An Analytical Guide to Television's One Step Beyond, 1959-1961

by John Kenneth Muir

Alcoa One Step Beyond made its television debut in 1959, nine months before Rod Serling's classic The Twilight Zone, and paved the way for a generation of television programs devoted to paranormal topics such as the occult, ESP, and ghost stories. One Step Beyond was also where some of Hollywood's most famous leading men, including Warren Beatty, William Shatner, and Charles Bronson, got their starts in television. This complete reference work to the 96 half-hour episodes that ran for three seasons on ABC also offers a detailed history, extensive commentary and summaries of the critical reception of One Step Beyond as well as coverage of the sequel series produced in 1978 entitled The Next Step Beyond. Complete credits for both series are provided.

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

John Kenneth Muir (born 1969) is an American literary critic. He has written as of 2023 thirty two books, many in the fields of film and television, with a particular accent on the horror and science fiction genres. He has been described as one of the horror genre's "most widely read critics", and as an "accomplished film journalist". He is the creator of the 2023 audio drama Enter the House Between, as well as the new novellas based on the series.

Reviews

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're going to do a book about a television series then this is the way to do it. The author starts with a context for the One Step Beyond television show. What was going on in our society at the time? What other types of shows were on? He then goes into how the series was started.

For each episode the author gives the title, cast members, a short synopsis and a commentary. That part discusses what happened in the episode (the good and the bad), what the actors and actresses may have gone on to perform in (such as X-Files and Star Trek episodes), and how the content of that episode related to episodes of later shows.

The commentaries are complete and very well done. He then goes on to do with same thing with The Next Step Beyond (a sort of very poor continuation of One Step Beyond). The book even includes appendices with a very valuable one examining the type of psychic trait and what episodes that trait appeared in. There are four more appendices, notes and even a bibliography. If you have any interest in the series this is a must-have.

[Linda Edmonds Cerullo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful overview of the vintage TV series! I was too young to have watched "One Step Beyond" as a child, but as a pre-teen my father introduced me to it in repeats. This series premiered nearly 10 months before "The Twilight Zone" and is equally eerie. The difference with "One Step Beyond" is that they were based on factual stories. This book gives a complete rundown of the background of the show and then a listing of each of the 96 episodes. The author also interviewed the host and creator, the great John Newland. For fans of classic TV, this book is a treasure.