The Twilight Zone Episode Rod Serling Hoped Would Launch a New Series
Before The Twilight Zone reached the end of its first season, creator and host Rod Serling was already considering a spinoff based on the “Mr Bevis” episode.
Before The Twilight Zone reached the end of its first season, creator and host Rod Serling was already considering a spinoff series based on the “Mr Bevis” episode.
Though often ranked among the series’ lesser-known episodes by fan’s and critics, the episode follows good-natured eccentric James B.W. Bevis (Orson Bean), who receives the help of a guardian angel named J. Hardy Hempstead (Henry Jones) after losing his job, apartment and car all in the same day.
Hempstead explains that one of Bevis's distant ancestors performed an act of great courage, earning heavenly assistance fora member of his family in every generation. As a result, the Bevis name has produced extraordinary explorers, soldiers and statesman.
With a little bit of magic, the titular protagonist is able to relive the day over, albeit with certain changes that remove the zest from the life he once knew. Despite being well-liked by his landlady and employer in this new reality, Bevis decides to go back to the way things were, showing himself to be quite different than his ambitious forebears.
Twilight Zone episode "Mr. Bevis" was written as pilot for a new comedy series
"I was told in advance that it was a pilot and that I would play the lead," Bean recalled in Martin Grams Jr.'s The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. "Television offered the opportunity of a steady paycheck and I was ready and willing...[I] kept thinking to myself how poorly executed the pilot [was filmed]. Looking back at it today, I can see why. The script was not up to Serling standards."
"That was one of my least favorite [episodes]," producer Buck Houghton recalled in Marc Scott Zicree's Twilight Zone Companion. "Somehow, it just didn't come together. It was apples and oranges. I didn't think there was any excitement or interested. You just wondered, why watch it?"
Had "Mr. Bevis" gone to series, subsequent episodes would have followed similar storylines wherein Hempstead helped the character out of comedically sticky situations. Serling even developed several story ideas,including one where Bevis becomes the most important man in the world due to a computer error and another where he is forced to tell the truth while running for city council. The latter concept eventually evolved into season two's "The Whole Truth").
Actors initially proposed for the role of Bevis included Shelley Berman, Jack Carson, Wendell Corey, Burgess Meredith, Zachary Scott and Alan Young. Mr. Hempstead, on the other hand, could have been played by Edward Atienza, William Demarest, Robert Emhardt, Gale Gordon, Sterling Holloway, Murray Matheson, Harry Von Zell, John McGiver or Paul Hartman.
Funnily enough, Henry Jones appeared on both casting lists.
Per Zicree, Meredith ("Time Enough at Last") was Serling's preferred choice for Bevis. When Meredith was unable to commit to the project, Serling ultimately shelved the spinoff. He revisited the idea of a guardian angel assigned to an unfortunate oddball in season three's "Cavender Is Coming," which also failed to launch a new weekly program.
Classic episodes of The Twilight Zone air regularly on SYFY. Click here for complete scheduling info!
