TVSquad

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.

Friday marked the 50th Anniversary of The Twilight Zone's debut on CBS. The first episode was titled "Where Is Everybody?" and featured Earl Holliman as a military man trapped in a town where it seems everyone has vanished. You find out at the end that it was all an experiment to see how astronauts would handle being alone on long missions. Holliman was really safe.

It's time for another TV list! Everybody loves lists, right? This one has AOL picking the best TV shows of the 1960s.

As usual, it's a list that will get the debate going. Shows that without a doubt deserve to be on the list: The Twilight Zone, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Star Trek, The Andy Griffith Show, I Spy, and Bewitched.

Shows that without a doubt don't belong on the list: The Flying Nun, Hogan's Heroes, and The Mod Squad. Sure, I enjoyed those shows when I was younger, but I really don't think they belong in the "best" category (I'll let you debate another show on the list, Batman - great or just "campy" great?)

Stamp collecting is something I just never got into (don't worry, I have plenty of other obsessions), but this might be the first time I actually go to my local post office and get a sheet.

Yesterday, 20 new classic TV stamps were unveiled: I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Honeymooners, Texaco Star Theater, Perry Mason, The Lone Ranger, Burns and Allen, Ozzie and Harriet, Hopalong Cassidy, Lassie, Dragnet, You Bet Your Life, The Dinah Shore Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Phil Silvers Show, Howdy Doody, The Red Skelton Show, and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie,

• Discovery's Deadliest Catch marathon continues all night.
• USA's James Bond movie marathon continues.
• Sci-Fi's Twilight Zone continues all weekend.
• Military Channel has a marathon of The Revolutionary War.
• At 7, ESPN Classic has the 2009 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
• At 8, NBC has a new Kings, then Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular.
• PBS has A Capitol Fourth at 8.
• Cartoon Network has a new BrainRush at 8, followed by a new Destroy Build Destroy.
• At 9, CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show.
• At 10, ABC has a new Eli Stone.
  
• CBS has the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular at 10.
  
• At 10:15, TCM has 1776.
• At 12:30AM, Cartoon Network has a new Bleach.

Check your local TV listings for more.

I'm not a big Fourth of July person. You'll pretty much see me in front of the television as much as you'll see me in front of the television on July 3. I'm not a big cookout/parades/fireworks/beach type of guy.

Are you that way too? There are some marathons on TV tomorrow that you might like. A sampling:

• Sci-Fi will continue their Twilight Zone marathon.
• TCM has Fourth of July/historical movies all day long.
• USA will have James Bond movies all day long starting at 9AM.
• Discovery has a Deadliest Catch marathon at 9AM.
• TV Land will have a Leave It To Beaver marathon starting at 11AM.
• At noon, HGTV has a marathon of HGTV's $250,000 Challenge.

• Sci-Fi has more of their Twilight Zone marathon all night.
• Animal Planet has a Whale Wars marathon all night.
• At 8, NBC has a new Chopping Block, then a new, two-hour Dateline.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader at 8, followed by a new Mental.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, then new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• ESPN has the Winn Dixie 250 race at 8.
• ESPN2 has The Complete Wimbledon at 8.
• The N has a new Degrassi: The Next Generation.
• Also at 8: BBC America has a new Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.
• At 8:30, ABC has a new episode of The Goode Family.
• At 9, Travel Channel has two new episodes of Ghost Adventures.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

• USA has a Burn Notice marathon all night (but no new episode).
• Sci-Fi has a Twilight Zone marathon all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Samantha Who?, followed by a new In The Motherhood.
• TCM has The Wizard of Oz at 8.
• G4 has a new X-Play at 8.
• At 9, FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• Larry King Live broadcasts from inside Neverland Ranch on CNN at 9.
• Spike has a new TNA Impact at 9.
• At 10, NBC has a new episode of The Listener.
• Showtime has a new Penn & Teller: Bullshit at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Question: Is The Sopranos the best drama in the history of television, or is it one of the best dramas in the history of television that often gets the top spot because it's fairly recent?

That's one of the questions to ponder as you read AOL's Top 50 Dramas Of All-Time list. The Sopranos comes in at number one.

It's not a bad list, actually. When you narrow down a TV show to a specific genre and go all the way up to 50, most of the shows we would all pick will show up on the list: The X-Files, Deadwood, The Rockford Files, Mad Men, St. Elsewhere, Columbo, The Wire. Those are all classic dramas (and good ones) that you would expect to see.

One thing I didn't expect to see? Friday Night Lights in the number 10 spot, ahead of all the shows I just mentioned above.

Here's what's on TV tomorrow. Lots of marathons, movies, and bowl games.

• Sci-Fi's Twilight Zone marathon continues from last night.
• AMC is showing classic westerns all day.
• Cartoon Network has Looney Tunes all day.
• Hallmark has Christmas movies all day.
• At 6am, USA has a Monk marathon.
• At 7, NBC's Today, ABC's Good Morning, America, and CBS' The Early Show will all have New Year's tips, predictions, advice, and recipes.
• At 8, TNT has a Bones marathon.
• History Channel has Ice Road Truckers episodes all day starting at 8.

These have been submitted, and they have my approval.

Publishing company Walker & Co. is getting together with the estate of Rod Serling and the Savannah College of Art & Design to produce several graphic novels that will be based on the scripts of the original Twilight Zone series. The books (there will be eight in all, and perhaps more to come if these are received well) are to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Twilight Zone episode, which will be next year. The first two episodes they're doing are "Walking Distance" and "The After Hours."

I got a great letter this week from a TV fan named Jim R.

"Dear TV Squad, About 15 years ago, I watched an episode of a scifi/fantasy TV show wherein an Elvis impersonator traveled back in time to meet (and eventually kill) the real Elvis. Could you please tell me the name of this program? Thanks"

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• John Phillip Law: He was a veteran actor best known for such films as Barbarella, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Cassandra Crossing, Tarzan The Ape Man, and Hurry Sundown. He appeared in many TV shows over the years, including The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, It's A Living, and The Young and the Restless. He died in Los Angeles at age 70.

(S04E14) Out of all the dreams Allison has awakened from this season, tonight gets my vote for "Most Likely to Make You Jump Out of Bed and Scare the Crap Out of Your Sleeping Husband."

One thing you have to get used to if you are fan of Medium, is the ever present scene where somebody doesn't understand how Allison knows what she knows. Even though Joe, Davalos, Scanlon and most of her friends are well aware why Allison acts so strange, there are still plenty of people who are baffled by her behavior and, as a matter of course, have to react with disbelief and/or confusion. It gets old but it's a necessary evil. The most genuine of these reactions, however, come from the Dubois children.

(S01E10) The title of this episode was called "Heartbeat" because Eli's case involved a heart transplant -- two actually -- but "Reflections" might have been more appropo. Eli awakened in Nate's body and continued to find himself reliving his brother's life ten years before. And not on just any day, but the day that their dad died.

Overall, this was a particularly interesting episode because it seemed to lay the groundwork for where Eli Stone is going. Since it's likely that the show is going to be renewed -- deservedly so -- the prospect of Eli getting that surgery which may correct the aneurysm that's causing his visions, may not be happening after all.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Boyd Coddington: He was a custom car designer and star of TLC's American Hot Rod. A former machinist at Disneyland, he opened up Boyd's Wheels in 1988 and won several awards for his car designs. He died of complications from surgery at age 63 in Whittier, CA.