episode #150 - Stopover in a Quiet Town

Air Date: 4/24/64    written by Earl Hamner Jr.    Directed by Ron Winston
PLOT: a husband (Barry Nelson) and wife (Nancy Malone) wake up in a small town - but what kind of town is this..?      

We've all been there, haven't we?  A night on the town in the big city or at a party; we drive away... and wake up the next morning in some place with no memory of how we got there. Hasn't happened to you..? Well, give it time.. eventually, it might.

This is one of those stories you may be able to relate to on some level, combined with a flabbergasting mystery: there are no other people in this town and even the animals, like squirrels, are just stuffed representations. Everything is fake - the telephones, the fridge, the food, the trees, the grass..  so maybe it's just some Hollywood movie set..? But, if so, why can't they leave? There is a train... but it's a train that goes in a.. circle...
At one point, the wife theorizes that they're dead and this is hell. A leap maybe but as good a theory as any. Would that be a better place to be than what is eventually revealed? Depends on the person, I guess. To me, this is one of the most rewatchable episodes of TZ; I watch it again & again just to see the couple go through the odd adventure of finding out details about this eerie quiet town. BoG's Score: 8 out of 10

WARNING: at sites like Wikipedia, the ending is given away immediately, in the still. So, if you haven't seen this yet or don't remember the ending, avoid such sites until you watch it. In the end,

Spoiler:

Trivia From the Zone: from the book by Martin Grams Jr. - the original title was Strangers in Town; Barry Nelson was paid $3500 and Nancy Malone was paid $1500 plus round trip fare from NY to L.A.