The quintessential anthology series is The Twilight Zone; created, written and narrated by Rod Serling. Serling was hot property in the 1950s as a TV writer, having penned scripts for The Doctor, Fireside Theatre and Hallmark Hall Of Fame, before achieving massive acclaim with The Rack and Requiem For A Heavyweight.
But it was in 1957 that Serling wrote the pilot for a weekly anthology series, entitled The Time Element -- a time-travel yarn about a man visiting Pearl Harbor prior to the Japanese attack. Serling wanted to craft similar stories for a continuing series, called The Twilight Zone, but after CBS bought his script, the project was shelved.
Bert Granet discovered Serling's script soon after, and The Time Element was made and released in 1958. It received widespread acclaim from the public, who flooded the studio with 6000 letters of praise. CBS courted Serling to create the intended anthology series, and a formal Pilot episode was written, called Where Is Everybody?
Serling assembled a team of writers for The Twilight Zone, aiming to provide insightful social commentary through fantastical means. Many of the characters would also be used to operate around an episode's parable, or allegory, to reflect their psychology.
The Twilight Zone proved to be a tough sell for Serling, with many critics turning their nose up at the idea of science fiction appealing to adults. Nevertheless, the series went ahead and Serling himself became synonymous with the show, acting as the narrator who introduced every episode -- and occasionally even interrupted storylines.
After its premiere in 1959, the show became a huge hit with critics, although ratings were initially low. The third episode, Mr Denton On Doomsday, fared particularly poorly with a lowly 16.3 rating. A short hiatus could have spelled the end for the show, but it scraped through to complete its first season. Funnily enough, many of The Twilight Zone's classic episodes come from this poor start: Time Enough At Last, The After Hours and Walking Distance.
Season 2 improved matters with better, surreal opening titles and the addition of new writers to the staff. In an effort to keep costs low, the show was shot in videotape instead of film, and it went on to win a few Emmy's, including Best Dramatic Writing for Serling.
By the third season, Serling was feeling drained. He has thus far written 48 scripts, equaling 78% of the show's output! This dropped to 56% in season 3. Critics noticed a drop in quality, but many classic episodes were still being written. Noted author Ray Bradbury also contributed a story. The show reached 100 episodes and got 2 Emmy nominations (cinematography and art design.)
1962. Season 4 heralded a change in title (dropping "The" to become Twilight Zone) and was expanded to an hour. Serling still contributed many scripts, but his producing took a backseat.
The fifth season would prove to be Twilight Zone's last, as behind-the-scenes problems with the staff resulted in unpopular rewrites and mismanagement by producer William Frough. Despite the problems, some classic episodes were still aired, such as Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (starring William Shatner) and Living Doll.
But, in late-1964, CBS canceled the series -- supposedly because of its big budget and poor ratings. Rival network ABC expressed interesting in continuing the show, but Serling wasn't happy about their intention to change the title to Witches, Warlocks & Werewolves!
Serling sold his 40% in The Twilight Zone to CBS and left the show behind... although he would return to the genre in 1969s Night Gallery TV series.
The show left an indelible mark on the TV landscape that wasn't easy to forget. Steven Spielberg produced a homage to the show called Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983 (which famously remade the Nightmare At 20,000 Feet episode as a vignette with John Lithgow), but the film faced a lukewarm response. CBS had considered reviving the show on TV for many years prior, but it only happened when the young fans of the 50s series grew into adult screenwriters in the 80s...
So, in 1984 an official revival took place and the show was reborn with 80s-era special effects and the writing talent of J. Michael Straczynski (who would go on to create Babylon 5 in the 90s). The new series, sometimes referred to as The New Twilight Zone, wasn't a big hit -- but it has retained a cult following and a few episodes are held in high esteem, such as Her Pilgrim Soul.
In 1994, Serling's widow discovered a Twilight Zone script called Where The Dead Are whilst rummaging through her late-husband's things. A project entitled Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics was produced, using Serling's unmade script and one by Richard Matheson. The resulting 2-hour special met with mixed feelings from audiences. The ratings weren't very good, so a proposed sequel (using 3 more Matheson scripts) wasn't pursued.
UPN created a second revival of the show in 2002, with Forest Whitaker narrating. The show was 1 hour long, but consisted of 2 standalone stories. Most episodes were brand new, although the series did remake some classic stories, such as The Monsters Are On Maple Street and Eye Of The Beholder. Just like its 50s progenitor, it tackled modern day issues through fantasy, but only lasted one season because of bad ratings.
Along the way, the series has also inspired a comic-book run, radio series, theme park ride and pinball game! Not to mention an affectionate parody in the cartoon series Futurama, where the show is known as The Scary Door.
Trivia
1. CBS originally wanted Orson Welles to narrate the series.
2. Rod Serling encouraged viewers to send in scripts for the show. He received 14,000 screenplays from eager fans... but could only manage to read 500... and found only 2 that he liked. Unfortunately, those 2 didn't really fit the show's format, so were never taken any further.
