'TWILIGHT ZONE': THE AFTER HOURS & A STOP AT WILLOUGHBY

Ah, the genius that is Rod Serling... One of the most underrated writers EVER. He possessed a keen ability to tap into the fears of his day. Simple, fundamental, basic fears... It's genius.

Being that this is Halloween week, I still have a couple of videos to share with everyone. Here are two of my favorite "Twilight Zone" episodes. It's funny, the more they recreate these classic shows the more I feel like screaming, "STOPPP!!!"

"The Twilight Zone" worked in the '60s because of the paranoia of the day - be it cold war, nuke fears, the unknown of space travel or the simplicity of small town America gone awry, these shows had very common themes that don't translate when you toss in cell phones, color and small screen stars like Jessica Simpson, Jason Alexander or Katherine Heigl.

The first episode, "The After Hours," centers on a woman who discovers that the floor of a department store, on which she bought a gold thimble doesn't exist - and that her "saleslady" is really a mannequin.

The second episode, "A Stop at Willoughby," centers on an overworked advertising exec Gart Wiliams who cracks under the pressure of his job. But, in this classic episode, he dreams about a peaceful town named Willoughby.

Being that CBS is lame and hasn't jumped onto the embed bandwagon, you can watch these on a really high quality player via the links HERE and HERE.