A World of Difference

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

"A World of Difference"
The Twilight Zone episode
Scene from A World of Difference
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 23
Directed by	Ted Post
Written by	Richard Matheson
Featured music	Nathan Van Cleave
Production code	173-3624
Original air date	March 11, 1960
Guest stars
Howard Duff: Arthur Curtis/Gerald "Gerry" Raigan Eileen Ryan: Nora Raigan David White: Brinkley Gail Kobe: Sally Peter Walker: Sam Susan Dorn: Marian Curtis Frank Maxwell: Marty Fisher Bill Idelson: Stagehand
Episode chronology
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List of Twilight Zone episodes

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

Plot

Arthur Curtis is a businessman. One day, he finds his phone no longer works, and is surprised to hear a voice yell, "Cut!" Suddenly he is faced with the fact his office was actually a set on a sound stage. He is told "Arthur Curtis" is merely a role he was playing, and his real name is Gerry Raigan, an alcoholic movie star in the middle of a brutal divorce and a declining career. He tries to find Arthur Curtis's house, but cannot find any evidence of it; Raigan's agent tells him the movie called "The Private World of Arthur Curtis" is being cancelled because they believe he has had a nervous breakdown. Raigan/Curtis rushes back to the set, which is being dismantled, and demands not to be left in the uncaring world of Gerry Raigan. Sure enough, Curtis reappears in his office (as it was before), just as his wife arrives. As he hears echoes of the "studio", he tells her he's not going to wait for their vacation, they're leaving "right away". Bewildered at his behavior, Curtis tells her, "I just don't want to lose you". Raigan/Curtis and his "wife" board a plane which then "vanishes". Raigan's agent shows up on the set to find Curtis/Raigan has vanished—as the set is being dismantled, a teaser shows the "Arthur Curtis" script left on a table, waiting to be thrown in the trash.

Plot adaptations

In later years, several TV series featured episodes with similar plotlines to "A World of Difference"—a character in the series finds himself in the "real world" and trying to convince people he's actually the character. The 1970–71 British TV series UFO, in the episode "Mindbender" has the lead character, Col. Ed Straker, briefly entering a dimension where he's an actor in a TV series called UFO. An episode of the 1980s US sitcom, Growing Pains entiled "Meet the Seavers" has character Ben Seaver dream that he is an actor named Jeremy Miller starring in a sitcom about the Seaver family, with Miller and other cast members appearing as themselves. An episode of the original sci-fi series Eerie, Indiana called "Reality Takes a Holiday" centered on Marshall (played by Omri Katz) finding a script in his mailbox and his life is suddenly revealed to be a TV show (with his family and friends as the real-life actors and actresses of Eerie, Indiana). The film "The Truman Show" starring Jim Carrey had a similar plot as well.

Further readings

• DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0
• Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0

External links

• "A World of Difference" at the Internet Movie Database
• TV.com episode page
• the-croc.com episode page(unlike TV.com - lists Frank Maxwell playing Marty)
• Full video of the episode at CBS.com