The BEST episodes of The Twilight Zone

Every episode of The Twilight Zone ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Twilight Zone!

The Twilight Zone was a popular American anthology series. The series was a collection of various tales that range from the tragic to the comedic. They may be scary or just thought-provoking. Most episodes have unexpected endings and a moral lesson. But, no matter what, it's "a journey into a wondrous land, whose boundaries are that of the imagination."

Last Updated: 1/9/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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To Serve Man
star
8.61
365 votes

#1 - To Serve Man

Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/2/1962

The Kanamits, 9 foot tall aliens, arrive on Earth with one lofty goal: To Serve Man.

Directors: Richard L. Bare
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Printer's Devil
star
8.51
260 votes

#2 - Printer's Devil

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/28/1963

The owner of a failing paper is given help by the Devil.

Directors: Ralph Senensky
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Time Enough at Last
star
8.46
1041 votes

#3 - Time Enough at Last

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/1959

A bank teller, obsessed with reading, finds himself alone after a nuclear blast.

Directors: John Brahm
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Five Characters in Search of an Exit
star
8.32
272 votes

#4 - Five Characters in Search of an Exit

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/22/1961

A hobo, clown, bagpipe player, ballerina and military officer are trapped in a huge cylinder.

Directors: Lamont Johnson
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Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
star
8.25
395 votes

#5 - Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?

Season 2 - Episode 28 - Aired 5/26/1961

State troopers follow tracks from an unidentified flying object to a diner where they try to determine which of the seven bus passengers stranded inside is really a Martian.

Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
star
8.24
700 votes

#6 - The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/4/1960

Paranoia strikes the residents of Maple Street when they believe human-looking aliens have invaded the neighborhood.

Directors: Ron Winston
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Eye of the Beholder
star
8.23
538 votes

#7 - The Eye of the Beholder

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/11/1960

A young woman undergoes ""experimental treatments"" in an attempt to make her appear ""normal"".

Directors: Douglas Heyes
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Midnight Sun
star
8.22
348 votes

#8 - The Midnight Sun

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/17/1961

The Earth's orbit has been changed, drawing ever closer to the sun and promising eminent destruction.

Directors: Anton Leader
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Shelter
star
8.20
368 votes

#9 - The Shelter

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/29/1961

When a UFO invasion appears imminent, several suburban friends and neighbours fight over control of a single bomb shelter.

Directors: Lamont Johnson
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Deaths-Head Revisited
star
8.16
348 votes

#10 - Deaths-Head Revisited

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/10/1961

A former Nazi SS Captain returns to the ruins of a concentration camp to reminisce, and is met by one of his victims.

Directors: Don Medford
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:Apple TV
Living Doll
star
8.13
337 votes

#11 - Living Doll

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/1963

Erich is displeased when his wife buys an expensive doll for his step-daughter. He becomes even more displeased when the doll tells him it doesn't like him!

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
In His Image
star
8.12
319 votes

#12 - In His Image

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/1963

A scientist creates an android that has the qualities which he feels he's lacking.

Directors: Perry Lafferty
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Masks
star
8.08
249 votes

#13 - The Masks

Season 5 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/20/1964

A dying man demands his family wear masks that he's given them at a Mardi Gras party.

Directors: Ida Lupino
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
It's a Good Life
star
8.06
379 votes

#14 - It's a Good Life

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/3/1961

Little Anthony Fremont controls an entire town with his ability to read minds and make people do as he wishes. Which is a real good thing.

Directors: James Sheldon
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Nick of Time
star
8.04
506 votes

#15 - Nick of Time

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/18/1960

A superstitious newlywed becomes obsessed by a penny fortune-telling machine when he and his new wife are stranded with car trouble.

Directors: Richard L. Bare
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Walking Distance
star
7.97
1235 votes

#16 - Walking Distance

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/30/1959

Martin Sloan, driving through the country, leaves his car and starts to walk toward his hometown, Homewood. He finds things exactly as they were when he was a child. He soon realizes he's gone back in time.

Directors: Robert Stevens
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Silence
star
7.90
343 votes

#17 - The Silence

Season 2 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/28/1961

An aristocratic club member bets that a talkative acquaintance cannot stay silent for an entire year.

Directors: Boris Sagal
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Hitch-Hiker
star
7.89
608 votes

#18 - The Hitch-Hiker

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/22/1960

Alone on a cross-country trip, a woman continually sees the same hitch-hiker everywhere she looks.

Directors: Alvin Ganzer
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The Obsolete Man
star
7.89
380 votes

#19 - The Obsolete Man

Season 2 - Episode 29 - Aired 6/2/1961

In a future state where religion and books have been banned, a librarian (Burgess Meridith) is judged obsolete by the Chancellor (Fritz Weaver) and sentenced to death.

Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
He's Alive
star
7.89
289 votes

#20 - He's Alive

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/24/1963

Peter Vollmer, a small-time neo-Nazi leader, yearns for more power. Advised by a shadowy benefactor, Vollmer's following grows, as does his ego...

Directors: Stuart Rosenberg
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
And When the Sky Was Opened
star
7.88
658 votes

#21 - And When the Sky Was Opened

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/11/1959

Three astronauts have returned from this first space flight. Major Gart is hospitalized with a broken leg. The other two, Colonels Harrington and Forbes head for a bar. Harrington gets a strange feeling.

Directors: Douglas Heyes
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Lateness of the Hour
star
7.86
427 votes

#22 - The Lateness of the Hour

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/2/1960

Dr. Loren enjoys the faultless robot servants he has invented. His daughter, however, feels imprisoned by them--and soon learns how right she is.

Directors: Jack Smight
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Third from the Sun
star
7.81
636 votes

#23 - Third from the Sun

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/8/1960

With all-out nuclear war about to ignite, a scientist and his pilot friend plot to escape on an experimental spaceship.

Directors: Richard L. Bare
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
I Shot an Arrow into the Air
star
7.79
645 votes

#24 - I Shot an Arrow into the Air

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/15/1960

Three astronauts believe they have crashed on an asteroid.

Directors: Stuart Rosenberg
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
I Am the Night - Color Me Black
star
7.77
194 votes

#25 - I Am the Night - Color Me Black

Season 5 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/27/1964

On the day an unpopular idealist is to be executed for the killing of a racist bully, the townsfolk are shocked to see the skies have turned pitch black.

Directors: Abner Biberman
Writer: Rod Serling
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV