The Ray Bradbury Theatre ran for six seasons between 1985 and 1992. There were a total of sixty-five episodes and I never saw a single one of them. These are the days of the internet though, and I have just found most of the episodes online. I have just finished watching the first one, Marionettes, Inc. James Coco stars as Mr Brailing, a middle-aged guy who is fed up of his job, fed up of his wife, and just fed up of his life in general. Enter Leslie Nielson as Fantoccini, a dodgy looking guy with an even dodgier accent. Fantoccini is the owner of a company called Marionettes, Inc. He has manufactured a perfect double of Brailing and offers to sell it to him, the idea being that while the marionette takes care of the job, the spouse, and all of that mundane kind of stuff, Brailing will be able to go out and live it up.
The marionette cost Brailing his entire life savings, so I am not sure how he could afford to go out and live it up, but I found this quite an amusing little story. Is there a happy ending? There is, but not for Mr Brailing. Anyway, if you want to, you can find out for yourself by popping on over to BlinkBox and watching it for free. Here’s a link: Marionettes Inc