"Button, Button" is the second segment of the twentieth episode from the television series The New Twilight Zone. It was based on a short story of the same name written by Richard Matheson.

Synopsis

Norma Lewis (Mare Winningham) is the wife of a down-and-out man named Arthur (Brad Davis), who has problems landing steady employment, and can only afford to put his wife in a low-rent apartment. One day, a smartly-dressed stranger who introduces himself as "Steward"(Basil Hoffman) comes to their door and hands them a special box. He says that if they press the button, two things will happen. #1: "Someone whom you do not know will die". #2: The Lewises will be given a briefcase containing $200,000, which is opened in front of them to show the man is not bluffing.

After the stranger leaves, the Lewises agonize over whether to press the button. Norma rationalizes that they could make good use of the money, and that the one who dies might be some Chinese peasant who is living a miserable life. Arthur takes the side that since they do not know who will die, her pressing the button may cause the death of an innocent baby. They open it up, and find that there is no mechanism inside it - it's simply an empty box with a button on it. Arthur angrily throws the box in the trash, yelling, "If this Mr. Steward comes back, you tell him he can find his box in the city dump!" However, in the middle of the night while Arthur is asleep Norma goes to the apartment building's dumpster and retrieves the device. The next day, Arthur leaves for work and sees Norma sitting at the kitchen table, her gaze transfixed on the button. At the end of the day, he returns from work and it appears that nothing has changed; Norma is still concentrating only on the button and sitting. The days go by. Norma and Arthur keep talking about the box, when suddenly Norma decides that she will push the button. She does it and her husband looks at her with disgust. They go to bed after seeing nothing happens. No money and no one seemed to have died.

However, the next day the stranger returns, taking back the box and gives them a briefcase with the $200,000. The Lewises are in shock and ask what will happen next. The stranger ominously replies that the button will be 'reprogrammed' and offered to someone else with the same terms and conditions, adding as he focuses on Norma: "I can assure you it will be offered to someone whom you don't know". The camera closes in on Norma's horrified expression.

Short story

Button,Button was first published in Playboy magazine, June 1970. The story was republished as part of a collection of his short stories.

In the original short story, the plot resolves differently. Norma presses the button, and receives the money - after her husband dies in a train incident where Arthur is pushed onto the tracks (the money was the no-fault insurance settlement, which happens to be $50,000 instead of the $200,000 in the Twilight Zone episode). A despondent Norma asks the stranger why her husband was the one who was killed. The stranger replies that Norma never really knew her husband.

Richard Matheson, strongly disapproved of the Twilight Zone version, especially the new ending, and used his pseudonym Logan Swanson for the teleplay.

2008 film

External links

• TV.com - The Twilight Zone (1985) episode: Button, Button

• Postcards from the Zone episode 1.50 Button, Button