The wife and kids are visiting the grandparents for the week, so I actually have some time to myself for once. Time to watch some TV.
Except I'm out here in Vietnam. I don't have cable. I don't have Netflix. I don't have Disney Plus. What am I going to watch?
Well, who needs streaming services when you've got Youtube. There are tons of old TV shows on Youtube. If you know how to search for them.
I just searched "The Outer Limits full episodes" in Youtube, and the first episode that popped up was The Inheritors (W), which turned out to be a two-parter. So that's what I just got done watching.
I love The Outer Limits.
Now, on the one hand, all these old TV shows were way before my time. But on the other hand, all these old TV shows were totally a part of my childhood, because I grew up during what I think can be considered the golden age of reruns. Remember those days? Back in the late 80s and early 90s, when all those basic cable TV stations were first popping up, but before they had developed their own content. So you have 20 new cable stations, and none of them are making their own shows, so how are they all going to fill up 24 hours a day of programming? Reruns, reruns, and more reruns. I feel like I grew up on 1960s TV almost as much as if I had lived through it.
One of the cable stations, TNT if memory serves, used to run Outer Limits marathons on the weekends every now and again. They'd really hype it up--spend the whole month advertising the upcoming Outer Limits marathon, play that spooky Outer Limits music all the time, and I was completely there for it. I was a huge science fiction nerd, and used to love those Outer Limits marathons.
Of course, it's been a long time since I've had the luxury of sitting down and watching some old TV, so it does take a bit to get back into. (As Whisky Prajer once observed about a similar show--The Twilight Zone--the writing and production of television of that time seemed to more resemble stage plays. You sit and watch two people talk in a room for a long time while the camera holds on a wide shot--it feels very much like a night at the theater.)
But, once you settle back, relax, and let yourself get into it, the storytelling in these old tv shows is really good. I think anyway.
The story beats are a lot less fast paced than todays' TV. There's one mystery that's simmering, and usually just one big reveal that comes right at the end. It's usually the kind of story that, if you wanted to, you could just summarize in two minutes.
But, the writers do a remarkable job of setting up the story at the beginning, and then pacing it out so that it lasts for the full hour, without you ever feeling like things are stalling. It's paced just enough to keep the story moving, but slow enough so that it can take a simple concept and fill out the hour.
I'm making it sound like a bad thing, I suppose, but I actually enjoy this slow simmer every now and again.
Also, I'm a bit of a sucker for the whole retro-vibe, but I love the eerie music and the creepy voice-over narration at the beginning and end of each episode. And of course, the classic Outer Limits show intro.
This particular episode features Robert Duvall, who does a pretty good job in this. I mean, I'm not sure Robert Duvall has a big range, as an actor, but he certainly sells the emotion of whatever scene he's in. He just seems so earnest when he's acting.
This episode came out in 1964. I checked Robert Duvall's bio on Wikipedia, and I think he must have been just starting to get famous around this time, but I think had yet to achieve his legendary status. (I don't know, let me know if I'm wrong).
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