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Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast am on iHeartRadio. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I love that song. I've always loved that since nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty nine. I've always loved that twilight Zone. I feel

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Speaker 1: like Rod Sterling when you walk out and do that, well,

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Speaker 1: almost somebody like Rod Sterling. Mark Zacree with us the

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Speaker 1: author of The twilight Zone Companion. He's a science fiction author,

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Speaker 1: television writer, screenwriter. He has been nominated for several of

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Speaker 1: the industry's awards, and here he is back on Coast

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Speaker 1: to Coast. Mark, always a pleasure of my friend. How

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Speaker 1: you band really well? George. It's terrific to be with

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Speaker 1: you tonight. What do you think every time you hear

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Speaker 1: that twilight Zone thing? Oh, it's you know, siver goes

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Speaker 1: up my spine. It was like like you. I saw

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Speaker 1: the show when it was on the Era and on

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Speaker 1: the network, and it was one of the greatest shows

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Speaker 1: ever made, and it made me who I am? So

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Speaker 1: so it's It's an amazing, unique, wonderful show. Earlier this

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Speaker 1: week I have a feature on It's called Who's Behind

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Speaker 1: the Secret Door. A number of the guests are on

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Speaker 1: the show, and unlike you tonight, where I know it's you. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I don't know who they are and I have to

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Speaker 1: guess who they are. And one of them was Billy

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Speaker 1: Mooey Wow, and he tricked me and I didn't get

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Speaker 1: it right. But we want to talk. We talked about

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Speaker 1: you a little bit and what a great talent. But

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Speaker 1: he was in three Twilight Zones. Yes, he was in

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Speaker 1: three great episodes. He was in then of course the

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Speaker 1: best one. Of course It's a good Life where he

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Speaker 1: sends people to the cornfield. Of course You're a bad

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Speaker 1: bad man. Phenomenal, and then he praise a tip with

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Speaker 1: Jack Lugman, which is great. And then Long Distance Call,

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Speaker 1: which was one of six Twilights On episodes shot on

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Speaker 1: black and white videotape. All the other episodes were shot

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Speaker 1: on thirty five millimeter films. So that's really interesting to

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Speaker 1: see how different those those six look. And the Billy

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Speaker 1: Moviey was just in the amazing actor. This is before

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Speaker 1: he did Lost in Space, and then I worked with

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Speaker 1: him on Babylon five and now on Space Command, the

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Speaker 1: show I've been shooting. But he's one of a kind.

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Speaker 1: Did you ever think when you were a youngster that

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Speaker 1: you would be dealing with episodes like The Twilight Zone

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Speaker 1: and writing about it and doing books on it and

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Speaker 1: things like that. Well, I you know, I dreamed of

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Speaker 1: working in television when I was a kid. You know,

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Speaker 1: these were the writers writing those shows were my heroes.

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Speaker 1: And as soon as I was a teenager, I started

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Speaker 1: going to science fiction convention and conventions and meeting people

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Speaker 1: like Ray Bradbury and so forth, and they became friends

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Speaker 1: and mentors. So I've been just blessed by that. It was,

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Speaker 1: and I'll tell you, George today, I had one of

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Speaker 1: the greatest experiences of my life. I shot a scene

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Speaker 1: for Space Command list Michelle Nichols, who played a Horra

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Speaker 1: on Star Trek, and I first met her when I

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Speaker 1: was ten years old and Star Trek was on the air. Wow,

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Speaker 1: that's amazing, your Twilight Zone companion, that you were at

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Speaker 1: the first edition that was back in nineteen eighty two

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Speaker 1: or something. Yeah. I started writing the book when I

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Speaker 1: was twenty two years old, and it came out in

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two. It's been in print ever since. But

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Speaker 1: I really wanted to do a new edition that would

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Speaker 1: expand upon the book. The new addition that's over one

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Speaker 1: hundred pages of new material has got five hundred new photos,

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Speaker 1: and it's it's got links to audio and videos, so

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Speaker 1: you can watch and listen to some great stuff, like

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Speaker 1: some of the TV shows Sterling written in fifties. But

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Speaker 1: you can also watch a new interview I just did

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Speaker 1: with George Kay and listen to an interview a new

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Speaker 1: interview I just did with Rod starter Jody, So that

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Speaker 1: the ability to do that was what really made me

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Speaker 1: want to write the book. Well, good for you, and

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Speaker 1: this new edition is out now. YEP. It's available from

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Speaker 1: Amazon and Barnes and Noble and everywhere good books are sold. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, if you love the twilight Zone, you're gonna

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Speaker 1: love your Twilight Zone companions, that's for sure. That's exciting.

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Speaker 1: What do you think of the new TV twilight Zone.

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Speaker 1: We know it's really interesting because I really liked Jordan

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Speaker 1: Peel's movies. I thought Get Out and Us were really

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Speaker 1: in the tradition of what Rod Sterling was up to.

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Speaker 1: But the first two episodes that I've seen of the

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Speaker 1: new Twilight Zone serious that he's hosting. He didn't write

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Speaker 1: or direct those episodes, and I felt they were they

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Speaker 1: were not as strong as his movies have been. I

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Speaker 1: was rather disappointed. I'm hoping that as the show continues,

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Speaker 1: he'll have much more of a personal stamp on the

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Speaker 1: new Twilight Zone because, of course, in the original show,

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Speaker 1: Rod Serling wrote ninety two out of one hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty six episodes himself, so it was very much his show.

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Speaker 1: There was a very strong authorial voice. Rod was inseparable

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Speaker 1: from Twilight Zone. Well, you know, maybe you can't duplicate that.

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Speaker 1: Maybe not, But I think if Jordan Pille were writing

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Speaker 1: and directing the shows and have much more of a

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Speaker 1: hand on them, they would have that quality that's made

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Speaker 1: his film so strong. And we'll see and perhaps as

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Speaker 1: the show goes on that will come to be the case.

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Speaker 1: I'm rooting for it. I'm definitely rooting for it. Is

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Speaker 1: this show primarily streamed. It's on CBS All Access, so

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Speaker 1: you have to subscribe to it. Just like Star Trek Discovery,

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Speaker 1: CBS is basically taking sort of some of their more

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Speaker 1: successful properties and making new versions that people have to

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Speaker 1: pay to see. It's sort of the new wave of

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Speaker 1: how television is being delivered. It is remarkable what's happening.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk for a moment about that. With Netflix and

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Speaker 1: Amazon Prime and things like that, where people are paying

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Speaker 1: premiums every month to be able to watch some premium shows.

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Speaker 1: The days of the old three networks. I remember that

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Speaker 1: a long time ago. That's gone. It's over now, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: It's true, it's astonishing. There's over five hundred scripted comedy

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Speaker 1: and drama series on all the networks and platforms right

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Speaker 1: now that it's impossibly even know what shows are on

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Speaker 1: the air. But you and I of course remember when

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Speaker 1: we were kids that there were only three networks and

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Speaker 1: you had to watch a show when it was on

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Speaker 1: you couldn't. In fact, when the original Star Trek aired

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Speaker 1: and I was ten years old, I recorded the original

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Speaker 1: Star Trek on Real Threal audiotape just in case of

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Speaker 1: Star Trek never showed again. So we've come a long way.

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Speaker 1: I remember when originally we just had CBS and NBC

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Speaker 1: pounding each other and the ratings. ABC was a way

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Speaker 1: distant third, And all of a sudden, Fred Silverman took

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Speaker 1: over and ABC started coming up with some incredible programming,

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Speaker 1: primarily gear gearing themselves to a younger, newer audience. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and it worked for them, yes, And I think I

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Speaker 1: think with Netflix and Amazon, on Time and a lot

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Speaker 1: of these new udd platforms. They are appealing to younger

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Speaker 1: people because people a lot of young people have no

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Speaker 1: idea what network or what studio is making giving given show.

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Speaker 1: So you know, for instance, you know, if they're watching

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Speaker 1: Walking Dead or whatever, they may not be aware where

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Speaker 1: where it originated, and that that's fine. So it's really

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Speaker 1: deliverable content. And many people don't even have a TV set.

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Speaker 1: They're watching them on their their tablets, are on their phones,

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Speaker 1: you know, and so you really have to it's a

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Speaker 1: very new medium and it's a very different way of

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Speaker 1: watching television. And what I think really made, really made

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Speaker 1: ABC back in the late seventies was when they came

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Speaker 1: out with the Roots mini series. Yes, that was an

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Speaker 1: amazing show. And again it's one of those shows that,

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Speaker 1: just like a Game of Thrones nowadays, it's one of

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Speaker 1: those shows that everyone was talking about, everyone was watching,

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Speaker 1: and it really sees the imagination of the public. It

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Speaker 1: was a terrific show. Mark with cable going on these days,

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Speaker 1: is anybody watching the network evening news anymore? Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's really on the fade, you know. I think most

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Speaker 1: people get their their news from from the Internet or

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Speaker 1: or from you know, their phone, something dings and you

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Speaker 1: read a little capsule comment. And so it's very much changed.

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Speaker 1: I mean the days when Walter Cronkite was basically sort

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Speaker 1: of the conscience of America and everyone turned to him

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Speaker 1: to get it. Well. For instance, when when Walter Cronkite

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Speaker 1: went to Vietnam and turned against the war, Lynda Johnson said,

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Speaker 1: we've if we've lost Walter Cronkite, we've lost the war.

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Speaker 1: And and that kind of power you really don't see

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Speaker 1: in these news these news people in the same way

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Speaker 1: that you used to. That's right. I'll always remember back

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Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty three when Kronkite broadcast John if Kennedy's assassination.

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Speaker 1: I mean, and you know he teared up. Man, it

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Speaker 1: was just unbelievable television. Yes, and yet the fun part

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Speaker 1: is those moments of authenticity that stick with us from

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Speaker 1: back then now the younger people or just anyone who's

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Speaker 1: watching things on their computers or on their tablets. Authenticity

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Speaker 1: with the creator and with the personalities that we're watching.

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Speaker 1: Authenticities what gets loyalty. But with the fans, We've had

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Speaker 1: Dan Rather on the show, who took Kronkite's place on CBS.

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Speaker 1: And now, of course he's been retired, yes, yeah, and

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Speaker 1: you know, and time moves on, and you know, it

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Speaker 1: is a different world. I actually prefer the way media

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Speaker 1: works now. I wouldn't go back to writing for the

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Speaker 1: studios and networks the way it was when I started.

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Speaker 1: I've been writing for TV since I was twenty two

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Speaker 1: years old. But but I love the way things are now.

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Speaker 1: You do You don't think it's too much? No, no,

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Speaker 1: I don't. Well not for me, because my audience gave

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Speaker 1: me over a million dollars to shoot the Space Command Pilot,

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Speaker 1: and I'm in a very direct communication with him now

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Speaker 1: and I love it because I'll tell you funny story.

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Speaker 1: I went to London to meet with the BBC and

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Speaker 1: I came out of the underground the subway, and someone

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Speaker 1: behind me on the street on the sidewalk said Mark

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Speaker 1: zich Reed, I love it Command, and he knew me

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Speaker 1: from I Love It channel, you know, And so that's

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Speaker 1: I love that stuff. Listen to more Coast to Coast

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Speaker 1: AM every weeknight at one am Eastern and go to

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Speaker 1: Coast to Coast am dot com for more