Static

"Static"
The Twilight Zone episode
Paranormal radio as seen in "Static"
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 56
Written by	Charles Beaumont
Directed by	Buzz Kulik
Production no.	173-3665
Original airdate	March 10, 1961
Guest stars
Dean Jagger: Ed Lindsay Carmen Mathews: Vinnie Robert Emhardt: Professor Ackerman Arch W. Johnson: Roscoe Bragg Alice Pearce: Mrs. Nielson Clegg Hoyt: Shopkeeper (the "junk dealer") Stephen Talbot: Boy Lillian O'Malley: Miss Meredith Pat O'Malley: Mr. Llewellyn Roy Rowan: (Voice of radio and television announcer) (uncredited) Diane Strom: (Blonde in TV cigarette commercial) (uncredited) Jerry Fuller: (Rock 'n' roll singer on TV) (uncredited) Eddie Marr: (Hard-sell real estate pitchman on TV) (uncredited) Bob Crane: (Voice of radio disc jockey) (uncredited) Bob Duggan: Extra (uncredited) Jay Overholts: Extra (uncredited)
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List of Twilight Zone episodes

"Static" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

Opening narration

As Ed Lindsay retrieves his old radio from the boarding house basement, he says to a boy watching him, "Don't you know what a radio is?". "Sure", says the kid, "but I've never seen one like that before!". The camera then moves to show Rod Serling standing at the top of the basement steps:

Synopsis

Ed Lindsay, an embittered, irritable bachelor in his late fifties, living in a boarding house, is dismayed over the mindless and worthless programs and commercials emanating from the television set watched by the other residents. He retrieves from the basement the old radio which, in his younger and happier days, he enjoyed as a source of relaxation and entertainment. Installing it in his joyless room, he is astonished to hear the radio transmit 1930s and 40s music and programs, including those of Major Bowes, Fred Allen and Tommy Dorsey, all of whom were no longer alive. He tries to tell the others about the miraculous broadcasts, but they can hear only static. What's more, when he tries to contact the radio station ("WPDA", in "Cedarburg", New Jersey) broadcasting those programs, he discovers the station went off the air (and out of business) 13 years before. Worried about Ed's mental state, the boarding house residents have the radio taken away by a junk dealer in his absence, but when they tell Ed, he rushes out and manages to buy it back for ten dollars.

Subsequently, Ed has a heartfelt confrontation with Vinnie, who has lived in the same boarding house with him for twenty years, enabling us to learn that in an earlier era, they listened together to the same shows and had intended to marry, but he kept letting other things interfere, and too much time passed. She tells him that the past cannot be recovered and he should let it go. As she returns to her room, he turns on the radio. Both Ed and Vinnie are young again—or rather, Ed has retreated 20 years into his own past to relive his life and set things right.

Closing narration

Episode notes

As The Twilight Zone's second season began, the production was informed by CBS that at about $65,000 per episode, the show was exceeding its budget. By November 1960, 16 episodes, more than half of the projected 29, were already filmed, and five of those had been broadcast. It was decided that six consecutive episodes would be videotaped at CBS Television City in the manner of a live drama and then transferred to 16-millimeter film for future syndicated TV transmissions. Eventual savings amounted to only about $30,000 for all six entries, which was judged to be insufficient to offset the loss of depth of visual perspective that only film could offer. The shows wound up looking little better than set-bound soap operas and as a result the experiment was deemed a failure and never tried again.

Even though the six shows were taped in a row, through November and into mid-December, their broadcast dates were out of order and varied widely, with this, the second one, shown on March 10, 1961 as episode 20. The first, "The Lateness of the Hour" was seen on December 2, 1960 as episode 8; the third, "The Whole Truth" appeared on January 20, 1961 as episode 14; the fourth was the Christmas show "Night of the Meek" shown as the 11th episode on December 23, 1960; the fifth, "Twenty-Two" was seen on February 10, 1961 as episode 17; and the last one, "Long Distance Call" was transmitted on March 31, 1961 as episode 22.

See also

• List of The Twilight Zone episodes
• Major Bowes Amateur Hour

References

• DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
• Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

External links

• "Static" at the Internet Movie Database
• TV.com episode page