Rod Serling played around a lot with the man who finds himself in a place he can't fathom. In this episode, the first ever, Earl Holliman is in a town he simply can't figure out. There is no life and he is in incredible need of human contact. He is wearing an air force jumpsuit for some reason which should give us a clue. Everything is so real, but as he goes about his business, he begins to crack. We come to realize that this is a test. That he is part of a sensory deprivation/isolation experiment to see if he can stand the loneliness of time and space. Holliman does a good job because he is believable as a pretty macho character who seems to have control of the situation and then begins to unravel. This is prototypical Twilight Zone and a good episode to start the series.
Review of Where Is Everybody?
