heard today. There is a reason people still watch this show. There is a reason we still reference these stories, parody them.

One show in particular comes to mind when I think of Twilight Zone references. Family Guy, of all things. The more Zone episodes I rewatch, the more I find myself thinking, “Hey they did that on Family Guy! Strange.” I wonder what Mr. Serling would have to say about that.

I love that man. And I tell him evertime I watch an episode. Well, at least I think it. Occasionally I think it out loud. Right at the end of his introduction, right as he says, “…in the Twilight Zone,” I think, “I love Rod Serling.” And then I settle in for another thought provoking piece of classic science fiction. Yum.