It's Still a Good Life

The original "It's a good Life" was one of the creepiest show I have ever seen, with a terrifying 6 year old Bill Mumy as Anthony Fremont.

Now, 40 years later, Bill Mumy reprises his role. Try as his may, it's just not as good. Bill Mumy was a great child actor but only a good adult actor. A better actor like Edward Norton could had sold over an older Fremont as terrifying, although it seems more plausible to have a 25 year old Anthony. Cloris Leachman was outstanding and Bill Mumy's daughter was up to the job of being Anthony's daughter.

There are 2 reasons why this should had been a 2 part episode: 1. what happened to Anthony's girlfriend/wife? That could had made a good back story. I would had had her character breaking from fear of Anthony, getting married out of fear as much as love, and incapacitated some way, not put in the cornfield and 2. A half hour TV show in 1961 is now just a 25 minute show in 2003, with the extra commercials. The plot and suspense couldn't develop now as the did 40 years ago in the original Twilight Zone.

This was still a very good story and keeps in spirit with the original. Given a long history of great successful shows with disastrous sequels, that is an achievement.

While I don't think a follow-up episode was needed for the episode "It's a Good Life" in the original "Twilight Zone", I did enjoy "It's Still a Good Life"....mostly because instead of giving in to sentimentality (like the terrible remake in "The Twilight Zone Movie"), this one is completely dark and heartless...which worked far better.

If you remember the original episode, Anthony (Billy Mumy) is a child with godlike powers who has everyone around him in terror. If you think something he doesn't like or don't do exactly what he wants, he 'wishes you into the corn field' or torments you in other ways.

Now, the story picks up 40 years later and Anthony is STILL in total control. But his mother sees a possible chance to stop the madness when Anthony's cute little daughter begins exhibiting the same powers. Perhaps this cutie can stop ANthony once and for all!

This was very well made adn sickly enjoyable...well worth seeing and one of the better episodes of the rebooted series.

Who used to enjoy the charismatic boy Bill Mumy on several shows, specially in Lost in space as Will Robinson that took him to stardom as promising actor, which didn't happened, in this sequel of the original The Twilight Zone episode It's a good life that was aired in 1961 when Bill Mumy was a little boy Anthony Freemont raises of a farmer family living at outskirt of Peaksville Ohio, he has a strange menacing destructive power when somebody else contradicted him became furious and burning up the opposing one send in to cornfield.

After 42 years ahead the new version of The Twilight Zone's 2002 to 2008 brings a sequel this bleak story when Anthony Freemont (Bill Mumy) already married and is a father of the youngest girl Audrey Freemont (Lilianna Mumy) still living with his mother Agnes Freemont (Cloris Leachman together Bill Mumy the only of the remainder of original casting), nowadays his mother Agnes finally realizes that the little girl Audrey has the strongest power likewise her progenitor, after many years of suffering over such wickedness Agnes starts training Audrey power-ups hoping in near future he can faces his father once and for all.

Treating it as sequel it somehow didn't get the same impact that its forerunner, nonetheless see a Bill Mumy already grow up and her own daughter Lilliana Muny in the show also a aged Cloris Leachman in the same role, worthwhile to see this sequel.

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First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5.