Twilight Zone event to include screenings and pop culture debate marking 50th Anniversary of cult series

October 2nd, 2009 marks the 50th Anniversary of Rod Serling’s sci-fi classic show The Twilight Zone, which almost single-handedly triggered the inclusion of the television sci-fi genre into the pop culture lexicon. On that night, illustrator, author and Twilight Zone scholar Arlen Schumer will be hosting a multimedia presentation called The Twilight Zone Forever at The Times Center to mark the occasion.

The Twilight Zone Forever will include screenings of the classic episode Eye of the Beholder as well as The Twilight Zone’s pilot episode Where is Everybody. Schumer will also hold a lively discussion and debate on the astounding impact The Twilight Zone has had on pop culture for the last 50 years.

Arlen Schumer wrote and designed Visions From the Twilight Zone, the only coffee table art book about the series and continues to present multimedia shows and lectures about the show around the country.

Date: October 2, 2009
Location: The Times Center, 242 West 41st Street, New York City, New York

Find out more about at Arlen Schumer’s website RIGHT HERE, where you’ll also find photos, show synopses, and great trivia surrounding the show, including the top ten all-time Twilight Zone movie star guest star appearances, which include:

• Charles Bronson (episode Two, 1961)
• James Coburn (episode The Old Man in The Cave, 1963)
• Robert Duvall (episode Miniature, 1963)
• Dennis Hopper (episode He’s Alive, 1963)
• Lee Marvin (episode The Grave, 1961)
• Roddy McDowell (episode People Are Alike All Over, 1960)
• Robert Redford (episode Nothing in The Dark, 1962)
• Burt Reynolds (episode The Bard, 1963)
• Cliff Robertson (episode The Dummy, 1962)
• Gig Young (episode Walking Distance, 1959)

AND the top ten all-time soon-to-be TV star guest appearances, including:

• Carol Burnett, 1960 (from The Carol Burnett Show, 1967)
• Peter Falk, 1961 (from Columbo, 1968
• Jack Klugman, 1960 (from The Odd Couple, 1970)
• Martin Landau, 1964 (from Mission: Impossible, 1966)
• Burgess Meredith, 1959 (from Batman, 1966)
• Elizabeth Montgomery, 1961 (from Bewitched, 1964)
• Bill Mumy, 1961 (from Lost in Space, 1965)
• Telly Savalas, 1963 (from Kojak, 1973)
• William Shatner, 1960 (from Star Trek, 1966)
• Dennis Weaver, 1961 (from McCloud, 1970)

In looking over The Twilight Zone’s IMDB page, I also noticed some very interesting directors that’ve stepped behind the camera on the classic sci-fi series, including Lamont Johnson (8 episodes, 1961-1963), who played Tarzan on radio in the 1950s; iconic action director Don Siegel (2 episodes, 1963-1964), who helmed Walter Matthau’s Charley Varrick, Charles Bronson’s Telefon, Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry and many others; and Superman director Richard Donner (6 episodes, 1963-1964).