Button, Button
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"Button, Button" is an episode of the revival TV series The Twilight Zone. The episode was based on a short story also titled "Button, Button", written by Richard Matheson. It was first aired on March 7, 1986 along with the segment "Profile in Silver" (Season 1, Episode 20).
[edit] Plot
Norma Lewis (Mare Winningham) is the wife of a down-and-out loser named Arthur (Brad Davis). One day, a smartly-dressed stranger (Basil Hoffman) comes to their door and hands them a special box. He says that if they press the button, they will receive a large sum of money - but someone elsewhere in the world will die; someone they don't even know.
After the stranger leaves, the Lewises agonize over whether to press the button. Norma rationalizes saying they could make good use of the large sum of money, and that the one who dies might be some Chinese peasant who is living a miserable life. Arthur takes the side that since she does 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 "This guy can find his money in the city dump!" but eventually Norma retrieves it. The next day, Arthur leaves for work and sees Norma sitting at the kitchen table, her gaze transfixed on the button. He returns from work and it appears that nothing has changed; Norma is still concentrating only on the button and sitting. However, she tells Arthur that while he was at work she pushed the button. The next day the stranger returns, takes back the box and gives them the money. The Lewises ask him what will happen next. The stranger ominously replies that the button will be 'reprogrammed' and given to someone else - the last line being "It will be offered to someone you do not know."
[edit] Short story
In the original short story, the resolution of the plot ends differently. Norma presses the button, and receives the money - after her husband dies in a car accident (the money was the no-fault insurance settlement). 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...
