I was d
elighted to be included in Daniel Griffith’s two new documentaries on the creation of television’s classic Twilight Zone series. Along with my old friends Steven Smith (Bernard Herrmann’s biographer) and Matt Roush (TV Guide critic), it’s a pleasure to be discussing the origins and history of the Twilight Zone themes by Herrmann and French composer Marius Constant. There are a lot of terrific “extras” in this set, which includes both the classic series and its 1980s update.
The release of the misbegotten film version of I Spy served as a springboard for a piece about why filmmakers can’t seem to get big-screen versions of classic ’60s spy shows right. Detective-show historian Ric Meyers, veteran TV critic Matt Roush and pop-culture specialist Robert J. Thompson all chimed in when I called. I was irritated by the trashing of The Wild Wild West, The Avengers and Mission: Impossible — and worried about what might happen with a Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie (see Roush’s great quote at the end).