Editing Rod Serling (section)

====Corporate censorship====
The early years of television often saw [[sponsor (commercial)|sponsors]] working as editors and censors. Serling was often forced to change his scripts after corporate sponsors read them and found something they felt was too controversial. They were wary of anything they thought might make them look bad to consumers, so references to many contemporary social issues were omitted, as were references to anything that might compete commercially with a sponsor. For instance, the line "Got a match?" was deleted because one of the sponsors of "Requiem for a Heavyweight" was [[Ronson (company)|Ronson]] [[lighter]]s.<ref name=CAO/>
[[File:Rod Serling relaxing at home 1959.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Serling at home in 1959, with three of his Emmys on the cabinet behind him]]

The initial story-line of his teleplay ''Noon on Doomsday'' (aired April 25, 1956) was set in the [[Southern United States]] about the lynching of a Jewish pawnbroker. However, when Serling mentioned in a radio interview that it was inspired by the events and racism that led to the murder of [[Emmett Till]], censorship by advertisers and the TV network resulted in significant changes. The program as shown was set in New England and concerned the killing of an unknown foreigner.<ref name="SmithsonianMag_April2019">{{cite web |last1=Mansky |first1=Jackie |title=An Early Run-In With Censors Led Rod Serling to 'The Twilight Zone' |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/early-run-censors-led-rod-serling-twilight-zone-180971837/ |website=The Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=July 3, 2020}}</ref> He subsequently returned to the Till events when writing ''[[A Town Has Turned to Dust (Playhouse 90)|A Town Has Turned to Dust]]'' for 'Playhouse 90' but had to set it a century in the past and remove any inter-racial dynamics before it would be produced by CBS TV.<ref name="SmithsonianMag_April2019" />

Gould, ''The New York Times'' reviewer, added this [[editorial]] note at the end of a glowing review for ''A Town Has Turned to Dust'', a show about racism and bigotry in a small [[Southwestern United States|Southwestern]] town: "'Playhouse 90' and Mr. Serling had to fight executive interference&nbsp;... before getting their play on the air last night. The theater people of Hollywood have reason to be proud of their stand in the viewers' behalf."<ref name=Gould1958>{{Citation |last=Gould | first=Jack | author-link=Jack Gould | title=Prejudice Dissected; Rod Serling's 'A Town Has Turned to Dust' Offered on 'Playhouse 90'  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=June 20, 1958 | page= 47 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/06/20/80782921.html?pageNumber=47 }}</ref>

Frustrated by seeing his scripts divested of political statements and ethnic identities (and having a reference to the [[Chrysler Building]] removed from a script sponsored by Ford), Serling decided the only way to avoid such artistic interference was to create his own show. In an interview with [[Mike Wallace]], he said, "I don't want to fight anymore. I don't want to have to battle sponsors and agencies. I don't want to have to push for something that I want and have to settle for second best. I don't want to have to compromise all the time, which in essence is what a television writer does if he wants to put on controversial themes."<ref name=CAO/>

Serling submitted "The Time Element" to CBS, intending it to be a pilot for his new weekly show, ''The Twilight Zone''. Instead, CBS used the science fiction script for a new show produced by [[Desi Arnaz]] and [[Lucille Ball]], ''[[Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse]],'' in 1958. The story concerns a man who has vivid nightmares of the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. The man goes to a psychiatrist and, after the session, the [[plot twist|twist ending]] (a device which Serling became known for) reveals the "patient" had died at Pearl Harbor, and the ''psychiatrist'' was the one actually having the vivid dreams.<ref name=CAO/> The episode received so much positive fan response that CBS agreed to let Serling go ahead with his pilot for ''The Twilight Zone''.<ref name=CAO/>