Static

In "Static", a deeply embittered resident of a peculiar type of retirement home is fed up with the TV-addiction of his fellow residents and dusts off an antique radio that got stored in the basement since many years. Alone in his room, he finds the frequency of a radio channel that seemingly broadcasts directly from the 1940s and instantly gets catapulted back to better and more glorious times. This is certainly not my preferred type of "Twilight Zone" episode, because it's sentimental and talkative instead of sinister and Sci-Fi like, but at the same time I must also acknowledge it's perhaps one of the most ambitious, thought-provoking and intelligent installments of Rod Serling's entire series! How much depth and symbolism can you put into one simple 25-minute story; - seriously? Serling and the genius writer Charles Beaumont evoke a few very depressing but also timeless and universal feelings here: we are ALL sad beings yearning for the nostalgia of lost years and endlessly regretting the non-grabbing of life's opportunities for whatever reason. Anything as simple as an (imaginary?) radio show can tear those old wounds right back open. It doesn't sound like a typic "Twilight Zone" premise, but it's subtly and absorbingly handled by the entire cast and crew of this nifty episode. And, to me, it also illustrates how timeless and immortal this TV-show is. Protagonist Ed Lindsay sees television as the modern demon that trampled his beloved radio, whereas now, more than half a century later, 40-ish dorks like myself curse the internet & social media for oppressing our good old-fashioned television set.

Static reminds me of a science fiction version of one of Charlie Chaplin's early short films, like Behind the Screen or Film Johnnie, where he pokes fun at his own craft of film-making. Similarly, in this episode, Rod Serling rails against the descent of civilized society, who used to be able to integrate radio entertainment into a social family environment, and into a race of mindless zombies staring thoughtlessly into the hypnotic box in the living room.

The story concerns an aging couple (who, for various reasons, never married but have lived together basically as husband and wife for decades) whose lives are thrown into turmoil as a direct result of the garbage on television. Imagine if that happened today, the whole world would collapse! Dean Jagger plays Ed Lindsay, who one day throws up his hands in disgust at how television has taken over everyone's lives, and so decides to dust off the old radio and see what's on.

This episode approaches the exact reason that the subject of time travel is so endlessly entertaining, because everyone imagines visiting another time, particularly as we get older and reminisce about our lost youth. Ed seems to have a past full of regrets, and laments what his life has become, and he looks to the radio as a way to transport himself back to the happier days when he was a young man. This is the stuff our great grandparents must have reminisced about...

The episode makes an interesting comment on the role of entertainment in American life, as Ed soon becomes just as engrossed and obsessed with the radio as the rest of the family is with the television, and he soon finds himself more concerned about catching his favorite programs than with spending time with his family.

Before long they begin to wonder about him, especially after they attempt to phone the radio station due to some bad reception and discover that the station he has been listening to doesn't seem to exist. This is where the supernatural seems to come in, although it's debatable whether there is really something supernatural going on or just Ed's mind beginning to slip in his old age.

Personally I think it's a little of both, although this is certainly one of the more realistic and immediately relevant episodes of the twilight zone, especially concerning the amount of time Americans spend being entertained by some form of media and the effect it has on our lives. In Ed's case, his sanity seemed to be cut loose by the very medium of entertainment that he used to bring himself back to the happiest times of his life.

'Static' is one of my favorite 'Twilight Zone' episodes because it's tantalizing, because it waltzes graciously with the sense that the body ages inexorably but the heart lives outside the bounds of time.

Dean Jagger's line that "radio has to be believed to be seen" is itself a minor gem. Perhaps Rod Serling devoted his television offerings to trying to put into "seen to be believed" video images what in earlier times of radio he'd "believed to be seen."

The IMDb site software informed me that the foregoing two paragraph review could not by itself be made to appear on the IMDb site, because it did not consist of the minimum number of ten lines of text. Be that as it may, I hope that if you happen to see 'Static,' you'll now appreciate that radio alone does not generate it.

It's a interesting subject to discuss and share, all old people are nostalgic with their past time, I realize it with my father who refuses at any means the new technologies and correlated stuffs, thus happens with Ed Lindsay (Dean Jagger) who missed the opportunity to marry Vinnie (Carrie Mathews) in the past, he complains over the TV that replaced the radio, then he brings back a old radio and starting listen an old tunes of Tommy Dorsey from a radio station that actually close thirteen years before, just he hear this songs, when someone else enter in the room the broadcasting disappears catching just a static, however the ending is too moving, stay tuned !!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25

Dean Jagger plays Ed Lindsay, who is currently living in the same boarding house for 20 years, and become a crotchety old man, dissatisfied with the modern world, and especially television, which his fellow boarders watch obsessively. When Ed discovers an old radio in storage, he is bewildered but delighted when it plays only old time big band music like Tommy Dorsey, which it turns out only he can hear, convincing the others he's going senile, but an old flame(played by Carmen Mathews) still secretly loves and believes him... Sadly videotaped episode suffers for it, but sincerity of the performances and charming nature of the premise make up for it.