"Nick of Time" is episode 43 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on November 18, 1960 on CBS. When newlywed Don and Pat Carter's automobile breaks down in Ridgeview, Ohio, they have lunch at the Busy Bee Cafe while they wait for repairs to be made. The booth they sit in has a fortune teller machine on the table that answers yes or no questions for a penny each. Don asks the "mystic seer" if he is going to get a promotion at work. The card says "It has been decided in your favor." Don calls the office and learns he has been promoted. Because of this initial success, Don asks the seer if their car will be fixed in the promised time, and receives the answer "You may never know." Questioning the seer on this point produces eerily relevant answers, leading to the prediction that it is unsafe to leave the diner until 3 p.m. Don accordingly stalls for time, but Pat argues that the seer cannot genuinely predict the future and eventually convinces him to leave a few minutes before 3. The couple is almost struck by a car while crossing the street. A nearby clock shows it is 3 p.m. After they calm down, Don goes back to the cafe and asks about their car again. The seer answers "It has already been taken care of", and the mechanic steps into the diner to tell Don that his car is fixed. Pat remains skeptical, contending that the seer answers only in generalities while Don provides all the specifics in his questions, so Don challenges her to try it for herself. She asks the seer trick questions, and the answers are still accurate. Don wants the seer to tell him where they're going to live and asks the seer yes/no questions to narrow down the answer. Pat finally breaks down and tells Don that whether or not the seer can really tell the future doesn't matter, only Don's obsession with its predictions. She argues that it is better for him to make his own future than to be controlled by what the seer tells him. Recognizing the truth in what she says, Don apologizes and then announces directly to the mystic seer that they're leaving to go do what they please. After their exit, an older couple enters the diner. The couple is beleaguered and distraught. Approaching the mystic seer, the man asks questions about whether they will ever leave Ridgeview. The couple is deflated by the answers. While this is happening, Don and Pat leave Ridgeview. "The Prime Mover" is episode 57 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on March 24, 1961 on CBS. Small-time gambler Ace Larsen discovers that his partner, Jimbo Cobb, has telekinetic powers after a car overturns outside their café and Jimbo moves the car without touching it. The crash scene was the very same footage used in Thunder Road (1958), the climatic and deadly last scene where Robert Mitchum's character is killed while trying to elude the law. Ace plans to use Jimbo's powers to win big in Las Vegas, and he takes his girlfriend Kitty with them. Ace wins many jackpots, disregarding Jimbo's headaches from the use of his powers and his growing moral concerns over what they are doing. Kitty is repulsed and leaves, so Ace uses his newly acquired cash to lure the attention of the casino's cigarette girl and bets the pile in a game of craps, just as Jimbo's powers supposedly "run out". The loss awakens Ace to the reality of what he has become, and he and Jimbo have a good laugh over their misfortune. The three return home and, back at the café, Ace asks Kitty to marry him just as Jimbo drops his broom. She flips a coin, and Ace calls "heads". Kitty doesn't show Ace the coin or tell him the result of the coin toss; Kitty simply accepts his proposal. As they embrace, Jimbo picks up the broom telekinetically, implying he faked his loss of power to snap Ace out of his greed. "It's a Good Life" is episode 73 of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It is based on the 1953 short story "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby and is considered by some, such as Time and TV Guide, to be one of the best episodes of the series. It originally aired on November 3, 1961. Six-year-old Anthony Fremont has godlike mental powers, including mind-reading. He has isolated his town of Peaksville, Ohio from the rest of the universe. The people must thus grow their own food, and supplies of common household items, such as bar soap, have been dwindling. He has blocked television signals and caused cars not to work. He creates horrible creatures, such as three-headed gophers, which he then kills. He also turns the livestock into monsters, which he also kills. He also kills pets. Everybody is under his rule, even his parents. The people live in fear of him, constantly telling him how everything he does is "good," since he banishes anyone thinking unhappy thoughts to be buried in Peaksville's abandoned cornfield. Even the children are scared of him, after Anthony sent a boy and girl into the cornfield. Never having experienced any form of discipline, Anthony does not even understand that his actions are wrong, and is confused when his father tells him that the neighbors are reluctant to let their children play with him after he sent several of his playmates to the cornfield. One night each week, Anthony gives the townsfolk one hour of television, which he creates and projects onto the family TV set. The adults gather around in the Fremonts' living room, squirming uncomfortably as Anthony shows them a vision of screaming dinosaurs, engaged in a gory battle. Unable to voice their real feelings, they tell Anthony that it was far better than what used to be on TV. After the program is over, the adults celebrate Dan Hollis' birthday. He gets two presents from his wife: a bottle of brandy – which is one of only five bottles of whiskey left in the village – and a Perry Como record. Dan is eager to listen to the record, but he's reminded by everyone that Anthony does not like singing and he must listen to it at home. Getting drunk from the brandy, he starts complaining about the miserable state of the town, not listening to the record, and no one singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Anthony at first ignores him after telling him to be quiet. Dan eventually snaps with repressed rage surfacing and confronts the child, calling him a monster and a murderer. While Anthony's anger grows, Dan yells for someone to attack Anthony from behind and end his reign of terror. Aunt Amy (who isn't able to sing anymore because of Anthony) tentatively reaches for a fireplace poker, but no one has the courage to act. Declaring Dan to be "a very bad man," Anthony transforms Dan into a jack-in-the-box, causing his wife to break down. The adults are horrified at what Anthony has done, and his father asks him to wish it into the cornfield, which he does. Anthony causes snow to begin falling outside, because Aunt Amy complained about the day's heat earlier. The snow will kill off at least half the crops and the town will face starvation. Anthony's father starts to rebuke Anthony about this, but his wife and the other adults look on with worried smiles on their faces. The father then smiles and tells Anthony in a terrified voice, "...But it's good you're making it snow. A real good thing. And tomorrow... tomorrow's gonna be a... real good day!" "The Mind and the Matter" is episode 63 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on May 12, 1961 on CBS. Archibald Beechcroft has an insufferably crowded time getting to work, and becomes annoyed when errand boy Henry spills coffee all over his suit. Taking some aspirin in the washroom, his boss Mr. Rogers lectures him about a proper lifestyle to maintain his health. Aggravated, Beechcroft says he's fed up with the crowded conditions at the office and wants to eliminate all the people of the world. In the cafeteria for lunch, Henry apologizes to Beechcroft further for spilling the coffee, saving him a seat and presenting him with a book titled The Mind and the Matter, which deals with the ultimate in concentration, and Henry explains that his friend has learned how to make things happen with his mind. Beechcroft starts to leaf through the book in the cafeteria, continues to read it on the subway ride home, and finishes it over supper in his apartment. Agreeing with the authors that concentration is the greatest power in the universe, it occurs to him that he can use it to realize his dream of eliminating people. When his landlady knocks to collect his rent, he tests the theory, and successfully makes her disappear. The next day, Beechcroft uses his concentration to make his crowded subway station empty of people. He rides an empty subway car to the office, which is totally empty, with doors opening for him. Though he takes satisfaction in his newfound peace and quiet, he soon grows bored. Reflections of himself appear, taunting him as bored and lonely. He tries diversions such as an earthquake and electrical storm, but isn't entertained. He glumly rides the empty subway home, where he is again taunted by his reflection. Arguing with it, he gets the idea of repopulating the world with people like himself. He does so, and the next morning the crowds in the subway and elevator are back, but now everyone has his face and unpleasant, antisocial personality. Dismayed, he returns the world to the way it used to be. Henry again spills coffee on him, and asks about the book. Beechcroft pretends
