The Twilight Zone
Once Upon a Time
TV Flash files “Once Upon a Time” as hour 78 of 156 in the TV Flash guide — The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) on CBS, season 3, episode 13, aired 1961-12-15, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E13: listed hour 78 of 156 in the The Twilight Zone guide, hour 13 of 37 in season 3. It aired 1961-12-15 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Jungle” (S03E12). Next is “Five Characters in Search of an Exit” (S03E14).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A janitor (Buster Keaton) travels from 1890 to 1962, courtesy of a time helmet.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Once Upon a Time sit in the The Twilight Zone guide?
S03E13 is listed hour 78 of 156 — hour 13 of 37 in season 3, season 3 episode 13.
When did The Twilight Zone S03E13 air?
Once Upon a Time aired 1961-12-15 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with the empty-town opener, then the broken-glasses hour. Isolation first, stolen moral second; those two teach the anthology’s real instrument better than any twist ranking.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Serling used fantasy as a smuggled sermon when sponsors would not let a straight drama talk. Watch for isolation as craft, the twist as a bill coming due, and half-hours built to sit in the blood overnight — not to snack in a dump.
October 1959, CBS: a man walks into an empty town and the country learns a new address. The Twilight Zone did not invent the anthology. It invented the anthology as a national flinch — half-hour moral weather, a host in a dark suit, and a closing turn that was supposed to sting after the sponsor smile. Rod Serling had already fought live-drama censors and lost enough rounds to change weapons. Fantasy was the loophole. Aliens, bargains, small towns that eat themselves: the vocabulary of a writer who wanted to talk…
Filed against
- Rod Serling as Host / Narrator
Rod Serling created and hosted The Twilight Zone — moral fables in a black suit, twist endings that taught America to fear its own reflection. Sponsor and censor battles are as legendary as the episodes. On TV Flash he is prestige…