Friday Night Video

After skipping a week (or was it two?), I'm back with a "new" video. It's that old family favorite called "Living Doll" from the Twilight Zone,  November 1st 1963.

Fair warning, this post will only be funny to people that know Sam. And even then, probably not.

Before I begin, it helps to know the layout of our tiny little house. Our living room is open to the dining room. On the north wall, which is in the dining room, I have my desk with the computer on it. On the wall above my desk is a little mirror. The mirror is there so that you can see who's behind you and glance at the tv. The south wall is in the living room and that's where the TV sits. Against the west wall sits the couch and opposite the couch are three chairs.

A couple of Saturdays ago, it was only Jake, Sam and I at home. Sam was on the computer with his headphones on, watching cartoons. Jake was on the couch playing on his laptop and I was sitting across from Jake in one of the three chairs. I’m looking at a story on the AV Club Website about a Twilight Zone episode that I hadn't seen in years. You guessed it (because I told you at the beginning), it's “Living Doll”.

I rarely watch much TV but when I do, it’s almost never on a Saturday afternoon. But this story inspired me to dig out my Twilight Zone DVDs and check it out. It’s been a long time since I had seen it. Sam was occupied and unlikely to notice and if Jake happened to notice, I was pretty sure it would creep him out- so that was an added incentive. I popped in the disk and started to watch.

In this episode, Telly Savalas plays a jerk of a stepfather- the kind of guy who has a chip on his shoulder against the entire world- which in this case is his wife and little stepdaughter. So the episode begins when the wife and daughter come back from shopping and Mom has bought the girl a doll named Talky Tina. Right off the bat, we learn that Step Dad is not one to keep his comments and feelings to himself- both of which run the full range between anger to paranoia. All he does is pick, pick, pick. He hates the doll from the get-go and we soon learn that the feeling is mutual.

One thing leads to another and eventually he throws the doll in the garbage can in the garage. Later, the phone rings. Step Dad answers it’s and Talky Tina is on the other end. When Mom comes back in from the other room, Step Dad smells a rat and accuses Mom of the hijinks. She thinks he’s nuts. Meanwhile, the little girl goes to bed, brokenhearted over not finding the doll, and Step Dad goes out to check on the trash can... and finds the doll is gone (Shocker)! He goes to check on the little girl, who by now is fast asleep in her bed and there, in her arms- is the doll (another shocker)!

The doll opens her eyes when Step Dad enters and the doll wakes up the little girl just as Step Dad grabs the doll and accuses the little girl of being behind his torment.  "Daddy, please!", cries the little girl. Step Dad shouts back, "I'm not your Daddy!"...

All of a sudden, from behind me I hear, “What is that guy's problem?” It was Sam, who had been watching for I don’t know how long. Sam is one of the most patient people in the world and all of Talky Tina’s shenanigans either didn’t register or they didn’t matter. But clearly Sam had had enough of Stepdad’s crap.

I shut it off at that point- not knowing whether Sam would enjoy the fell good ending or find it somehow disturbing. For now, we'll never know.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a full video to imbed here so you'll have to check it out through this link or you can try this one.  Or you could let the moths out of your wallet and invest in the DVD.

And if you're interested, here's the link to the article that got me started.