"Static" is a homage to radio and comments on missed opportunities and second chances. Having to cope with damned videotape which limits what they can do within the fantasy realm so often crucial for Twilight Zone's power, those involved in the making of this episode also suffered from bad audio. When actor Dean Jagger would speak under his breath, lamenting angrily about the boob tube's commercials hawking products to those in his rooming house who were watching intently, you could barely hear what he was saying. I hated the efforts of those who put up the budget for forcing Rod Serling and company into using video because of monetary means; no matter how quality the writing, every episode suffers from the cheap look and sound of these episodes burdened by the process. Despite limitations, "Static" has a lot to say, about the downside to televisions, the yearning for years gone by, having to address mistakes in the past, and through the Twilight Zone, allowing characters to "go back and correct" errors in judgment that caused twenty years of lost love/happiness. An old curmudgeon, clinging to the past (one of the females in his rooming house he was to marry twenty years ago), sickens of those in the building's attachment to the television, finding an ancient relic of a radio still in decent shape in the basement. He begins to hear tunes and broadcasts from the radio (those singing are dead), but others in the same house never do. Ed Lindsay (Dean Jagger, expertly cast) tries to get others in the house, such as former flame, Vinnie (Carmen Mathews, showing the signs of aching fondness for a man who simply cannot return the favor) and friend, pipe-smoking, Professor Ackerman (Robert Emhardt) to hear the same things across the radio as he does, but the station which plays them went out of business some 14 or so years ago. So all of them in the rooming house believe he is imagining the broadcasts much to Ed's dismay. A change in behavior, a joy that has been missing, an extra skip in his step, and smile in his face, prompts those among him to question Ed's mental state. Vinnie believes his regret is the root cause of the broadcasts, concocted in Ed's mind, in a way forcing him to admit his failure in accepting love. In not marrying Vinnie, he has removed the happiness that could have been and no longer exists
his pining for yesteryear is given birth to the radio broadcasts and because this is the Twilight Zone, he might just get an opportunity to right the wrongs he caused. That was the beauty of this show, because the Twilight Zone didn't have to become rooted in complete realism, there were no limits on where characters could go and what they could overcome. "Static" is such an example. Not creepy or dark, this episode is more in relation to "Walking Distance" where you can go back in time and perhaps Ed has a chance to change things in his life for the better. The past has a way of opening doors once closed.
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