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Sixty years after its television debut, the
classic anthology series will be reborn on the CBS All Access
subscription streaming service. Jordan Peele, the comedian and
filmmaker behind horror hits "Get Out" and "Us," steps into the
narrator role once filled by Rod Serling, the show's creator.
The foreboding theme music is back, as is the mix of science
fiction, suspense and thought-provoking social commentary that
hooked generations of fans to the show, which ran from 1959 to
1964 and is still widely aired in reruns.
Peele, who is also an executive producer of the show, said he
was initially reluctant to take on a show considered by many
critics to be among the best in TV history. He said he set aside
his reservations once he discovered an "underlying positivity"
put forth by Serling, who died in 1975.
"One of the things that opened this up for me is realizing he's
a humorist," Peele said recently at The Paley Center for Media's
PaleyFest in Los Angeles. "We think of him as a horror,
science-fiction master, but he has a perfect pitch tone of
comedy."
The revival promises to tackle some of humankind's deepest and
most universal issues, which was a hallmark of the original
series.
"You name the big themes in life and in art, and you can find it
in 'The Twilight Zone,'" said Arlen Schumer, a pop culture
historian and author of the book "Visions from The Twilight
Zone."
"You will find the entirety of the human condition, with all the
great themes of life and death, of love and war, of peace and
hatred, of rich and poor," he added.
The kickoff to the new series is called "Nightmare at 30,000
Feet," a homage to a 1963 episode about an airplane passenger
who starts to question his sanity. "Parks and Recreation" actor
Adam Scott plays the terrified traveler, originally portrayed by
William Shatner, later of "Star Trek" fame.
Other installments tell completely new stories. The second
episode features "Silicon Valley" star Kumail Nanjiani as a
comedian who must decide how far to go for a laugh.
Seth Rogen, John Cho, Ginnifer Goodwin and others will appear in
later episodes.
While two earlier TV reboots were poorly received, critics have
embraced the latest version. Eight-two percent of reviews
collected by the Rotten Tomatoes website were positive ahead of
Monday's debut.
CBS All Access, owned by CBS Corp, will release two of the 10
new episodes to its U.S. customers on Monday. Next stop? A new
episode every Thursday beginning on April 11.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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