It's a Good Life Review

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

The 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone, “It’s a Good Life,” is Billy Mumy’s second and most famous appearance on this classic series. It is one of the most familiar episodes of the entire series, introducing “it’s good, it’s real good” and “to the cornfield” as widely recognized expressions. Variations of “it’s real good” are often used by Mumy himself.

As Anthony Fremont, Billy really brings it here as a truly evil being who doesn’t realize he’s evil, and no one better tell him...or else. Anthony has used paranormal powers to isolate the town of Peaksville, Ohio from the rest of the world, and everyone in it better think real good thoughts all the time or risk being set on fire or turned into something awful, and ultimately have their mangled remains banished to the cornfield.

The episode is based on a short story by Jerome Bixby, who was troubled that the TV version replaced the three-year-old of the story with a six-year-old who could perhaps be reasoned with...but who would dare try? It’s likely that Anthony would have continued being evil well past the toddler stage. I had actually read the story years before seeing the episode and immediately recognized it when I caught it in a rerun, as the episode is true to the story. Billy is perfect in this role and no child of his age could have possibly done better.

Besides entering some expressions into the general vernacular, “It’s a Good Life” is notable in being probably the only episode of The Twilight Zone to have a sequel. “It’s Still a Good Life” aired on The Twilight Zone revival series in 2003 with Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprising their roles.

I had seen all of The Twilight Zone before, but watching all three of Billy’s episodes back to back, I noticed something worth mentioning in all three reviews. In Billy’s first and third episodes, the high dramatic point is the actor playing his father delivering an impassioned plea that his son’s life be spared. Philip Abbott does wonderfully in “Long Distance Call” as does Jack Klugman with “In Praise of Pip.” In the middle episode of the three, “It’s a Good Life,” the high dramatic point is a man pleading with the actor playing Billy’s father to end his son’s life. Just an interesting little observation...in The Twilight Zone.