Editing Rod Serling (section)

====''The Twilight Zone''====
{{Main|The Twilight Zone|The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)}}

[[File:Rod Serling dictating script 1959.jpg|thumb|upright|Serling working on a script with a dictating machine, 1959]]
In early 1959,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety214-1959-04 |title=Variety (April 1959) |date=April 1959 |publisher=Variety |others=Media History Digital Library}}</ref> Serling formed his own film production company, Cayuga Productions, and in July 1959 signed an exclusive three-year contract with [[CBS]], stipulating that he would continue delivering telescripts for ''Playhouse 90'', as well as create, write, and produce new properties for the network (one of which became the new series, [[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|''The Twilight Zone'']]).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai86unse |title=Motion picture daily |date=1959 |location=New York |publisher=Motion Picture Daily |others=MBRS Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1959-08-06 |title=Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/639313436/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1959-07-20 |title=Redlands Daily Facts from Redlands, California |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/10773516/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1959-09-14 |title=The Post-Standard from Syracuse, New York |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1101360122/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref> On October 2, 1959, the ''Twilight Zone'' series, premiered on [[CBS]].<ref name=Scribner/>

For this series, Serling fought hard to get and maintain creative control. He hired scriptwriters he respected, such as [[Richard Matheson]] and [[Charles Beaumont]]. In an interview, Serling said the show's science fiction format would not be controversial<ref name=AmericanMasters>{{cite episode |title=Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval |series=American Masters |series-link=American Masters |season=10 |number=1 |network=[[PBS]] |air-date=November 29, 1995}}</ref> with sponsors, network executives, or the general public and would escape censorship, unlike the earlier script for ''Playhouse 90''.

Serling drew on his own experience for many episodes, frequently about boxing, military life, and airplane pilots. ''The Twilight Zone'' incorporated his social views on racial relations, somewhat veiled in the science fiction and fantasy elements of the shows. Occasionally, the point was quite blunt, such as in the episode "[[I Am the Night—Color Me Black]]", in which hatred caused a dark cloud to form in a small town in the American Midwest and spread across the world. Many ''Twilight Zone'' stories reflected his views on gender roles, featuring quick-thinking, resilient women as well as shrewish, nagging wives.

''The Twilight Zone'' aired for five seasons (the first three presented half-hour episodes, the fourth had hour-long episodes, and the fifth returned to the half-hour format). It won many television and drama awards and drew critical acclaim for Serling and his co-workers. Although it had loyal fans, ''The Twilight Zone'' had only moderate ratings and was twice canceled and revived. After five years and [[List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes|156 episodes]] (92 written by Serling), he grew weary of the series. In 1964, he decided not to oppose its third and final cancellation.

Serling sold the rights to ''The Twilight Zone'' to CBS. His wife later claimed he did this partly because he believed that his own production company, Cayuga Productions, would never recoup the production costs of the programs, which frequently went over budget.

''The Twilight Zone'' eventually resurfaced in the form of a 1983 film by [[Warner Bros]]. Former ''Twilight Zone'' actor [[Burgess Meredith]] was cast as the film's narrator, but does not appear on screen. There have been three attempts to revive the television series with mostly new scripts. In 1985, CBS used [[Charles Aidman]] (and later [[Robin Ward (television personality)|Robin Ward]]) as the narrator. In 2002, [[UPN]] featured [[Forest Whitaker]] in the role of narrator.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-23-et-susan23-story.html|title=UPN Hoping It Can Revive the Magic of 'Twilight Zone' Series | first= Susan |last= King| date=September 23, 2002|work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | archive-date=August 18, 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160818113710/http://articles.latimes.com/2002/sep/23/entertainment/et-susan23| url-status=live}}</ref> In 2019, CBS made a [[The Twilight Zone (2019 TV series)|third attempt]] at a successful revival, with [[Jordan Peele]] taking on producing duties as well as being host and narrator.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/09/jordan-peele-twilight-zone-cbs-all-access-rod-serling-1202468028/|title='The Twilight Zone': Jordan Peele To Host & Narrate CBS All Access Reboot|last=Ramos|first=Dino-Ray|date=September 20, 2018|website=Deadline|language=en|access-date=February 4, 2019}}</ref>