It's a Good Life

This series is the best show to ever air on television. I have seen every episode many times over the years and I never tire of them. I was born 3 years after the series ended so I was never able to have the thrill of anticipating the new episode that would air every week. Cable reruns and marathons over the years were cherished and now I have the luxury of having it any time on Paramount+.

This episode frightens me to this day. The more I see it (well, any episode), the more it ingrains itself into my psyche. It creates more and more existential thinking which makes it all the more unsettling.

Imagine your life depending on having ONLY "good" thoughts about someone. Our brains do not work that way. We couldn't function if we had to think this way. Our entire life would have to revolve around us obsessively chanting the good thoughts. Whether you did it in your mind or verbally, it's impossible!!! Even if we are concentrating on a task, our mind still wanders and is constantly processing, thinking, planning, daydreaming, etc. We are not computers. No human, especially those in Anthony's universe, could do this. While you are telling yourself to think a certain way, you are alternately screaming all the bad things you are NOT suppose to think about, plus what you need to pick up for dinner and trying to remember if you paid the electric bill. In Anthony's world, you would be burned alive or in the cornfield before you went insane.

I imagine what happens in the cornfield, (even worse than what Stephen King came up with and I'm sure the Chicago Black Sox won't be meeting up to have a pick up baseball game!), eventually running out of food and supplies and having to prepare to live off the land, the stress of helping others to be mindful of the rules, etc.

The actors did an amazingly convincing portrayal of their characters. The agonizing fear and dispair was palpable. Dan Hollis's tyrade should have caused them all to be punished because you know they instinctively agreed with him in their mind. The parents likely were emotionally and psychologically tortured by the thought that their child was evil and wished they could send him to the cornfield. Horrifying things to think about!!!!

I did see someone mention the TZ Movie version. The only part about that vignette I liked was the irony that Nancy Cartwright is banished into the TV to be tortured by a cartoon monster!!!!!

I certainly cannot agree with the previous poster who found this episode partly humorous-- in fact, this is one of the few almost unbearably frightening Twilight Zone shows. A young boy's power to control his community through his childish whims is an excellent allegory of the power of any dictator. I imagine that office holders in North Korea spend most of their day saying something similar to "it's good that you did that." This episode powerfully portrays unchecked narcissism. I do agree that the "special effects" version in the Twilight Zone movie is inferior, not only because it is overproduced but because the little boy is presented as brilliant and perhaps even redeemable.

It's a Good Life is one of the best known episodes of The Twilight Zone - and for good reason, as it's easily one of the best episodes of the classic TV show. Of course, the great parody that The Simpsons did of it contributes to its well-known status, but there's far more here than merely a base for a 'Treehouse of Horror' segment. We are introduced to a little town; a town with no cars, no machines and it's in a world with no cities or other settlements. We are told that this town is the victim of a monster who controls it with his mind - and just wait until you see who the monster is! The best episodes of The Twilight Zone are the ones that combine mystery with intrigue and ingenuity; thus making this one of the best episodes. It's a Good Life is also very humorous, and when the characters say everything is 'good', it's hard not to at least crack a smile. There isn't a great deal of 'bite' in this episode, as it mainly concentrates on the implications of the storyline, and it's mostly dialogue based; but it doesn't matter because the words uttered are always entertaining and overall; this is a major success.

Bill Mumy plays Anthony Fremont, an ordinary-looking boy who in reality is anything but, since little Anthony is in fact a monster, a kid with omnipotent powers who has removed his town of Peaksville Ohio from the world, and re-located somewhere else, holding the residents in a state of perpetual fear, as they must think happy thoughts and say good things that Anthony likes, or he will send them to the cornfield, which is presumably death. Even his parents(played by John Larch & Cloris Leachman) are terrified of him, and await the day someone has the courage to kill him... Famous episode is certainly distinctive and memorable, though also nihilistic, with little point behind it, other than this is perhaps the darkest corner of the Twilight Zone...

This episode is a bona fide claustrophobic nightmare. 'It's A Good Life' will never lose it's impact. Future viewers will be as unable to look away from this crazy, compelling piece of horror as I was. Without doubt one of the great episodes. If you have not seen this one I suggest you do something about it at the first opportunity. The cast are excellent at maintaining the vice-like gripping atmosphere. Chloris Leachman plays the little monster's mother well, but I particularly liked Don Keefer as Dan Hollis. One of the many strengths of The Twilight Zone was the fact that such a weird scenario as this one can convey such a sense of truth. The message here is enigmatic, but I take it to be about dictators and an evaluation of life under a tyrant's regime. See what you think?