10 TV Episodes That Broke All The Rules
4. The Last Night Of A Jockey - The Twilight Zone
Considering how ahead of its time this surrealist horror anthology was, any episode of The Twilight Zone would have fit this list perfectly.
The one we've gone for though comes from the show's final season and stars former child star Mickey Rooney as a disgruntled jockey. Playing off of Rooney's real-life diminutive stature (he stood at just 5' 2"), his character bemoans his shortness and wishes to be taller.
Overnight, he gets his wish and is now eight feet tall! However, because this is The Twilight Zone, things are not all that they seem...
The Last Night of a Jockey went against the grain in two different ways. Firstly, Rooney's character was coarse, bitter, and pretty horrible to be around, which was a stark contrast to the chippy roles he had previously been typecast in.
Secondly, he's the only actor in the whole episode.
Rooney plays both characters in the story - the jockey and his magical "alter ego" - and the action never leaves his apartment. TV episodes with just one setting and one actor are a lot more common these days, but, back in 1963, The Twilight Zone was the only show that could have pulled it off.