"A Nice Place To Visit"

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Episode description: After being shot to death, thief Rocky Valentine encounters the amiable white-haired Pip, who gives Rocky everything he wishes. Heaven! Right?
Season 1: Episode 028 - Aired on CBS on April 15th, 1960.

I woke up at 1 a.m. last night. Exactly at 1 a.m. For whatever reason I am still not sure other than I went to bed a little early. Turned on the TV and just happened to catch one of my favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone on Sci-Fi which airs nightly at 1 a.m. "A Nice Place To Visit" starring Sebastian Cabot (Mr. French on A Family Affair) and actor Larry Blyden, (What's My Line?) has to be one of my favorite episodes of all time. There are so many episodes that have just stayed with me over the years and this is definitely one of them.

What I love about this episode is the story, the way it moves, the pacing, the direction, the great acting, and of course, the conclusion. I can still remember the first time I saw this on one warm summer night on the old Channel 50 in DC in the late 80s when they ran their Twilight Zone marathons.

The best part of this episode to me takes place during the last 5 minutes. A few stand out lines for me are:

Valentine: "...but when you win every time, that's not gambling, that's charity!"

Pip: "Well, I could arrange for you to lose occasionally, would that help?"

Valentine: "It might...No, no! It's no good! It ain't the same! I would know!"

Valentine: "Being a big guy with a chick, it doesn't mean anything if it's all set up in advance!" and

Pip: "Heaven? Hmph! Whatever gave you the idea that you were in Heaven, Mr. Valentine? This IS the other place!" Classic Twilight Zone!

The Sci-Fi channel is airing their annual Twilight Zone marathon starting Friday, July 4th, 2008.
~LT