Running from January 3 - May 23, 1963, the newly-truncated Twilight Zone’s fourth season is, by definition, the least appealing season to watch. Whereas the previous three seasons had been bite-sized tales to enjoy, here the team had double-length episodes enforced on them by the television production company. At its most effective, this could lead to greater character depth and pacing – a promise that the opener, In His Image, more than capitalises upon. Sadly, however, this wasn’t the norm, and the Zone’s “tale with a twist” was severely strained by the hour-length format. Serling’s The Thirty-Fathom Grave would perhaps have generated chills as a standard episode... dragged out to an hour and you become acutely aware that the cast are saying their lines slowly just to pad out the runtime. The prospective of spending more time in the company of a good episode is wonderful – but the prospect of spending an hour with a Serling comedy episode is Hell on Earth. Looking at the season overall, then, at most, only half fill their extended duration naturally. Some – such as Death Ship – are pretty funky despite being hugely padded, though generally any season four episode set on a ship is ripe for tedium. With Serling the programme’s most prolific writer (with 92 episodes under his belt, that’s almost two-thirds of the entire output) here the strain is showing more than ever before. His half-hearted grey screen intros here are recorded in blocks as he was away on other projects – and his seven story contribution is the least he ever did in a Twilight Zone season. I hate to be irreverent about a man who gave us so much, but it has to be said that while Serling could often be brilliant, he could also be overegged and overearnest. His work in season four is by some way his weakest, and it's to the other writers to take up the slack. They do so admirably, but even at its best, only a third of season four is above-average television. Classic Episode: Miniature Original Air Date: 21/2/1963 Writer: Jerry Sohl Director: Walter Grauman Synopsis: For the Zone's fourth season it had its most sophisticated title sequence yet and truncated its title to just Twilight Zone, two changes that continued into the fifth and final season. Robert Duvall stars here in my second favourite episode, allowing the audience to feel empathy with an emasculated loner who believes a wooden doll in a museum is alive. The episode was famously withdrawn for several years after a lawsuit where a writer claimed his idea was stolen. The suit was settled out of court and the episode screened as part of a 25th anniversary celebration package - with the doll house sequences colorized. Finally, although credited to Charles Beaumont, the story is one of five ghostwritten by Sohl after Beaumont feel ill. Rating: * * * * * Just bubbling under: my fourth favourite episode, The New Exhibit. Not-So-Classic Episode: The Bad Original Air Date: 23/5/1963 Writer: Rod Serling Director: David Butler Synopsis: Sometimes erroneously credited with an “r” in the title, this is the very thing I dreaded most: an hour-length Rod Serling comedy episode. Here he gives us the story of a derivative hack writer with only one idea – told without irony – who conjures up a bloke in an obvious bald wig pretending to be Shakespeare. All the hallmarks of Serling’s broad comedy are here – mugging, double takes, fainting and a tinkly, whimsical soundtrack. When I first saw The ‘Zone back in my childhood I never even knew “comedy” episodes existed – I guess I had a merciful syndication station. Yet including tales of whimsy like A Penny for your Thoughts there’s over thirty of the things, a genre which seems anathema with The Twilight Zone. They range from the actually decent wit of Uncle Simon and Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up? to the dire efforts of What’s In The Box, Cavender Is Coming, and, of course, the entry here. Rating: * *