The Twilight Zone 1986 A Matter of Minutes
Why Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange recommends it
Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange answerers point people to it when identifying a half-remembered story about little people who remake the world behind the scenes.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2012 to 2021.
What it is
A full episode of the 1985-86 revival of The Twilight Zone, "A Matter of Minutes," uploaded to YouTube by the Vintage Guy channel. It adapts Theodore Sturgeon's short story "Yesterday Was Monday," in which a man stumbles onto strange workers rebuilding the world between moments.
What people said
Cites Keith Thompson · 2012-01 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “Looking for an old SF tv short story about blue men staging the future”
This is the New Twilight Zone segment "A Matter of Minutes" [LINK] , based on Theodore Sturgeon's short story "Yesterday was Monday" [LINK] .
Cites Vicpylon · 2015-11 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “Desperate to find the name of 1980's "Twilight Zone" type show with "Time People"”
There is a Twilight Zone episode [this video] , "A Matter of Minutes" (from the somewhat obscure 1985 remake), that contains elements of your question. Though I do not remember the term "time people" they do reference losing keys, time travel and strange, faceless workers that might be mistaken for gremlins.
Cites lucasbachmann · 2020-10 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “Looking for a TV episode where tiny men go around recreating the world in between seconds”
Have you rewatched "A Matter of Minutes" recently? I suspect you saw this episode on a black and white tv and might be filling in the memory gaps. For example at the 10:30 mark the fellow controlling time discusses misplaced items. [this video]
Cites Zeiss Ikon · 2021-05 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “SF Short Story about resetting the world every day”
This is " Yesterday was Monday [LINK] " by Theodore Sturgeon. The protagonist wakes up on Wednesday, and finds little people literally putting the finishing touches on building the world. He wanders around a bit, getting more and more confused, and eventually meets one of the little people who explains things to him: he's taken a wrong turn, landed on the wrong "sound stage" if you will, and gotten to Wednesday ahead of time. At the end, he gets returned to Tuesday morning, shows up at work a little late, but reassures his boss the critical spring job will be done on time. "I happen to know." It may interest you to know that the story was filmed as a Twilight Zone segment [this video] called " A