The Twilight Zone
In Praise of Pip
TV Flash files “In Praise of Pip” as the first listed hour of season 5 — The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) on CBS, season 5, episode 1, aired 1963-09-27, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E01: listed hour 121 of 156 in the The Twilight Zone guide, first listed hour of season 5. It aired 1963-09-27 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Bard” (S04E18). Next is “Steel” (S05E02).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
When a small time bookie who is down on his luck decides to show a little mercy to a young man who placed a losing bet with him, his life ultimately hangs in the balance with his boss. It is at this time that he learns that his son was wounded while serving in Vietnam. Ultimately realizing he has little time left, he makes a deal with God to let his son live.
Viewer FAQ
Where does In Praise of Pip sit in the The Twilight Zone guide?
S05E01 is listed hour 121 of 156 — first listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 1.
When did The Twilight Zone S05E01 air?
In Praise of Pip aired 1963-09-27 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…