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The Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone

Every episode of The Twilight Zone ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone!

Binge this in 3d 3h•Peaking at 9.1/10

An anthology series containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.

Airs on
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Seasons5

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 6 - Eye of the Beholder
    9.1/10(7238 votes)

    #1 - Eye of the Beholder

    S2:E6

    A young woman lying in a hospital bed awaits the outcome of an experimental treatment in an attempt to make her look normal.

    Director:Douglas Heyes
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  2. The Twilight Zone Season 5 Episode 3 - Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
    9.0/10(6255 votes)

    #2 - Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

    S5:E3

    A man, newly recovered from a nervous breakdown, becomes convinced that a monster only he sees is damaging the plane he's flying in.

    Director:Richard Donner
    Writer:Richard Matheson

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  3. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 8 - Time Enough at Last
    8.9/10(9066 votes)

    #3 - Time Enough at Last

    S1:E8

    A bank teller, obsessed with reading, faces conflicts at work and home because of his passion for literature.

    Director:John Brahm
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  4. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 22 - The Monsters are Due on Maple Street
    8.9/10(7207 votes)

    #4 - The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

    S1:E22

    Paranoia strikes the residents of Maple Street when they believe human-looking aliens have invaded the neighborhood.

    Director:Ron Winston
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  5. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 28 - Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
    8.7/10(5095 votes)

    #5 - Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?

    S2:E28

    State Troopers follow the tracks from a frozen pond, into a diner. Inside they find a soda jerk, a bus driver and his seven passengers. The bus driver is certain only six people boarded his bus…

    Director:Montgomery Pittman
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  6. The Twilight Zone Season 5 Episode 6 - Living Doll
    8.7/10(4244 votes)

    #6 - Living Doll

    S5:E6

    Erich is displeased when his wife buys an expensive doll for his step-daughter. He becomes even more displeased when the doll tells him it doesn't like him!

    Director:Richard C. Sarafian
    Writers:Jerry Sohl, Charles Beaumont

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Twilight Zone

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  7. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 29 - The Obsolete Man
    8.6/10(4754 votes)

    #7 - The Obsolete Man

    S2:E29

    In a future state where religion and books have been banned, a librarian is judged obsolete and sentenced to death.

    Director:Elliot Silverstein
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  8. The Twilight Zone Season 5 Episode 25 - The Masks
    8.6/10(3756 votes)

    #8 - The Masks

    S5:E25

    A wealthy dying man invites his family to a Mardi Gras party and insists that they wear masks specially made for them, threatening to cut off their inheritance if they refuse.

    Director:Ida Lupino
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  9. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 30 - A Stop at Willoughby
    8.5/10(5481 votes)

    #9 - A Stop at Willoughby

    S1:E30

    Riding home on the train one day, a stressed businessman falls asleep and dreams it is 1888, and he is entering a small, idyllic town called Willoughby.

    Director:Robert Parrish
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  10. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 24 - To Serve Man
    8.5/10(28 votes)

    #10 - To Serve Man

    S3:E24

    The Kanamits, 9 foot tall aliens, arrive on Earth with one lofty goal: To Serve Man.

    Director:Richard L. Bare
    Writers:Rod Serling, Damon Knight

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  11. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 34 - The After Hours
    8.4/10(5299 votes)

    #11 - The After Hours

    S1:E34

    Puzzled and unsettled by the odd behavior of the salespeople, a woman discovers that the floor of a department store, on which she bought a gold thimble, doesn't exist.

    Director:Douglas Heyes
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  12. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 3 - The Shelter
    8.4/10(26 votes)

    #12 - The Shelter

    S3:E3

    When a nuclear attack appears imminent, several suburban friends and neighbors fight over control of a single bomb shelter.

    Director:Lamont Johnson
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  13. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 11 - And When the Sky Was Opened
    8.3/10(5869 votes)

    #13 - And When the Sky Was Opened

    S1:E11

    Recovering in the hospital after a space mission, Major William Gart is visited by his co-pilot Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes, who insists on the existence of a third astronaut.

    Director:Douglas Heyes
    Writers:Richard Matheson, Rod Serling

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  14. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 7 - Nick of Time
    8.3/10(4759 votes)

    #14 - Nick of Time

    S2:E7

    A superstitious newlywed becomes obsessed by a penny fortune-telling machine when he and his new wife are stranded with car trouble.

    Director:Richard L. Bare
    Writer:Richard Matheson

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  15. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 25 - The Silence
    8.3/10(3883 votes)

    #15 - The Silence

    S2:E25

    A talkative man takes an offer to keep silent for a year for $500,000.

    Director:Boris Sagal
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  16. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 5 - Walking Distance
    8.2/10(7121 votes)

    #16 - Walking Distance

    S1:E5

    A stressed advertising executive, driving through the country, leaves his car and starts to walk toward his hometown, Homewood. He finds things exactly as they were when he was a child.

    Director:Robert Stevens
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  17. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 16 - The Hitch-Hiker
    8.2/10(6101 votes)

    #17 - The Hitch-Hiker

    S1:E16

    Alone on a cross-country trip, a woman continually encounters the same mysterious hitch-hiker who inexplicably reappears at various points in her journey.

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writers:Lucille Fletcher, Rod Serling

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  18. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 5 - The Howling Man
    8.2/10(4732 votes)

    #18 - The Howling Man

    S2:E5

    A man on a walking trip of post-World War I Europe gets caught in a storm. He comes across a remote monastery with a mysterious prisoner.

    Director:Douglas Heyes
    Writer:Charles Beaumont

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  19. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 8 - It's a Good Life
    8.2/10(26 votes)

    #19 - It's a Good Life

    S3:E8

    Little Anthony Fremont controls an entire town with his ability to read minds and make people do as he wishes. Which is a real good thing.

    Director:James Sheldon
    Writers:Rod Serling, Jerome Bixby

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  20. The Twilight Zone Season 5 Episode 22 - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
    8.2/10(3088 votes)

    #20 - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

    S5:E22

    As a Confederate spy is about to be hanged, the rope breaks and he falls to the water below. Finally free, he races for his home where his family awaits... as does the terrible truth of his future...

    Director:Robert Enrico
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 7 - The Lonely
    8.1/10(6322 votes)

    #21 - The Lonely

    S1:E7

    In 2046, imprisoned for murder on a distant asteroid, Corry receives an unexpected present that brings a semblance of companionship during his isolation.

    Director:Jack Smight
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  22. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 14 - Third from the Sun
    8.1/10(5249 votes)

    #22 - Third from the Sun

    S1:E14

    With all-out nuclear war about to ignite, a scientist and his pilot friend plot to escape on an experimental spaceship.

    Director:Richard L. Bare
    Writers:Richard Matheson, Rod Serling

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  23. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 24 - Long Live Walter Jameson
    8.1/10(4464 votes)

    #23 - Long Live Walter Jameson

    S1:E24

    Walter Jameson, a popular history professor, is suspected by his fiancée's father, another professor at the college, to be an immortal.

    Director:Anton Leader
    Writer:Charles Beaumont

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  24. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 25 - People are Alike All Over
    8.1/10(4617 votes)

    #24 - People are Alike All Over

    S1:E25

    After a space exploration crash-lands on Mars, the lone surviving astronaut is surprised to find that Martians are human-looking and friendly.

    Director:Mitchell Leisen
    Writers:Paul W. Fairman, Rod Serling

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  25. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 36 - A World of His Own
    8.1/10(4217 votes)

    #25 - A World of His Own

    S1:E36

    Coming home, Victoria catches her husband Gregory flirting with a beautiful woman in his study. His explanation that characters come to life before his eyes when he speaks into his dictation machine, leads Victoria to question his sanity.

    Director:Ralph Nelson
    Writer:Richard Matheson

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Best Episodes Summary

"Eye of the Beholder" is the best rated episode of "The Twilight Zone". It scored 9.1/10 based on 7238 votes. Directed by Douglas Heyes and written by Rod Serling, it aired on 11/11/1960. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet".