Twilight Zone: Cancelled

Cue Rod Serling:

Submitted for your consideration. One The_Dude, an ordinary citizen
living an otherwise ordinary life somewhere in the great blanket of the
Midwest...

Did you ever watch The Twilight Zone? If not, I am sorry for the empty life that you must surely lead. Every episode was essentially the same. Take an otherwise ordinary person, put him/her in a situation that may be a little strange but somewhat believable, and then throw in a twist that BLoWs YoUR mInD! Nearly every episode tries to freak out the audience with a decidedly sinister twist. Oh look, everything is regular in your life, you're just taking a regular flight on a regular airplane, then BLAMMO! You see some dude out the window messing with the engine and the wing *during* the flight, and only YOU can see him. Or you're just some regular guy who bought his daughter one of those pull-string talking dolls for her birthday, except that's no ordinary doll, that doll hates your guts and wants to kill you. POW!! Sinister twist right up the ol' wazoo. Here's the thing, though. There's no cliche device in story telling for a plot that takes a totally benevolent twist right out of nowhere. And yet, the prophet Jeremiah reveals that God has "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." A God that chooses to remain invisible and inaudible takes an ordinary guy and WAM!! blesses him up the ying-yang. At least, that was promised to the exiles of Israel. An archetype like this might not work for one hour dramas:

ordinary protagonist with ordinary life ->
benevolent plot twist ->
significantly better life for protagonist ->
end

but I think I'll take it over life in The Twilight Zone. To be sure, we are promised struggles in this life, but we never need doubt who God is rooting for.

Creator of the Universe 1, Rod Serling 0.