This was a hastily done show to get it done in time for Christmas. Serling himself said that there was a holiday spirit on the set, maybe because they had more children than usual on the set.
Art Carney's acting ability makes this episode shine with the magic of the season.
A must have for sentimentalists who still enjoy the Magic of Christmas.Christmas Eve in the Twilight Zone Trust Rod Serling to dream up a Christmas story that combines warm-hearted sentiment with the grittiness and social commentary of a Clifford Odets play. In "The Night of the Meek," Art Carney gives an affecting performance as Henry Corwin, a man in the slums of New York who drinks to endure the poverty and hopelessness he sees around him, and who every year at Christmastime plays Santa Claus in a department store. On one particular Christmas Eve Corwin's despair turns to joy when he is magically granted the ability to give "the meek" - that is, every child and poor adult - his or her Christmas wish. While the episode belongs to Carney, the child-like John Fiedler is cute in the role of Corwin's mousey employer. As Serling suggests in his spoken introduction to this classic episode, "The Night of the Meek" is a "Night before Christmas" story with plot twists such as could only be found in the Twilight Zone.
