"The Outer Limits" And A Little More

I wonder if you remember a television show that debuted in 1963. It was called "The Outer Limits." I was in the 8th grade and became a big fan. My mother and her sister owned and operated a private kindergarten, "The Merry Moppets." It was a great job for my mother and did quite well. Anyway, we ate out a lot in those days because she didn't want to cook. Don't start throwing rocks at my dad. He was worn out from a day at the office, so we'd eat out quite a lot. The usual routine was that my parents and my brother would pick me up at school after sports practice (football, basketball, or track), and we'd drive to some place like Wyatt's Cafeteria in Sharpstown Mall, Paul's BBQ Shack on South Post Oak, or maybe Larry's Mexican Restaurant in Richmond. Wherever we went, I insisted that we get back in time to watch "The Outer Limits." Since my parents seemed to like the show, we rarely missed the start.

I can think of at least one time when we may have missed the show. For some reason my parents couldn't meet each other before picking me up at the school gym at Sugar Land Junior High School. They came in separate cars, so we drove off to a restaurant in the family car and left my dad's car parked on Lakeview Drive next to the gym.

As we came back from the restaurant and went to pick up my dad's car, we noticed a commotion down the street. I think there were flashing red lights. As we got closer we noticed glass and metal parts glistening in the street. (Dusk was setting.) Then we could see the carcass of my dad's old blue Ford knocked out of the street almost to the wall of the gym. I don't recall who it was, but a woman wasn't paying attention and bashed the back of the parked car pretty hard. She wasn't hurt, and I can't recall what happened to her car. She and her car were gone by the time we got there.

The funny thing is that my dad had the car repaired and drove it several more years. The repair shop did a good job. You couldn't tell the car had ever been whacked.

Well, back to "The Outer Limits." I rented a DVD of the show's first season and watched 8 episodes. They were terrific. I recommend them highly if you liked "The Twilight Zone." Click here if you want to learn more about the show. BTW, the guy with the big bald head and pointy ears on the linked page is David McCallum, who played Illya Kuryakin in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."