A Kind of a Stopwatch

"A Kind of a Stopwatch" is a 1963 episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a man acquires a stopwatch which can stop time.

Opening narration
Submitted for your approval or at least your analysis: one Patrick Thomas McNulty, who, at age forty-one, is the biggest bore on Earth. He holds a ten-year record for the most meaningless words spewed out during a coffee break. And it's very likely that, as of this moment, he would have gone through life in precisely this manner, a dull, argumentative bigmouth who sets back the art of conversation a thousand years. I say he very likely would have except for something that will soon happen to him, something that will considerably alter his existence—and ours. Now you think about that now, because this is - The Twilight Zone.

Plot
Patrick McNulty is a self-important, annoying man in his 40s. One day, he is summoned by his boss, Mr. Cooper. McNulty is delighted, believing that his frequent contributions to the suggestion box have earned him recognition. Cooper, however, says that all of McNulty's suggestions deal with fields of enterprise in which the company is not involved and fires McNulty for wasting his time.

McNulty goes to Joe Palucci's bar, where he drives away the other patrons with his opinions about a sporting event. Palucci requests that McNulty patronize another establishment, but McNulty ignores him and buys a drink for the sole remaining patron, Potts, a drunk who spews various phrases from times long past. In return, Potts gives McNulty his stopwatch. Thinking it an odd gift, McNulty quickly discovers that it pauses time for everyone and everything except for the watch holder.

McNulty tries to show Cooper the stopwatch's power in the hopes of improving their company, but Cooper does not understand McNulty and dismisses him. Returning to the bar, McNulty tries to demonstrate the watch's power to the customers, but does it in such a way that they do not understand again.

McNulty steps into a bank with the intention of robbing it, but drops the watch, which breaks and permanently freezes time. With no way to repair it, McNulty frantically begs for help from the frozen people around him.

Closing narration
Mr. Patrick Thomas McNulty, who had a gift of time. He used it and he misused it, and now he's just been handed the bill. Tonight's tale of motion and McNulty - in the Twilight Zone.

Cast

 * Richard Erdman as Patrick Thomas McNulty
 * Herbie Faye as Joe Palucci, the bartender
 * Leon Belasco as Potts, the drunk who gives McNulty the stopwatch
 * Doris Singleton as Secretary to McNulty's boss Mr. Cooper
 * Roy Roberts as Mr. Cooper, McNulty's annoyed boss
 * Richard Wessel as Charlie, drinker in Palucci's bar
 * Ray Kellog as Fred, who delivers coffee to McNulty's office
 * Ken Drake as Daniel, last patron in Palucci's bar who tells McNulty, "Come on fella, we're trying to watch." Uncredited:
 * Sam Balter: sports announcer on TV in Polucci's bar
 * Al Silvani: one of the drinkers in Polucci's bar

One cast member, last-billed Ken Drake, had a credited bit part in an earlier episode of the original series, "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" (April 1961).

Adaptation
The television episode was later adapted as an episode of The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas series under the title "A Kind of Stopwatch", featuring Lou Diamond Phillips in the lead role.

Related works
Ideas from this episode were used in "A Little Peace and Quiet", an episode in the 1985 revival of The Twilight Zone.

The Adam Sandler 2006 movie Click, uses a similar premise, only the stopwatch is a "universal remote" that pauses, fast-forwards, and reverses time.

The episode has been parodied by a number of animated series, including in the Johnny Bravo episode "The Day the Earth Didn't Move Around Very Much"; the Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XIV"; The Garfield Show episode "Time Master"; and "Meanwhile", the Season 7 finale of Futurama.