While Serling and other producers were scrambling to get one, the Twilight Zone was abruptly taken off CBS's fall lineup by executive James T. Before the fourth season was set to air in 1962, the show was unable to find a sponsor, according to the book A Critical History of Television's The Twilight Zone. Why was The Twilight Zone canceled?īelieve it or not, the Twilight Zone was canceled more than once - well, sort of. Because of the niche nature of the show, its run of five seasons was an incredible feat. Creator and host Rod Serling won three Emmy's and a Golden Globe during that time. It aired once a week from September to June during 1959-1964, and was nominated for numerous awards. But while tuning in, many folks are wondering why a cult classic show like the Twilight Zone would go off the air after only five seasons.īefore we get into the real reason why the show ended, it's important to note that the original Twilight Zone anthology had 156 episodes. It kicked off this year on December 31 at 6 a.m., and fans of the show are able to watch every episode from the series well into the new year. to the following 6 a.m.The one thing that's always consistent on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day is Syfy's The Twilight Zone marathon. “When he finally realized that the golden era of live television drama had come to an end, vanquished by commercial interests, he said: ‘We tilted at the same dragons for seven or eight years, and when the smoke cleared, the dragons had won.’” Susan Lacy, who produced a documentary about Serling for PBS, says he became disenchanted when television began to cater to the common denominator, forsaking its literate bent for more common clay. At the beginning of the fourth year it was expanded to one hour, but the longer format was discontinued the following year. Eighty of those aired the first three years of the series, which began with a 30-minute anthology. There were 156 episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” with Serling writing 92 of them. So I always felt bad that a certain part of television went away, the anthology and more literate things.” And it went out after that, Rod Serling along with it. “One of the things that I loved in early television, when I started in television - I did the last ‘Playhouse 90’ that was done, and that was thrilling because that was an anthology of the best literature you could find,with the best talent: directing, writing. But it was Serling who conceived the indelible ending.Īs television consumption widened, the quality diminished and Serling’s jewels began to lose their luster. Someone else wrote the interior of the script and another writer was pulled in to punch up the dialogue. Rod had done, I think, something like 18 drafts, and he finally called me one day and said, ‘Hey, Mort, I’m written out. That ending was so startling that we really did a strange thing. You’re an actor, what do you know about that?’ He was terrific, I thought, with the lack of ego.”įew people know that Serling penned the first script for “Planet of the Apes.” The late Mort Abrahams, who was associate producer on that film, revealed, “Rod broke the back of that script by finding the ending. I mean, usually somebody would say, ‘Go screw yourself’ or ‘Stick to your own field. “He took out his pencil and started jotting the words down and basically used those words. Holliman recalls that one time he made a brash suggestion to Serling about what his character ought to do in the script. He moved into television scripting for many of the top shows of the day including “Studio One,” “The U.S. Serling began writing for radio shortly after the war. “He was never satisfied with what he did. Houghton categorized Serling as a perfectionist. I remember if he disagreed with you he’d smile, and his eyes would twinkle and he’d say, ‘Let me put it this way - you’re wrong.’” “He never believed that he was nearly as talented as he was.”Īctor Earl Holliman, who appeared in the very first “Twilight Zone” episode, “Where is Everybody?” says, “He had a great sense of humor. “He was a very complex man, a very nice man, a very cooperative man who had a social conscience that he tried to put into his stories, and who was even-tempered in a high-temper business,” said Houghton.
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