Twilight Zone - Pluto TV Late Night

 On Pluto TV's "Classic TV Drama" channel, they now show The Twilight Zone (currently only the first and second seasons are available). Well I was dozing on and off and woke up to "Long Distance Call" at the beginning. Sigh, I just don't like the video tape drudgery some of these episodes suffered under. I think "Long Distance Call" and "The Lateness of the Hour" really could have been solid episodes but the quality of the video taping process just makes them so ugly and look like soap opera shows of the era. Watching "Long Distance Call", the story about a toy phone used as a supernatural communication device between the deceased grandmother and her son's boy (Billy Mumy) throwing parents into an emotional wreck after attempted suicides by the son, on Pluto TV still felt like the perfect match. I keep wondering if once "Twilight Zone" has an exclusive home at Paramount+, they give the show its own channel on Pluto TV, much like "Dark Shadows" and a few others. There are enough episodes if they ever wanted to give all of them over to a channel on Pluto TV. My guess is they'll keep a select few on Classic TV Drama, not offering the whole kit and caboodle. 

This episode has a father appealing to his mother over sparing him his son. She felt he abandoned her for his wife, so gained an attachment to little Mumy, who loved his grandma very much. The turmoil of this highly unusual tug-o-war makes for quite a story since a family is up against a beloved figure trying to take a child away, using the toy phone to manipulate him. The boy would never try to get hit by a car or drown in a pool unless those ideas were planted in his mind. That is the disturbing part of the story...so wanting to be with a "son" again, the grandma seems desperate, and if her son doesn't get through to her why it is important to let go of his boy, a real tragedy could rent their lives apart.

Mumy has two other episodes in the Twilight Zone; "In Praise of Pip" and the obvious "It's a Good Life". The latter is clearly the front-runner for most distinguished and recognized on the show, but of the three, I think "Pip" is an emotional powerhouse thanks to Klugman's performance. In "Long Distance Call", the poor quality and limits in what the TZ team could do on video instead of film is glaring. I don't really care for a lot of the compositions and how the camera captures the action or characters but the performances remain strong despite everything else. I can't help but think if this episode was shot on film and the director had the chance to capitalize a bit more on the premise, "Long Distance Call" could have really been accomplished. Overall, I was once quite high on the episode. But watching it on Pluto TV, it suffers the same as some otherwise great Perry Mason episodes did: looks cheap and tries to work through the constraints.

***One more positive about Pluto TV is I believe they don't cut any scenes out of the episode like SYFY***