It's a Good Life (The Twilight Zone)


"It's a Good Life" is episode 73 of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It is based on the 1953 short story "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby and is considered by some, such as Time and TV Guide, to be one of the best episodes of the series. It originally aired on November 3, 1961.

Opening narration

Plot summary

Six-year-old Anthony Fremont has godlike mental powers, including mind-reading. He has isolated his town of Peaksville, Ohio from the rest of the universe. The people must thus grow their own food, and supplies of common household items, such as bar soap, have been dwindling. He has blocked television signals and caused cars not to work. He creates horrible creatures, such as three-headed gophers, which he then kills. Everybody is under his rule, even his parents. The people live in fear of him, constantly telling him how everything he does is "good," since he banishes anyone thinking unhappy thoughts into the otherworldly cornfield from which there is no return. Never having experienced any form of discipline, Anthony does not even understand that his actions are wrong, and is confused when his father tells him that the neighbors are reluctant to let their children play with him after he sent several of his playmates to the cornfield.
One night each week, Anthony gives the townsfolk one hour of television, which he creates and projects onto the family TV set. The adults gather around in the Fremonts' living room, squirming uncomfortably as Anthony shows them a vision of screaming dinosaurs, engaged in a gory battle. Unable to voice their real feelings, they tell Anthony that it was far better than what used to be on TV.
After the program is over, the adults celebrate Dan Hollis' birthday. He gets two presents from his wife: a bottle of brandy and a Perry Como record. Dan is eager to listen to the record, but he's reminded by everyone that Anthony does not like singing. Getting drunk from the brandy, he starts complaining about the miserable state of the town, not listening to the record, and no one singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Dan snaps and confronts the child, calling him a monster and a murderer. While Anthony's anger grows, Dan yells for someone to attack Anthony from behind and end his reign of terror. Aunt Amy tentatively reaches for a fireplace poker, but no one has the courage to act. Anthony transforms Dan into a jack-in-the-box, causing his wife to break down. The adults are horrified at what Anthony has done, and his father asks him to wish Dan into the cornfield, which Anthony does.
He then causes snow to begin falling outside. The snow will kill off at least half the crops and the town will face starvation. Anthony's father starts to rebuke Anthony about this, but his wife and the other adults look on with worried smiles on their faces. The father then smiles and tells Anthony in a terrified voice, "...But it's good you're making it snow. A real good thing. And tomorrow... tomorrow's gonna be a... real good day!"

Closing narration

Cast

Time named this the third-best Twilight Zone episode, behind "Time Enough at Last" and "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street".
Rod Serling's introduction at the beginning of this episode was recycled and digitally edited for the preshow of the Disney Parks attraction The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. In the preshow video, Serling stands in front of a service elevator door, rather than a map of the United States, and explains to guests the journey they're about to experience. The attraction, which first opened at Disney-MGM Studios in 1994, almost two decades after Serling's death, is an homage to the original series with an original story based on it. When conceiving the attraction, Disney Imagineers wanted to include Serling in the attraction and opted for a voice artist to play him; Mark Silverman was chosen by Serling's widow to provide his voice. A poster advertising "Anthony Fremont's Orchestra" is displayed next to the concierge desk in the lobby of the attraction, an ironic reference to Anthony's hate for music.
In 1997 TV Guide ranked the episode number 31 on its 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time list.
The opening narration of this episode is sampled in "Threatened" by Michael Jackson in his 2001 album, Invincible.

Remake

In a 1974 interview with Marvel Comics, Rod Serling said "I'm on my third draft of a feature film based on Jerome Bixby's short story, 'It's a Good Life'. We did it originally on Twilight Zone but now we're doing a full-length version. Alan Landsburg, who produced Chariots of the Gods, is producing it. It's in the fantasy-horror genre." This was one of Serling's last interviews before his death in 1975.
s "It's a Good Life" segment is a remake of the original episode directed by Joe Dante.

Pop culture

In The Omen series, the Antichrist as a child has supernatural powers similar to the main character.
The 1980 song "Cemetery Girls" by novelty rock group Barnes & Barnes refers to the episode in its lyrics, and with samples of lines. Since the album was released several years before fictional twin brothers Art Barnes and Artie went "public" about their identities, the reference is somewhat of an in-joke.
This episode was also remade as a parody in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror II" in 1991.
This episode is evoked in The Regulators, a 1996 novel by Stephen King writing under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, in which an alien entity with psychic powers possesses young Seth Garin and uses his abilities to kill Seth's parents, terrorizes the folks that subsequently take Seth in, and isolates the suburban street on which they live from the rest of the world while turning it into a child's version of the Old West.
The 1997 episode "Johnny Real Good" from Johnny Bravo is also based on this episode. Johnny has to babysit a boy named Timmy, who also has supernatural powers and sends Johnny several times to a nearby cornfield for "thinking bad thoughts."
The episode was referenced in a 1997 episode of The Drew Carey Show in which Drew enters his house and calls out for his parents. When they don’t reply, he says “I must have wished them to the cornfield.”
The episode was referenced in a 2007 episode of American Dad!, "I Can't Stan You", where Stan listened in on his neighbors' private conversations. Anyone who was heard criticizing him had their house seized by the CIA and was summarily banished to the Cornfield Motel.
Fallout 3s quest Tranquility Lane pulls heavy inspiration from this episode.
Brightburn is a 2019 film with a similar plot.

Sequel

In the 2002 revival series, a sequel to this episode was broadcast, titled "It's Still a Good Life". In the episode, Anthony is a middle-aged man who now has a daughter Audrey who has inherited his powers. Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprised their roles from the original episode. Anthony Fremont's daughter, Audrey, is played by actor Bill Mumy's real-life daughter Liliana Mumy.
A commercial for Me-TV airing on that channel in 2015 features an adult Bill Mumy as adult Anthony intercut with scenes from the original episode, apparently interacting as the adult Anthony uses his powers to beam Me-TV to little Anthony's set. In early 2017, the network used clips from this episode in promos for the show's late-night reruns.