Time and Teresa Golowitz

Last updated
"Time and Teresa Golowitz"
The Twilight Zone episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 34a
Directed by Shelley Levinson
Written by Alan Brennert
Based on"Influencing the Hell Out of Time and Teresa Golowitz" by Parke Godwin
Original air dateJuly 10, 1987
Guest appearances
Paul Sand: Bluestone
Gene Barry: Prince of Darkness
Heather Haase: Mary Ellen Cosgrove
Grant Heslov  : Blaustein
Kristi Lynes  : Teresa Golowitz
Gina Gershon  : Laura
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Private Channel"
Next 
"Voices in the Earth"
List of episodes

"Time and Teresa Golowitz" is the first segment of the 34th episode, the 10th episode of the second season (1986–87) of the television series The Twilight Zone . It is based on Parke Godwin's "Influencing the Hell Out of Time and Teresa Golowitz", which was published in The Twilight Zone Magazine (January 1982). In this segment, the Devil gives a Broadway composer a second chance to prevent his high school classmate's suicide.

Contents

Plot

Bluestone, a Broadway composer, dies of a heart attack. The Devil offers him one wish, with the entire universe and all time up for the taking, in exchange for his playing his music in Hell from time to time. Bluestone's wish is to "make it" with Mary Ellen Cosgrove, his high school sweetheart.

Bluestone finds himself at a party in October 1948. However, despite his body being restored to adolescence, with his middle-age experience he now sees Mary Ellen as just a child. He spots Teresa Golowitz, a plain girl Mary Ellen invited to make herself look better. The Devil reminds Bluestone that Golowitz committed suicide that night and reveals that the reason was depression over her social isolation.

Determined to prevent this, Bluestone tries talking to Teresa, but the other guests pull him away and get him to play "How About You?" on piano. Teresa spontaneously sings along, amazing the guests with her vocal talent. She shuns their praises and leaves the party. Bluestone follows and tries to convince her that her singing talent is of star quality and is her key to fitting in. In an effort to ensure her suicide attempt is averted, he asks her to promise to meet with him tomorrow to talk about her singing prospects, but she will not commit to it. He helps Mary Ellen fend off an unwanted paramour and gives her a friendly farewell.

Bluestone returns to the present and discovers that Teresa has become an award-winning singer, with Bluestone composing for her. The authorities in Heaven are upset about their altering the past, so he has to lay low for awhile in Hell. Bluestone deduces that this was the Devil's plan all along, but the Devil insists it was only a side benefit and that he likes Teresa's singing.

Production

The show's network, CBS, were concerned that The Twilight Zone had been using the Devil too often, so the script for "Time and Teresa Golowitz" was changed to replace the Devil with the angel Gabriel, with plans to cast John Anderson in the part. Anderson was a veteran of the 1960s The Twilight Zone , and his casting would have specifically been a reference to his playing Gabriel in the episode "A Passage for Trumpet". However, the production team still liked the idea of having the Devil in a non-villainous role, and they ultimately convinced CBS to let them use the Devil one more time. [1]

The music was handled by William Goldstein, who also provided Bluestone's hands in all the shots of him playing piano. [1]

This episode originally had a 30 minutes long final cut for inclusion in a one-hour format show, but it had to be cut to 24 minutes when CBS requested half-hour episodes. [1] The excised footage, in which the Devil teleports Bluestone's dead body to his bed and Bluestone convinces Teresa to stay longer at the party (instead of her leaving immediately after "How About You?" as in the broadcast episode), is included on the DVD release as bonus material. The last few seconds of Bluestone and Golowitz performing another song, "Sweet and Lovely", is included in the excised footage.

Related Research Articles

Time Enough at Last 8th episode of the first season of The Twilight Zone

"Time Enough at Last" is the eighth episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The episode was adapted from a short story written by Lynn Venable. The short story appeared in the January 1953 edition of the science fiction magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction about seven years before the television episode first aired.

"Eye of the Beholder" is episode 42 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on November 11, 1960 on CBS.

"Deaths-Head Revisited" is episode 74 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The story is about a former SS officer revisiting the Dachau concentration camp a decade and a half after World War II. The title is a play on the Evelyn Waugh novel Brideshead Revisited.

Inger Stevens Swedish-American actress

Inger Stevens was a Swedish–American film, television, and stage actress.

Barry Nelson American actor

Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.

"The Once and Future King" is the first segment of the twenty-fifth episode, the first episode of the second season (1986–87) of the television series The Twilight Zone. This segment follows an Elvis impersonator who inadvertently goes back in time and meets the real Elvis Presley on the eve of his breakthrough into the music industry.

"The Bewitchin' Pool" is the 156th and last episode of the first incarnation of the American anthology television series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on June 19, 1964 on CBS.

<i>The Twilight Zone</i> (1985 TV series) Television series (1985-1989)

The Twilight Zone is an anthology television series which was produced from 1985 to 1989. It is the first of three revivals of Rod Serling's acclaimed 1959–64 television series, and like the original it featured stories in a variety of speculative fiction, commonly featuring characters from a seemingly normal world stumbling into paranormal circumstances. Unlike the original, however, most episodes contained multiple self-contained stories instead of just one. The voice-over narrations were still present, but were not a regular feature as they were in the original series; some episodes had only an opening narration, some had only a closing narration, and some had no narration at all. The multi-segment format liberated the series from the usual time constraints of episodic television, allowing stories ranging in length from 8-minute quickies to 40-minute mini-movies. The series ran for two seasons on CBS before producing a final season for syndication.

Kevin McCarthy (actor) American actor

Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film and television actor. He is best remembered for portraying the male lead in the horror science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

Living Doll (<i>The Twilight Zone</i>) 6th episode of the fifth season of The Twilight Zone

"Living Doll" is the 126th episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a dysfunctional family's problems are made worse when the child's doll proves to be sentient.

Treehouse of Horror IV 5th episode of the fifth season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror IV" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the fourth episode in the Treehouse of Horror series of Halloween specials. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 28, 1993, and features three short stories called "The Devil and Homer Simpson", "Terror at 5+12 Feet", and "Bart Simpson's Dracula".

<i>The Collector</i> (Canadian TV series)

The Collector is a Canadian supernatural drama television series about a man attempting to help save people who have bargained their souls with the Devil. The series is set in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where it was also filmed. CHUM cancelled the program after three seasons.

"Black Leather Jackets" is episode 138 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, three aliens disguised as young men in leather jackets encounter a kink in their plan to exterminate humankind when one of them falls in love with a human girl.

"Come Wander with Me" is the final episode to be filmed of the American television series The Twilight Zone. This episode introduced Bonnie Beecher in her television debut.

<i>The Great Gabbo</i> 1929 film

The Great Gabbo (1929) is an American Pre-Code early sound musical drama film directed by James Cruze, based on a story by Ben Hecht and starring Erich von Stroheim and Betty Compson.

Gramma (<i>The Twilight Zone</i>) 18th episode of the first season of The Twilight Zone

"Gramma" is the first segment of the eighteenth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone. This segment, about a boy who is afraid of his grandmother, is based on the short story of the same name by Stephen King, published in the collection Skeleton Crew (1985).

Paul Sand is an American actor and comedian.

Dealers Choice (<i>The Twilight Zone</i>) 8th episode of the first season of The Twilight Zone

"Dealer's Choice" is the third segment of the eighth episode of the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone. Featuring an ensemble cast composed largely of veteran character actors, it follows the events of a poker night in which one of the players is secretly the Devil.

Tod Andrews American actor

Tod Andrews was an American stage, screen, and television actor.

"The Road Less Traveled" is the thirty-first episode and the twelfth episode of the second season (1986–87) of the television series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a draft dodger is haunted by visions of the Vietnam War he evaded going to.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brennert, Alan (2020). The Twilight Zone: The Complete '80s Series: Audio Commentary - "Time and Teresa Golowitz" (DVD). CBS DVD.