With the entire original run of The Twilight Zone available to watch instantly, we’re partnering with Twitch Film to cover all of the show’s 156 episodes. Are you brave enough to watch them all with us? The Twilight Zone (Episode #114): “I Dream of Genie” (airdate 3/21/63) The Plot: A man finds a lazy genie in a lamp who only grants one wish. The Goods: For a second, let’s pretend that there isn’t a massive sub-genre of “Wish Fulfillment Gone Awry” episodes of this series (and of others). That includes forgetting that genies and Satan keep popping up everywhere. Thomas Gomez, Ernest Truex, and Joseph Ruskin all played the magical wish-granters, but no matter the actor behind the role – the rules are the same. You get what you want, and more than you bargained for. That’s why we’re forgetting all of those episodes exist because, despite its trite starting gun, this episode packs the kind of bullet that can make it seem like the only one in the world. It’s the trite polished up to be shiny and new.

With the entire original run of The Twilight Zone available to watch instantly, we’re partnering with Twitch Film to cover all of the show’s 156 episodes. Are you brave enough to watch them all with us? The Twilight Zone (Episode #68): “The Shelter” (airdate 9/29/61) The Plot:  A dinner party is interrupted with news of an impending nuclear attack, but only one family planned ahead and installed a bomb shelter. The party goes downhill fast from there. The Goods: Dr. Bill Stockton (Larry Gates) is a reasonable and rational man. He doesn’t like surprise parties, but he puts up with them when thrown by his friends and family. He’s no fan of sloppy, emotional outbursts, but he’ll make exceptions for drunken friends celebrating his birthday. And he fully expects those dirty Commie bastards could start a nuclear war any minute, so he’s built a bomb shelter in his basement big enough to support him, his wife, and his son for two weeks or more. His friends rib him about it, but he’s content feeling better safe than sorry. Especially when the radio’s emergency broadcast system warns the public that missiles are heading their way, and the end of the world seems imminent.

The small town of Potter’s Bluff is experiencing a rash of brutal murders with a twist. The victims show up a few days later looking normal and acting fine.