A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
The worst episode of "The Twilight Zone" is "The Bard", rated 5.6/10 from 1629 user votes. It was directed by David Butler and written by Rod Serling. "The Bard" aired on 5/23/1963 and is rated 0.1 point(s) lower than the second lowest rated, "Sounds and Silences".
An untalented would-be writer's career takes off when the ghost of William Shakespeare writes his script.
Director: David Butler
Writer: Rod Serling
A man's wish to listen to loud noise backfires.
Director: Richard Donner
Writer: Rod Serling
Cavender, an angel trying to win his wings, tries to help down-on-her-luck Agnes, who has just been fired.
Director: Christian Nyby
Writer: Rod Serling
A baseball manager takes his team to the championships thanks to a robot pitcher.
Director: Robert Parrish, Alvin Ganzer
Writer: Rod Serling
A man considers several possibilities when offered one wish by a genie.
Director: Robert Gist
Writer: John Furia, Jr.
Toy designer Horace Ford spends most of his time reminiscing about his idyllic childhood. But when he gets a chance to go back to those years he gets a bitter taste of reality.
Director: Abner Biberman
Writer: Reginald Rose
A singer searches for an authentic folk song.
Director: Richard Donner
Writer: Anthony Wilson
Actor Rance McGrew makes TV Westerns for a living, but he's a lousy actor and a worse cowboy. Despite that, each week he "wins" against the bad guys. Finally the bad guys have enough and send Jesse James to Earth to teach McGrew a lesson.
Director: Christian Nyby
Writer: Rod Serling
A computer technician must deal with the queen of all femme fatales: a computer named Agnes who wreaks havoc on his love life.
Director: Richard Donner
Writer: Bernard C. Schoenfeld
A writer feels that the machines in his house are conspiring against him.
Director: David Orrick McDearmon
Writer: Rod Serling
A peculiar Model A automobile compels a used car dealer to tell only the truth.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: Rod Serling
Oliver Crangle is a bitter, prejudiced man. Through unknown means he intends to shrink every evil person in the world at four o'clock.
Director: Lamont Johnson
Writer: Rod Serling
Barred from the track for life, crooked jockey Grady boozily expresses the wish to escape his sordid surroundings and become a truly "big man." His wish is granted by his lookalike alter ego, but there's a heavy price to be paid at fadeout time.
Director: Joseph M. Newman
Writer: Rod Serling
Three tough-looking men on motorcycles disrupt a peaceful suburb when they move in. Yet the neighbors could never imagine just how dangerous these men really are.
Director: Joseph M. Newman
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
A book on the power of thought enables an irritable worker to re-create the world exactly as he wants it. But what he wants and what he gets are two different things!
Director: Buzz Kulik
Writer: Rod Serling
After a poor but ambitious Central American farm worker overthrows his country's tyrannical leader, he believes he sees assassins everywhere. A look in the mirror reveals his most dangerous enemy.
Director: Don Medford
Writer: Rod Serling
Confederacy scout Sgt. Joseph Paradine finds a town full of Union soldiers, and an old man who claims he used witchcraft to paralyze them.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: Rod Serling
When a newlywed couple briefly return to the groom's childhood home, the ties of the past prove too strong to resist.
Director: John Brahm
Writer: Richard Matheson
A 12-year-old girl who lost her parents in a fire doesn't speak because she has grown up in a secret telepathic community. The couple who take her in, and her teacher, are determined to help her adapt to their society, no matter the cost.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Writer: Richard Matheson
A ventriloquist's dummy goads him into committing burglaries.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: N/A
Two unhappy children find a happy escape in a swimming pool.
Director: Joseph M. Newman
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Tight fisted Franklin Gibbs is not pleased when his wife wins a trip for two to Las Vegas. But things change when he falls under the spell of a slot machine that calls his name.
Director: Robert Florey
Writer: Rod Serling
Washed-up boxer Bolie Jackson, with the help of a special wish from his young friend Henry, miraculously switches places with his opponent during a comeback fight, turning the tide in his favor.
Director: Ron Winston
Writer: Rod Serling
A WWII captain finds himself in the desert, next to his crashed plane, and desperately tries to find out what happened to the rest of his crew.
Director: Buzz Kulik
Writer: Rod Serling
Ordered to commit a murder he doesn't want to perform, a smalltime hood nervously looks in the mirror and sees the man he could have been--confident, strong...and determined to get out.
Director: Douglas Heyes
Writer: Rod Serling