An iconic TV program for baby boomers, The Twilight Zone only ran from 1959-64, but black-and-white reruns made Rod Serling’s show a staple well into the ’70s. Yet the Zone never really ended. Along came VHS and DVD, a feature film anthology in 1983, and Dennis Nyback—the formerly Seattle-based curator of cinematic curiosities who’s returning home to host The Twilight Zone Marathon. He’ll introduce and screen three episodes in each daily block, projecting them from 16mm prints. (All television shows were shot on film back during the Serling era.) Among the highlights are “The Masks,” written by Serling and directed by Ida Lupino (the only woman to helm a Twilight Zone episode), in which the greedy heirs to an estate receive a gruesome comeuppance. Whether serving as producer, writer, or host, the socially conscious Serling (1924-1975) generally insisted on an unexpectedly moral, twist ending to each episode. He was a liberal Jew who fought in the Pacific theater of World War II. Rising through radio and live television, he laced progressive themes into his writing—opposing war and promoting racial equality. In a prescient 1972 TV movie he wrote, The Man, he had James Earl Jones become the nation’s first black president! You could say the twist ending to that came 36 years later. BRIAN MILLER

Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 7 & 9 p.m., 2012