"The Chaser" is episode 31 of the
American television
Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...
anthology series ''
The Twilight Zone
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...
''.
Opening narration
Plot
Roger Shackleforth is desperately in love with Leila, an aloof tease who plays cat-and-mouse with his affections. A stranger hands him the business card of an old professor named "A. Daemon", who can help with any problem. Roger visits Daemon, who after some resistance and suggestions that Roger will regret it, sells him a love potion for $1. Roger administers it in a glass of champagne; Leila falls madly in love with him and marries him, but soon her love becomes stifling.
Roger returns to the professor to buy poison for $1,000, all of Roger's savings. Daemon cautions Roger that the "cleaner" is odorless, tasteless, and completely undetectable, but must be used immediately and completely, or the user will lose his nerve and never again have the courage to try it. After Roger leaves, the professor muses, "First, the 'stimulant'... and then the 'chaser'."
When he gets home, Roger prepares a glass of champagne with the new potion. Just as he is about to give Leila her drink, she reveals—by showing him baby booties which she is knitting—that she is pregnant; Roger is shocked and drops both glasses. He says could not have gone through with it anyway, then passes out.
On Roger's terrace, Daemon relaxes with a cigar, and after puffing a smoke ring that turns into a heart, disappears.
Closing narration
Production notes
This episode was adapted by
Robert Presnell, Jr. from the short story "The Chaser" by
John Collier. The script was originally written for and produced live on television on ''The Billy Rose Television Theatre'' in 1951.
In ''Serling: The Rise and Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man'', the episode's director
Douglas Heyes
Douglas Heyes (May 22, 1919 – February 8, 1993) was an American film and television writer, director, producer, actor, composer, and author with a long list of accomplishments. He was sometimes credited under the pseudonym Matthew Howard.
Pers ...
said, "That was one of the great things about ''The Twilight Zone''. I had total freedom. Sometimes I would think of an idea that would make the episode more Twilight Zone-y
utthat would require some expense. I remember one episode, 'The Chaser', in which I devised a huge bookcase that must have doubled the budget, but
erling and producer Buck Houghtonnever blinked an eye. They just said, 'Okay, great!' I didn't have to argue with anybody over the money—''they'd'' argue about the money and let me have it! I knew that they were having problems with
Jim Aubrey, but they kept them away from me. My responsibility was to get the job done."
The short story also was adapted in 1951 for the ''
Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt may refer to:
* ''Tales from the Crypt'' (album), by American rapper C-Bo
* ''Tales from the Crypt'' (comics), published by EC Comics during the 1950s
** ''Tales from the Crypt'' (film), a 1972 Amicus film starring Ralph Ric ...
'' comic, where it was retitled "Loved to Death!!" This was adapted in 1991 as "
Loved to Death" (no exclamation points) for the
HBO adult-horror anthology series ''
Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt may refer to:
* ''Tales from the Crypt'' (album), by American rapper C-Bo
* ''Tales from the Crypt'' (comics), published by EC Comics during the 1950s
** ''Tales from the Crypt'' (film), a 1972 Amicus film starring Ralph Ric ...
''. The episode starred
Andrew McCarthy
Andrew Thomas McCarthy (born November 29, 1962) is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as ''St. Elmo's Fire'', ''Pretty in Pink'', and '' Less ...
and
Mariel Hemingway
Mariel Hadley Hemingway (born November 22, 1961) is an American actress. She began acting at age 14 with a Golden Globe-nominated breakout role in ''Lipstick'' (1976), and she received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance in W ...
.
This is one of several episodes from season one with its opening title sequence plastered over with the opening for season two. This was done during the summer of 1961, so that the repeats of season-one episodes would fit in with the new look the show had taken during the following season. As originally aired, this was the final episode of the series with the original UPA "pit and summit" title sequence.
See also
*
List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes
The original ''The Twilight Zone'' anthology series began on October 2, 1959, and ended on June 19, 1964, with five seasons and 156 episodes. It was created by Rod Serling and broadcast on CBS.
Later popularity of the series brought about a 19 ...
Further reading
*Sander, Gordon F.:''Serling: The Rise And Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man''. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
*Zicree, Marc Scott: ''The Twilight Zone Companion''. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media.
*Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaser, The
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 1) episodes
1960 American television episodes
Television episodes directed by Douglas Heyes