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Post by mikef6 on Mar 8, 2017 15:31:50 GMT
One Step Beyond: First Season (a.k.a. Alcoa Presents One Step Beyond). Ask anyone of a certain age about watching the paranormal suspense TV series “One Step Beyond” as a young person and you will hear story after story of being chilled and creeped half to death. Yet, this show seems to have been almost totally eclipsed by the legendary status of a similar show, almost its exact contemporary, “The Twilight Zone.” Both shows had stories that were vaguely science fiction-fantasy-supernatural suspense and both had highly memorable hosts who introduced and closed each story. One Step Beyond premiered on January 20, 1959; The Twilight Zone about 8 months later on October 2. They both ran for three seasons. (TTZ was brought back a year after cancelation as a one-hour program, but OSB had ended production.)
OSB was hosted by John Newland who would open each show by giving a hint of the setting and a disclaimer that, even though the story is true, what you are going to see cannot be explained: “What you are about to see is a matter of human record. Explain it: we cannot. Disprove it: we cannot. We simply invite you to explore with us the amazing world of the Unknown ... to take that… One Step Beyond.” At the end, he would say something like, “We know what happened. We know to whom it happened. How it happened…” He would stare silently at the camera for three seconds then smile a creepy smile.
A line of familiar and soon-to-be familiar faces go by in a parade. Acting was generally at a pretty high level for series TV at the time. The only exception is that at least one character per week has to have hysterics. Most of the time, this part fell into the “tearing a passion to tatters” category. One exception is the premier episode and Virginia Leith who as a young bride possessed by a murder victim does quite a credible job. You may remember Leith as the severed head in the lab pan in the cult “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.” Skip Homeier is her bewildered hubby and Harry Townes as an ex-boyfriend of the dead woman. A pre-Oscar Cloris Leachman appears in Episode 4. Episode 6 is one I still remember vividly from its first broadcast. It stars Charles Aidman and Julie Adams and involves a child trapped in a mine cave-in. Episode 7 stars Reginald Owen in a touching story of the WWII home front.
Any memories/nightmares about this almost forgotten (but shouldn't be) series?
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Post by marianne48 on Mar 10, 2017 2:17:38 GMT
"The Clown" episode helped foster my lifelong aversion to clowns.
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Post by geode on Mar 10, 2017 3:23:43 GMT
One Step Beyond: First Season (a.k.a. Alcoa Presents One Step Beyond). Ask anyone of a certain age about watching the paranormal suspense TV series “One Step Beyond” as a young person and you will hear story after story of being chilled and creeped half to death. Yet, this show seems to have been almost totally eclipsed by the legendary status of a similar show, almost its exact contemporary, “The Twilight Zone.” Both shows had stories that were vaguely science fiction-fantasy-supernatural suspense and both had highly memorable hosts who introduced and closed each story. One Step Beyond premiered on January 20, 1959; The Twilight Zone about 8 months later on October 2. They both ran for three seasons. (TTZ was brought back a year after cancelation as a one-hour program, but OSB had ended production.) OSB was hosted by John Newland who would open each show by giving a hint of the setting and a disclaimer that, even though the story is true, what you are going to see cannot be explained: “What you are about to see is a matter of human record. Explain it: we cannot. Disprove it: we cannot. We simply invite you to explore with us the amazing world of the Unknown ... to take that… One Step Beyond.” At the end, he would say something like, “We know what happened. We know to whom it happened. How it happened…” He would stare silently at the camera for three seconds then smile a creepy smile. A line of familiar and soon-to-be familiar faces go by in a parade. Acting was generally at a pretty high level for series TV at the time. The only exception is that at least one character per week has to have hysterics. Most of the time, this part fell into the “tearing a passion to tatters” category. One exception is the premier episode and Virginia Leith who as a young bride possessed by a murder victim does quite a credible job. You may remember Leith as the severed head in the lab pan in the cult “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.” Skip Homeier is her bewildered hubby and Harry Townes as an ex-boyfriend of the dead woman. A pre-Oscar Cloris Leachman appears in Episode 4. Episode 6 is one I still remember vividly from its first broadcast. It stars Charles Aidman and Julie Adams and involves a child trapped in a mine cave-in. Episode 7 stars Reginald Owen in a touching story of the WWII home front. Any memories/nightmares about this almost forgotten (but shouldn't be) series? I watched it when it was first telecast and still regard it highly. Quite a few memories have already been shared in a current thread on the Cult TV board.
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Jun 12, 2017 9:56:05 GMT
One Step Beyond: First Season (a.k.a. Alcoa Presents One Step Beyond). Ask anyone of a certain age about watching the paranormal suspense TV series “One Step Beyond” as a young person and you will hear story after story of being chilled and creeped half to death. Yet, this show seems to have been almost totally eclipsed by the legendary status of a similar show, almost its exact contemporary, “The Twilight Zone.” Both shows had stories that were vaguely science fiction-fantasy-supernatural suspense and both had highly memorable hosts who introduced and closed each story. One Step Beyond premiered on January 20, 1959; The Twilight Zone about 8 months later on October 2. They both ran for three seasons. (TTZ was brought back a year after cancelation as a one-hour program, but OSB had ended production.) OSB was hosted by John Newland who would open each show by giving a hint of the setting and a disclaimer that, even though the story is true, what you are going to see cannot be explained: “What you are about to see is a matter of human record. Explain it: we cannot. Disprove it: we cannot. We simply invite you to explore with us the amazing world of the Unknown ... to take that… One Step Beyond.” At the end, he would say something like, “We know what happened. We know to whom it happened. How it happened…” He would stare silently at the camera for three seconds then smile a creepy smile. A line of familiar and soon-to-be familiar faces go by in a parade. Acting was generally at a pretty high level for series TV at the time. The only exception is that at least one character per week has to have hysterics. Most of the time, this part fell into the “tearing a passion to tatters” category. One exception is the premier episode and Virginia Leith who as a young bride possessed by a murder victim does quite a credible job. You may remember Leith as the severed head in the lab pan in the cult “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.” Skip Homeier is her bewildered hubby and Harry Townes as an ex-boyfriend of the dead woman. A pre-Oscar Cloris Leachman appears in Episode 4. Episode 6 is one I still remember vividly from its first broadcast. It stars Charles Aidman and Julie Adams and involves a child trapped in a mine cave-in. Episode 7 stars Reginald Owen in a touching story of the WWII home front. Any memories/nightmares about this almost forgotten (but shouldn't be) series? Several years ago MeTV or This (both Chicago stations; perhaps even owned by the same company or person) aired this. I LOVED it. Some of the episodes I remember are: Woman has a premonition of a small plane crashing into her and her husband's apartment; a man has a twin brother he never knew who's trapped underground after a cave-in; one episode Steven Spielberg copied years later for his 'Amazing Stories' series; one about something in the Alps, can't remember if an avalanche was part of it or not; one involving statues of lions chasing a man (set in England); a sorcerer in WWI who teleports a soldier so he can commit a murder a thousand miles away or something; etc...
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wanton87
Sophomore
@wanton87
Posts: 224
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Post by wanton87 on Jun 12, 2017 15:59:06 GMT
I recall this show mikef6. It was a fine show in its own right, but unfortunately, as you’ve already mentioned, it was mostly overshadowed by The Twilight Zone. To be honest, I didn’t even know of it until more recently. If I recall correctly, Rod Serling was acquainted with the producer, and was heavily influenced by it. He had desired to produce a similar project, but would attempt to do so in a way as to not interfere with the ratings of this show.
One of the few episodes that I did see was the one with the clown, featuring a young Yvette Mimieux, who was born two days after my father the same year.
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geezer
Junior Member
@geezer
Posts: 1,719
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Post by geezer on Jun 23, 2017 0:40:22 GMT
I have never seen this show, although it sounds like I would love it. I really enjoyed Twilight Zone and Outer Limits in reruns, but never recall this show in reruns.
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Post by outrider127 on Jun 23, 2017 18:17:00 GMT
yeah, I saw the shows in the 1970's, enjoyed them a lot
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Post by koskiewicz on Jul 15, 2017 16:21:35 GMT
OSB actually had many fact based episodes. The music was what creeped me out...
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Post by forca84 on Nov 29, 2017 2:11:19 GMT
I bought 3 episodes of it on dvd recently from a local Old Tyme Pottery store. I also have 10 other episodes on a "Paranormal" dvd pack. Really enjoyed them.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Dec 4, 2017 22:48:01 GMT
I sometimes watch it on ROKU.
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Post by mszanadu on Dec 4, 2017 23:21:15 GMT
One Step Beyond: First Season (a.k.a. Alcoa Presents One Step Beyond). Ask anyone of a certain age about watching the paranormal suspense TV series “One Step Beyond” as a young person and you will hear story after story of being chilled and creeped half to death. Yet, this show seems to have been almost totally eclipsed by the legendary status of a similar show, almost its exact contemporary, “The Twilight Zone.” Both shows had stories that were vaguely science fiction-fantasy-supernatural suspense and both had highly memorable hosts who introduced and closed each story. One Step Beyond premiered on January 20, 1959; The Twilight Zone about 8 months later on October 2. They both ran for three seasons. (TTZ was brought back a year after cancelation as a one-hour program, but OSB had ended production.) OSB was hosted by John Newland who would open each show by giving a hint of the setting and a disclaimer that, even though the story is true, what you are going to see cannot be explained: “What you are about to see is a matter of human record. Explain it: we cannot. Disprove it: we cannot. We simply invite you to explore with us the amazing world of the Unknown ... to take that… One Step Beyond.” At the end, he would say something like, “We know what happened. We know to whom it happened. How it happened…” He would stare silently at the camera for three seconds then smile a creepy smile. A line of familiar and soon-to-be familiar faces go by in a parade. Acting was generally at a pretty high level for series TV at the time. The only exception is that at least one character per week has to have hysterics. Most of the time, this part fell into the “tearing a passion to tatters” category. One exception is the premier episode and Virginia Leith who as a young bride possessed by a murder victim does quite a credible job. You may remember Leith as the severed head in the lab pan in the cult “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.” Skip Homeier is her bewildered hubby and Harry Townes as an ex-boyfriend of the dead woman. A pre-Oscar Cloris Leachman appears in Episode 4. Episode 6 is one I still remember vividly from its first broadcast. It stars Charles Aidman and Julie Adams and involves a child trapped in a mine cave-in. Episode 7 stars Reginald Owen in a touching story of the WWII home front. Any memories/nightmares about this almost forgotten (but shouldn't be) series? It's too bad this show wasn't shown in wonderfully excessive reruns like Twilight Zone was and still is . It seemed like an intriguing series from your description of it here too . Also a channel like MeTV or COMET would ( IMPO ) definitely benefit from showing this program from beginning to end and be on at a reasonable time slot as well . Thanks so much mikef6 for your recommendation of this show and your subject post .
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Post by koskiewicz on Dec 17, 2017 19:23:07 GMT
I own an entire run on DVD of One Step Beyond...to this day, I believe it was superior to The Twilight Zone...
The host, John Newland, had an uncanny and unnerving way to introduce each episode...
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