The Worst Episodes of The Twilight Zone
Every episode of The Twilight Zone ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of The Twilight Zone!
This 1980s revival of the classic sci-fi series features a similar style to the original anthology series. Each episode tells a tale (sometimes two or three) rooted in horror or suspense, often with a surprising twist at the end. Episodes usually feature elements of drama and comedy.
Lowest Rated Episodes Summary
The worst episode of "The Twilight Zone" is "Opening Day", rated N/A/10 from 0 user votes. It was directed by John Milius and written by Chris Hubbell, Gerrit Graham. "Opening Day" aired on 11/29/1985 and is rated NaN point(s) lower than the second lowest rated, "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty".
NaN/10 0 votes#1 - Opening Day
Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 11/29/1985
A beautiful woman and her boyfriend plan to kill her husband on the first day of duck hunting season.
Director: John Milius
Writer: Chris Hubbell, Gerrit Graham
NaN/10 0 votes#2 - One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty
Season 1 Episode 27 - Aired 12/6/1985
Angry with his adult life, a man, Gus Rosenthal, returns to his childhood stomping ground in Ohio and while digging up an old toy soldier finds himself transported back to when he was a boy. Taking on the guise of a writer he meets himself as a child - angry, frustrated and misunderstood. Taking the name of 'Harry Rosenthal', Gus tries to guide his younger self but sickens from his place out-of-time. When he has to leave he tells his younger self to stay behind...which was what frustrated himself as a child and led to him being so angry throughout his life. Returning to his own time, the old Gus returns to his life, sadder but wiser.
Director: Don Carlos Dunaway
Writer: Alan Brennert
NaN/10 0 votes#3 - I of Newton
Season 1 Episode 29 - Aired 12/13/1985
A frazzled mathematics professor accidentally summons a demon who will let him riddle to get free of the contract he accidentally invoked. The professor, Sam, has three questions to find a task the demon can't accomplish, or a question he can't answer, then challenge him after the questions are answered. The demon appears omnipotent, but Sam gives the demon a simple command: "Get lost." The demon is banished and Sam goes back to work.
Director: Kenneth Gilbert
Writer: N/A
NaN/10 0 votes#4 - But Can She Type?
Season 1 Episode 31 - Aired 12/20/1985
An overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated secretary uses a Xerox machine and wakes up in a parallel reality where no one has heard of her. In this reality, however, secretaries are a revered, rare commodity.
Director: N/A
Writer: Alan Brennert, Martin Pasko
NaN/10 0 votes#5 - The Star
Season 1 Episode 32 - Aired 12/20/1985
Onboard a spaceship an astrophysicist and a priest learn they have discovered a planet long dead and a transmitter emitting a signal for eons. They discover that the planet holds the last remains of a civilization, which died when their star went supernova.
Director: Gerd Oswald
Writer: Alan Brennert
NaN/10 0 votes#6 - The Little People of Killany Woods
Season 1 Episode 34 - Aired 1/3/1986
An old Irishman has often been called a fool for his stories about Leprechauns. He catches the leader of "The Little People" and gets greedy.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/10 0 votes#7 - The Misfortune Cookie
Season 1 Episode 35 - Aired 1/3/1986
A young man has had his heart broken recently. At a Chinese restaurant, he reads a fortune about finding new love and it comes true. His life seems perfect until he becomes greedy with his good luck. He only wants to read the fortune cookies. The old Chinese owner advises him of the bad luck of not finishing his meal before reading his fortune.
Director: Allan Arkush
Writer: Rockne S. O'Bannon
NaN/10 0 votes#8 - A Small Talent for War
Season 1 Episode 37 - Aired 1/24/1986
An alien ship arrives at the UN and the alien representative declares his disappointment at Earth's progress. The UN ambassadors plead for 24 hours to resolve their differences. In 24 hours the ambassadors manage to arrange world peace and nuclear disarmament. When the alien returns the ambassadors realize they have misunderstood him entirely.
Director: Claudia Weill
Writer: Alan Brennert
NaN/10 0 votes#9 - Tooth and Consequences
Season 1 Episode 41 - Aired 1/31/1986
A depressed dentist, Myron Mandel, is visited by the Tooth Fairy, who grants him the wish to be incredibly popular and loved. The wish is granted in full force, and soon Mandel can't handle the endless stream of visitors singing his praises. He flees, only to find himself on a train with a bunch of other hobo/dentists who similarly wished for the same thing.
Director: Robert Downey Jr.
Writer: N/A
NaN/10 0 votes#10 - Personal Demons
Season 1 Episode 45 - Aired 2/14/1986
A screenwriter is having writer's block when strange impish creatures start haunting him. Sadly, only he can see them.
Director: Peter Medak
Writer: Rockne S. O'Bannon
NaN/10 0 votes#11 - Dead Run
Season 1 Episode 48 - Aired 2/21/1986
An out-of-work trucker takes on a bizarre job upon the recommendation of a friend: deliveryman of souls to Hell. He soon begins to realize that Hell is essentially out of control, running on momentum, and that the current regime is way too harsh. Resolved, he decides to begin choosing which among the supposed "damned" should try to make their way to Heaven.
Director: Paul Tucker
Writer: Alan Brennert, Greg Bear
NaN/10 0 votes#12 - Button, Button
Season 1 Episode 50 - Aired 3/7/1986
A mysterious man offers a couple a bizarre deal: if they will push a button on a box that will kill one person they don't know, they will get a million dollars. After some contemplation, the couple goes ahead and pushes the button. The man tells them that they will indeed get the money. And somewhere, sometime, another couple will get the same box, and the same offer...
Director: Peter Medak
Writer: Richard Matheson
NaN/10 0 votes#13 - Red Snow
Season 1 Episode 52 - Aired 3/21/1986
A KGB investigator is sent to Siberia to investigate the deaths of communist party officials. Later, he discovers that Stalin's exiles are alive and well. He also discovers dead people drained of blood.
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Michael Cassutt
NaN/10 0 votes#14 - Devil's Alphabet
Season 1 Episode 54 - Aired 3/28/1986
A college group holds their "Devil's Alphabet" meeting every year. When one of them dies, all the rest expect foul play.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/10 0 votes#15 - The Library
Season 1 Episode 55 - Aired 3/28/1986
Landing a new job at a private library a girl is warned never to look at the books. Taking a peek she learns that there's a book for everyone alive. When a neighbor pesters her, she rewrites his biography.
Director: John D. Hancock
Writer: Anne Collins
NaN/10 0 votes#16 - Grace Note
Season 1 Episode 57 - Aired 4/4/1986
An opera singer is having a hard time. Her sister is at the hospital dying. Her sick sister leaves a gift: a glimpse into the future when the singer is a world-famous star.
Director: Peter Medak
Writer: N/A
NaN/10 0 votes#17 - The Junction
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 2/21/1987
A modern-day miner has an argument with his wife and then goes off to work in the local mine. A collapse traps him, but he finds another survivor - a miner who claims to be from 1912. The two men figure out that somehow they have become connected through time. The modern-day man helps the 1912 miner to survive, and the latter is rescued. The modern-day miner appears trapped...but the rescuers look in an unexpected spot and find him. It turns out the 1912 miner wrote a letter marked for delivery 74 years later directing them where to search.
Director: Bill Duke
Writer: Virginia Aldridge
NaN/10 0 votes#18 - Shelter Skelter
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 5/21/1987
A survivalist traps himself in his bomb shelter when a nuclear blast finally comes.
Director: Martha Coolidge
Writer: N/A
NaN/10 0 votes#19 - Private Channel
Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 5/21/1987
On board an airplane, a lightning storm transforms a boy's walkman into a telepathic tuning device that informs him that the man sitting next to him is carrying a bomb.
Director: Peter Medak
Writer: N/A
NaN/10 0 votes#20 - Voices in the Earth
Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 7/10/1987
In the far future an expedition returns to a desolate barren Earth where a scientist begins to see the ghosts of those who died years ago.
Director: Curtis Harrington
Writer: Alan Brennert
NaN/10 0 votes#21 - The Girl I Married
Season 2 Episode 21 - Aired 7/17/1987
An attorney and his wife have successful careers. They feel something is lacking in their marriage. Soon, they encounter younger versions of their mates.
Director: N/A
Writer: J. M. DeMatteis
3.5/10 2 votes#22 - Song of the Younger World
Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 7/17/1987
In 1916 a girl and a young man from a reformatory for wayward boys fall in love and try to get away from her father, the superintendent. He finds out and doesn't approve of their love, locking away his daughter and punishing the boy. With the help of a wandering vagrant the girl finds a way to use a book to transfer both her and the boy into a primordial world where they become wolves and can live free and together.
Director: Noel Black
Writer: Anthony Lawrence
4.0/10 3 votes#23 - The Leprechaun-Artist
Season 1 Episode 47 - Aired 2/21/1986
Vacationing in the United States, an Irish leprechaun is caught by three boys. To be freed, he must grant them three wishes.
Director: N/A
Writer: James Crocker
4.0/10 2 votes#24 - The Card
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 2/21/1987
A compulsive spender accepts "The Card" to keep up her habit. Unfortunately stringent penalties kick in for late payments.
Director: Bradford May
Writer: Michael Cassutt
5.0/10 2 votes#25 - The Beacon
Season 1 Episode 26 - Aired 12/6/1985
When Dr. Dennis Barrows's car breaks down, he goes to an unusual town where visitors are disliked and townspeople are terrified of lighthouse and where it might shine. The house where Barrows stays the night is shined upon by the lighthouse. It holds a sick child, one which he helps with his medicine. The child recovers, but when Barrows goes to the lighthouse, the townfolk confront him with the truth: the lighthouse keeper is long dead, but in return for ensuring the town's prosperity, it demands the occasional sacrifice. Since Barrows saved the girl and was in the house where the light shined, he becomes the townsfolks' next sacrifice.
Director: Gerd Oswald
Writer: Martin Pasko, Rebecca Parr Cioffi