A World of Difference

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For the book by Harry Turtledove see A World of Difference (Harry Turtledove).

The Twilight Zone original series Season one (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5) Fall 1959 – Summer 1960 List of The Twilight Zone episodes
Episodes: Where Is Everybody? One for the Angels Mr. Denton on Doomsday The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine Walking Distance Escape Clause The Lonely Time Enough at Last Perchance to Dream Judgment Night And When the Sky Was Opened What You Need The Four of Us Are Dying Third from the Sun I Shot an Arrow Into the Air The Hitch-Hiker The Fever The Last Flight The Purple Testament Elegy Mirror Image The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street A World of Difference Long Live Walter Jameson People Are Alike All Over Execution The Big Tall Wish A Nice Place to Visit Nightmare as a Child A Stop at Willoughby The Chaser A Passage for Trumpet Mr. Bevis The After Hours The Mighty Casey A World of His Own

“A World of Difference” is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

[edit] Details

Episode number: 23
Season: 1
Production code: 173-3624
Original air date: March 11, 1960
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Ted Post
Producer: Buck Houghton
Music: Van Cleave

[edit] Cast

Howard Duff: Arthur Curtis/Jerry Raigan
Eileen Ryan: Nora Raigan
David White: Brinkley
Gail Kobe: Sally
Peter Walker: Sam
Susan Dorn: Marian Curtis
Frank Maxwell: Marty
Bill Idelson: the Stagehand.

[edit] Plot summary

Arthur Curtis is a businessman. One day, he finds his phone no longer works, and is suddenly faced with the fact that his office was actually a set on a soundstage. He is told that "Arthur Curtis" is merely a role he was playing, and that his real name is Jerry Raigan, a declining movie star. He tries to find Arthur Curtis's house, but cannot find it; Raigan's agent tells him that the show with Arthur Curtis in it is being canceled. Raigan/Curtis rushes back to the set, and demands not to be left in the uncaring world of Raigan's. Raigan's agent shows up to find Curtis/Raigan to have vanished.

[edit] Trivia

The Eerie, Indiana episode, "Reality Takes a Holiday", follows a similar premise where the main character, Marshall Teller, discovers his world to be a Hollywood studio for a TV show called "Eeree, Indiana", and where everyone else he knows is a character played by TV actors (who, in turn, refer to him by the name of his actor); much of his time is spent trying to return to the town of Eerie that he knows.

This episode was parodied on Saturday Night Live, with the cast of the original Star Trek forced to confront their show's cancellation.

The Truman Show also had a very similar presence. The lead character's life is pre-determined to be a 24 hour TV show.