The Bard (The Twilight Zone)

"The Bard" is an episode of the American anthology television series The Twilight Zone. It first aired on CBS on May 23, 1963, and was the final episode of the fourth season, which had hour-long episodes. A direct satire of the American television industry, the episode features a character played by Burt Reynolds that is a parody of Marlon Brando, and concerns an inept screenwriter who, through the use of black magic, employs William Shakespeare as his ghostwriter.

Since airing in 1963, the episode has received polarized reactions. It was described as the worst episode of the season upon release and it has been placed near the bottom of episode rankings by /Film and Paste. However, it has been praised by critic Emily St. James and television producer David Chase.

Plot

Julius K. Moomer, a bumbling screenwriter, is becoming desperate for a sale after years of working on unproduced scripts, such as ones about a woman being unaware that her husband is a zombie, a romance between a female scientist and robot, and Belle Starr being president of the Union Pacific Railroad. His agent, Gerald Hugo, mentions a television series to his secretary which causes Julius to beg to write a pilot episode for it. Gerald derides Julius as the show is about black magic and Julius knows nothing about it. However, Julius convinces Gerald to let him research the subject and submit a pilot.

Arriving at a used bookstore, a book of black magic pulls itself off the shelf, to the confusion of the bookstore owner and Julius. After multiple failed attempts at using the book, Julius accidentally summons William Shakespeare, who says he is at the command of the conjurer and will provide any service. Shakespeare's script The Tragic Cycle is accepted by the television producers despite its archaic language.

Shakespeare is annoyed at Julius' egotism and claiming sole credit for the scripts. He threatens to leave, stating that his task is finished, but Julius argues that if he stops writing now, Shakespeare will lose his chance at Hollywood fame and become forgotten. Shakespeare says he will attend a rehearsal and continue working for Julius if it does justice to his script. At the rehearsal, Shakespeare is so horrified at the revisions by the sponsor and producers that he assaults lead actor Rocky Rhodes and storms out. Julius's next assignment, a TV special on American history, seems doomed to failure until he remembers his book on black magic, and uses it to conjure up Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Pocahontas, Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin, and Theodore Roosevelt to act as consultants.

Production

Photogrpah of Marlon Brando

The Bard features a character played by Burt Reynolds that is a parody of Marlon Brando.

The episode aired on May 23, 1963,Template:Sfn and was the final episode of the fourth season.Template:Sfn CBS extended the length of The Twilight ZoneTemplate:'s episodes for the fourth season from 30 minutes to 1 hour.Template:Sfn Rod Serling criticized this decision as it led to episodes being "too padded" and that "On Thursday We Leave for Home" was the only "effective" episode of the fourth season.Template:Sfn

The Bard was produced by Herbert Hirschman and directed by David Butler, and the music was composed by Fred Steiner.Template:Sfn George T. Clemens was the director of photography,Template:Sfn art direction was done by George Davis and Edward Carfagno, and Edward Curtiss was the editor.Template:Sfn Serling's script for The Bard was a satire of television writingTemplate:Sfn and it was one of six episodes with a major appearance of a historical figure (alongside The Man in the Bottle, Back There, The Passersby, Showdown with Rance McGrew, and He's Alive).Template:Sfn

Jack Weston, who plays Moomer, previously appeared on the show in The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn John Williams, who plays Shakespeare, was known for his work in Alfred Hitchcock's films.Template:Sfn Burt Reynolds was selected to play a stand-in for Marlon Brando due to how closely he looked like Brando and his impersonation.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Reynolds' appearance in this episode was considered by Scott Campbell of Far Out to one of the earliest examples of the public feud between him and Brando due to Reynolds "openly mocking" "Brando's signature performative style, accent, and mannerisms as the character Rocky Rhodes", which Campbell believed could have "gotten underneath" his skin.Template:Sfn

Reception and legacy

Percy Shain, writing for The Boston Globe, gave the episode 3 out of 5 stars and wrote that the support cast "fleshed out the zany plot".Template:Sfn Francis Murphy, writing for The Oregonian, stated that the show drifted into "the worst TV show of the season" with The Bard due to Weston's poor acting and the "great idea" of the script falling "miserably flat".Template:Sfn The Bard was listed as the second worst episode of The Twilight Zone by Paste in 2023,Template:Sfn and /Film in 2024, only behind The Incredible World of Horace Ford in /FilmTemplate:'s rankingTemplate:Sfn and I Dream of Genie in PasteTemplate:'s ranking.Template:Sfn /FilmTemplate:'s ranking criticized The Bard for having satire that "lacks bite" and for "being hopelessly unfunny".Template:Sfn

Arianna Rebolini selected the episode as the 40th best of the series in a BuzzFeed article, stating that "something just clicks" despite humor not being Serling's "strong suit" and that its satire of the television industry was "ahead of its time".Template:Sfn Emily St. James, writing for The A.V. Club, gave it a rating of A–, praising Weston and Williams' acting and humor.Template:Sfn David Chase wrote that it was one of his favorite episodes and a portion of the episode was played on TV during a scene of The Sopranos episode Made in America.Template:Sfn Marc Scott Zicree, writing in The Twilight Zone Companion, stated that the episode was "both entertaining and accurate".Template:Sfn

William Bibbiani, writing for /Film in 2023, noted that one of the script ideas proposed by Moomer was similar to Love, American Style.Template:Sfn James Maddox wrote in a Game Rant article that Moomer's reliance on existing works and historical figures rather than making original work was a precursor to ChatGPT and other AI-assisted writing tools.Template:Sfn

Works cited

News

• Template:Cite magazine

Further reading

• DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. Template:ISBN
• Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. Template:ISBN

External links

• Template:Trim/ at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataTemplate:Main otherTemplate:WikidataCheck