User Reviews

There's a reason you don't see certain episodes of The Twilight Zone on those frequent cable station marathons. 'From Agnes - With Love' will show you why. Played out of character from your typical TZ story, this one goes more for lighthearted fun and laughs, but it meanders a bit too much and doesn't really deliver any kind of meaningful payoff. Wally Cox is all Mr. Peepers here and the gag would have worked out a whole lot better if Agnes fell in love with the better looking programmer (did you notice his name was Wally?) leaving the field open for the 'nice' guy. But it just wasn't to be. Rejected as he was, I wonder why Elwood never considered hooking up with the secretary in the hallway.

The 1964 entry "From Agnes - With Love" is one of the more entertaining and light-hearted episodes in the Twilight Zone series. Wally Cox, the original nerd, plays Elwood, a highly-skilled programmer who is the only one in his firm that can operate and control the huge mainframe computer (affectionately called "Agnes") that runs the company. When Millie (Sue Randall), one of his attractive female colleagues, begins to have romantic notions about him, Elwood soon finds out that she has a rival. It seems "Agnes" is really jealous and she's literally ready to blow her fuse to let him know about it.

Richard Donner directed this episode and he keeps the running joke moving for the entire half hour. He went on to have a great career in feature films. Cox, who specialized in these kinds of roles, has a field day as Elwood. He was a tremendously under-rated actor in his day, and displayed plenty of depth when he was given more meatier parts to play. Later he became a fixture on "Hollywood Squares" and died much too young in 1973. Although played mostly for laughs, this episode also gave viewers an early look at computers and what the future had in store for all of us. "Agnes" proved back in 1964 that you don't mess around with computers. They sort of have a life of their own.

This is by no means a great episode but it's not horrible . I wouldn't recommend it to a first time viewer of The Twilight Zone. I actually think as a cartoon it would have worked better. Wally Cox is one of the few real people who could convincingly play computer technician James Elwood . I think Elwood should have been a better first name actually and something like Smith his last name.

He doesn't lack for romantic interest in women or one in particular names Millie but his attempts with her are wasted although she doesn't turn him down goes out with him more than once. The problem is Agnes the computer wants Elwood all to herself and does her best to sabotage his efforts with Millie . Agnes gives him some good and bad tips but the all fail for various reasons. Ultimately Elwood is undone by Agnes and he loses his position. Agnes outsmarted herself in the end so maybe the moral really is computers have their limits and we shouldn't over depend on them.

Elwood would have been smarter to find a different love interest. Maybe the woman he gives Millie's gifts too when something about the gift doesn't suit her or a more similar intellectually minded woman.

I do find myself liking this episode more than many do and more than I expected after watching it for the first time in many years. Interesting it first aired on Valentine's Day.

ME THINKS THIS episode to be a Comedy (Farce, actually)! THERE SEEM TO be several categories in episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Some that seem to come to mind are these. Though not limited to these, we find that these types to be: those involving Outer Space and Extra Terrestrials, episodes devoted to the Supernatural and the Occult and those which would seem to take place entirely within the vast, cavernous confines of the mind.

ANOTHER GROUPING WOULD be those that could be classified in one of the previously mentioned existing subject matters; except that they are designed to be farcial in nature. Their main objective is to add proof to some old adage; but through the application of humor. All up and down the list of TWILIGHT ZONE Episodes, one can find examples of this type. They feature such names as Art Carney, Buster Keaton, Andy Devine and several starring the very popular and frequent TZ guest, Burgess Meredith.

WITH TODAY'S HONOREE, being the half-hour play entitled, "THE TWILIGHT ZONE: From Agnes With Love" (5-20, 1964). This starred Wally Cox in a typical role for him; having previously been typecast as meek, humble, and little guys.* The story also, had as subject matter central to the storyline, questions about what we now call "Artifical Intelligence." AS IF THIS weren't enough, the age old problem of the "Eternal Triangle" is interjected into the happenings; the combination of which provides for a very interesting set of problems.

TOPPING OFF THE video festivities is the performance of our star, Mr. Cox. In a filmed story which predates Woody Allen's sexually frustrated, though very potent screen persona, Wally's character is portrayed as being shy, meek, small in stature and obviously highly oversexed. (Ain't all the Yanks?) THE "FEMALE" COMPUTER is given the treatment of being a most jealous rival for the attentions and affection of her human mentor/technician, BBBB (Cox). "She" does all in "Her" power to derail the romance between Wally and the real human secretary.

WELL, SHE SUCCEEDED, as did Mr. Rod Serling, Cayuga Productions and the Columbia Broadcasting System TV Network.

NOTE: * Wally Cox developed this "Little Guy" character starting with his essaying of the title character's role in MR. PEEPERS (). He followed it up and refined the concept in the short lived, HIRAM HOLIDAY(). He had numerous guest shots in countless other series episodes, most all being that same universal, "Little Man." In later years he starred in voice over for the animated and still very popular UNDERDOG SHOW, and was long a fixture as a foil for MC Peter Marshall on Hollywood SQUARES.