Button, Button (The Twilight Zone)
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| "Button, Button" | |||||||
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| The Twilight Zone (1985 series) episode | |||||||
 Scene from Button, Button |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 20b |
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| Written by | Richard Matheson | ||||||
| Directed by | Peter Medak | ||||||
| Guest stars | Basil Hoffman : Steward Brad Davis : Arthur Lewis Mare Winningham : Norma |
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| Original airdate | March 7, 1986 | ||||||
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| List of The Twilight Zone episodes | |||||||
"Button, Button" is the second segment of the twentieth episode from the first season (1985-1986) of the television series The Twilight Zone.
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[edit] Synopsis
Norma Lewis is the wife of a down-and-out man named Arthur, who has problems landing steady employment and can only afford to put his wife in a low-rent apartment. One day, they receive a mysterious box with a button on it and a note that says a Mr. Steward will come visit. Then, just as the note says, a smartly-dressed stranger who introduces himself as Steward comes to their door. He explains that if they press the button on the box, two things will happen: they will receive $200,000, and someone "whom you don't know" will die.
After the stranger leaves, the Lewises wonder whether Steward's proposal is genuine, and agonize over whether to press the button. Norma rationalizes that they could make good use of the money, and that the one who dies might be some Chinese peasant who is living a miserable life. Arthur takes the side that since they do not know who will die, pressing the button may cause the death of an innocent baby. They open the box and discover no mechanism inside it - it is simply an empty box with a button on it. Arthur angrily throws the box in the trash. However, in the middle of the night while Arthur is asleep, Norma goes to the apartment building's dumpster and retrieves the device. The next day, Arthur leaves for work and sees Norma sitting at the kitchen table, her gaze transfixed on the button. At the end of the day, he returns from work and it appears that nothing has changed; Norma is still concentrating only on the button and sitting. The days go by. Norma and Arthur keep talking about the box, when suddenly Norma decides that she will push the button. She does it and her husband looks at her with disgust. They go to bed after seeing nothing happens.
However, the next day the stranger returns, takes back the box, and gives them a briefcase with the $200,000. The Lewises are in shock and ask what will happen next. The stranger ominously replies that the button will be "reprogrammed" and offered to someone else with the same terms and conditions, adding as he focuses on Norma, "I can assure you it will be offered to someone whom you don't know." A horrified, knowing expression crosses Norma's face...
[edit] Syndication
This episode was stretched into a half-hour run time for syndication, as recently shown on the Chiller TV network.
[edit] Short story
"Button, Button" was first published in Playboy, June 1970, a short story written by Richard Matheson. The story was republished as part of a collection of Matheson's short stories.
In the original short story, the plot is resolved differently. Norma presses the button, and receives the money - after her husband dies in a train incident where Arthur is pushed onto the tracks (the money was the no-fault insurance settlement, which is $50,000 instead of the $200,000 in the Twilight Zone episode). A despondent Norma asks the stranger why her husband was the one who was killed. The stranger replies that Norma never really knew her husband.
Richard Matheson strongly disapproved of the Twilight Zone version, especially the new ending, and used his pseudonym Logan Swanson for the teleplay.
[edit] Film
A film entitled The Box based on this story is currently[update] in production and slated for release in 2009. It greatly expands upon the short story. Basil Hoffman, the actor who plays Steward in this episode, also appears in the film.[1]
