by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell
Submitted for your approval, the greatest TV show of all time: The Twilight Zone.
Rod Serling
It was the brainchild of Rod Serling, who served as executive producer and host of the anthology series. He had a voice like a modulated tension wire, with which he delivered the intro and outro of each episode. He also wrote 92 of the 152 scripts, an amazing output considering the fresh twists and turns that were the hallmarks of the Zone. Two other prolific contributors were Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson, each of whom wrote some of the most memorable offerings. With writers like that it is no wonder the show was high in the ratings from 1959 to 1964.
And it’s a gift that keeps on giving, as each new generation gets to discover it via the July 4th “marathons” on the Syfy and Heroes & Icons networks, not to mention streaming. You’ll also see many famous actors early in their careers, like Robert Redford, William Shatner (“There’s a man on the wing!”), Robert Duvall, Jack Warden, Martin Landau, Leonard Nimoy, Elizabeth Montgomery, Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin and on and on. Sometimes the actors were in the twilight of their careers, like Ed Wynn and Buster Keaton.
I was a bit too young to appreciate the original airings, but the show has never been out of reruns. When I did see them, the impact was palpable.
I’ll never forget the profound gut punch I felt when I first watched “Time Enough at Last” (written by Serling) which is consistently voted the most memorable episode. That’s the one with Burgess Meredith, and I shan’t get within miles of revealing the twist. Hunt it down and watch before you read anything about it. (This should be your ironclad rule for any episode of the Zone!)
Equally stunning is the other episode that gets the most votes, “Eye of the Beholder” (Serling).
For you youngsters out there who’ve never seen a Zone, let me say I envy you! You’ve got some incomparable experiences coming. As a public service, I shall give you my personal list of favorite episodes (adding to the two just mentioned):
- “The Howling Man” (Beaumont)
- “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (Matheson)
- “The Hitch-Hiker” (Serling)
- “Perchance to Dream” (Beaumont)
- “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” (Serling, and an episode that absolutely speaks to us today)
- “It’s a Good Life” (Serling)
- “To Serve Man” (Serling and Damon Knight)
And my all-time fave, the second episode of the first season, written by Serling, “One for the Angels.” I shall give you here Serling’s outro which does not contain spoilers, but sums up the heart of the episode:
Ed Wynn in “One for the Angels”
Lewis J. Bookman, age sixtyish. Occupation: pitchman. Formerly a fixture of the summer, formerly a rather minor component to a hot July. But, throughout his life, a man beloved by the children, and therefore, a most important man. Couldn’t happen, you say? Probably not in most places – but it did happen…in the Twilight Zone.
I’ve long thought a good personality test would be knowing a person’s favorite Zone. So what does this episode tell me about me? That I’m a lot like Rod Serling. He had a soft heart and many of his episodes end on a redemptive note. That’s me. I love redemption. And justice.
Which reminds me that Serling wrote the script for one of my favorite political thrillers, Seven Days in May. What a cast! Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Martin Balsam. I won’t give any spoilers here, but if you like you can hop over to my Substack and see what I wrote about it (reproducing one of the great movie lines of all time!)
The lesson here is that twists and turns that are tightly woven into the plot are the golden threads of reading pleasure. But what makes that gold truly glitter is heart.
Maybe you’re not a softie. You still have a heart (I’m assuming). What is it you care most deeply about, besides selling books? Tap into it. Draw from it. Make it thrum throughout your work.
Rod Serling came to prominence in 1950s television, with a special empathy for the working stiff. Several of his episodes dealt with the pressures on executives and salesmen. “A Stop at Willoughby” is a notable example. Here’s the intro:
James Daly in “A Stop at Willoughby”
This is Gart Williams, age thirty-eight, a man protected by a suit of armor all held together by one bolt. Just a moment ago, someone removed the bolt, and Mr. Williams’ protection fell away from him, and left him a naked target. He’s been cannonaded this afternoon by all the enemies of his life. His insecurity has shelled him, his sensitivity has straddled him with humiliation, his deep-rooted disquiet about his own worth has zeroed in on him, landed on target, and blown him apart. Mr. Gart Williams, ad agency exec, who in just a moment, will move into the Twilight Zone—in a desperate search for survival.
Here’s an exercise: Write a Twilight Zone intro and outro for your WIP. This will tell you directly whether you’re tapping a vein or just spinning your wheels hoping for traction.
So what is your favorite Zone? (Try to avoid spoilers if you can, for there may be a young writer out there who has the series waiting to be binged.)
What does your favorite episode tell you about yourself and your writing?
***
If you’re interested in what made Rod Serling tick, I highly recommend you take twenty minutes to watch this interview from 1959, back when Mike Wallace and his guest could light up and carry on a meaningful and substantive conversation. Serling was intelligent, articulate, self-aware and honest about what he wanted to be as a writer. One of my heroes.
Back home on my mountain and just getting into my routine, which includes a TKZ stop every morning. I’m old enough to remember the original Twilight Zone, although I have no memory of titles of episodes. But based on the titles you’ve shared, I can draw up the plots.
Your challenge is an interesting one. When my brain gets into the right time zone and I reopen the wip, I’ll give it a shot.
Terry Odell, novelist, waking up at home on a mountain. Everything appears to be normal. But in a Terry Odell will plumb the depths of her WIP and what she’ll find there will be a long day’s journey into…The Twilight Zone.
The show’s broadcast years were my college years, where I was busy with more than just books, supporting my education as an IBM 704 computer operator, rock band guitarist (three bands), guitar teacher, and backyard mechanic (1930 Model A Ford). Somewhere in there I made time to watch Rod Serling whenever I could. His pithy intros and outros formed the foundation of my love for the English language. Thanks for the memoir, Jim.
Serling was so intelligent, as that Mike Wallace interview shows.
Seven Days in May! what a movie (the novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II is terrific, too). And that line… it’s a nuclear flash, stripping bare the truth.
Rod Serling forever.
Thanks for dropping by, Meg. I’ve never read the novel, but will do so on your recommendation!
Jim, thanks for this tribute to a giant among writers. Serling wrote 30 minute masterpieces. No matter how many times I watch them, knowing in advance the twists that are coming, they still cause that emotional explosion.
It was an absolutely astounding achievement in writing. They made a mistake when they went to an hour-long format for a season, returning for one more at 1/2 hour (which is perfect for Serling-esque stories). Rod did get burned out, he admitted, which is why the show ultimately ceased. He came back a few years later with Night Gallery, which was pretty good, and famously began the career of a fellow named Steven Spielberg.
Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents are constantly battling in my heart for best show of all time.
My favorite episode of Twilight Zone is one of the more rare one hour entries. “Devil’s Printer,” one of several episodes starring Burgess Meredith, was about a magical printing press that predicted the breaking news and appeared to save a small paper.
Yes, the Hitchcock shows are fab. I don’t think the hour-long format served either show well…but I do remember “Printer’s Devil” as being one of the better offerings.
I second what Debbie said, Jim—thank you for this tribute to Rod Serling, a grand master of writing in my book. “Seven Days in May” is a gripping thriller.
I was quite young when the later “Twilight Zone” episodes aired, and grew hearing about it from my dad and his brothers, I’ve seen quite a few episodes by now, but by no means all. That said, I have seen all the episodes you listed, and they are all very impactful. Another which has stuck with me is “Walking Distance,” about a man who somehow returns to his childhood home as it was 25 years earlier. A very haunting episode.
Clearly I have a new project (re)watching all of “The Twilight Zone.”
Yes, “Walking Distance” is another of Serling’s plots about an executive going into the past to redeem his present. Pure Rod.
I confess to not ever having watched the Twiilight Zone, despite my advanced age (62). That being said, I think I’ll have to binge it this week with my wife out of town. That Rod Sterling interview was amazing. Wish I could find the courage to quit my day job to just write full-time. Alas, I’m an accountant and by nature risk averse. LOL! Thank you for sharing this.
You are in for many treats, Douglas! Pop some popcorn and plop on the sofa. Your next stop? You know where…
That Mike Wallace interview was pure gold. It’s interesting to see that the dismissiveness of “commercial” writing was alive and well way back in 1959.
I’ve been watching old episodes of “What’s My Line” with Bennett Cerf and John Daley and Dorothy Kilgallen, et. al., and it’s interesting to note that there was a complexity to the English spoken in the late 1950s and early ’60s that has disappeared in modern times, but is very much on display in the Serling interview.
You are so right, John. The level of discourse, even panel shows, was so much richer than today’s clickbait chatter.
Wonderful post, Jim! I’m in love with all the episodes, but I want to give a shout-out to THE BEWITCHIN’ POOL, filmed in color during the series’ final season. It stars Mary Badham, who played Scout in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Her on-the-nose role in this episode was playing a pre-adolescent girl named Sport, who escapes her endlessly bickering parents with her younger brother through a magical portal at the bottom of the family swimming pool. It leads to a Tom Sawyer-esque haven for neglected kids run by matronly Aunt T., and cake is always on the menu. Of course a portal is always a great doorway of no return, and I’ve used them in my stories.
Yes, great episode written by Earl Hamner, Jr who later created The Waltons. I believe this may have been the very last episode of Twilight Zone.
On some online discussion of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, some youngster, blissfully unaware that TZ was the originator, said they didn’t care for TZ because of it was full of cliched stories.
My favorites were Appalachian folklore based. The woman on the porch waiting for her husband to return from the Civil War as a parade of wounded soldiers limp past her. “Jess-Belle,” asks a local witch to help her gain the love of a man. “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank” where a man wakes up at his own funeral. An old man and his dog on the trail to somewhere, and the choice the man must make about the dog.
That youngster’s comment is sadly funny (or hilariously depressing). SMH.
Jess-Belle was another by Hamner.
Loved the man and dog on the road. As Will Rogers said, “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”
I haven’t seen a lot of Twilight Zone episodes, but of the ones I have seen my favorites (may have the titles wrong) are The Man on the Wing and Willoughby. So memorable.
The man on the wing episode is “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” Shatner is terrific!
Not sure I have the brainpower today to recall my favorite Zone episode, Jim. Just tested positive for Covid. 😩
The show entranced me from beginning to end, back in the day.
“a voice like a modulated tension wire” is such a spot-on description. Love it!