The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

The Twilight Zone is a science fiction horror anthology television series, presented by Forest Whitaker. It is the second of three revivals of Rod Serling's original 1959–64 television series. It aired for one season on the UPN network, with actor Forest Whitaker assuming Serling's role as narrator and on-screen host. It was a co-production between Spirit Dance Entertainment, Trilogy Entertainment Group, Joshmax Productions Services, and New Line Television. It premiered on September 18, 2002, and aired its final episode on May 21, 2003.

Series history
Broadcast in an hour format with two half-hour stories, it was canceled after one season. Reruns continue to air in syndication and have aired on MyNetworkTV since summer 2008 and stream on Tubi as of fall 2023.

The series tended to address contemporary issues head-on; e.g. terrorism, racism, gender roles, sexuality, and stalking. Noteworthy episodes featured Jason Alexander as Death wanting to retire from harvesting souls, Lou Diamond Phillips as a swimming pool cleaner being shot repeatedly in his dreams, Susanna Thompson as a woman whose stated wish results in an "upgrading" of her family, Usher as a police officer being bothered by telephone calls from beyond the grave, Brian Austin Green as a businessman who encounters items from his past that somehow reappear, Jeffrey Combs as a hypochondriac whose diseases become reality, and Katherine Heigl playing a woman who went back in time on a suicide mission to kill the infant Adolf Hitler.

The series also includes remakes and updates of stories presented in the original Twilight Zone television series, including the famous "Eye of the Beholder" starring Molly Sims. One of the updates, "The Monsters Are on Maple Street", is a modernized version of the classic episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". The original show was about the paranoia surrounding a neighborhood-wide blackout. In the course of the episode, somebody suggests an alien invasion being the cause of the blackouts, and that one of the neighbors may be an alien. The anti-alien hysteria is an allegory for the anti-communist paranoia of the time, and the 2003 remake, starring Andrew McCarthy and Titus Welliver, replaces aliens with terrorists.

The show also contains "It's Still a Good Life", a sequel to the events of "It's a Good Life", an episode of the original series produced 41 years earlier. Bill Mumy returned to play the adult version of Anthony, the demonic child he had played in the original story, with Mumy's daughter, Liliana, appearing as Anthony's daughter, a more benevolent but even more powerful child. Cloris Leachman also returned as Anthony's mother. Mumy went on to serve as a screenwriter for other episodes in the revival.

Other guest stars include: Penn Badgley, Scott Bairstow, Jason Bateman, Gil Bellows, Elizabeth Berkley, Xander Berkeley, Olivia d'Abo, Linda Cardellini, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Rory Culkin, Reed Diamond, Shannon Elizabeth, Ethan Embry, Sean Patrick Flanery, Lukas Haas, Wood Harris, Hill Harper, Jonathan Jackson, Moira Kelly, Erik King, Wayne Knight, Wallace Langham, Method Man, Samantha Mathis, Christopher McDonald, Tangi Miller, Pat O'Brien, Adrian Pasdar, Emily Perkins, Jeremy Piven, Jaime Pressly, James Remar, Portia de Rossi, Eriq La Salle, Michael Shanks, Jeremy Sisto, Jessica Simpson, Ione Skye, Amber Tamblyn, Christopher Titus, Robin Tunney, Vincent Ventresca, Dylan Walsh, Don S. Davis, Frank Whaley, Alicia Witt, Stephen E. Miller, and Gordon Michael Woolvett. McDonald, Langham, Xander Berkeley, and Haas had all previously guest starred in the 1980s revival.

Theme song
An original opening was used for the first half of the season which included images of Rod Serling and a creepier musical arrangement. For unknown reasons, this was changed to the more iconic opening with a rock-theme score provided by Jonathan Davis (singer of the band Korn). This version of the opening has the Serling images removed and would be the main one used in all episodes in future reruns and on the DVD boxset release.

Cancellation
The series did not enjoy the same level of critical or ratings success as the original series or the 1980s revival, and only lasted one season.

Home media
The complete series was released on DVD by New Line in a six disc box set on September 7, 2004. The episodes are presented in their production order, not their broadcast order.