Cavender Is Coming

Remember that old comedy show where the hapless angel would help a different oddball in distress every week? Thank God you don't. I'm only glad this intended pilot show never left the runway. I don't know anything about eschatology but the idea of a heaven where Howard Smith, the 'push push push' guy from 'A Stop At Willoughby' is a senior angel with ropey wings is enough to make me prefer any other fate the Zone depicted.

Happily almost no one remembers this terrible idea where by Rod Serling no less would have moved into Mr Ed type territory of lame television. There is no genuine attempt at comedy even though Carol Burnett as Cavender's first help recipient almost manages to make it feel like comedy.

I know you can't please everyone, nor should you try. That said, I'm surprised by the depth of loathing by some reviews of this episode. I grew up on twilight zone. The Carroll Burnett show was a staple in our weekly fair as well.

Back when this show aired, Carroll was a young, budding comedian. All these shows were competing for the same audiences in a small market compared to today. There were only 3 channels available. Likewise, the actors and writers all knew each other and often worked in the same complex of buildings. In context of the era, this show makes complete sense to me. It was a breath of fresh air to see the Zone not take itself so seriously, and as a result, strengthened my appreciation for the show. Puzzlement aside, this is a brilliant episode from this time period in television history. As said in other reviews, this episode is a tip of the hat to "It's a wonderful life", and is a cleaver tribute to it at that.

I suppose your attitude toward certain episodes depends on how much of a purist you are, how much humor you have towards yourself, and how old you are. I don't know anyone my age who dislikes this episode with the venom I see here.

As far as likes and dislikes. I am under the impression those buttons are a poll as to how helpful a review is to me personally. If I find a critical review that I feel is way off the mark, I tend to mark it unhelpful. For my purposes, a review that misses the point IS unhelpful to me. If a criticism of a show is warranted, then it is helpful to me and i mark it as such. Getting bent out of shape over how your review polls may have a lot to do with why you may find this particular episode so distasteful. (wicked grin)

Ok, we know TZ is great, but many people seem to be very torn between the quality of the episodes. What I would suggest is that the worst TZ episodes are better than most film and tv ever produced. That being said, Cavander is Coming should be appreciated for what it is, not what it is not. So, what is it? Well, I found it funny, but with a serious touch of dark melodrama. And there is the added element of the Capra allusions and Carol Burnett's meta role that seems reflective of her own life. I would place this episode alongside episodes like, Night of the Meek, The Changing of the Guard, Once Upon a Time, The Bard, or The Man in the Bottle. So, it is humorous but with an underlying darkness. In terms of quality, lets try and sum up the acting, writing, cinematography, production design, and editing: not the best, but on par with classic episodes such as To Serve Man, third from the Sun, Death Ship.

Frankly, i don't know how anyone can find this episode, as a piece of filmic art, to be of a lesser quality than many other Zones. It is not poorly acted or written. Sure, its silly/humorous, but that is a qualitative judgement, if you do not like the content, that does not mean the episode is poorly made.

Also, people seem to feel upset by the fact that this film is an obvious hommage to Its a Wonderful Life, thus being less original than other TZ episodes. To this I say, none of them were that original. If you watch the film Dead of Night (1945), it is pretty obvious that at least 4 TZ episodes were gleaned from it. And many episodes were based on short stories, or written by great authors using material/ideas that they had in play from other texts. If this is too much of a rant, go back and watch silent film until you develop an appriciation of the art and techniques of film production, then watch Infinity War, and you decide what is better, a tightly told story done on the cheap with very little discontinuity, or something that costs mort than the GDP of many countries and is rife with continuity errors and an equal, if not greater dose of nonsense, than you have in Cavander is Coming.

Honestly, i do not have an answer but to suggest that those who truly love film, and understand how the medium affects society will always understand the TZ, and see the beauty of each and every episode.

This episode gets a lot of criticism but I agree with the ones saying it's about happiness and what defines it. For Agnes ( Carol Burnett) it's simple and small pleasures and is that really so bad ?

Not sure why the previous viewer didn't like this, but I found it both funny and charming, and well performed by both Carol Burnette and Jesse White. If you were expecting a creepy or scary TZ episode, this would definitely stick in your craw, but as a comedy from a writer normally not associated with the genre, it seems quite skillful.

Jesse White, forever associated with the Maytag Repairman role, is a kind of angel who's not quite certain how to be angelic. He's read the books but never walked the walk, and his attempts to redeem Carol Burnette's life don't quite make her as happy as he thinks she ought to be. Burnette is consistently excellent in this episode.

A good atypical episode from this series, from the same direction (the worth of conscience) but employing different means. Watch it and judge for yourself.