Shelley Fabares Appeared In One Of The Twilight Zone's Most Bizarre Episodes

Before she starred as Christine Armstrong for all nine seasons of the hit ABC sitcom "Coach," Shelley Fabares appeared in one of the oddest late-series episodes of "The Twilight Zone." In Season 5's "Black Leather Jackets," Fabares played Ellen, a girl who falls in love with an alien disguised as a human. The alien has been sent to Earth to help wipe out mankind, but his love for Ellen changes his mind. He appeals to the leader of his world to call off the invasion, but his plea is unsuccessful.

"Black Leather Jackets" was never a huge hit with viewers, and its premise has not exactly aged gracefully. The aliens disguise themselves as leather-wearing motorcyclists who speak in 1950s slang, lending a distinctly silly quality to an episode about the potential end of the human race. 

"Black Leather Jackets" was also an episode of "The Twilight Zone" not written by creator Rod Serling. Its writer, Earl Hamner Jr., later admitted to the Television Academy Foundation that he wasn't especially proud of the episode, calling it "the bad one" and acknowledging that "there was a lot of illogical things that took place in it." Hamner ultimately put the blame on his own writing, saying that the cast and director "did what they could with a bad script." Season 5 was the show's final season, and it held its fair share of the series' worst-ever episodes.

Before her "Twilight Zone" gig, Shelley Fabares had just finished her run as Mary Stone on "The Donna Reed Show." She'd later tell The Journal News in 1969, "Right after the series ended, I was only seen as a sweet girl type." She recalled her "Twilight Zone" appearance as another example of that girl-next-door image, but she wasn't complaining. She explained, "I've been pretty busy the past few years since Donna's series went off. I haven't exactly pushed for anything."

Fabares died on August 22, 2026. "To her family and friends, Shelley was a source of love, strength, laughter and comfort," Fabares' family said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. Fabares later found another major TV role as Christine on "Coach," which was seen at the time as a stark contrast from her previous work. As "Coach" went through its original run in the '90s, "The Donna Reed Show" enjoyed a resurgence in popularity due to its reruns on Nickelodeon's "Nick at Nite."