What are you favorite episodes of the TWZ?
My favorite Twilight Zone episode is also the first one I watched. It was âFive Characters in Search of an Exitâ, airing during the customary New Yearâs Eve marathon that the Sci-Fi Channel (or SyFy as I guess itâs called now) still does to this day. I must have been nine or ten, and I wasnât interested in Dick Clarkâs New Yearâs Rockinâ Eve the way all the adults seemed to be, so while they commandeered the main TV, I hung out in the basement watching the smaller TV we kept there. I was flipping around looking for something to watch when I caught the last fifteen minutes or so of âFive Characters.â
I was so enthralled that I ended up staying downstairs watching the marathon for the rest of the night and into the wee hours of the next morning. Funny thing is, as the party began to wind down upstairs, more and more people began to migrate to the basement to join me in watching the marathon, until the room was packed with family and friends watching the Twilight Zone on this tiny TV with awful reception, delighting in the showâs twists and Rod Serlingâs dour observations.
Watching the New Yearâs marathon became something of a family tradition after that, and âFive Charactersâ is still one of my favorite episodes for that reason.
