View source for Button, Button (The Twilight Zone)

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox television episode
| series         = [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]
| image          = Button,Button.jpg
| caption        = Scene from "Button, Button"
| season         = 1
| episode        = 20
| segment        = b
| director       = [[Peter Medak]]
| writer         = [[Logan Swanson]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|the short story|[[Richard Matheson]]}}
| production     = 
| airdate        = {{Start date|1986|03|07}}
| guests         = 
* [[Basil Hoffman]] as Steward
* [[Brad Davis (actor)|Brad Davis]] as Arthur Lewis
* [[Mare Winningham]] as Norma Lewis
| prev           = [[Profile in Silver]]
| next           = Need to Know
| episode_list   = List of The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) episodes
}}

"'''Button, Button'''" is the second segment of the 20th episode of the [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) (season 1)|first season]] of the revival of the [[television series]] ''[[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''. The segment is based on the 1970 short story of the same name by [[Richard Matheson]]; the same short story forms the basis of the 2009 film ''[[The Box (2009 film)|The Box]]''. It poses the question of whether an ordinary person would be willing to cause a total stranger to die in exchange for $200,000 ($1 million in ''The Box'') by simply pushing a button. In a documentary on the making of the movie ''The Box'', Matheson states the inspiration for the story came from his wife, whose college professor had asked a similar question as a way of promoting a class discussion.

Matheson, who was one of the most prolific contributors to the original ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'', wrote the teleplay for the segment himself under a pseudonym, making "Button, Button" one of just two segments in the series written by one of the original ''Twilight Zone'' writers (the other being "[[The Elevator (The Twilight Zone)|The Elevator]]").

==Plot==
Arthur and Norma Lewis live in a low-rent apartment and are descending into abject poverty. One day, a box with a button on top of it is delivered to their apartment. That evening, a man who introduces himself as Mr. Steward visits. He gives Norma the key to the box and explains that if she presses the button, someone she does not know will die, and she will receive $200,000 ({{Inflation|US|200000|1986|fmt=eq|r=-3}}).

Arthur and Norma wonder whether Steward's proposal is genuine, and debate whether to press the button. They open the box and discover it is empty, with no mechanism that the button could activate, so Arthur throws it in the trash. However, after Arthur goes to bed, Norma retrieves the box from the dumpster. The next day, Arthur sees Norma sitting at the kitchen table transfixed by the button. He encourages her to push it just so she can get it off her mind. Finally, she pushes the button.

The next day, Mr. Steward returns to retrieve the box and deliver the $200,000. Steward says 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." A horrified, knowing expression crosses Norma's face.

==Short story==
"Button, Button" was first published in ''[[Playboy]]'', June 1970. The story was republished as part of a collection of Matheson's short stories.

In the original short story, the plot is resolved differently. Norma presses the button, and receives the money&mdash;after her husband dies in a train incident, where he is pushed onto the tracks. The money is the no-fault insurance settlement, which is $50,000 ({{Inflation|US|50000|1979|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) rather than 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, "Do you really think you knew your husband?"

Matheson strongly disapproved of the ''Twilight Zone'' version, especially the new ending, and used his pseudonym Logan Swanson for the teleplay.<ref name="v3">{{Harvnb|Matheson|2005|p=199}}</ref>

==Film==
{{main|The Box (2009 film)}}

''[[The Box (2009 film)|The Box]]'', a [[feature film]] based on this story written  and directed by [[Richard Kelly (filmmaker)|Richard Kelly]], starring [[Cameron Diaz]] and [[James Marsden]], was released in 2009. [[Basil Hoffman]], the actor who played Steward in the ''Twilight Zone'' episode, appears in the film in a different role.<ref>{{cite web |last=Myers |first=Eugene |title=Review: The Box |url=https://www.tor.com/2009/11/06/review-lemgthe-boxlemg/ |website=[[Tor.com]] |access-date=1 April 2021 |date=November 6, 2009}}</ref>

==Radio==
A radio-play version of the story is written by [[Henry Slesar]], who also produced the radio program. As the ''[[CBS Radio Mystery Theater]]'' 15th episode entitled "The Chinaman Button", it was first broadcast Jan. 20, 1974. It was repeated at least twice on March 15, 1974, and again October 7, 1978.

In this version of the story, a man who is desperate for money is offered the chance to make a fortune. All he has to do is commit an anonymous murder, where he will not even have to see the victim. Actors for this radio play were [[Mason Adams]], [[Paul Hecht]], Evie Juster, Ralph Bell, and [[Will Hare]].

==See also==
* "[[The Monkey's Paw]]"
* {{Annotated link|Double Indemnity|''Double Indemnity''}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Cited==
*{{cite book|title=Richard Matheson: Collected Stories, Vol. 3|last=Matheson|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Matheson|year=2005|publisher=Gauntlet Press|editor=Stanley Wiater}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb episode|0734727}}
* [https://postcardsfromthezone.blogspot.com/2006/02/150-button-button.html Postcards from the Zone episode 1.50 Button, Button]

{{The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) episodes}}
{{Richard Matheson}}

[[Category:1986 American television episodes]]
[[Category:Television shows based on works by Richard Matheson]]
[[Category:Television episodes based on short fiction]]
[[Category:Television episodes directed by Peter Medak]]
[[Category:Television episodes written by Richard Matheson]]
[[Category:The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) season 1 episodes]]