Darkness on the Edge of Town

I write today to praise one George "Goober" Lindsay, he of the famous Andy Griffith Show character in the mid-to-late 60s. He was so identified with the character that even on "Hee Haw" in subsequent years the Goober name was part of his persona.

He was always Goober, never just George.

The Griffith Show provided many great moments for Goober, especially the episode with cousin Gomer and the  legendary "Judy, Judy, Judy, Judy, Judy." 

Of course, this "country" humor was beneath many who thought it unsophisticated. And that meant a general disregard for his work, despite the fact the Lindsay appeared on Broadway and was a serious actor before moving to Mayberry.

Case in point: "I am the Night - Color me Black," a taut, 24-minute meditation on hate from "The Twilight Zone" in 1964. This episode is burned into my conscious; I have never forgotten it even after some 40-odd years. The acting is so precise, the story so well told, the message so clear. And there is "Goober," playing a character so far removed from Wally's Filling Station that you have to look twice and listen hard to be be sure that it's really him.

And helping to deliver a message that seems to be a hard one for many to learn.

RIP "Goober"

"I am the Night - Color me Black" -- Part One
"I am the Night - Color me Black" -- Part Two

If you had a little time on your hands

Jack has turned into Henry Bemis.

Not the bespectacled Henry Bemis who craved solitude, nor the Bemis who was an outsider in a world not his own.

No, simply the Bemis who just wants to read. All day and all of the night. The sort of reader who gets out of the car with an open book, reads all the way up the sidewalk and bumps into the railing on the front porch. The reader who wants to bring his book to the dinner table and read while his food gets cold.
Of course, this is all good for a 7-year-old. The culprit in this instance was Harry Potter. For me, it was Zane Grey and "The Red Headed Oufield."

As for Bemis, he was the memorable star of the episode "Time Enough at Last," in the monumental and essential television series "The Twilight Zone." Bemis, played by Burgess Meredith, wants only to read, which infuriates his wife, his boss and society as a whole. After accidentally locking himself in a bank vault during a nuclear holocaust, he finds himself the only person left alive. Now, at last, he has all the time to read all the books he wants to read.

Until he breaks his glasses.

It's almost a cliche to talk about how great this series (and this particular episode) was and is, but so many particular shows characters and lines have become cultural touchstones:

· "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"
· "It's a cookbook"
· "People are Alike all Over"
· "That's real good thing you done, Anthony. Real good."
And dozens more.
For my generation, "The Twilight Zone" introduced us to science fiction, the paranormal, and the dark side and underbelly of the human condition. It told us more about ourselves -- our fears and our prejudices -- than any other show in history. It was often just plain creepy, and a million special effects can never be as riveting as many of the taut and well-written storylines in so many of these shows, the best of which will stand the test of time.
And I think the theme song may be the most recognizable piece of music in history.

The best television series of all time.
Strictly 100: Number 19 - The Twilight Zone