By Monique
Growing up as a frequent classic television viewer, one of my favorite shows was The Twilight Zone. I found it provocative, entertaining and, at some points, downright scary. I’d been wondering if TV would ever go back to the well of Rod Serling’s sci-fi world, and it turns out fate was just waiting on Jordan Peele to take his rightful place at the Throne of Weird.
Check out the trailer:
The pros: so much purposeful casting is in this! From Kumail Nanjiani, Steven Yeun and John Cho to Sanaa Lathan, Tracy Morgan and DeWanda Wise, there are a lot of folks who probably wouldn’t have been cast in this production otherwise. But with this kind of cast, we can continue the diversification of sci-fi, which has needed different viewpoints for a very long time.
Second, you can’t go wrong with Peele’s brand of creepy. Even from his Key & Peele days, Peele’s writing usually took the sketches to a weird, disturbing level. Viewers would go from laughing to “WTF” quickly with Peele’s imagination playing out on screen. So, like with Get Out and Weird City, I fully expect Peele to take us to some places we weren’t expecting to go.
The only con I have right now is that, yet again, it’s an awesome-looking show that’s behind a paywall. The show will debut on CBS All-Access this April, and thankfully for me, I already have the service since I review Star Trek: Discovery for SlashFilm. But for others who don’t feel like paying the $10 a month, the paywall could deter people from watching the show. But that’s how it always is with paywalls, isn’t it? It’s the way of the world now; you have Netflix, Hulu, YouTube Red, Disney + and so many more that’s not including HBO, Showtime and premium cable channels. If you’ve got the coin, you gotta decide how to dole it out.
Overall, though, I can’t wait to see what Peele brings us. I’m ready for the weirdness.
Julian 