By now critically acclaimed, The Twilight Zone quickly transitioned from Season 2 to Season 3 and with a new season came sponsorship opportunities. The show had up until this point maintained its sponsorship from General Foods but now also added The American Tobacco Company for which Rod Serling was contractually obligated to plug products at the end of each episode (an obligation with which he was none too pleased). However, budgets for each episode continued to be a sticking point and cost-cutting measures were employed in this season as six episodes were unfortunately shot on low-quality videotape.
In addition to a flurry of brilliant scripts from Rod Serling, Richard Matheson, Georges Clayton Johnson, and Charles Beaumont; now Earl Hamner, Jr. and Lamont Johnson also entered the fray with some of the season’s best. While there is hardly a flawed episode in the whole season, some of the stand-outs include: “Two,” “Arrival,” “The Shelter,” “It’s A Good Life,” “Deaths-Head Revisited,” “Once Upon A Time,” “Five Characters In Search Of An Exit,” “Nothing In The Dark,” “The Midnight Sun,” “A Game Of Pool,” “Kick The Can,” “To Serve Man,” “Little Girl Lost,” “The Little People,” “The Gift,” “The Dummy,” “I Sing the Body Electric,” and “Changing Of The Guard.”
However as Season 3 progressed, Rod Serling began to grow fatigued with his writerly and hosting obligations as well as demands from sponsors and censors. As the third season waned it became clear that The Twilight Zone would go on a hiatus when The American Tobacco Company ended its sponsorship. Serling left to take a brief teaching position at his alma mater Antioch College, and in the wake of the show’s future seeming ambiguous, initial producer Buck Houghton abruptly departed in search of more secure compensation. When a fourth season was finally made certain, the show would see more significant restructuring with fewer episodes that were stretched from half-hour increments to hour-long run-times and a new airing slot in order to compete with the new kid on the block, ABC’s The Outer Limits.
Click here to return to my survey of The Twilight Zone series.
Great Books Guy 
Season 3 has some pretty good episodes like It’s A Good Life, To Serve Man, I Sing The Body Electric, The Midnight Sun and particularly The Grave and A Game Of Pool. It’s curious to realize how some Season 3 episodes went back to basics with some familiar Twilight Zone themes and messages. But speaking as someone who easily became a Twilight Zone fan at an appropriate age, I learned to see something of great value in each of its classic seasons.
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Thanks as always Mike! Your comments are always helpful, and this one made me realize I mistakenly included a list of stand-out episodes from Season 2 instead of Season 3. That error is now corrected on here and I very much agree with your list of episodes. Thanks again!
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You’re very welcome.
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