The Twilight Zone (TV Series) It's a Good Life (1961) User Reviews

It's A Real Good Episode...Probably My Favourite

[stubbers · 10/10 · 12 June 2008]

I am currently working my way through every single Twilight Zone episode in chronological order, and have just reached "It's A Good Life". Immediately this became my favourite episode and after repeated viewings it just gets better and better.

Why is it so good? Well it captures everything that made The Twilight Zone brilliant. In less than half an hour and just a couple of locations (inside and outside the house), this episode is scarier and edgier than almost any horror film I've ever seen. It's certainly scarier than the 1983 movie remake.

Also, this episode features one of the most iconic, instantly recognisable images of the entire series (I believe the image was used as an ident for a re-run, in and out of commercial breaks)... I'm talking about Mr Hollis rocking back and forth. I won't tell you why he's rocking back and forth, but those of you who have seen this episode will surely agree that what happens to him, complete with perfect accompanying music, is the stuff nightmares are made of.

Bill Mumy's performance as Anthony Fremont is one of the best pieces of child acting I have ever seen, and I've just seen him in another Twilight Zone (the one about the telephone) playing a very different type of child. In fact all the acting is absolutely top-notch. Anthony's father is played to perfection by John Larch, who manages an incredibly three-dimensional portrayal of a man straining every nerve in his body to do the right thing and think the right thoughts, every second of every minute of every day. When he discovers it is snowing, his mixed emotions and his way of expressing them are pitch-perfect.

Everyone in this story is a fully developed character, from Anthony and his parents through to Dan Hollis and the various inhabitants of the village.

The structure of the episode is perfection as well (sorry to bandy about the word "perfection" so often, but in this episode almost every aspect is perfect). A wry, quirky introduction from the genius that is Rod Serling lulls us into a false sense of security. It seems as if this will be a light-hearted type of episode, but slowly the drama builds up until the denouement. Cue lots of blood-curdling screaming - some of the most frighteningly realistic screams you have ever heard.

I agree with the poster who said what you don't see is just as scary as what you do see, particularly the cornfield. I would NOT want to spend a night there! And I love the unspoken, subtle actions of Aunt Amy, who comes very close to doing something (again, I won't reveal what) but at the last minute lacks the courage to go through with it.

And I haven't even got to the metaphors and analogies inspired by this programme. You can read various different messages into it - from a simple tale of what spoiling children can do, through to the effects of dictators or religious cults.

All in all, after almost 50 years, this is one of the finest pieces of TV I have ever seen. Everyone involved gets the highest praise possible from me, particularly Billy Mumy, John Larch, Rod Serling and author Jerome Bixby. I'm gonna watch it again right now!

Anthony's TV Is Better

[darrenpearce111 · 10/10 · 8 November 2013]

This episode is a bona fide claustrophobic nightmare. 'It's A Good Life' will never lose it's impact. Future viewers will be as unable to look away from this crazy, compelling piece of horror as I was. Without doubt one of the great episodes. If you have not seen this one I suggest you do something about it at the first opportunity. The cast are excellent at maintaining the vice-like gripping atmosphere. Chloris Leachman plays the little monster's mother well, but I particularly liked Don Keefer as Dan Hollis. One of the many strengths of The Twilight Zone was the fact that such a weird scenario as this one can convey such a sense of truth. The message here is enigmatic, but I take it to be about dictators and an evaluation of life under a tyrant's regime. See what you think?

Everything is Hopeless

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 17 October 2006]

This is a portrayal of a nightmare. It's one of those things where you hope you'll wake up. It's about an entire community that has been taken over by a child brat who is totally self centered and sociopathic. He probably doesn't realize the error of his ways. Any effort to educate him would result in being "sent to the cornfield." This is a state of limbo. When your adversary has no conscience, he cannot be approached in a rational way. This story is about fear. Not only are the people under constant threat, the world the boy is creating is one that is becoming bleak and vacuous. We never know if he has the power to bring things back, but it appears not. We know at some point he will be all that is left. Everyone has a breaking point. Billy Mumy is a great choice for the child monster. The other characters sweat and frown. In their efforts to survive they have the constant mantra "That was a good thing you did. A real good thing." This is an episode of the Twilight Zone where we never get to relax. See it if you never have.

Excellent

[lutheranchick · 24 April 2006]

I certainly cannot agree with the previous poster who found this episode partly humorous-- in fact, this is one of the few almost unbearably frightening Twilight Zone shows. A young boy's power to control his community through his childish whims is an excellent allegory of the power of any dictator. I imagine that office holders in North Korea spend most of their day saying something similar to "it's good that you did that." This episode powerfully portrays unchecked narcissism. I do agree that the "special effects" version in the Twilight Zone movie is inferior, not only because it is overproduced but because the little boy is presented as brilliant and perhaps even redeemable.

"Once somebody had bad thoughts about me-who was it?

[ron_tepper · 10/10 · 5 February 2008]

I loved this episode and its "tongue in cheek" title.Believe me, its NOT a very good life. Not for the poor people in this town.There is a monster and its a little 6 year old boy named Anthony Freemont Anthony somehow has the power to do anything in life from making people disappear(not to mention entire countries)to creating "gophers with 3 heads"just by pure thought alone!.What makes this story so powerful(besides the wonderful acting)was that it expanded the viewers mind and in doing so we create the horrible images that would would expect to see on screen.Itis our imagination as viewers that added and produced the horror of this episode.Even though Anthony talks about "setting people on fire" among other things ,we never see it but the overall effect is the same as if we did, in fact even worse. Also what made this so effective was the atmosphere that this boy created for those few "lucky" people who managed to survive this nightmare. There was so much tension in this episode- fear, trepidation, paranoia.How can people possibly live like this- having to always be thinking "happy thoughts" about Anthony so they don't become his next victims.Billy Mumy was perfect for this character with those menacing stares and innocent cute looks.The whole cast was outstanding, But as stated-I have never felt such fear and horror when nothing was ever made visual by the director of the episode. Someone once said that "less is sometimes more".The real horror is not in what we see with our eyes but what images we conjure in our imagination.I don't think I want to even see whats in "the cornfield" or should I say imagine.Who ever is out there is "a bad man a very bad man"

"It's a Good Life" ....or else you're in the "cornfield"

[chuck-reilly · 10/10 · 4 March 2008]

The 1961 Twilight Zone entry "It's a Good Life" is a nightmarish view of the end of the world as we know it. Billy Mumy plays Anthony Fremont, a young child who has the supreme and destructive power of being able to will anything he wants to happen. When the story unfolds, he's already eliminated most of the life on planet Earth and all that remains are a few folks and family from his hometown. There he rules as an iron-fisted dictator and everyone lives in total fear of his childish whims. Anthony can also read minds, so no one can even think evil thoughts about him or plan his demise. If provoked, he will send the guilty party to the "cornfield." That's his fanciful term for obliterating the person off the face of the earth. Considering some of his other mean-spirited antics against the remaining populace, the cornfield isn't such a bad place to end up.

"It's a Good Life" is the bleakest of tales with no resolution or happy ending in sight. The characters can only bow and serve little Anthony or face total annihilation. "The Good Life" for them is merely being able to exist. It all sounds like living under a harsh dictatorship---and that's probably Serling's main point with this story. Others in the cast include Cloris Leachman, who plays Anthony's distressed and frightened mother. Veteran character actor John Larch is also on hand as the little terror's father. This episode was remade for the Twilight Zone movie of the early 1980's, but it was really nothing like the original and poorly conceived.

It's good that I'm reviewing this episode.

[gcanfield-29727 · 10/10 · 28 February 2020]

For my money, Bill(y) Mumy was the best child actor of all time. His performance here is flawless. He was no more than 7 years old at the time, and he's as good or better than all the adult actors. My initial exposure to Mumy was Will Robinson on Lost in Space-where he was always good and noble. In this TZ episode, he makes me genuinely dislike his character. He plays a "monster" who can read minds and invoke any kind of havoc at will. But, it's good that he can do this...it's real good.

Holds up quite well- Very young Mumy nails it

[whatch-17931 · 10/10 · 14 January 2021]

Top shelf episode for sure. Billy Mumy was quite the child actor. I've been rewatching Lost in Space as well, and was amazed to see him in an early episode with a minute plus dialog heavy scene all by himself. But that would be at least five years later.

This is remarkably effective horror that remains absolutely effective.

I do wonder if Mumy fully understood the script. The line about having to make someone "go on fire" is subtly horrific.

Update: there's a copy of the script online, and indeed the "go on fire" bit was written longer and speaks of the man on fire running through the fields screaming. I wonder if they shortened because just how young Mumy was, or maybe it was thought too horrific for TV.

Whatever the reason, I think the short version they used was more effective because it seems more ominous.

"I hate anybody who doesn't like me"

[robertguttman · 10/10 · 21 September 2013]

I was eight years old when this was first televised and I still recall it vividly. While all of the Twilight Zone stories were exceptional television, this particular one stands out as one of the scariest, and at the same time funniest, of all time. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but see "It's a Good Life" and you'll understand exactly what I mean. The story is truly nightmarish while, at the same time, it's almost impossible to keep from laughing. Few writers could achieve that combination effectively. Ambrose Bierce was one, and Rod Serling was another.

H.G. Wells once wrote a story, called "The Man Who Could Work Miracles", in which a nondescript store clerk suddenly acquires absolute power to do anything he can think of. In 1936 it was turned into a memorable motion picture by Sir Michael Korda. In "It's a Good Life" Rod Serling took that concept one step further. He gave the same sort of absolute power to a six-year-old boy.

One reviewer ventured the opinion that the kid in the story was a "sociopath". He couldn't be more wrong. The fact is that Serling simply understood exactly how little kids really are. That old cliché about the "innocence of childhood" is a load of bunk. Just watch how the kids in any schoolyard interact with each other and you'll see what I mean. Give ANY little kid absolute power and he will behave exactly the same way as Anthony Fremont did. Serling understood that. That's what makes this story work so effectively, it's what makes it one of the scariest stories ever devised. Of course, at the same time, you won't be able to keep from laughing at concepts such as, for example, a world where you could be killed for playing a Perry Como record (only Rod Serling could have come up with something like that!).

The Twilight Zone ought to be required viewing for anyone involved in the creation of current television. It demonstrates how great television doesn't need a huge budget for special effects and production values, all that is really required is a good cast of actors and a truly superlative script. The twilight Zone was one of the few television shows that was created by, and dominated by, writers; and that shows in almost every episode. "It's a Good Life" is one of the finest examples.

creepy, funny episode- one of TZ's best

[HelloTexas11 · 9/10 · 14 March 2009]

Certainly 'Twilight Zone' had more than its share of famous episodes, and 'It's A Good Life' has to be considered one of them... perhaps the most well-known, easily among the most oft-quoted. It's an ingenious little tale about about a rural community that somehow has been transported/cut off from the rest of the world, courtesy of a young boy with extraordinary mental powers. One of the great things about this episode is its mystery, all the details that are never explained. When did Anthony (Billy Mumy) acquire these powers? Where is the town now? What happens if someone tries to leave? The answers to these questions are maddeningly elusive, and we are left with a sort of snapshot, a few hours in the lives of these confused, scared people and the bizarre existence they lead. And they are scared, all of them. Scared to death of Anthony and incurring his wrath for the smallest perceived slight by him. He can read minds to an extent and so the people are forced to constantly think 'happy thoughts,' especially about him, or Anthony disposes of them without a second thought. His preferred method of doing this is to 'wish' them away to a cornfield, never to be seen again. The grocery store's stock is almost depleted, but no one dares to complain about it. Anthony's mother and father are in the same boat as everyone else, bending over backwards to placate the little monster every moment of every day. At the end, during a party for one of the neighbors, the man whose birthday is being celebrated has too much to drink and finds in his intoxicated state the courage to say what everyone else thinks, much to Anthony's annoyance. The man pleads with the others to kill Anthony while the boy's attention is focused on him, but no one has the nerve. So Anthony turns him into a jack-in-the-box before wishing him away. And life goes on as before. While inducing nervous laughter at the dialogue ("It's GOOD that you done that, Anthony!"), there was never a creepier episode of 'Twilight Zone.' A classic.

"I ain't never seen a gopher with three heads before".

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 15 May 2010]

This could be the creepiest Twilight Zone episode ever. Six year old Anthony Fremont condemns the community of Peaksville, Ohio to a Twentieth Century Dark Age by sheer force of mind and will. He subjugates family and acquaintances to a constant paranoia embodied by their insistence that everything Anthony says and does is real good and real fine. Anything that doesn't pass muster, Anthony relegates to 'the cornfield'. I have to think to myself that Stephen King would have found this kid charming.

This was young Billy Mumy's second appearance in a Twilight Zone episode. He showed up in a second season story called 'Long Distance Call', in which his character is driven close to suicide by a grandmother who's already passed on. Considering these early roles as dysfunctional characters, Mumy went on to, and still enjoys a highly successful career in any number of professional ventures. I'm sure he must have relied on happy thoughts along the way to get there.

John Larch was a character actor mainstay of the era, here appearing as Anthony's father. In my viewing of the episode today, I was pleasantly surprised to see Cloris Leachman in the role of Mrs. Fremont. It's always cool to see who shows up in these Twilight Zone stories, which proved to be an early training ground for many of the celebrity actors who made a name for themselves in the ensuing years.

This is as good as it gets.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 29 August 2019]

The abundance of 10 star ratings for this episode is proof indeed that this is one of the most memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone. Once again it features Billy Mumy, playing a monstrous child, only six years old, who when he tell someone that they are a bad man, has intentions greater than just insulting them. As the son of farmers John larch and Cloris Leachman, he has instilled fear into the community surrounding him and those who have upset him have mysteriously disappeared. Where? We do know where they went to. but as to what happened to them? We do not know, and that creates an element of mystery that is as spooky as the six-year-old child himself.

Mumy is superb, as sinister as Patty McCormack was in "The Bad Seed", with a lot of "The Omen's" Damien thrown in as well. The adults surrounding him AR admittedly frightened, and when one of them has had enough and confronts the evil surrounding them, it sets off a series of events that show how even a 6 year old child can cause turmoil if they have a power that adults don't understand. This will give all sorts of innuendos of what could happen with such a person, and being nearly 60 years later, that adds all sorts of possibilities as well. one thing is for sure, I wouldn't want to end up in Mumy's field of nightmares.

It's a Wonderful Life, even!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 15 July 2020]

I guess the decade you were born in also plays an important role to determine the time frame of your first acquaintance with this downright legendary & monumental "Twilight Zone" episode. People born in the fifties & early sixties had the pleasure of witnessing the original. People born in the seventies might had to settle for the revised version in the 1983 homage/anthology film. Then, there's people born in the 1980s, like me, and we first got acquainted with the bizarre tale via The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror special! I remember first seeing that odd episode, with Bart as a paranormally gifted child and Homer turning into a Jack-in-the-Box, and thinking it was the most unusual thing. Back then, I had no idea it was a giant tribute to "The Twilight Zone", but the atmosphere and the nature of the plot was already remarkable enough to qualify as one of the more unsettling and thought-provoking TV-moments of my youth.

"It's a Good Life" isn't necessarily the greatest TZ-episode, or at least not in the humble opinion of yours truly, but the atmosphere of creepiness and dread are unequaled, for sure! The fear in the adults' eyes and voices when confronted with the unpredictable 6-year-old Anthony Fremont and his mental powers is palpable. Even the parents are terrified of their son who can unleash horrendous "punishment" upon those who disapprove of his policy of exclusively expressing happy thought, or even THINK differently. Jerome Bixby's short story is uniquely fit for the "Twilight Zone" treatment, and the competent cast (including the always-reliable Cloris Leachman) do the rest.

I dare to say: It is a bad episode

[colinafobe · 2/10 · 2 November 2020]

Dunno what is all the fuzz about this episode. One of the worst and pointless. Why no one even tried hitting the "monster" in orchestrated mutiny is beyond me. Just take the chance and risk, nothing to lose as already had no life

Still scary

[talonjensen · 10/10 · 11 July 2018]

The lack of wisdom of a child with great power is, indeed scary.

I first watched this as a six year old and it scared me, I watched it again as a 60+ year old and it is more scary because I feel it reflects some of the recent behaviors of 20+ year olds. Even at my young age I recognized the horror. To see something so scary now reflected in real life is beyond scary. This is one of the few episodes that I never forgot and that is definitely meaningful in a horrifying way.

Sonny Knows Best

[dougdoepke · 9 September 2016]

No need to recap the plot. As I recall, this oddball episode created a stir from the outset. It's a tricky premise, making a kid the demonic villain. I'm guessing that had not The Bad Seed (1956) been a movie success with its wicked little girl, this premise would never have flown. Credit the cast for making it fly despite the questionable material. Little Mumy is perfect with his impish face and searing glare. I expect the role has followed him for a lifetime. Then too, there's the bevy of adults cowering in his presence, where everything evil he does is "good". Seeing the brawny John Larch quaking in his son's presence is especially unnerving. On the other hand, I wish they had held the Jack-in-the-Box frame a little longer so it could soak in. Still, having it flit by has its own brand of nightmarish impact. Anyway, the premise was a daring one for its time, as Serling's extended prolog suggests. Nonetheless, as the half-hour's lasting reputation shows, the effort succeeded, and in spades.

Little Anthony only does good things

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 30 March 2018]

Vengeful and impulsive little brat Anthony Fremont (an excellent and unnerving performance by Bill Mumy) keeps all the scared adults in an isolated small town under his oppressive thumb through the power of his own mind.

Director James Sheldon adroitly crafts a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere as well as maintains a dark and despairing tone throughout. Rod Serling's crafty script not only makes a chilling point about how an evil and undisciplined child can turn into an absolute holy terror, but also illustrates the stark horror of living under a dictatorship and further states that happiness isn't something that one can force on other people. The fine acting by the able cast rates as another major asset: John Larch as the hearty Mr. Fremont, Cloris Leachman as the doting Mrs. Fremont, Don Keefer as fed-up drunk Dan Hollis, Alice Frost as the meek Aunt Amy, Max Showalter as nervous piano player Pat Riley, and Tom Hatcher as the cheery Bill Soames. The way Anthony uses his formidable psychic powers to terrorize the cowed adults who are all afraid of him is unsettling to behold while the bleak ending packs a brutal punch. One of this show's strongest and most frightening half hours.

Silly special effects, but still a great episode

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 9 September 2007]

This was one of the episodes of the original TWILIGHT ZONE series that was needlessly remade for THE TWILIGHT ZONE MOVIE. While the latter incarnation had better special effects, the original was better in every other way and proves that the people out in Hollywood are often idiots--choosing to remake things out of sheer laziness and contempt for the audience.

Cute little Billy Mumy stars as a bored little monster who is terrorizing an entire town. It seems this kid is a freak who has amazing mental powers but lacks the moral development to use it wisely. Again and again, at the slightest whim, this brat kills or maims people--forcing the survivors to cater to his every wish or else!! What I especially liked was the vague way it all ended--unlike the stupid movie version.

By the way, I am not 100% against remakes--I just want them to be intelligently written and necessary. THE SIMPSON'S version of this episode is excellent.

Prime episode of the show!

[The_Void · 9/10 · 15 March 2006]

It's a Good Life is one of the best known episodes of The Twilight Zone - and for good reason, as it's easily one of the best episodes of the classic TV show. Of course, the great parody that The Simpsons did of it contributes to its well-known status, but there's far more here than merely a base for a 'Treehouse of Horror' segment. We are introduced to a little town; a town with no cars, no machines and it's in a world with no cities or other settlements. We are told that this town is the victim of a monster who controls it with his mind - and just wait until you see who the monster is! The best episodes of The Twilight Zone are the ones that combine mystery with intrigue and ingenuity; thus making this one of the best episodes. It's a Good Life is also very humorous, and when the characters say everything is 'good', it's hard not to at least crack a smile. There isn't a great deal of 'bite' in this episode, as it mainly concentrates on the implications of the storyline, and it's mostly dialogue based; but it doesn't matter because the words uttered are always entertaining and overall; this is a major success.

Great rendition of a classic science fiction short story

[cashbacher · 10/10 · 12 February 2021]

This episode is based on a short science fiction story by Jerome Bixby. When I started watching the episode, I immediately recalled having read the story in a collection of classic science fiction short stories. It is based on the premise that a baby with powerful mental powers is born in a small farming community. In the original story, the physician attending the birth immediately recognizes the baby's power and tries to kill him. However, the baby also has enormous instincts for self-preservation and kills the doctor and somehow isolates the community from the rest of the world and perhaps universe. It is never resolved whether the baby simply deleted the rest of the world (universe) or somehow transported the community away from the rest of the world. The boy (Anthony Fremont) is now six years old and there are apparently few people left in the community. Everyone, and that includes his parents, is terrified of him. He has the normal inability of a six-year-old in separating his wishes from the reality of others. He can, with a simple thought, end a life, change the weather or make a television work without electricity. The community is completely cut off from everything else, so they must produce their food and make do with the other diminishing resources. Anthony is capable of reading thoughts and detecting disapproval, so everyone must always tell him that what he has done is good, even when someone is killed. Other than his incredible power, Anthony is a normal six-year-old with the emotional immaturity and impulsiveness. It is a powerful episode with the moral ambiguity of perhaps killing a dangerous child. Fans of the original Star Trek series will no doubt recognize the seeds for the episode, "Charlie X." When Charlie is being taken away, Captain Kirk is told, "He would destroy you or force you to destroy him in order to save yourselves." It is clear that the people around Anthony are in the same position, for it is likely he will get worse if they survive until he reaches adolescence.

The most frightening of the series.

[kimcoxmonm · 10/10 · 19 July 2021]

This series is the best show to ever air on television. I have seen every episode many times over the years and I never tire of them. I was born 3 years after the series ended so I was never able to have the thrill of anticipating the new episode that would air every week. Cable reruns and marathons over the years were cherished and now I have the luxury of having it any time on Paramount+.

This episode frightens me to this day. The more I see it (well, any episode), the more it ingrains itself into my psyche. It creates more and more existential thinking which makes it all the more unsettling.

Imagine your life depending on having ONLY "good" thoughts about someone. Our brains do not work that way. We couldn't function if we had to think this way. Our entire life would have to revolve around us obsessively chanting the good thoughts. Whether you did it in your mind or verbally, it's impossible!!! Even if we are concentrating on a task, our mind still wanders and is constantly processing, thinking, planning, daydreaming, etc. We are not computers. No human, especially those in Anthony's universe, could do this. While you are telling yourself to think a certain way, you are alternately screaming all the bad things you are NOT suppose to think about, plus what you need to pick up for dinner and trying to remember if you paid the electric bill. In Anthony's world, you would be burned alive or in the cornfield before you went insane.

I imagine what happens in the cornfield, (even worse than what Stephen King came up with and I'm sure the Chicago Black Sox won't be meeting up to have a pick up baseball game!), eventually running out of food and supplies and having to prepare to live off the land, the stress of helping others to be mindful of the rules, etc.

The actors did an amazingly convincing portrayal of their characters. The agonizing fear and dispair was palpable. Dan Hollis's tyrade should have caused them all to be punished because you know they instinctively agreed with him in their mind. The parents likely were emotionally and psychologically tortured by the thought that their child was evil and wished they could send him to the cornfield. Horrifying things to think about!!!!

I did see someone mention the TZ Movie version. The only part about that vignette I liked was the irony that Nancy Cartwright is banished into the TV to be tortured by a cartoon monster!!!!!

Not In Peaksville It Isn't

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 28 October 2014]

Bill Mumy plays Anthony Fremont, an ordinary-looking boy who in reality is anything but, since little Anthony is in fact a monster, a kid with omnipotent powers who has removed his town of Peaksville Ohio from the world, and re-located somewhere else, holding the residents in a state of perpetual fear, as they must think happy thoughts and say good things that Anthony likes, or he will send them to the cornfield, which is presumably death. Even his parents(played by John Larch & Cloris Leachman) are terrified of him, and await the day someone has the courage to kill him... Famous episode is certainly distinctive and memorable, though also nihilistic, with little point behind it, other than this is perhaps the darkest corner of the Twilight Zone...

A bratty little kid with terrorizes town, from pariah.... to profit

[dale-51649 · 10/10 · 5 December 2019]

This brilliant, outlandish plot shows a small, goofy faced boy terrorizing a town with supernatural psychic abilities. He can cook, maime ," jack n a box" a man ,simply with his thoughts. How outrageous.... What in the world ?...Everyone afraid of damage by a small child.... That's insane, ,,or is it ...??....... Thats the genius aspect of this piece, it's not just a regular story, but an allegory, and shows a parallel to the power a kid can get if we let him, if we "empower " him , if we believe him in a "kids never lie" no matter what social milieu. The brat is played well by a larval Billy Mummy, who went on to puzzle and annoy audiences alike with such cheezenoids as "Lost in Space" later in the 60s. . In this piece he lives in a little hick town, and his parents and everyone else is afraid he is going to put them in his sites, and cook them into a briquette, or worse.....He doesn't like noise or singing or a lot of things, so they walk on eggshells trying to keep him happy. I give this episode a ten, and I don't even give tens. It's not so much that the boy is a pariah, but in a way, he is also a profit...... I think Rod Serling had a little look into the future in this one. The way people tiptoe around the kid was filmed in 1962, but is SO 2019. In an era when an adult male coach is likely to hear from a six year old : "I can get you in trouble by just saying you touched me, NA NANA NA NA..." It looks exactly like parents, teachers and adults today who coddle and cater to kids, for fear oof getting sued, accused of abuse or worse. The way they tell Mummy "oh you are wonderful, everything you do is great " will ring familiar to anyone who has observed parent/child interaction in this day and age. In the age of paranoia an fear, in the "For the Children" era...Isn't it a good life ?

Annoying

[Calicodreamin · 6/10 · 14 June 2021]

A well written episode in that its interesting and authentic. However, the kid is annoying and the problem could be solved if everyone got together and did something about him.

I can't even listen to Perry Como!

[begob · 5/10 · 26 April 2016]

A rural community is terrified of crossing an omnipotent boy who can "put them in the cornfield" on a whim.

Nice, bleak little concept, but the story is too simple with some real hammy dialogue. We find these people at the end of their tether, and that's where we leave them in the end after a futile conflict. The speech by the grocery boy at the start was repetitive, and everything after that just repeated the dilemma with some very strained acting. There was an opportunity to show a way out, but it wasn't pushed far enough.

I did like that the horror was off screen, and the shadow of the jack in the box made it more grotesque.

Music was standard for this series.

Overall - promising, but didn't deliver.