Toy designer Horace Ford (Pat Hingle) is probably the most annoying character to have ever entered The Twilight Zone: he's petulant, childish, loud, and thoroughly obnoxious. Spending the best part of an hour in his company is sheer torture.
Rod Serling was clearly running out of ideas by this point: The Incredible World of Horace Ford is yet another tale in which someone yearns to return to the halcyon days of their youth and unexpectedly gets their wish. When Horace decides to pay a visit to the street he grew up on, he finds himself thrust back in time and encounters the children he grew up with. Returning home, he tries explaining what has happened to his wife Laura (Nan Martin), but she finds his story hard to believe (I find it hard to believe that Horace actually has a wife).
This being an hour long episode that requires some padding, Horace returns to the street two more times only for the exact same things to happen to him each time. On his final visit, he gets a painful reminder that perhaps his childhood wasn't the idyllic time that he thought it was. Laura, who for some reason hasn't yet filed for divorce, takes him back home where his grown-up friends are waiting to celebrate his birthday. He has friends as well as a wife? Talk about far-fetched...
Hingle's grating performance as insufferable dolt Ford qualifies this episode as one of the worst from all five seasons. 1/10.
Rod Serling was clearly running out of ideas by this point: The Incredible World of Horace Ford is yet another tale in which someone yearns to return to the halcyon days of their youth and unexpectedly gets their wish. When Horace decides to pay a visit to the street he grew up on, he finds himself thrust back in time and encounters the children he grew up with. Returning home, he tries explaining what has happened to his wife Laura (Nan Martin), but she finds his story hard to believe (I find it hard to believe that Horace actually has a wife).
This being an hour long episode that requires some padding, Horace returns to the street two more times only for the exact same things to happen to him each time. On his final visit, he gets a painful reminder that perhaps his childhood wasn't the idyllic time that he thought it was. Laura, who for some reason hasn't yet filed for divorce, takes him back home where his grown-up friends are waiting to celebrate his birthday. He has friends as well as a wife? Talk about far-fetched...
Hingle's grating performance as insufferable dolt Ford qualifies this episode as one of the worst from all five seasons. 1/10.