Living Doll

Talking Tina does say the darndest things for a cute little play thing. But then she doesn't know she's messing with Kojak-- tough-talking Telly Savalas as the stepdad. But then stepdad doesn't know this sweet little curly-head was a Demons R' Us purchase from the Twilight Zone. The face-off between one mean stepdad and one infernal doll is an epic one and not without moments of deliciously wry humor. It's not an episode you're likely to forget, perhaps because there's something of a role reversal near the end. Anyhow, some folks might take this as an exercise in abnormal psychology since stepdad does seem to have a problem in, uh, 'relating'. Except for the clumsy final scene, the episode works, and it works well. Charles Beaumont may not have been Serling's artistic equal, but he could come up with some good gimmicky scripts. This is one of them.