Some of the plots for "Tales of Tomorrow" were fairly obvious but because of the live format and competent acting, they're enjoyable anyway. "The Duplicates" is an example of this. Out-of-work engineer Bruce Calvin (McGavin) is being nagged by his wife to find another job, so he answers a mysterious newspaper ad (remember classified ads?). Calvin is told by interviewer Dr. Johnson (Cameron Prud'Homme) that he is with a secret government agency that has identified a parallel world that is exactly the same as the earth, with exact duplicates of everything. Calvin's mission is to poison his duplicate to separate the two worlds, then escape back home. There's a final plot twist that you'll figure out way before Calvin does.
The acting is as usual impressive and McGavin is very good, but I was rather appalled by the ultra-cheap sets in this episode. Dr. Johnson's desk sits under a ceiling lamp with a shade made of--get this--newspapers! You can even see the ads on the paper. I guess the show's budget was pretty low, but anyone can go to a thrift store a pick up a cheap lamp shade. Anyway, the episode was very predictable but well done, so take a look when you have a spare 30 minutes.
The acting is as usual impressive and McGavin is very good, but I was rather appalled by the ultra-cheap sets in this episode. Dr. Johnson's desk sits under a ceiling lamp with a shade made of--get this--newspapers! You can even see the ads on the paper. I guess the show's budget was pretty low, but anyone can go to a thrift store a pick up a cheap lamp shade. Anyway, the episode was very predictable but well done, so take a look when you have a spare 30 minutes.