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The Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 1

Every episode of The Twilight Zone Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 1!

Binge this in 10h 50m•Peaking at 8.9/10

An anthology series containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 8 - Time Enough at Last
    8.9/10(9543 votes)

    S1:E8

    A bank teller, obsessed with reading, faces conflicts at work and home because of his passion for literature.

    Director:John Brahm
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  2. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 22 - The Monsters are Due on Maple Street
    8.9/10(7589 votes)

    S1:E22

    Paranoia strikes the residents of Maple Street when they believe human-looking aliens have invaded the neighborhood.

    Director:Ron Winston
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  3. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 30 - A Stop at Willoughby
    8.5/10(5724 votes)

    S1:E30

    Riding home on the train one day, a stressed businessman falls asleep and dreams it is 1888, and he is entering a small, idyllic town called Willoughby.

    Director:Robert Parrish
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  4. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 34 - The After Hours
    8.4/10(5574 votes)

    S1:E34

    Puzzled and unsettled by the odd behavior of the salespeople, a woman discovers that the floor of a department store, on which she bought a gold thimble, doesn't exist.

    Director:Douglas Heyes
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  5. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 11 - And When the Sky Was Opened
    8.3/10(6211 votes)

    S1:E11

    Recovering in the hospital after a space mission, Major William Gart is visited by his co-pilot Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes, who insists on the existence of a third astronaut.

    Director:Douglas Heyes
    Writers:Richard Matheson, Rod Serling

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  6. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 5 - Walking Distance
    8.2/10(7538 votes)

    S1:E5

    A stressed advertising executive, driving through the country, leaves his car and starts to walk toward his hometown, Homewood. He finds things exactly as they were when he was a child.

    Director:Robert Stevens
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  7. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 16 - The Hitch-Hiker
    8.2/10(6411 votes)

    S1:E16

    Alone on a cross-country trip, a woman continually encounters the same mysterious hitch-hiker who inexplicably reappears at various points in her journey.

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writers:Lucille Fletcher, Rod Serling

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  8. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 7 - The Lonely
    8.1/10(6689 votes)

    S1:E7

    In 2046, imprisoned for murder on a distant asteroid, Corry receives an unexpected present that brings a semblance of companionship during his isolation.

    Director:Jack Smight
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  9. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 14 - Third from the Sun
    8.1/10(5541 votes)

    S1:E14

    With all-out nuclear war about to ignite, a scientist and his pilot friend plot to escape on an experimental spaceship.

    Director:Richard L. Bare
    Writers:Richard Matheson, Rod Serling

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  10. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 24 - Long Live Walter Jameson
    8.1/10(4677 votes)

    S1:E24

    Walter Jameson, a popular history professor, is suspected by his fiancée's father, another professor at the college, to be an immortal.

    Director:Anton Leader
    Writer:Charles Beaumont

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  11. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 25 - People are Alike All Over
    8.1/10(4845 votes)

    S1:E25

    After a space exploration crash-lands on Mars, the lone surviving astronaut is surprised to find that Martians are human-looking and friendly.

    Director:Mitchell Leisen
    Writers:Paul W. Fairman, Rod Serling

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  12. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 36 - A World of His Own
    8.1/10(4411 votes)

    S1:E36

    Coming home, Victoria catches her husband Gregory flirting with a beautiful woman in his study. His explanation that characters come to life before his eyes when he speaks into his dictation machine, leads Victoria to question his sanity.

    Director:Ralph Nelson
    Writer:Richard Matheson

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  13. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 12 - What You Need
    8.0/10(5374 votes)

    S1:E12

    A two-bit thug thinks he's found the key to a better life in an old sidewalk salesman who has the uncanny ability to tell people what they need the most.

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writers:Rod Serling, Lewis Padgett

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  14. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 18 - The Last Flight
    8.0/10(5047 votes)

    S1:E18

    A World War I flying ace flies through a mysterious cloud - and lands at a modern U.S. air base in the year 1959!

    Director:William F. Claxton
    Writer:Richard Matheson

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  15. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 1 - Where Is Everybody?
    7.9/10(9069 votes)

    S1:E1

    Mike Ferris finds himself in a town strangely devoid of people. But despite the emptiness, he has the odd feeling that he's being watched...

    Director:Robert Stevens
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  16. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 21 - Mirror Image
    7.9/10(5241 votes)

    S1:E21

    In a bus depot, Millicent Barnes experiences odd events, leading to concerns about her sanity.

    Director:John Brahm
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  17. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 28 - A Nice Place to Visit
    7.8/10(4670 votes)

    S1:E28

    After being shot to death, the criminal Rocky Valentine encounters the amiable white-haired Mr. Pip in the afterlife, who gives him everything he wishes for.

    Director:John Brahm
    Writer:Charles Beaumont

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  18. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 2 - One for the Angels
    7.7/10(7660 votes)

    S1:E2

    A street salesman cleverly eludes Death. But if he lives, a little girl must die in his place.

    Director:Robert Parrish
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  19. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 15 - I Shot an Arrow into the Air
    7.6/10(4921 votes)

    S1:E15

    Three astronauts crash-land on an unknown planet and must confront survival challenges, unraveling their unity in the face of desperation.

    Director:Stuart Rosenberg
    Writers:Rod Serling, Madelon Champion

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  20. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 23 - A World of Difference
    7.6/10(4462 votes)

    S1:E23

    Arthur Curtis, a successful businessman sitting in his office discovers that he is on a film set and everyone refers to him as Gerry Reagan, a movie star struggling with alcoholism and a declining career.

    Director:Ted Post
    Writer:Richard Matheson

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  21. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 20 - Elegy
    7.5/10(4484 votes)

    S1:E20

    Three astronauts land on what looks like Earth 200 years before they left--only all of the people seem frozen in time.

    Director:Douglas Heyes
    Writer:Charles Beaumont

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  22. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 9 - Perchance to Dream
    7.4/10(5606 votes)

    S1:E9

    A man with a heart condition explains to his psychiatrist that he feels extremely tired, because he is terrified of falling asleep for fear he might die.

    Director:Robert Florey
    Writer:Charles Beaumont

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  23. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 10 - Judgment Night
    7.3/10(5114 votes)

    S1:E10

    In 1942, a German wonders why he's on the deck of a British steamship, with no memory of how he got there.

    Director:John Brahm
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  24. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 19 - The Purple Testament
    7.3/10(4233 votes)

    S1:E19

    Lieutenant Fitzgerald, serving in World War II, possesses the disquieting ability to foresee impending death by observing a strange glow on the faces of his men before battle.

    Director:Richard L. Bare
    Writer:Rod Serling

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  25. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 29 - Nightmare as a Child
    7.3/10(4167 votes)

    S1:E29

    Schoolteacher Helen Foley finds a strange and very serious little girl on the stairs outside her apartment, who tries to jog Helen's memory about a man she saw earlier that day.

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writer:Rod Serling

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Time Enough at Last" is the best rated episode of "The Twilight Zone" season 1. It scored 8.9/10 based on 9543 votes. Directed by John Brahm and written by Rod Serling, it aired on 11/20/1959. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".