While we wait for the third season of Star Trek: Discovery to show up on CBS All Access, today does bring news on another genre show for the streaming service, The Twilight Zone.
Return to another dimension on June 25th
The Twilight Zone returns to All Access on Thursday, June 25. The second season of executive producer Jordan Peele’s modern re-imagining of the classic TV series contains ten episodes, with Peele returning as host. The guest star list includes Morena Baccarin, Kylie Bunbury, Jenna Elfman, Ethan Embry, Sky Ferreira, Tavi Gevinson, Topher Grace, Tony Hale, Gillian Jacobs, David Krumholtz, Thomas Lennon, Sophia Macy, Natalie Martinez, Joel McHale, Chris Meloni, Gretchen Mol, Paula Newsome, Billy Porter, Jimmi Simpson, Jurnee Smollett, Daniel Sunjata, Damon Wayans Jr. and more.
Jordan Peele from season two episode “You Might Also Like”
They also released a new trailer.
Celebrate the Trek connections
Today is National Twilight Zone Day. On Twitter, TrekMovie celebrated the event with a little animated slide show featuring some of the Star Trek stars who have shown up on both the classic Twilight Zone and the new All Access series.
It's #TwilightZoneDay. Several #StarTrek actors have been in The Zone. pic.twitter.com/CyRcw3hxv4
— TrekMovie.com (@TrekMovie) May 11, 2020
Keep up with Twilight Zone news here at TrekMovie.
The Twilight Zone left a bad taste in my mouth… So I’m not watching season 2. I’m sorry but season 1 was a horrible experience for me. Most of it was forgettable.
I watch similar shows like Black Mirror or American Horror Story. Those shows are more enjoyable than this one.
Jordan Peele is a great guy but that wasn’t enough. He makes cool stuff. Good luck to him.
I’m with you Faze Ninja. That first season was some of the most horrible dreck ever put to film. It made Plan 9 From Outer Space look like Citizen Kain. If they think adding that garbage to their line up will get me to re-up before STD S3 they are crazy. I plan on skipping it when I re-up unless I hear from word of mouth it improved.
I just started Black Mirror. The first two episodes were so much better than that new TZ it cannot even be measured. Rod Serling would be appaled at what has become of his masterpiece.
I enjoyed it. Not classic TZ, but solid offbeart sci-twisty dramas. Not much to dislike!
I forgot I ever watched it . Think I watched 1.5 episodes before realizing it was NG
I found season one, unfortunately, to be largely forgettable compared to the last three TZ shows, all of which I greatly enjoyed. This four incarnation, though… it’s just not working for me. Peele is great as the narrator, but the stories themselves are as dull as Drumpf.
I really love how fans these days see things in such black and white terms. If a new show isn’t as good as one of the best classic shows ever to air on television, it’s not worth watching. There IS room in this world for something that’s just good, solid entertainment.
I agree. There is room for good entertainment. Peele’s TZ is certainly NOT it. I have only seen two Black Mirror episodes. Neither were super good but they were decent enough. And light years better than anything on JP’s TZ.
Well, there is an opposing view to this too and I feel like I see it more and more. Yes good and bad can be subjective, but unfortunately this argument of “subjectiveness” actually is becoming more and more an excuse for producers to put out simply bad products and when people don’t like them, they just refer back to the “subjective” argument. Yes, entertainment can be subjective but sometimes like Freud said, a cigar is just a cigar and something can be just bad.
I don’t know, if I’m 100% with you. The thing is, they revived the “Twilight Zone” Brand for this. So there better be a really good reason for this, other than just money. The original show was groundbreaking in pretty much every way. And with shows like Black Mirror these days, you’d have to make sure, you’re up to at least that standard … sadly, it was nowhere near …
Now I haven’t seen them, but from what I’ve read, both of Peeles Movies could be outstanding Twilight Zone Episodes. So he obiously has it in him.
Quote: The thing is, they revived the “Twilight Zone” Brand for this. So there better be a really good reason for this, other than just money.
The reason for all the reboots, re-imaginings, revivals etc. is money. Studios/networks think that redoing stuff that used to be successful in the past has a better chance of being successful again than coming up with new stuff.
I haven’t seen the new Twilight Zone because it’s only available in the US (and Greece, apparently) so I cannot judge it.
Ah, the famous award-winning racist Jordan “I Can’t See Myself Casting A White Dude As The Lead” Peele. How does he still have the job, after the mediocre performance that was the first season?
I’ve only ever knew TTZ from its 80s remake (which I did watch patiently every single week, but didn’t really like all that much). Last year, after being exposed to Peele’s peelings, I finally got into the right mood to binge the entire Rod Serling original (which I was aware of, but not familiar with). I expected not to like it, either, but you know what? Jordan Peele isn’t worthy to light a cig to Mr. Serling.
Just like Jordan Peele, Rod Serling was pushing social justice agenda – yet somehow, at the same time, Rod Serling also managed to create one of the best shows in history. Peele, on the other hand, seems to be too busy inventing creative ways to kill off white characters to actually care about making a coherent show. :P
Rod Serling was one of, and employed some of, the best writers of that era. Such is not the case here. I’ll be passing on this; season one was uninspired and boring, imo.
In terms of rebooting old IPs, I think Apple did a better job with Amazing Stories than CBS with The Twilight Zone. None of them were great television, though, which shows you how low I actually rate The Twilight Zone season 1. Don’t know where all those positive reviews were coming from.
Probably from people who just look at it as a TV drama, and not holding it up against the original. I think they were really good stories. Enjoyed them quite a bit. They aren’t favorites, to be sure, and i’m unlikely to rewatch them anytime soon, but I think they were certainly worth of my time, and I got something out of each one, even if none of them warranted four stars. Better than Black Mirror, in my opinion, which has one or two highlights, but got old for me really quickly because they all just start to feel the same.
It’s difficult to avoid comparing this to the original when they keep reminding us of the original (see the tiny, bulbous astronaut figure in this trailer for example). They probably would’ve been better off calling it “Jordan Peele’s Nightmares” or some other title. That would free it of a lot of its baggage.
It would free it of a lot of baggage. But then it would exclude a lot of potential viewers. They revive the TZ for the brand. To grab viewers. (until they saw the first season at least)
Jordan Peele had a big hit with “Get Out.” His name alone could’ve pulled in potential viewers. This reviving of old brands is starting to look, well, old.
I think it obvious that his success with Get Out has allowed for this opportunity. Unfortunately it was not close to the same level. It makes one wonder… Was TZ the fluke or was Get Out the fluke?
I don’t mind the comparisons, and it’s perfectly fair to say the new TZ falls well short. But I think it’s not a fair assessment to say it’s garbage just because it isn’t good it’s predeccessors. There is a middle ground, and that’s where this falls: well written, well acted, well directed dramas. I think they’re very good. Not close to being the best thing on TV or streaming, but neither was TNG, DS9, VOY, or ENT, as much as I adore those shows.
WITH ALL THAT SAID, I do also think the original TZ is overhyped and overrated: lots of legendary, brilliant episodes, but also LOADS of forgettable, poorly written filler episodes. Probably more bad than good, but the good was SO good, it overrides everything else.
I have no idea how the new Amazing Stories compares to NBC’s in the 80’s but what I recall from back then was that CBS’ 80’s TZ was had the more interesting stories and pretty good writing. AS had a superior production value but their stories really weren’t that good at all.
I would be curious to see the new AS but no way in hell I’m subscribing to Apple TV.
Regarding Peele’s season 1 TZ… Rotton Tomatoes has the critic score at 71% and audience at 40%. That means there must have been reviews somewhere that rated it pretty well. But I didn’t see them and would question any critic who felt it was of any kind of quality.
The 1980s Twilight Zone was actually pretty solid.
No argument from me on that, BringBackKirkPrime.
Who’s the guy in the middle, in the helmet?
Leonard Nimoy bro.
My beef with the episodes were that they were too long. It seemed like they forced themselves to fill in an hour’s worth of material when they only ever had a half hour’s worth.
I’ll still watch.
I stopped watching the first season about 5 episodes in. It was more a show about liberal politics than a sci-fi show. It was over the top, in your face, no creativity, and just flat out obnoxious. There’s no reason to think that a season 2 would be better. I’m not interested in The Woke Zone.
Hopefully, they’ve learned from how awful the first season was from political propaganda. One episode focused on how all cops are racists (and not one of them was redeemable in the episode), another on how all men are rapists in waiting, another on the evil of all guns, etc. Yes, the original “Twilight Zone” had underlying political themes – but Rod Serling never hit you over the head with a pickax with politics until you were a bloody pulp. It was truly awful.
Hey! Rod Sterling,
STAR. TREK. PIKE…NOW!!!