"What's in the Box" is episode 144 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 An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

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 ...

''. It originally aired on March 13, 1964 on CBS. In this episode, a man's television set displays his past, present, and future, revealing to him that he will kill his wife.

Opening narration

Plot

Joe and Phyllis Britt are an old married couple in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

who do not get along. Joe gets home from his job as a cab driver late one night, and Phyllis accuses him of seeing another woman. In the meantime, a television repairman is in the next room fixing their broken set. Irritated, Joe harasses the repairman about the inconvenience and cost. The repairman abruptly closes the open TV panel and announces the TV is fixed. After stating the job is free, he leaves, and the TV starts getting channel 10—a station showing the past, present, and future of Joe and Phyllis' lives. Joe refuses to let Phyllis watch the TV and faints when he sees himself and a mistress talking. When he tunes in again later, it shows him killing Phyllis in a fight. Joe breaks down at the sight and tells Phyllis what is happening. Phyllis seeks help from the family doctor, who gives Joe a sedative and says that seeing oneself on television is one of several common delusions manifested by the struggle to adjust to the new technology of television. Profoundly disturbed by the sight of Phyllis' death, Joe tries to heal their relationship, telling her that he accepts the blame for their feuding and has realized that his extramarital affairs were only an escape from the stress of his job, that Phyllis is still the one he really loves. Embittered by years of Joe's coldness and philandering, Phyllis scorns his attempt at reconciliation. When he begins reacting to another channel 10 vision – his trial and execution for Phyllis's murder via

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

– even as Phyllis sees only static, Phyllis is convinced that Joe has lost his mind and taunts him. Joe, angered, attacks and kills her in the same manner as he had seen on the television screen. As Joe is arrested by the police, the TV repairman suddenly appears and mockingly asks, "Fix your set okay, Mister? You ''will'' recommend my service, won't you?" The repairman smirks as Joe is taken away.

Closing narration

Cast

Joan Blondell Joan Blondell (born Rose Joan Bluestein; August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years. Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on ...

as Phyllis Britt *

William Demarest Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 27, 1983) was an American character actor, known especially for his roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and for playing Uncle Charley in the sitcom '' My Three Sons'' Demarest, ...

as Joe Britt *

Sterling Holloway Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in '' Dumbo'', A ...

as TV Repairman *

Herbert Lytton Herbert Lytton Cress (December 9, 1897 – June 26, 1981) was an American film and television actor. He was known for playing Admiral Reynolds in the American sitcom television series ''McHale's Navy''. Lytton was born in Falmouth, Kentucky. I ...

as Dr. Saltman *

Sandra Gould Sandra Gould (July 23, 1916 – July 20, 1999) was an American actress, perhaps best known for her role as Gladys Kravitz on the sitcom ''Bewitched''. Gould was the second actress to portray the role, debuting at the start of the third season. L ...

as Woman On T.V. * Howard Wright as Judge * Douglas Bank as Prosecutor * Ted Christy as The Wild Panther * Robert McCord as Electric Chair Guard * Tony Miller as Announcer * Mitchell Rhein as Neighbour *

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ...

as Host / Narrator – Himself * Ron Stokes as Car Salesman * John L. Sullivan as The Russian Duke

References

*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

* {{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes 1964 American television episodes The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 5) episodes