The Twilight Zone: The Invaders | One For The Angels | The Eye of the Beholder | The Lonely
Description
Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, was born on Christmas, 1924. Although he is remembered as one of television's greatest writers, Serling's reputation was hard won. He wrote seventy-one scripts before "Patterns", his seventy-second, earned him wide acclaim and an Emmy Award.
In 1956, CBS aired "Requiem For A Heavyweight" as an installment of its Playhouse 90 series. "Requiem," the first ninety-minute drama written expressly for TV, not only swept the 1956 Emmys, but garnered for its author the prestigious Sylvia and George Foster Peabody Awards.
Serling became a hot property indeed. Yet sponsors took exception to the controversial subject matter of his subsequent scripts "Noon On Doomsday" and "A Town Has Turned To Dust." As a result, Serling looked to the medium of science fiction as an alternative. He believed that a science fiction or fantasy format would allow him to express his often incendiary themes more freely.
But, incredibly, the first Twilight Zone script remained on the shelf for almost two years. Sponsors felt that "The Time Element," about a bookie who tries to warn the Army of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor, would offend the Pentagon. Nevertheless, the show aired as part of the Desilu Playhouse—and met with overwhelming enthusiasm and a record amount of viewer mail. In 1959, The Twilight Zone pilot aired, "Where is Everybody?"
For the next five years, over the course of 156 episodes, Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone portrayed the human struggle in terms that were as shocking to TV audiences as they were recognizable. The gifted Serling invited us to "travel through another dimension." It is thanks to him that our travels have left us forever changed. Rod Serling died in 1975.