John McGiver in the Twilight Zone

FULTON — Some of us may remember the Memorial Day weekend Twilight Zone marathons that aired on television years ago. If you tuned in at any given moment, you may have caught Schoharie County's prolific character actor, John McGiver, in an episode of the classic anthology series. McGiver starred in two episodes of Rod Serling's beloved television show, which ran from 1959 to 1964. His first appearance on the series was in the season four finale on May 23, 1963, in "The Bard." 

"The Bard" has perhaps been unfairly regarded as one of the show's weakest, with several publications ranking it as the second-worst in the series. Conversely, some have praised the episode, with David Chase of The Sopranos citing it as one of his favorites. I won't claim to have seen every episode of The Twilight Zone, but I have certainly watched my fair share, and I have seen far goofier and less interesting episodes than the season four finale. The premise of the polarizing "The Bard" is this (insert Rod Serling's voice): "Julius Moomer, a talentless, but relentless, self-promoting hack who dreams of becoming a successful television writer, uses a book of magic to summon William Shakespeare to write dramatic teleplays that Moomer will pass off as his own." Jack Weston plays the sweaty, arrogant, delusional, and intolerable Moomer, a former streetcar worker desperate for success as a television writer. Moomer's passion for actually doing the work involved with writing equals his talent, which is none. The adulation, wealth, and spotlight are more important to him than crafting a good story. One can assume Serling met more than his share of such characters during his career.

Against his better instincts, Moomer's exasperated agent (played by veteran television actor Henry Lascoe) gives him one last shot, a crack at a pilot about black magic. After a very Twilight Zone series of events, Moomer accidentally summons William Shakespeare. Moomer puts "The Bard" to work and quickly begins to shamelessly reap the benefits of his newly conjured ghostwriter, playing like a foreshadowing of AI-assisted writing. James Madox of GameRant listed "The Bard" as one of five Twilight Zone episodes that "predicted the future." "Moomer's summoning of Shakespeare…can be seen as an occult forerunner to AI-assisted writing tools like ChatGPT," writes Maddix. "Both methods involve synthesizing existing art into new works rather than relying on an original authorial voice…" Just as AI appeals to crass hacks obsessed with fame and fortune, so doth Shakespeare appeal to one Julious Moomer. We have never been good at heeding sci-fi's warnings.

Serling, who wrote the episode, ultimately uses the premise to satirize the crude commercialism of network television. While the studio heads were impressed with Moomer's Shakespeare-generated script, once on set, some changes were made. Moomer, naturally, is happy to oblige the studio execs' script alterations; however, "The Bard" himself shows up on-set and is aghast at what he sees. The changes made were not artistic decisions; they were dictated by the show's sponsor, the cranky soup magnate, "Mr. Shannon," played by John McGiver. We also learn that it was Shannon's wife's whims that led to many of the alterations. Essentially, Shannon's primary concerns are how to make the show a proper commercial for his products while appeasing his wife's sensibilities. This becomes too much for Shakespeare, whom Moomer introduces as his eccentric cousin. The scene stealer in all of this zaniness is none other than Burt Reynolds, doing an uncanny, hardly veiled Marlon Brando impersonation as self-important actor Rocky Rhodes (Rhodes starred in Streetcar Named Desire and is concerned with "tertiary motivation"). Rhodes takes Shakespeare for an unsophisticated rube, and the two get into a fight, leading to the legendary playwright, disgusted and frustrated by the commercialization of modern storytelling, bidding the cloying Moomer farewell.

There's a further twist to conclude the episode that I will leave for discovery, but I will add that it isn't Moomer that receives the classic Twilight Zone comeuppance, but the television industry, perhaps shedding some light on Serling's feelings about the gatekeepers of his profession. The Twilight Zone was canceled the following year, but according to Serling, he had "canceled the network." John McGiver would appear once more in the series, just before the finale, as the lead in the "Sounds and Silences" episode. All episodes of The Twilight Zone are available for free with ads on Tubi.