In the "Star Trek" episode "Patterns of Force", Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) visit the pre-warp planet of Ekos to find out what happened to John Gill (David Brian), an old history professor of Kirk's. Ekos, they find, has been culturally contaminated by Gill, as he taught them all about Nazi Germany in the 1930s, and the Ekosians have rearranged their society to match. They wear Nazi uniforms, praise John Gill as their Führer, and plan to exterminate their peaceful neighbor planet Zeon. The Zeon characters have names like Izak and Abrom.
There is also a secret resistance that Kirk and Spock can hide out with, and they eventually find a way to confront John Gill. Gill, they find, has been propped up by one of the more zealously Nazi Ekosians, and has been kept in line with drugs. Gill admits that he landed on Ekos finding it to be disorganized and chaotic,...
There is also a secret resistance that Kirk and Spock can hide out with, and they eventually find a way to confront John Gill. Gill, they find, has been propped up by one of the more zealously Nazi Ekosians, and has been kept in line with drugs. Gill admits that he landed on Ekos finding it to be disorganized and chaotic,...
- 4/7/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Frank Sinatra went through phases like he went through wives. The legendary crooner and movie star could exhibit impeccable taste for what people wanted to see and hear, and then, in a few year's time, completely lose his grasp of the zeitgeist.
Sinatra was threatening to enter one of his down periods in the mid-1960s. The popular music scene was in the throes of Beatlemania, while moviegoers were tiring of the Rat Pack's antics. Who wanted to see Sinatra and the gang saunter their way through Western and gangster pastiches like "4 for Texas" and "Robin and the 7 Hoods" when they could watch Elvis Presley set the screen ablaze with Ann-Margret in "Viva Las Vegas"?
To be fair, Sinatra was still Sinatra, but after giving one of his finest performances in John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate," he started playing it way too safe. Bud Yorkin and...
Sinatra was threatening to enter one of his down periods in the mid-1960s. The popular music scene was in the throes of Beatlemania, while moviegoers were tiring of the Rat Pack's antics. Who wanted to see Sinatra and the gang saunter their way through Western and gangster pastiches like "4 for Texas" and "Robin and the 7 Hoods" when they could watch Elvis Presley set the screen ablaze with Ann-Margret in "Viva Las Vegas"?
To be fair, Sinatra was still Sinatra, but after giving one of his finest performances in John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate," he started playing it way too safe. Bud Yorkin and...
- 2/1/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Searching for a list of the best up and coming screenwriters? Coverfly has curated a list of lists that brings together a raft of rising writers.
The company, which is a platform of unproduced IP and writing programs, has put together the Best Unrepped Writers, Best Unproduced Projects and The Next List as well as aggregating writing network fellowships such as NBC Launch + Sony Diverse Writers Program, writing competitions like The Academy Nicholl Fellowship and Final Draft’s Big Break, and other annual lists such as Village Roadshow’s Blood List.
Previous iterations of these lists have featured writers that have gone on to write for series such as Stranger Things, Bridgerton, and Beef.
The Next List is compiled by nominations from the thousands of managers, agents, and executives on The Coverfly and Tracking Board platforms. It features 35 selections including 31 individuals and four writing teams from film, television, and playwriting backgrounds.
The company, which is a platform of unproduced IP and writing programs, has put together the Best Unrepped Writers, Best Unproduced Projects and The Next List as well as aggregating writing network fellowships such as NBC Launch + Sony Diverse Writers Program, writing competitions like The Academy Nicholl Fellowship and Final Draft’s Big Break, and other annual lists such as Village Roadshow’s Blood List.
Previous iterations of these lists have featured writers that have gone on to write for series such as Stranger Things, Bridgerton, and Beef.
The Next List is compiled by nominations from the thousands of managers, agents, and executives on The Coverfly and Tracking Board platforms. It features 35 selections including 31 individuals and four writing teams from film, television, and playwriting backgrounds.
- 12/8/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who recorded the song “Patterns” together in 2000, have reunited for a new song that will help raise money for imperiled Armenians.
The tune was the brainchild of Cesar Gueikian, CEO of Gibson Brands. Gueikian, an Argentine member of the Armenian diaspora, teamed with Tankian and Iommi on a new song, “Deconstruction,” that’s coming out under the banner of the Gibson Band via Gibson Records as a charity single. The tune is a six-minute descent into psychedelic...
The tune was the brainchild of Cesar Gueikian, CEO of Gibson Brands. Gueikian, an Argentine member of the Armenian diaspora, teamed with Tankian and Iommi on a new song, “Deconstruction,” that’s coming out under the banner of the Gibson Band via Gibson Records as a charity single. The tune is a six-minute descent into psychedelic...
- 12/8/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
As an anthology television series, with new stories and new characters every single week, "The Twilight Zone" never had someone you could call a "main character." Audiences tuned in every week to see Jessica Fletcher catch killers on "Murder, She Wrote," and for Larry David to be a massive a-hole on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but there was no single star in "The Twilight Zone."
There was, however, one person who appeared throughout the whole series, in pretty much every episode, if only briefly. His name was Rod Serling. He was already one of the most celebrated TV writers in the world when he created "The Twilight Zone," thanks to hard-hitting dramas like "Patterns" and "The Comedian," and his name was probably not unknown to many fans of televised programs when the series premiered. Over the course of "The Twilight Zone," he would introduce new episodes, tease upcoming stories, and generally...
There was, however, one person who appeared throughout the whole series, in pretty much every episode, if only briefly. His name was Rod Serling. He was already one of the most celebrated TV writers in the world when he created "The Twilight Zone," thanks to hard-hitting dramas like "Patterns" and "The Comedian," and his name was probably not unknown to many fans of televised programs when the series premiered. Over the course of "The Twilight Zone," he would introduce new episodes, tease upcoming stories, and generally...
- 10/6/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- Slash Film
This past spring, actor and comedian Drew Droege was performing his one-man show Happy Birthday Doug at the SoHo Playhouse in New York City, when it was cut short in March like the rest of live theater due to social distancing restrictions enforced to reduce harm during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now Droege (known to thousands of fans from his “Chloë” clips, Drunk History, Bob’s Burgers, RuPaul’s Aj and the Queen on Netflix) is thrilled to offer a recorded version of the performance filmed during quarantine on BroadwayHD from producer Michael Urie.
- 9/25/2020
- by Jerry Portwood
- Rollingstone.com
The Off Broadway run of Drew Droege’s well-received solo show Happy Birthday Doug was cut short by the Covid-19 shutdown, but a specially-filmed quarantine performance, produced by Michael Urie, is set to make its streaming debut.
Happy Birthday Doug, directed at the Soho Playhouse by Tom DeTrinis and directed for film and edited by Jim Hansen, will premiere on streaming service BroadwayHD September 24.
Written and performed by Droege, Happy Birthday Doug chronicles the 41st birthday of the title character. Droege plays Doug and all of his birthday party guests, a collection of gay men that includes “friends, exes, nightmares, tricks, and even a ghost.”
“As if I could be any more impressed by Drew Droege, he goes and achieves something phenomenal with Tom Detrinis and Jim Hansen, turning Happy Birthday Doug into a movie,” said producer Urie in a statement. “I’m so proud to premiere the movie on...
Happy Birthday Doug, directed at the Soho Playhouse by Tom DeTrinis and directed for film and edited by Jim Hansen, will premiere on streaming service BroadwayHD September 24.
Written and performed by Droege, Happy Birthday Doug chronicles the 41st birthday of the title character. Droege plays Doug and all of his birthday party guests, a collection of gay men that includes “friends, exes, nightmares, tricks, and even a ghost.”
“As if I could be any more impressed by Drew Droege, he goes and achieves something phenomenal with Tom Detrinis and Jim Hansen, turning Happy Birthday Doug into a movie,” said producer Urie in a statement. “I’m so proud to premiere the movie on...
- 8/27/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
A group of young, scrappy and brilliant writers penned some of the most accomplished dramas presented live during the Golden Age of TV in the 1950s. Writers such as Paddy Chayefsky, J.P. Miller (“The Days of Wine and Roses”), Reginald Rose (“Twelve Angry Men”), Tad Mosel (“The Haven”), James Costigan (“Little Moon of Alban”) and Horton Foote.
But the most influential and best-known of these writers was Rod Serling, who became a superstar as not only creator and writer but host of the landmark 1959-1964 CBS sci-fi/fantasy anthology series “The Twilight Zone,” for which he won two Emmys for his writing. “The Twilight Zone” and even his less successful 1970-73 NBC anthology series “Night Gallery” has overshadowed his earlier work for which he won three Emmys for his writing.
Among his earliest work was the 1953 “Kraft Television Theatre” presentation “A Long Time Till Dawn,” which gave a 22-year-old James Dean...
But the most influential and best-known of these writers was Rod Serling, who became a superstar as not only creator and writer but host of the landmark 1959-1964 CBS sci-fi/fantasy anthology series “The Twilight Zone,” for which he won two Emmys for his writing. “The Twilight Zone” and even his less successful 1970-73 NBC anthology series “Night Gallery” has overshadowed his earlier work for which he won three Emmys for his writing.
Among his earliest work was the 1953 “Kraft Television Theatre” presentation “A Long Time Till Dawn,” which gave a 22-year-old James Dean...
- 6/4/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
John Cassavetes springs forth as a major 1950s talent in these two ‘Primetime Special’ dramatic plays broadcast live on ABC and CBS. Crime in the Streets is the Reginald Rose classic directed by Sidney Lumet; No Right to Kill is a ‘culture for the masses’ adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Cassavetes’ co-stars are Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Terry Moore and Robert H. Harris.
Television’s Lost Classics
Volume One John Cassavetes
Crime in the Streets; No Right to Kill
Blu-ray
Vci
1955-’56 / B&W / 1:33 Kinescope / 2 x 60 min. / Street Date September 11, 2018 / 18.99 (Amazon)
Starring: John Cassavetes, Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Mark Rydell, Terry Moore, Robert H. Harris.
Directed by Sidney Lumet and Buzz Kulik
Remember the movie Network, when William Holden’s character says he’s going to write a glowing memoir about his ‘good old days’ in the Golden Era of Live TV in New York? That was in 1975, just...
Television’s Lost Classics
Volume One John Cassavetes
Crime in the Streets; No Right to Kill
Blu-ray
Vci
1955-’56 / B&W / 1:33 Kinescope / 2 x 60 min. / Street Date September 11, 2018 / 18.99 (Amazon)
Starring: John Cassavetes, Robert Preston, Glenda Farrell, Mark Rydell, Terry Moore, Robert H. Harris.
Directed by Sidney Lumet and Buzz Kulik
Remember the movie Network, when William Holden’s character says he’s going to write a glowing memoir about his ‘good old days’ in the Golden Era of Live TV in New York? That was in 1975, just...
- 2/2/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Something Wild
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 850
1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 17, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock, Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck, Charles Watts, Clifton James, Doris Roberts, Anita Cooper, Tanya Lopert.
Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Film Editor: Carl Lerner
Original Music: Aaron Copland
Written by Jack Garfein and Alex Karmel from his novel Mary Ann
Produced by George Justin
Directed by Jack Garfein
After writing up an earlier Mod disc release of the 1961 movie Something Wild, I received a brief but welcome email note from its director:
“Dear Glenn Erickson,
Thank you for your profound appreciation of Something Wild.
If possible, I would appreciate if you could send
me a copy of your review by email.
Sincerely yours, Jack Garfein”
Somewhere back East (or in London), the Actors Studio legend Jack Garfein had found favor with the review. Although...
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 850
1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 17, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock, Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck, Charles Watts, Clifton James, Doris Roberts, Anita Cooper, Tanya Lopert.
Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Film Editor: Carl Lerner
Original Music: Aaron Copland
Written by Jack Garfein and Alex Karmel from his novel Mary Ann
Produced by George Justin
Directed by Jack Garfein
After writing up an earlier Mod disc release of the 1961 movie Something Wild, I received a brief but welcome email note from its director:
“Dear Glenn Erickson,
Thank you for your profound appreciation of Something Wild.
If possible, I would appreciate if you could send
me a copy of your review by email.
Sincerely yours, Jack Garfein”
Somewhere back East (or in London), the Actors Studio legend Jack Garfein had found favor with the review. Although...
- 1/10/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Political terror scenarios were a bit simpler in the 1950s, and movies about them fairly rare. Frank Sinatra gives a strong performance as the villain John Baron, in a tense tale of presidential assassination by high-powered rifle. Suddenly Blu-ray The Film Detective 1954 / B&W / 1.75 widescreen / 75 min. / Street Date October 25, 2016 / 14.99 Starring Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason, Nancy Gates, Willis Bouchey, Cinematography Charles G. Clarke Art Direction Frank Sylos Film Editor John F. Schreyer Original Music David Raksin Written by Richard Sale Produced by Robert Bassler Directed by Lewis Allen
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Some disc companies do well by refurbishing movies in the Public Domain, using various methods to bring what were once bargain-bin eyesores nearer the level of releases made from prime source material in studio vaults. As I've reported with efforts by HD Cinema Classics and Vci, the results vary dramatically -- did the company do a professional job,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Some disc companies do well by refurbishing movies in the Public Domain, using various methods to bring what were once bargain-bin eyesores nearer the level of releases made from prime source material in studio vaults. As I've reported with efforts by HD Cinema Classics and Vci, the results vary dramatically -- did the company do a professional job,...
- 10/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Is this Rod Serling's best teleplay ever? Van Heflin, Everett Sloane and Ed Begley are at the center of a business power squeeze. Is it all about staying competitive, or is it corporate murder? With terrific early performances from Elizabeth Wilson and Beatrice Straight. Patterns Blu-ray The Film Detective 1956 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date September 27, 2016 / 14.99 Starring Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, Beatrice Straight, Elizabeth Wilson, Joanna Roos, Valerie Cossart, Eleni Kiamos, Ronnie Welsh, Shirley Standlee, Andrew Duggan, Jack Livesy, John Seymour, James Kelly, John Shelly, Victor Harrison, Sally Gracie, Sally Chamberlin, Edward Binns, Lauren Bacall, Ethel Britton, Michael Dreyfuss, Elaine Kaye, Adrienne Moore. Cinematography Boris Kaufman Film Editors Dave Kummis, Carl Lerner Art Direction Richard Sylbert Assistant Director Charles Maguire Written by Rod Serling Produced by Michael Myerberg Directed by Fielder Cook
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Let me roll off the titles of some 'fifties 'organization...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Let me roll off the titles of some 'fifties 'organization...
- 9/20/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The so-called Golden Age of Television, with its two and one-half channels of network programming, produced an astonishing number of great writers, directors and talent. To name but a very, very few: Barbara Bel Geddes, Paddy Chayefsky, George Roy Hill, Ron Howard, Ernest Kinoy, Jack Lemmon, Sidney Lumet, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Boris Sagal, Rod Serling, Rod Steiger, Gore Vidal, Joanne Woodward… my fingers won’t hold out long enough to type even a “best-of” list.
You’ll never guess which of the above pioneers is my favorite.
When Scottish engineer John Logie Baird first demonstrated television in January 1926 (six years before Philo Farnsworth demonstrated the first electronic television), Rod Serling was just a few days over one year old. Baby boomers think we grew up with television; Mr. Serling actually has that honor. And he did a lot more with the medium than we would.
His worldview was clearly...
You’ll never guess which of the above pioneers is my favorite.
When Scottish engineer John Logie Baird first demonstrated television in January 1926 (six years before Philo Farnsworth demonstrated the first electronic television), Rod Serling was just a few days over one year old. Baby boomers think we grew up with television; Mr. Serling actually has that honor. And he did a lot more with the medium than we would.
His worldview was clearly...
- 6/1/2016
- by Mike Gold
- Comicmix.com
José Ferrar stars in his second dramatic feature as director, teamed with newcomer Gena Rowlands as a married working couple. Ferrar's executive assistant isn't on the list of those invited to meet the new corporate bosses, which everyone knows means he's a dead employee walking. Things are looking darkest just as his loving wife is bringing news of a baby on the way. The show builds up a terrific critique of anxiety in the Rat Race, but then... The High Cost of Loving DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1958 / B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date July 16, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring José Ferrer, Gena Rowlands, Joanne Gilbert, Jim Backus, Bobby Troup, Philip Ober, Edward Platt, Charles Watts, Werner Klemperer, Malcolm Atterbury, Jeanne Baird, Nick Clooney, Abby Dalton, Richard Deacon, Nancy Kulp, Lucien Littlefield. Cinematography George J. Folsey Film Editor Ferris Webster Original Music Jeff Alexander Written by Rip Van Ronkel,...
- 10/27/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
With bittersweet anticipation, we look forward to the final seven episodes of Mad Men's final season. Matthew Weiner has selected "ten movies that had an important influence" on the show for a series running at the Museum of the Moving Image—and he's written the descriptions for each himself: Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and Vertigo, Billy Wilder's The Apartment, David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Claude Chabrol's Les Bonnes Femmes, Fielder Cook's Patterns, Delbert Mann's Dear Heart and The Bachelor Party, Jean Negulesco's The Best of Everything and Arthur Hiller's The Americanization of Emily. Today's entry features more goings on in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Venice and beyond. » - David Hudson...
- 3/6/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
With bittersweet anticipation, we look forward to the final seven episodes of Mad Men's final season. Matthew Weiner has selected "ten movies that had an important influence" on the show for a series running at the Museum of the Moving Image—and he's written the descriptions for each himself: Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and Vertigo, Billy Wilder's The Apartment, David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Claude Chabrol's Les Bonnes Femmes, Fielder Cook's Patterns, Delbert Mann's Dear Heart and The Bachelor Party, Jean Negulesco's The Best of Everything and Arthur Hiller's The Americanization of Emily. Today's entry features more goings on in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Venice and beyond. » - David Hudson...
- 3/6/2015
- Keyframe
Ann Serling will be a guest at the upcoming 35th Annual St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.
Best known for his role as the host of television’s The Twilight Zone, Rodman E. “Rod” Serling, an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator, and teacher had one of the most exceptional and varied careers in television. The winner of more Emmy Awards for dramatic writing than anyone in history, Serling challenged the medium of television to reach for loftier artistic goals. Serling expressed a deep social conscience in nearly everything he did and was known as the “angry young man” of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism, and war.
Born in 1924, Rod Serling grew up in the small city of Binghamton, New York. The son of a butcher. His experiences of the working-class life of New York, and the horrors of World War II,...
Best known for his role as the host of television’s The Twilight Zone, Rodman E. “Rod” Serling, an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator, and teacher had one of the most exceptional and varied careers in television. The winner of more Emmy Awards for dramatic writing than anyone in history, Serling challenged the medium of television to reach for loftier artistic goals. Serling expressed a deep social conscience in nearly everything he did and was known as the “angry young man” of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism, and war.
Born in 1924, Rod Serling grew up in the small city of Binghamton, New York. The son of a butcher. His experiences of the working-class life of New York, and the horrors of World War II,...
- 10/21/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Criterion Collection devotes itself to important classic and contemporary films. But cinema hardly exists in a vacuum. Moving image artists have often moved between media formats, and movies have had a history of influence from their many competitors. Would we have seen Nicholas Ray’s Bigger Than Life, for example, in widescreen Technicolor had 1950s cinema not competed with television? Therefore, even though The Criterion Collection is overwhelmingly devoted to the art of cinema, the Collection has recognized select important works of television. But the inevitable question arises: which works of great, influential television are justifiable to include in a cinema library? The Criterion Collection doesn’t include works of television that are great in television’s own terms, but instead recognizes works of television that are great for cinema. American TV The library’s release that’s most explicitly devoted to the medium of television is undoubtedly The Golden Age of Television, a...
- 12/20/2012
- by Landon Palmer
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Like a lot of people, I've adored watching reruns of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone and waited eagerly to hear the writer-producer-host's voice informing us that something eerily unexpected was about to happen. With his well-fitting suits and unsettlingly calm delivery, it seemed as if Serling was almost marveling at his ability to shock both his characters and his viewers.
If most of us knew him as a suave presence on the small screen, his daughter Anne has a far different memory of the man who wrote insightful and gut-wrenching television plays like Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight and the who adapted Seven Days in May and Planet of the Apes. Her genial father is sometimes tricky to reconcile with his sometimes grim public persona.
Serling was only 50 when he died in 1975, and his daughter was only 20. Nonetheless, the younger Serling has astonishingly vivid recollections of him and...
If most of us knew him as a suave presence on the small screen, his daughter Anne has a far different memory of the man who wrote insightful and gut-wrenching television plays like Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight and the who adapted Seven Days in May and Planet of the Apes. Her genial father is sometimes tricky to reconcile with his sometimes grim public persona.
Serling was only 50 when he died in 1975, and his daughter was only 20. Nonetheless, the younger Serling has astonishingly vivid recollections of him and...
- 2/8/2012
- by Dan Lybarger
- Aol TV.
According to reports, screenwriter Stanley Weiser ("Wall Street") will draft a feature film bio-pic on Rod Serling ("The Twilight Zone"), for Bureau of Moving Pictures.
Rodman "Rod" Edward Serling, the late screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator was best known for his live television dramas of the 1950's and his sci fi anthology TV series, "The Twilight Zone".
Serling was also active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form television industry standards, gaining a rep as an 'angry young man' of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism and anti-war politics.
During Ww II, Serling enlisted in the Us Army the morning after his high school graduation, stationed at Camp Toccoa, while serving in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division. Becoming a 'flyweight' boxer, he was remembered for his 'berserker' fighting style, before...
Rodman "Rod" Edward Serling, the late screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator was best known for his live television dramas of the 1950's and his sci fi anthology TV series, "The Twilight Zone".
Serling was also active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form television industry standards, gaining a rep as an 'angry young man' of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism and anti-war politics.
During Ww II, Serling enlisted in the Us Army the morning after his high school graduation, stationed at Camp Toccoa, while serving in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division. Becoming a 'flyweight' boxer, he was remembered for his 'berserker' fighting style, before...
- 7/1/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
This had to happen: a company has picked up the life rights to The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, and is seeking to make a biopic about the pioneering television writer/producer who defined the popular approach to science fiction and unusual short stories when The Twilight Zone hit the airwaves in 1959. Stanley Weiser (Wall Street co-writer) has been set to write a film about Rod Serling by Andrew Meieran and Bureau of Moving Pictures. Rod Serling's widow Carol Serling (his high school sweetheart and lifelong partner) is producing the film, too, so this counts as an estate-approved project in addition to being officially licensed product. TV producers aren't usually the most recognizable personalities, but Rod Serling was an exception, as his introductions to Twilight Zone episodes established him as a gatekeeper to the unusual whose position in the public imagination has been rivaled only by Alfred Hitchcock. Beyond that fact,...
- 6/30/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Last week I did a piece on how early syndication of movies to TV provided a culturally unifying base for Baby Boomers. Most of us, however, probably think of syndication as being less about movies and more about recycling old TV shows. And, in time, so it became.
TV writer/producer/director Bill Persky remembers syndication being a movie-driven business in the medium’s early years since “…there weren’t that many series to syndicate…” By the 60s, however, TV production companies had amassed enough defunct TV shows to turn syndication into an increasingly profitable series-recycling business feeding a bottomless market. Independent stations filled their days with a patchwork quilt of old TV shows, old movies, local news and sports, and even network affiliates had hours to fill between blocks of network programming.
The recycling of old TV shows had the same impact on Boomers recycling old movies did; it...
TV writer/producer/director Bill Persky remembers syndication being a movie-driven business in the medium’s early years since “…there weren’t that many series to syndicate…” By the 60s, however, TV production companies had amassed enough defunct TV shows to turn syndication into an increasingly profitable series-recycling business feeding a bottomless market. Independent stations filled their days with a patchwork quilt of old TV shows, old movies, local news and sports, and even network affiliates had hours to fill between blocks of network programming.
The recycling of old TV shows had the same impact on Boomers recycling old movies did; it...
- 6/11/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.
This Week’s New Instant Releases…
Promised Lands (1974)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Documentary
Director: Susan Sontag
Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles
Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...
This Week’s New Instant Releases…
Promised Lands (1974)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Documentary
Director: Susan Sontag
Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles
Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...
- 4/20/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Master in Twilight
A giant of the genre, Rod Serling welcomed TV viewers to another dimension, a land known to all of as The Twilight Zone. In the process, one of TV’s “Angry Young Men,” already famous for his live TV dramas (and movies) Requiem For A Heavyweight and Patterns, truly became a legend.
Serling also steered a TV Western (The Loner), presented a later genre TV anthology (Night Gallery), voiced countless commercials, narrated numerous documentaries and co-scripted the film version of Planet Of The Apes.
In this Brief interview, conducted in 1974, just a year before his death, Serling stopped to consider the challenge of a writing career and his own life in The Twilight Zone.
Starlog: What do you think when looking back on your two genre TV series?
Rod Serling: Twilight Zone was very innovative for the time. Night Gallery I’m not as proud of.
A giant of the genre, Rod Serling welcomed TV viewers to another dimension, a land known to all of as The Twilight Zone. In the process, one of TV’s “Angry Young Men,” already famous for his live TV dramas (and movies) Requiem For A Heavyweight and Patterns, truly became a legend.
Serling also steered a TV Western (The Loner), presented a later genre TV anthology (Night Gallery), voiced countless commercials, narrated numerous documentaries and co-scripted the film version of Planet Of The Apes.
In this Brief interview, conducted in 1974, just a year before his death, Serling stopped to consider the challenge of a writing career and his own life in The Twilight Zone.
Starlog: What do you think when looking back on your two genre TV series?
Rod Serling: Twilight Zone was very innovative for the time. Night Gallery I’m not as proud of.
- 10/2/2009
- by no-reply@starlog.com (Robert R. Rees)
- Starlog
Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories On The 50th Anniversary edited by Carol Serling (Tor, tpb, 448 pp, $14.99, out September 1)
Fifty years ago, man discovered the Twilight Zone. Specifically, that man was teleplaywright Rod Serling, who won acclaim for such 1950s dramatic endeavors as Requiem For A Heavyweight and Patterns. Another teleplay, The Time Element (a time-tripping endeavor back to Pearl Harbor just before December 7, 1941), led Serling to chart a land of mystery and imagination he named The Twilight Zone. It became TV’s greatest Sf series (sorry, Star Trek), made on-camera host Serling a genre icon and spawned (after Serling’s 1975 death) a movie, two TV program revivals and a well-regarded fiction magazine (published in the 1980s).
Edited by the brilliant T.E.D. Klein, Rod Serling’S The Twilight Zone Magazine was a terrific publication with an unwieldy title. The highlight of every issue was an actual Twilight Zone script (usually by Serling,...
Fifty years ago, man discovered the Twilight Zone. Specifically, that man was teleplaywright Rod Serling, who won acclaim for such 1950s dramatic endeavors as Requiem For A Heavyweight and Patterns. Another teleplay, The Time Element (a time-tripping endeavor back to Pearl Harbor just before December 7, 1941), led Serling to chart a land of mystery and imagination he named The Twilight Zone. It became TV’s greatest Sf series (sorry, Star Trek), made on-camera host Serling a genre icon and spawned (after Serling’s 1975 death) a movie, two TV program revivals and a well-regarded fiction magazine (published in the 1980s).
Edited by the brilliant T.E.D. Klein, Rod Serling’S The Twilight Zone Magazine was a terrific publication with an unwieldy title. The highlight of every issue was an actual Twilight Zone script (usually by Serling,...
- 8/28/2009
- by no-reply@starlog.com (David McDonnell)
- Starlog
This has a soft place in my heart not only because it truly is a lost gem but because it sits in such good company. As troubled a period as the 1950s and 1960s were it’s become so fashionable to point this out that it’s easy to forget the vast number of really quality examinations of the business culture produced during the period. A Face In The Crowd and satires like Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter barely scratch the surface. Fans of the social commentary of Rod Serling who penned such powerful commentary on American business culture and personal ambition as Requiem For A Heavyweight and Patterns should go out of their way to catch What Makes Sammy Run? Sammy Glick starts off his corporate career as a copy boy but rises to the top by manipulation and cut throat tactics. Based on Budd Schulbergs highly controversial 1941 novel What Makes Sammy Run?...
- 3/18/2009
- by Canfield
- Screen Anarchy
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