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(More customer reviews)It is rather surprising to realize that there was only one Christmas episode during the five year run of "The Twilight Zone." When Rod Serling's celebrated television anthology series was on the air it was not unusual to have new episodes airing the week before Christmas (we were lucky to have reruns of last year's Christmaukkah episode of "The O.C." this week). But only during the second season of the show (episode #47 if you are keeping count) that we got to enjoy "The Twilight Zone Christmas: Night of the Meek" (which even ended with Serling saying "and a Merry Christmas to one and all," which was cut for subsequent non-holiday airings).
"Night of the Meek," written by Rod Serling, finds poor Henry Corwin (Art Carney), a department store Santa who shows up drunk on Christmas Eve and is fired. Wandering the streets, he discovers a magic bag that can dispense any gift he asks for. The question is, what will Henry do with this most unusual bag? Directed by Jack Smight, this episode originally aired on December 23, 1960. If you are a fan of the "Zone" then you have probably heard the legend that Serling wrote the episode just to see Art Carney play Santa Claus. The excellent support casts features two of the best character actors of all time with John Fielder as Henry's short-tempered boss and Burt Mustin as a friendly bum on the streets, but this is Art Carney's triumph.
The episode was one of six shot during the second season on videotape instead of film, but that is a minor complaint because it just makes "Night of the Meek" seem like a live television broadcast from the 1950s. However, since this was a special season episode of the "Zone" written by Serling, we will give his closing narration the final word: "A word to the wise to all the children of the twentieth century, whether their concern be pediatrics or geriatrics, whether they crawl on hands and knees and wear diapers or walk with a cane and comb their beards. There's a wondrous magic to Christmas, and there's a special power reserved for little people. In short, there's nothing mightier than the meek."
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