The 3rd time wasn't exactly a charm for
The Twilight Zone. After the classic Rod Serling series from 1959 that ran 5 seasons, and the 1985 remake with two different hosts which ran 3 seasons, the UPN network took another shot at it in 2002 with Forest Whitaker as the narrator. It didn't last long, though: it only aired on 22 nights, with 2 stories on each night. Noone could argue that they didn't try hard to promote the show, however, and they attracted a lot of popular stars to be terrified along the way.
Among the galaxy of stars that appear in those 44 stories are Amber Tamblyn (
Joan Of Arcadia), Jason Alexander (
Seinfeld), Shannon Elizabeth (
That 70's Show), Katherine Heigl (
Roswell), Dylan Walsh (
Nip/Tuck), Portia de Rossi (
Ally McBeal, Arrested Development), Patrick Warburton (
Seinfeld, NewsRadio, The Tick), Greg Germann (
Ally McBeal), Christopher McDonald (
Cracking Up), Elizabeth Berkley (
Saved By The Bell), Brian Austin Green (
Beverly Hills 90210), Christopher Titus (
Titus), Devon Gummersall (
My So-Called Life), Paul Rodriguez (
a.k.a. Pablo), Samantha Mathis (
Harsh Realm), Billy Mumy (
Lost In Space, Babylon 5), Cloris Leachman (
Lassie, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis), Andrew McCarthy (
Kingdom Hospital), Vivica A. Fox, Eriq La Salle (
ER), Wayne Knight (
Seinfeld, Third Rock From The Sun), Sean Patrick Flanery (
Young Indiana Jones, The Dead Zone), Jessica Simpson (
Newlyweds), Alicia Witt (
Cybill), Angela Featherstone, and Jason Bateman (
It's Your Move, Valerie/The Hogan Family, Arrested Development). Whew, that's a LOT...and that's not even all of them! But also a special mention for one guest shot by Linda Cardellini, who currently co-stars in
ER as Nurse Samantha "Sam" Taggart, has a DVD coming out this Tuesday in the form of
Freaks and Geeks, and is currently starring as Velma in the new motion picture
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
With
talk in the air of a re-release of the original
Twilight Zone in season-set configuration, plus a release of the 1985 version
all but officially announced (off-the-record, we're certain that you can pretty much count on it), the folks behind the 2002 series have decided to strike while the iron is hot.
DVDs for the Forest Whitaker version of the show are definately in-the-works. We don't have a date or configuration details yet (except that they are planning this to be in the 16x9 widescreen format they were shot in), and of course everything is subject to change. But we know that these are supposed to be coming before the year is out. So it's a clean sweep, folks...all television episodes of
The Twilight Zone could be available to own before the end of 2004.
Now if we could just get
Twilight Zone: The Movie released on DVD...
