Episode 46: Many, Many Monkeys / Love is Blind

Hello there. I'm Chris Dash, I'm Mike White, and this is Father Maloone and we are the host of Dreams for Sale once a month look at the Twilight Zone nineteen eighty five television series. Yes, definitely, yeah, Yeah, that's what we do. Yeah, that's what we do it. We do it a lot.

We've been doing this for a few years now, thank god, haven't we of course, Wow, we're all on dead now, that's right of Perseus, of covid strain. Perseus has killed all of the ladies and gentlemen. No, we're not a strain. We're talking about the monkey strain. God, we're gonna be talking about two episodes of the show.

On the next episode, we're talking about three. So that's how we're breaking up the five. So if you're wondering why we're just talking about two here, that's why we're talking about Many Many Monkeys and Love is Blind. A city hospital, eight pm. An unexpected visitor has just arrived, bearing unwelcome tidings, a disease so new the textbooks haven't recorded it.

This then, is its first case history documented from the medical files of the Twilight Zone. Many Many Monkeys aired. It's like really hard to say that many many monkeys, not many. That's funny, Chris, I was going to say that you seem to really enjoy saying many many. Yeah, yeah, a lot, many many monkeys monkeys.

It sounds more like I'm saying many many monkeys like smallness, many many monkeys. Aired March eighteenth, nineteen eighty nine. It is once again directed by our good friends mister Riizard Boujaski. And that's not how you pronounce his name. It only works once for the It's a W written by Bill Frog and it stars Karen Valentine Bill because they're on first name basis.

It's all my old buddy Bill Bill. Those people call him William, I call him. I call him Billy Billy, Billy Billy boy. It Carrie Valentine, al right, fine. It stars Karen Valentine and Jackie Burrows and Ken Poke and it's a yeah, what is it about?

Well, what is it about? Isn't it about give us the give us the brass head? Yeah? Sure, So it's many many monkeys. People start going blind, there's a there's an epidemic episode cataracts on their never could never could happen.

Yes, yeah, all the brand new glass contact lenses that are that are pure white. They have a ride studio. No, I think it was digital. Actually, sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not. When Karen Valentine gets it, she's not wearing any contacts.

This is true. Why would she don't know? Super ultra qe Karen Valentine, we just talked about her on the North Avenue Irregulars episode of My show, and my goodness, she's well preserved in this. This is a few years later and she's looking great. She reminds me of Deborah von Valkenburg.

I can see that. Yeah, I don't get this whole thing. There's a pandemic, epidemic of people going blind. But they're trying to say it has something to do with the see no evil speak, no evil here, no evil thing. So why aren't people not able to speak or here here?

Seems like that would have gone on that triumorate I believe. Yeah, of the trip tick, you can only pick one. Oh, so everybody's just going blind. Either you pick the Mother, Mary, Jesus or God. One of the three.

You don't get all three, they get one. It's it's lazy. That's why I don't know, Because if you have the characters not being able to say anything. This show would completely shut down because dialogue is clearly it's strong suit at this point, and without that, what would they do? Yeah?

Boy, did I did? I love these subtexts dialogue sequence where she talks about her husband and growing apart, and we've all grown apart and that's what we're being punished, And that's what this is. That's what the story is about. Folks, you would listen to me. I don't understand how this was too upsetting to be on the original Twilight Zone, Like, really, I can't see that too grotesque?

What a grotesquery? Like I don't I don't understand either, because, for best I can tell, this story does nothing with what it's given and goes nowhere and ultimately has nothing to say at least not even substanti like what's going on in the world, like globally, what's happening? Like these characters aren't all that interesting like that What I was just decrying was a like last minute ditch effort in order to like inject some character into this thing, because there was none. His characters doing things, but they want nothing was sort of impactful, like there was no mystery necessarily. I mean they were, like, you know, trying to find out what was happening, but it wasn't that big a deal, Like I don't know it was.

It's what's like you mentioned, Mike, they don't ever mentioned they mentioned the outside world a little bit. But like what this seems like is that the steamed Hams bit from The Simpsons where it's like stone eye sickness in Los Angeles localized entirely inside this hospital, like it there there's no stakes, none, zero, Give me some news reports, pandemic something, Yeah, exactly, it's just this LA hospital where all these like rich old bastards are getting their wise turned over season two, the end of season two of Millennium. That that's how you scare people with a pandemic in twenty two minutes, twenty three minutes, like it easily could have been done here, Like I don't know what angle they were sort of coming at other than And this is my problem with all sort of speculative fiction like fantasy and sci fi and everything, like or the worst parts of it are someone has a good idea and then has no story or plot to back that idea up, and like this, I guess the ideas that we were all sort of blind to each other as humans, so we're being struck blind and it makes you even meaner, like I get it, but like and then one you know, like it doesn't it doesn't make any sense, like you know, like Hart whoa sorry, Harlan Ellison's got one, folks, Sorry, folks, we're zooming.

Literally, Harlan Elsons got the story about urban dread called Bleeding Stones, where you know, all the chemical and all the bitterness and all the angriness like you know, sort of has finally like you know, coalesced and like brings gargoyles to life on a fucking slime. It's a slime. It starts killing everybody. But no, like there's are you talking about? But it is what like you said, Chris, like there's absolutely zero states to any of this happening.

It's just like a comment like okay, great, like yeah, people suck. Good you know who else sucks? People who waste my time on television programs while they're burning out to the fucking one hundred episodes to get the syndication. Well, I mean that is that is the thing with this episode is it doesn't have anything to say and what's really sad is Bill frog Frog, the character from Dark Star. That's where Dan O'Bannon got the name.

Um, he's he's Dan O'Bannon's teacher. And look what Dan O'Bannon writes. And I would assume that the source material was much better. I don't know, that's a thing, Like it's like you said, it's too grotesque, but what is Human beings are terrible, Like yeah, in the sixties, I know that, right, Like anything gory or gross happens, nothing happens. Yeah, yeah, it just feels people sometimes have normalized and then they have white eyes and then they're angry.

Some people are not angry when they're blind. They're perfectly nice and they come to console you. Who knows. I don't don't get it. This is this is very indicative of the late stage Twilight Zone eighty five remake, the New Twilight Zone.

Yeah, there's no characters really Like I really wanted to latch on to the Karen Valentine character. I'm wanted to know more about Missus Reed or maybe have doctor freedmen be somebody, but they're just they're nothing. They're absolutely nothing. And like the Karen Valentine's character. I thought she should have started off nice and then turned mean, but she just seemed something all the way through and I didn't get it.

I didn't get it where they were trying to do. I feel like maybe the script and I would have liked to have read the original script for this. Yeah, I just can't see this. Um. I don't think it would have passed muster in the original Twilight Zone.

I don't consider it too grotesque. I think they would have been like, yeah, yeah, Bill, that's real good. Thanks, it's too grotesque because it wasn't very good. Okay, I don't know the history. This was written for the original Twilight Zone.

Rod Serling Twilight Zone, Yeah, yeah, okay, all right, Yeah, well I could see for the final season in sixty four, so it might have been psyche anyway. Yeah, well I could see it at the time then looking at just what we got him being like, this is too disturb It is, truly, I am disturbed by this, but not for sixty four. Yeah, well, twenty three years later. Yeah, I don't know. Thank god we didn't get it at Night Gallery.

O. What I really want I got to talk about more blind people. Please? Could we justified with one blind person or many blind people. I need to see yet another blind person tonight could get another blind Canadian.

Yes, Chris began, boy see' let's talk about the next episode, Love is Blind. The man behind the wheel is Jack Haynes, a long haul trucker. On any other night, he'd be on the lookout for a good time. But that's changed. A lot has changed for Jack because of one overheard telephone conversation.

He learned that tonight his wife is meeting another man here at the Mustang Bar, his name unknown. The only thing Jack Haynes knows for certain is it tonight There's going to be murder at the Mustang, a little place ten miles from town, deep in the heart of the Twilight Zone. Love is Blind. That's a good one. That's a deem good.

Yeah. This episode is directed by Gilbert M. Shilton, written by Cal Willingham, and it stars Ben Murphy and Sneezy Waters. That's the blind singer. And what is this episode?

Well, a man is going to find his wife who's cheating on him. Possibly maybe he has bad information, as they tend to in these stories, and there just happens to be a blind jazz singer, blues guitarist playing the blues, playing the blues of love, and all of a sudden, the song. It's like that Dave Chappelle's skit where Tupac's supposed to be dead and Tupac starts talking about stuff that's happening in the in the skit, this guy's doing the same thing. He's like playing his guitar. He's like and looking to my left, there's a guy drinking a beer.

WHOA, what the fuck? The main character ends up realizing that the blind guy is singing a song about him. Oh, hilarity ensues. Each one felt more like the twenty nineteen version of twilight Zone. And obviously that's not a compliment.

Oh wait, it is it. I don't understand twenty nineteen wouldn't ave use the magical disabled person though that's true. That's true. He has a name. It's Sneezy.

Watch Sneezy. Jesus Christ, don't say it again. Peter Hodgson. Yeah, it's a strange episode because this feels like somehow, this feels like Twilight Zone, even more watered down to than normal. Like, oh, but I was talking to father Malone last night when we when I watched this at two in the morning.

I was like, oh, boy, Tales from the Crypt did this better. There is an episode of Tales from the Crypt that is eerily similar to the moment in this episode where his wife steps out in front and he shoots her, and it's like, oh, he's going to jail, and you didn't learn your lesson in YadA yadaya and it was all a big mistake. There's a Twilight Chilson the Crypt episode that does the exact same thing and actually just ends there where it's like, and it turns out that we were trying to get you an anniversary gift. In Tales from the Crypt, it he kills his wife and she's fucking pregnant. She was planning a pregnancy thing, and it's like, awful, it's hor it's so wonderful.

And this episode, yeah, it was I think our second favorite episode of the entire show. No, it's actually it's actually my favorite favorite. Yeah yeah, over man, it was death Yeah yeah, but this episode has that same like moment and then it decides to completely back out of it. I agree. I thought the same thing all I was watching it, like, here's the like, the exact same plot of of of a similarly themed anthology series that you and I have talked about, and that one did like literally everything right, the Tales from the Crypt one, and this one does literally everything wrong.

It is it is the most state. This is a radio drama, is what it feels like. There's nothing sort of cinematic or visual going on here. It's the three people in a fucking room and it's this guy who like like, okay, listen, I'm not I'm really not the guy who needs things explained when it comes to sort of genre entertainment. But what the fuck was going on here?

I mean that guy was a ghost maybe and he showed up to hear fucking like like warn this guy, like is he from the future or the past? Like is he a ghost or an angel or a devil? Like, yes, just showed up here a couple hours ago. And he really takes that open mock not the heart. He's been playing for hours somewhere God.

And apparently he's on tour like turl turl Yeah, yeah, he's the nose blowing tour with Snazy Walters. Yeah, blow the house. Now. There was there was there was like a series of books in the sixties. It was about a I forget the fucking name of it now, but it was like a like a guitar playing guy who like he goes from town to town like like a series of novels.

He would go to town to town like solving like the incredible whole kind of like, you know, just solving a little root sixty six type thing kind of thing. Yeah, but it was always sort of supernatural ten And that's what this thing like sort of felt like it was. It was yurning towards this particular episode. Well, it feels like it felt like a failed pot, like a like a backdoor pilot for a series, like you know that at the end, that's what it felt like to me, Like and now they're on the road together, like, you know, just like take me to the next town. We're going to the next open mic, not now, right exactly.

My friend seems weird, but but I'm telling you he's on the level. Yeah, let him sing a song about you. It'll be amazing. Watch just watch what he does. Sounds like thunder and like a lot of witty banter between them, right, because there was a bunch of witty banter in this episode.

Oh yeah, Yeah, the wittiest. Well, that's the other thing about this episode. It it somehow feels like a watered down Twilight Zone episode in and of itself, like what's the message here? What is the point? Right?

And to by the Malone's point, there's no bite to it. You know. It could be that sticking the knife between your ribs and twisting, but instead it's like, oh no, you avoided that whole situation. Friend, It's like, yeah, it's times for real boy right, yeah? Yeah?

And are they going to the next town or is he just going to drive him straight to hell? I mean yeah, like, yeah, you might have gotten away with it, but you had murdering your heart in your heart you oh there it is Oh god, wow, cowboy man. All right and if you know what that's from, good for you. At this point this show is completely devoid of anything that makes it the Twilight Zone. And it's just it feels like if someone showed this to me without the bumpers and was like, what is like what is this?

Is this? Like what anthology is this? I would be like, I don't know, fucking you know, science fiction power Hour down at the local fucking you know, public access studio, Like I don't know. Not the Twilight Zone. Definitely not the Twilight Zone.

I mean maybe maybe sixties Twilight Zone if Rod was like running on ideas, you know, like he had to had to have like another seven hundred scripts written. Maybe, but um, this one is like provocatively poor, like really bad. I did not like it. I think you do credit where credit is due, and I really did like Sneezy's singing. And I read that he actually portrayed Hank Williams.

I think it was both junior and senior. Definitely, I could see him doing one hell I think it's just senior. I could see him doing one hell of a senior because he could channel that. It sounded very Hank william senior to me. Honestly, the worst part about this episode is that this musician is in it, and it's a waste of his time because he's clearly not bad.

Frankly, neither is bad Murphy that not given much to do, unfortunately, that's I mean, that's kind of the issue now is I think we keep reiterating like nobody has given anything to do? Isn't that fun? No stakes, everybody zero? Hey, here's a whole lot of plot and no story. At all, and then they backed and then they backed out of it right at the end.

Just this whole thing was a dream. The last fifteen minutes was a dream. Skip it. Skip it so hard. It's unfortunate but not surprising.

Skip this blind episode. Turn a blind eye to it if you will, double blindness. Is there anything else we want to talk about? Episode? I want to talk about so on our next and final episode of Dreams for Sale, an idea started many moons ago, We're gonna be talking about three episodes, Crazy as a Soup, Sandwich, Special Service, and Father and Son Game and wouldn't you wouldn't you guess?

At Father Malone. We're gonna get to close out the show with a Harlan Ellison episode like Poetry at Rhymes, thank God, damn right? And a J. Michael's Razinski episode, Oh thank God? All right?

Yay? So until then, Where can people find you? Mike Waite? You can find me over at the Projection Booth podcast, which is available at Projection Booth podcast dot com. What you Father Malone?

Where can people find you? If they were looking? If they're looking, check out father Malone dot com that has links to all of the crazy shit I do, but primarily Dark Destinations my podcast. It's a half hour radio drama that I write and produce about once a month. He produces at folks I do.

We don't produce this. This is just us talking with some music. Blade over it. Give the man a listen, would you? It's good stuff.

Yeah, man, you know how long it takes me to find the right spooky laugh? A long time, A long time man. Someone can listen to that spooky laugh. Man's busting his ass. Give me a flavor, Give me a flavor.

You've never heard that spooky laugh, that's true, but you will if you go to dot com. You're gonna that's gonna happen. Another plug. Come on, yeah, father Malone dot com? Did you say?

Yeah? What do you think I said? I didn't hear what you said. I said. If you want to hear it, go to father Malone dot com.

Score I got another one. Look at that son of a bitch. He did it again. Yes, for mec statue dot com, cstac hiw dot com. That's my link tree, all the things I work on.

Been plugging it for like a year now, so that's where it is. Go there and yeah, make sure to join us for the final episode of our trip into the Twilight zon