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Back in the 1950’s, things were obviously very different. Movies and television from this era can seem almost alien to us today. The ideas, the values, the style, and the technology seem like they’re from a different dimension to us now. But in the 50’s, there was a man with many ideas that we can agree with even now. That man’s name was Rod Serling. Rod Serling was already making a name for himself back then, with his teleplays for the anthology series Kraft Television Theatre and Playhouse 90. While his segments were successful, Serling was frustrated by the network’s interference. They would change lines and scenes to suit their target demographic and made sure that Serling kept his segments controversy free.
After creating Noon On Doomsday, which was meant to be a statement on the lack of remorse shown by the Mississippi people for the murder of Emmett Till, Serling had to deal with the numerous amounts of people protesting the production of Noon On Doomsday. And this was after he rewrote it so much that the original story was hardly there anymore. Then he had an idea. Maybe if he were to put the moral messages he was trying to get across to people in a more fantastical way, they might not even realize that these aren’t just problems taking place in this strange version of our own world. They ARE problems in our own world.
And so, The Twilight Zone was born.
But it was not an easy feat to keep it alive. The show struggled to connect with general audiences even though the critics loved it. CBS considered canceling the show during its first season due to low ratings but it managed to keep itself afloat. Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont, and Richard Matheson wrote most of the episodes for the entire show and wrote the entire first season together with the exception of one episode. The first season even won Serling his fourth Emmy award for Dramatic Writing.
The second season was even tougher. A new executive took over CBS an cut the shows costly budget down. Some episodes had to be shot on cheaper cameras and certain artistic changes had to be made to save money. This season still managed to keep its quality up with many great episodes. My personal favorite twilight zone episode is from this season which is Eye Of The Beholder. An episode that had such an impact on me as a child and truly changed the way I saw people.
With the third season, Serling was starting to feel the weight of what he had created. He was losing his inspiration to create more interesting stories and was reportedly very stressed out. Even though the show received good ratings this season, Serling’s role in its creation started to fade away as he focused on his new teaching career. In the fourth season, things started to go downhill. One of the main writers, Charles Beaumont, developed a brain disease and many ghost writers were added in his absence. Serling was busy with teaching and even though he was still writing for the show, he wasn’t being as involved in it as before. In the fifth and final season, Serling knew that the show probably wasn’t going to last much longer. He was exhausted and creatively drained, the writers were being replaced by more ghostwriters, network interference was pushing for changes in some of the episodes, and this season produced no Emmy nominations or awards.
CBS decided to cancel the show in 1964. ABC made Serling an offer to continue with the show on their network under the name Witches, Warlocks, and Werewolves but Serling declined. He hated the idea of his show being turned into another campy creature feature and gave up any projects involving the supernatural for years.
So why does The Twilight Zone matter so much? It matters because of its message. The Twilight Zone was a show that was made to tell you a story. One that you could relate to even if you couldn’t in real life. Stories about growing old, acceptance, racism, sexism, classism, the horrors of war, the unknown of death, etc. This show took those lessons and made them make an impact in many strange and creative ways. For every creepy and downright disturbing episode, there would also be a uniquely told tragic comedy or a heartfelt soul lifting story.
This show gave careers to many up and coming actors of the day and cemented it’s place in pop culture. It’s theme song is still one of the most recognized in TV history. Even after a few revivals, the original show remains to be an iconic piece of horror and TV history. In its 156 episode run between 1959 and 1964, it taught us many moral lessons and continues to today.
I still will never forget sneaking into the living room at midnight and turning the TV on, just to get an episode or two of The Twilight Zone. Episodes like Eye Of The Beholder, Kick The Can, and Five Characters In Search Of An Exit remain my favorites to this day. I’m grateful to this show for influencing so many of my core values and inspiring me and I’m sure many others are as well.
“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone.”
— Rod Serling
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