Series History
Broadcast in an hour format with two half-hour stories, it was canceled after one season. Reruns continue to air in syndication, and have aired on MyNetworkTV since summer 2008. The opening theme music was provided by Jonathan Davis (of the rock group Korn).
The series tended to address contemporary issues head-on; i.e. terrorism, racism, gender roles, sexuality and stalking. Noteworthy episodes featured Jason Alexander as Death wanting to retire from harvesting souls, Lou Diamond Phillips as a swimming pool cleaner being shot repeatedly in his dreams, Susanna Thompson as a woman whose stated wish results in an "upgrading" of her family, Usher as a policeman being bothered by telephone calls from beyond the grave, and Katherine Heigl playing a nanny who went back in time to kill the infant Adolf Hitler.
The series also includes remakes and updates of stories presented in the original Twilight Zone television series, including the famous "The Eye of the Beholder". One of the updates, "The Monsters Are on Maple Street", is a modernized version of the classic episode similarly called "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". The original show was about the paranoia surrounding a neighborhood-wide blackout. In the course of the episode, somebody suggests an alien invasion being the cause of the blackouts, and that one of the neighbors may be an alien. The anti-alien hysteria is an allegory for the anti-communist paranoia of the time, and the 2003 remake, starring Andrew McCarthy, replaces aliens with terrorists. The show also contains "It's Still a Good Life", a sequel to the events of "It's a Good Life", an episode of the original series produced 41 years earlier. Bill Mumy returned to play the adult version of Anthony, the demonic child he had played in the original story, with Mumy's daughter, Liliana, appearing as Anthony's daughter, a more benevolent but even more powerful child. Cloris Leachman also returned as Anthony's mother. Mumy went on to serve as screenwriter for other episodes in the revival.
Other guest stars include, but not are limited to: Jessica Simpson, Wayne Knight, Christopher Titus, Eriq La Salle, Jason Bateman, James Remar, Method Man, Linda Cardellini, Jaime Pressly, Jeremy Sisto, Molly Sims, Tangi Miller, Portia de Rossi, Christopher McDonald, Wallace Langham, Jeremy Piven, Samantha Mathis, Ethan Embry, Shannon Elizabeth, Jonathan Jackson, Amber Tamblyn, Penn Badgley, Dylan Walsh, Robin Tunney, Michael Shanks, Gordon Michael Woolvett, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Lukas Haas, Emily Perkins and Elizabeth Berkley. McDonald, Langham and Haas had all previous guest starred on the 1980s revival.
The series did not enjoy the same level of critical or ratings success as the original series or the 1980s revival, and only lasted one season.
Read more about this topic: The Twilight Zone (2002 TV Series)
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