Does anyone remember...
 

I saw this tv show as a kid, where this young boy was about to turn 12 or 13 I think, and was all psyched that he was getting a video phone for his b-day. He also had to take a test for the government to find out how smart he was. They made him take a truth syrum so he couldn't lie. Then his parents get a call asking how to dispose of the body (apparently he failed the test). Anyway, I think it may have been the Twilight Zone, but I really can't remember. Help, anyone! It's driving me nuts!

That plotline, off the top of my head, is reminiscent of an Edward Wellen short story called "Sanity Clause". I'm looking around for a copy of it to check to see if my recollection is close enough.

It would help to know when you were "a kid" ... also any other details you can recall about the piece ... color, b&w, any of the actors involved.

I was never much of a Twilight Zone fan, but I could have sworn I saw this one on the orginal Outer Limits in the 1960's.

That would resonate with the "Picturephone" theme, very big back then. The Franklin Institute here in town (which was a science meuseum back then instead of the for-profit theme park it has become today) had one one in operation in the Bell Telephone exhibit, frequently placed demo calls to the Bell exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

But webserach reveals a (new) Twilight Zone episode:

<blockquote>EXAMINATION DAY
Writer: Henry Slesar

Teleplay: Philip DeGuere
Director: Paul Lynch
Cast: Christopher Allport, David Mendenhall, Elizabeth Normant, Jeffrey Alan Chandler, Ed Krieger, Myrna White

Little Dickie Jordan's parent are afraid he won't pass the government intelligence test.</blockquote>

Examination Day
Originally broadcast: November 1, 1985
made for TV
episode of The New Twilight Zone

Based on:

* "Examination Day" (February, 1958) by Henry Slesar
o Published in Playboy magazine
o Collected in The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy (1966)
o Collected in From the "S" File (1971) edited by Editors of Playboy, Editors of Playboy
o Collected in School and Society Through Science Fiction (1974) edited by Joseph D. Olander, Martin H. Greenberg, Patricia S. Warrick
o Collected in Inside Information (1977) edited by Abbe Mowshowitz
o Collected in 100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories (1978) edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Joseph D. Olander
o Collected in Realms of Darkness (1985) edited by Mary Danby
o Collected in Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction #5: Tin Stars (1986) edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh
o Collected in New Stories from the Twilight Zone (1991) edited by Martin H. Greenberg
o Collected in 100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories (1993) edited by Al Sarrantonio, Martin H. Greenberg


PDF of the original story: http://education.uncc.edu/ssagallag/...tion%20Day.pdf

You guys rock! I think the Examination Day may be it. In 1985 I would have been 12, so that would probably be right. I'll look into it further. That darned show has been haunting me since I saw it :shudder: