The Twilight Zone (TV Series) The Brain Center at Whipple's (1964) User Reviews

"At Whipple's, we only take forward steps".

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 11 September 2010]

Interestingly, the Whipple story takes place all the time in the business world today, pitting as it does the 'brain of Man against the product of Man's brain'. It's true that progress sometimes has a de-humanizing effect, but there's often a flip side too - creating new opportunities for the ones who are initially blindsided and lose their jobs. Stories like this often don't follow through on what might happen if modern methods are ignored and the status quo remains the same. Eventually everyone's job is lost when the company goes up against a more efficient competitor. How humane is that result?

Rod Serling obviously saw something in the future of mechanization and the advance of computers. In a prior Season Five episode, 'The Old Man in the Cave', a room sized computer was also at the center of the story with the ability to think for a small group surviving a future nuclear war. I wonder how amazed he might be today to find the same amount of 'brain power' compact enough to hold in one's hand. That's quite the exponential progress we've made in less than fifty years.

Those old enough to remember the era will also recall the ubiquitous presence of a character named Mr. Whipple in those Charmin toilet tissue commercials that began running about the same time as this TZ entry. As I think about them now, I have to wonder if one of the Whipple characters might have been borrowed from the other. Most likely not, Richard Deacon never gives the impression that he's squeezably soft.

Ahead Of Its Time

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 8 November 2014]

Richard Deacon stars as Wallace V. Whipple, CEO of a manufacturing company who has just proudly unveiled his plans to fully automate his plant, which will of course mean that many thousands of employees will be fired, their jobs rendered obsolete by the wheels of "progress". The plant's chief engineer and especially its foreman vehemently oppose this move, but can do nothing about, as Whipple cares only for his efficiency and profit margin. He will come to feel differently when the stockholders decide that it is now his turn to go... Prescient episode about automation(and indeed globalization) is a bit too preachy and obvious at times, but its central moral point is well taken, and this is one episode in particular where reality has not only caught up with the Twilight Zone, but surpassed it...

Just Ask Robert Reich

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 16 April 2014]

This episode has stood up pretty well. Richard Deacon, most famous for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" has control of his late father's company. Despite the fact that his father doubled his production, the son sees him as a failure, allowing the competition to get a leg up. His solution is to go to an almost totally computerized and mechanized factory, eliminating nearly all the workers, even the ones who have been there for 20 to 30 years. The factory goes from an active, friendly place to a wasteland in a few weeks. He even fires the man who has worked most closely with him since he was a boy. He speaks glowingly of giving the time card machines to a museum as well as the money he will save from fringe benefits like insurance, paid vacations, and the like. Deacon projects a villainous glee that literally glows when he is on screen. Of course, as sympathetic viewers, most of us grow to hate him. Some have written that this was a sign of things to come, showing Serling's prescience. Its outrageousness is what makes it work very well. I first saw this episode nearly fifty years ago, and now, seeing it again, it was quite familiar to me. It must have made quite an impression. The curse of mechanization is that if people aren't retrained and are left unable to work, the loss of a middle class's buying power is in the offing. Hence the Robert Reich reference.

Well . . . . . .

[Surfer-23 · 23 January 2008]

This episode, written by Rod Serling, is essentially a Twilight Zone-d version of his film "Patterns," though the dialogue and the characters' motivation are nowhere near as interesting or as subtle as in that film. The ending is also somewhat predictable, unlike that of "Patterns," and the final speech is a tad obvious.

Comparisons to that film aside, however, the episode is not bad and certainly makes its point about dehumanization. It is also notable for having a black actor, Jack Crowder (the future Thalmus Rasulala), in a completely normal and important role, namely, that of a computer technician. Such casting was certainly a rarity for 1964, though at the same time it is not surprising for the series considering Serling's progressive views on race relations. Crowder's character even engages in some verbal sparing with Richard Deacon's character, Mr. Whipple.

All in all, the episode is worth a look, and is a must for "Zone" fans.

It Came To Pass

[Mike_Yike · 7/10 · 23 March 2017]

A lot of the Twilight Zone episodes were based on morality and presented with a slant. Still other episodes looked more like predictions on the coming world. The Brain Center at Whipple's was kind of a combination. In fact, the theme of the 1964 episode was already under way, that being the loss of jobs through automation. But unlike the futuristic aspect of the episode, the morality aspect never really came to pass. The plant boss, heartless Mr. Whipple, was demonized in the episode. In real life, automation has long since become an accepted part of the modern world where robots turn screws and weld metals. It would have been truly amazing if the episode had not only predicted that part of the near future, but actually had worked to reshape it. But alas, that was not to be, and perhaps that's okay.

Ahead of Time

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 7 November 2023]

The CEO of the W V Whipple Manufacturing Co., Wallace V. Whipple, has inherited his father's company and decides to introduce automation to eliminate thousand of jobs and reduce the manufacturing costs. He exposes his plans to the old Chief Engineer Hanley and asks him to bring Foreman Dickerson to his office. He gives four months to Dickerson and his team before they are laid off. A couple of months later, Wallace learns the price of his technological innovation.

"The Brain Center at Whipple's" is an episode of "The Twilight Zone" ahead of time. The reality of 1964 was totally different from the last years, with technological advances including in manufacturing process. The conclusion shows what is happening with several successful jobs in the past, like typists, in the present days. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Centro da Inteligência da Whipple" ("The Intelligence Center at Whipple's")

Obsolete!

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 19 April 2022]

Wallace V. Whipple (Richard Deacon), president of the WV Whipple Manufacturing Corporation, automates his factory with a new computerised system, callously laying off most of his staff, including Chief Engineer Hanley (Paul Newlan) and Foreman Dickerson. However, Whipple realises too late that no-one is safe from the march of technological progress.

Cautionary tale The Brain Center at Whipple's sees its heartless antagonist eventually getting a taste of his own medicine, the company's board of directors replacing him with that old TZ favourite, Robby the Robot. It's an entertaining example of poetic justice, but the script doesn't address the story's most shocking issue: Wallace V. Whipple shooting Dickerson as he attacks the factory's computer. Why wasn't Whipple arrested for attempted murder?

Reap what you sow

[Calicodreamin · 6/10 · 24 June 2021]

Bland storyline with an expected ending and lack of effects. The message; however, is strong one even today, so that really resonates.

The "Creepy" Line

[mattoid-45605 · 10/10 · 11 January 2019]

At this exact moment (1/10/19) I'm watching a report on how AI will replace FORTY percent of workers in the next 15 years.

I would say this episode is way too prophetic!

Some Good Ideas, Sharp Writing & Acting,Mediocre Effort

[telegonus · 5/10 · 14 January 2021]

The Brain Center At Whipple's is a late entry in the long running Twilight Zone television series, which was a sometime science fiction anthology, yet which also dealt with many social issues of its time. Whipple is one of its most humanistic, least "fantastic" offering; also one of its more prescient ones.

This episode deals with the corporate intrigue and conflicts inside the large Whipple manufactacturing firm brought about by the company's president's plans for a massive, as we like to call it, downsizing, due to changes in tasks that employed people being shifted to machines, primarily computers, which cost far less, scarcely any, actually, in real human labor.

Company president Wallace Whipple is a man who himself thinks like a machine and who lacks empathy for other human beings. He doesn't seem to care in the least as to the grief that the restructuring of his company will cause longtime employees. Indeed, he rejoices in all the millions of dollars his company will save, and what concerns he has for others appears limited to shareholders.

This might have been a good to excellent Zone entry if it had been better conceived and executed. Rod Serling, Twilight Zone's creator, host and frequent author of many of its episodes, wrote this one, and while it has much heart, maybe too much, in many stretches in the story, Mr. Whipple is way to easy to despise character. He's a heartless, one dimensional figure, while his employees are more complex, caring individuals.

There are lot of "speeches" in the episode. which is to say lengthy stretches of dialogue in which a character states his values, concerns or ambitions to another without interruption. A lot of what gets said is "old news" by 21st century standards, albeit still relevant. There is much conflict, and I suppose drama of a kind, yet little in the way of fundamental change in the characters.

One of the biggest downsides of Whipple is the character of Whipple himself, his rigid mindset and, worst of all, the performance of capable comedic actor Richard Deacon himself. He's never convincing as a man who has ever worked in the real world. Worse, Deacon plays so broadly as to emphasize his own comedy background rather than interpret his character.

He plays his part as a pompous ass; a caricature; a near cartoon character. In bold contrast the men who play his senior employees, deliver memorable, superb, deeply felt performances. Their names are worth mentioning: Paul Newlan and Ted De Corsia, and they both deserved awards for their work. For all that' s wrong in the show it's s watchable piece, and a missed opportunity for author Rod Serling to have knocked one out of the ballpark in one of the last episodes of his best remembered series.

As usual Rod Serling proves he was ahead of the times

[cacike · 10/10 · 17 September 2018]

Regardless if you found this episode somewhat similar to Patterns or that it "lacked nuances" one thing that it spoke volumes of was the value of the worker as a real person versus automation or as we call it today "Technology". The contagion of "Mr. Whipples's need to squeeze every dollar, is reaching levels that have left many good people out of work. Oh, the line that people will operate the new machines once they "get the required training" is a lie. As a IT manager, I have seen many people forced to retire because of the "Mr. Whipples" of the world. This episode was one of the best in my opinion.

Lackluster effort

[emguy · 5/10 · 9 May 2016]

This story takes the easy way out. It has an easy villain, a heartless corporate exec. His comeuppance is obvious and simplistic. He gets the same treatment he gave others - not the sort of TZ-worthy twist one comes to expect. There's no nuance, no insight, just a black and white Good vs Evil, human beings vs corporate efficiency. The erstwhile corporate exec doesn't even seem to realize that he's now the victim of the same thing he did to others.

A more nuanced approach would have given the exec a little bit of a journey to discover the heartlessness of his approach, instead of cutting directly from perpetrator to victim. A more nuanced approach would have shown the staff realizing that refusing to accept change carries its own risks.

I'd rate the episode lower, but hey, it's still the dear old TZ, and you try to be forgiving when an old friend lobs the occasional dud. The episode gets some credit for casting a non-white actor whose role isn't just to be "the black guy." And Robby the Robot gets a cameo appearance.

The Luddite Nightmare

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 24 April 2013]

Richard Deacon stars in this marvelously clever Twilight Zone episode of an industrialist who has decided that he's going to automate his entire plant. Just think of it, no workers to deal with, no union complaints, presumably the technicians to keep the machines running are all part of management now. To completely eliminate labor, the goal of every tycoon of business since the Industrial Revolution.

Watching this I was thinking that if some poor Luddite rioters from the post Napoleonic war era Great Britain could have seen this episode it would have confirmed all the worst fears they had.

The clash with Deacon and a plant foreman Ted DeCorsia is one for the books. Has some profound things to say about man's need to feel he's doing useful work in this world. At least most of us feel that way, there are some parasites among the human species to be sure.

In the end poor Deacon finds he too is expendable. Then he became a Luddite.

Fairly prophetic

[tforbes-2 · 3 June 2011]

"The Brain Center at Whipple's" seems to be fairly prophetic, in that it forecasts the mammoth industrial layoffs of the 1970s and '80s. Whipple, played by Richard Deacon, is the diametric opposite of George F. Johnson, who, with Mr. Endicott, was the paternal head of Endicott- John Shoe Company, which basically put the Binghamton, NY area (Rod Serling's home), on the map.

Add to that the airing of this episode, which was months after the death of John F. Kennedy. American business society was becoming progressively more ruthless, as competition intensified.

Though it may not be the best episode per se, Mr. Serling deserved credit for exploring the human cost this "efficiency" has on the American people (as well as those in other countries in the same boat). He also deserves credit for getting an African-American performer in a prominent role, and he rebukes Whipple! And thank God for this. Richard Donner, who went on to bigger and more prestigious projects, directs this episode.

Even if Richard Deacon's performance seems one-dimensional, the scary part is that I know store managers in the present day who are eerily like him, people with no soul or compassion. Yep, do things to cut out the human element, eliminate jobs and all of that. Only it comes at a cost that goes beyond the workplace.

Now if only these real-life managers can only get the same fate as Whipple. And that does happen. Anyway, its message is most appropriate, given the displacement this country has endured over the past 30+ years.

Irrational handwringing

[robert3750 · 1/10 · 1 May 2021]

The episode is one long diatribe against automation, complaining about how "evil" it is. Such an attitude is based on false premises. The first premise is that the fundamental purpose of any business is to "provide jobs". That's wrong. A business exists to provide goods or service that people want. Automation makes it possible to provide those goods and services more cheaply and efficiently, thus lowering costs and RAISING the standard of living. The logic of the anti automation people is that we should all be poorer than we were hundreds of years ago, which is obviously not the case. In the 1930s, one American farmer produced enough agricultural product to feed a total of four people; a family farm was literally meant to feed a family. In the 2010s, one farmer produces enough food to feed 155 people. That's due to automation and progress. You don't hear people bemoaning the "loss of farm jobs", because what matters is the FOOD that's produced, not the jobs. So it was with buggy whip workers, elevator operators, travel agents, typesetters, etc etc., jobs which no one is whining about. Of course you never hear the anti automation people talk about the jobs that technology creates.

The other false premise is the worship of the "manufacturing job", as if that should be the entire focus of the well being of a person. It seems quite dismissive of the service sector, as if that means nothing. And by "service sector", I don't mean some minimum wage job at McDonald's. I mean jobs that provide any of a number of services that people want. If the anti automation really had their way, the economy would be a frozen corpse, stultifying innovation and killing wealth creation, all sacrificed on the altar of the Holy Manufacturing Job.

A Prescient, Realistic View of Corporate Life

[hgmickey · 10/10 · 17 September 2018]

In my humble opinion, the principal actors did a splendid job in this story: Ted DeCorsia as the angry plant foreman Dickerson, who just saw his steady, decades-long job ripped out from under him with presumably no future prospects, Paul Newlan as the chief engineer, Hanley who tries to show the CFO the error of his ways, Jack Crowder (later known as Thalmus Rasulala) as the technician who has some choice words for the CEO and his overreliance on automation, and of course, Richard Deacon as the heartless CEO, Wallace V. Whipple. Deacon's Whipple perfectly catches the attitude and aura of a CEO who would not let a little thing like common decency get in the way of turning a profit. Case in point: when Hanley tries to explain to Whipple that Whipple's father doubled company profits while looking out for his employees, Whipple gleefully and venomously responds that his father's competitors QUADRUPLED company profits, leaving the Whipple Company in the dust. Consequently, Whipple has no problem or conscience in seeing his employees ground under the wheels of progress. Sadly, to this day, there are any number of corporate executives out there who have that same mindset. Whipple's attitude reminds me of a corporation I worked for many years ago when I was a struggling young accountant. This firm's culture, from the top down, made quite sure the employees knew that they were expendable. They made everyone's job a living hell on earth, and made it so that they wouldn't fire you; you would have to quit...that way the company would not have to pay unemployment. This job was so bad that I took another job...at a pay cut...to get away from that place AND save my sanity. I wonder if Wallace V. Whipple was their role model. While other posters pointed out the lack of a supernatural twist that the Twilight Zone was noted for, the straightforward punch in the gut that Whipple took in the form of his own position being downsized for a robot was a fitting punishment. Perhaps a scene where Whipple gets shown a glimpse of a possible future by his dead father might have been a possibility. But I could see Whipple callously disregarding his father's sagacious advice and Whipple's hard-charging, Type A personality and obsession over making the company even more profitable would have put him in an early grave anyway. That certainly would have robbed Whipple of any long-term enjoyment of the fruits of his labor. Again, Whipple getting fired by the board of directors of his own company brought him to the same end. I add my compliments to this very talented cast. May they all rest in peace.

Richard Deacon plays a real butt-head!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 28 June 2010]

Richard Deacon plays a real butt-head! He's the new boss who has an adding machine for a heart! Since taking over at his company, he's slowly replaced just about everyone with machines. Putting people out of work means nothing to this jerk--all he cares about is modernization and efficiency. Naturally, he gets his comeuppance, as this is the Twilight Zone.

The show's greatest shortcoming is probably Richard Deacon's character. While he was a fine actor, his character was broadly written--too broadly written. On the other hand, Ted de Corsia was wonderful as an angry employee who runs amok and tries to destroy the computers Deacon installed in the factory. Another problem is that the script is just weak--as was the problem with a growing number of episodes towards the end of the series. This was late in season five--the last season--and it showed. The bottom line is that unless you MUST see every episode for your life to be complete, this one is well worth skipping.

The Wholesale Firing of Men who Have Worked Here 20 Years

[sonthert · 10/10 · 28 May 2012]

I'm no expert on The Twilight Zone, but I guess my tastes run in opposition to other peoples.

"The Brain Center at Whipple's" is one of my favorite episodes.

I love the piece-character actor ("The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Leave it to Beaver", "The Birds") and professional chef Richard Deacon.

If I wanted to find a fault with the episode, I would certainly point at the direction of Richard Donner. The Twilight Zone is not "Lethal Weapon", nor "The Omen", nor "Conspiracy Theory". Consistently, the dialog of Gregory Peck in "The Omen", the dialog of Mel Gibson in "Conspiracy Theory" and the dialog in "The Brain Center at Whipple's" have a common thread. The dialog is run out way too far. Its fine for modern action movies, but not for a show like the Twilight Zone. To the detractors of this show, I tip my hat on that point. Richard Donner is well acclaimed director...but didn't do as well with a Twilight Zone episode.

If you ignore the long, meandering, overly-punctuated dialog, the story is certainly way ahead of its time. Its prescience is beyond creepy. As we speak, American car manufacturers are working on assembly lines that are completely automated to put hundreds of high-paid assembly line people out of work. The anger and shouting exhibited by the foreman Dickerson is a reflection of the frustration that American workers who are put out of work and that can't find work (as there isn't any) experienced in the 60s and up until today. A man gets old enough and he really can't do anything else. He can't take a night school class and become a doctor. It was unspoken in the episode, but the phrases "Men who have worked here for 20 years" eludes to the idea that these men have committed themselves to their job and the Whipple's company and that losing a job means they have to completely overhaul, if possible, the way they look at the world if they want to get a job...if they can. Its that these men have acquiesced to a plan about their lives and now the commitment they offered in giving their most productive years to a company were in vain. All neatly wrapped up in the confused rage and anger personified in the shop foreman Dickerson. He shouts. His life, as he knows it, his family, his home, his avocations, everything has been upended and he's scared about his prospects for the future, and his responsibility to his family. You'd be angry too. The modern workplace doesn't feature men who work for the same company for 20 years. People have a job for five years and then have to get a new one. People don't see the world from a perspective of working for one company for the rest of your lives. If you were Dickerson, you'd be mad as hell too. Plant Manager Hanley also is enraged. The character selected looks like he's about 80. He's outraged at the lack of compassion and commitment of Whipple's to the people that dedicated their lives to Whipple's. The episode does indeed feature a lot complaining and shouting. If it remains to the direction of Serling, people are upset that progress involves them being declared obsolete.

It is a proper analysis of a season 5 episode written by Rod Serling to compare it to episodes from seasons 1-4 that Serling wrote that it mirrors. There were a lot of mirrored episodes. Some were completely "unique", but many are mirrors. I would draw a parallel between "The Brain Center at Whipple's" and the much celebrated "The Obsolete Man". The hinge of the story is much different, the causes of obsolescence are very different, but the end result is the same. Serling hated totalitarianism (as do I, much from growing up watching the Twilight Zone) and the idea that people were pawns or victims of large tectonic plates of the world moving around crushing them without their having recourse nor ability to avoid them. Serling wrote that men should have the right to choose for themselves when large, powerful forces take away a man's right to chose for himself, it is immoral.

Some of the episode might point to "Patterns", Rod Serling's movie script dealing with corporate greed and competition, but I don't feel "The Brain Center at Whipple's" follows along the same lines. Serling's perceived lack of caring on the part of the corporations and industry does permeate both screenplays. Patterns deals with executives and Whipple's deals with the obsolescence of the worker. "The Brain Center at Whipple's" is an indictment of the hypocrisy of corporate phrase-making and media spin. Its called "progress", but it results in men being put out of work. The episode also eschews the idea that men (and women) have a need to work and to feel productive. Whipple's is an illustrative microcosm of American Industry. There are several more small, subtle point woven into the screenplay and its easy to lose sight or miss them entirely, but watch the news on the economy or the job situation and then watch "The Brain Center at Whipple's". The episode still may be even ahead of its time. The scope of "The Brain Center at Whipple's" may not be fully realized for another 20 years. Many factories, large stores or businesses used to have a large lunch room, with a cafeteria and food service to the platoons of workers. Now, very few of these have a need for a cafeteria due to highly reduced workforces. "There's nothing down there except a few vending machines." Exactly what modern "lunch rooms" look like.

I find this to be an extremely terse, complex (overly so for the average viewer?) episode. Don't watch it to be entertained. Watch it as Serling's prophecy about things to come.

Pure boredom.

[darrenpearce111 · 3/10 · 3 February 2014]

Series five had a lot of high points but it had a lot of dreadful lows as well. This unrelenting diatribe against an employer who wont consider the human importance of his workforce is typical of the lows. No doubting the truth of the message here or it's importance, but it does not justify a weak story like this to join the ranks of the Zone- the best TV show ever. The ending is ridiculous so don't have any hopes that this might get better.

TZ was limping towards it's death in season five. Best to remember the highlights it did have, but forget this dire effort.

Woeful.

Frightening image of a world to come that came—

[Jordan_Haelend · 10/10 · 4 February 2013]

—and for which our nation and its economy are all paying the price. While there is nothing wrong with technology as such and it has relieved the general workforce of many dangerous and difficult tasks, there can always be too much of a good thing. One of the characters asks Whipple who will be left to buy his products when the jobs have all been wiped out.

A combination of automation and job exporting has brought the manufacturing sector to near-ruin; Detroit, MI and Gary, IN probably are the most obvious examples of this. From being the world's provider we have become the world's customer, and there are enough vacant, crumbling factories across the nation to show that the quest for profits —as in Whipple's case— can bring even the leaders to the day when they must clean out their desks for the last time.

Is it self-defense to shoot someone who destroys machines?

[Coventry · 5/10 · 16 January 2023]

Ah, the good old "what goes around comes around" routine! A classic, favorite, and somewhat overly moralizing storyline in Rod Serling's beloved "Twilight Zone" universe. E,specially when in combination with another hobbyhorse of Mr. Serling, namely the relentless business & corporate world. Serling apparently even wrote a teleplay similar to this episode, entitled "Patterns".

Wallace V. Whipple is a stone-cold CEO who emotionlessly decides to replace his factory workers with advanced machines and announces this with great pride and joy to his senior engineer and foreman. And when someone dares to be so self-centered and cruel, the Twilight Zone gives him a taste of his own medicine.

I reckon the tale was unsettling, foreboding, and prophetic in 1964, but half a century later, it mainly comes across as silly. Intelligent machines, okay, but how is a device with flickering lights going to manufacture anything? And there we have good old Robby the Robot again! The most fascinating aspects about "The Brain Center at Whipple's" are A) that Chief Engineer Hanley looks exactly like James "Brooks" Whitmore" from "The Shawshank Redemption", and B) apparently it's legal to shoot people when they destroy machines at their workplace.

Crystal Ball

[sscal · 10/10 · 6 June 2019]

Some posters have been a little harsh in regards to this episode. Yes, the writing was a bit heavy-handed and the acting a bit over-the-top, but Serling,s amazing foreshadowing cannot be faulted. The current surge today of AI and its effect on both skilled and unskilled labor is reflected here whereby machines make decisions and perform routine chores. But few people have mentioned this episode,s seeing the future importance of technological security i.e. "built in electric eyes" that read ID cards. This crack down on security was only this obvious and necessary after 9/11 and it is amazing that Serling could have foreseen this explosion in security measures.

Who do you get to mourn for you??!!

[gregorycanfield · 9/10 · 4 August 2021]

Before submitting this review, I read most of the other reviews on this episode. Most of these brilliant reviewers clearly have as much insight as the Richard Deacon character. In today's world, it is all too common for the human being to be devalued, and tossed aside. This episode was made at a time when technology was only developing. As the writer of the episode, Rod Serling could not have imagined how far technology would go. However, you need only a head on your shoulders to know that there will never be an end to man's greed and hunger for power. I must take issue with the politically correct reviewer who was so impressed with the appearance of a "non-white" actor in this episode. If you pay attention, you'll realize that ethnicity made no difference to the role this actor played. The actor was Jack Crowder, who went on to rename himself Thalmus Rasulala. Whatever he called himself, he was always a fine actor. As to my favorite scene in this episode. It's either when the Paul Newlan character slaps Deacon, or the drunken foreman yelling: "When you're dead and buried, who do you get to mourn for you?!"

The boss is hilarious!

[bgaiv · 9/10 · 31 December 2020]

I don't usually laugh out loud at classic Twilight Zone, but the boss is pretty funny. He energetically nails the flamboyant boss and isn't so (era standard) melodramatic.

As for the machines taking all jobs... well, we'll never know until it happens. This prediction has been around for a very long time. I'm skeptical because endless jobs have been rendered obsolete and yet we don't near remotely the unemployment numbers that implies. Plus, humans are infinitely greedy. Anything that has become automated has become very cheap, and very soon, it's simply taken for granted and people want more new things.

But who knows, I'm no seer, but of dystopias, everybody being unemployed isn't the one I'm most worried about.