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Before I ever watched a single episode of The Twilight Zone, I knew what it was. Everyone did. The phrase itself wasn’t just a title– it was a feeling. A shorthand for the surreal, the uncanny, the “something’s not right and I can’t quite explain why.” It showed up in conversations, in jokes, in casual references, in Halloween specials and music and sitcom punchlines. The Twilight Zone existed in the pop culture lexicon so thoroughly that you didn’t need to see it to feel like you had. But then I did watch it. I don’t remember where I was, or what episode came first. It was sometime in my early twenties, long after the show had premiered, long after creator, host and narrator Rod Serling had left us. But I remember the feeling of being locked in– drawn into the world he’d created. Or rather,...

Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone is not only one of the greatest television series of all time, but one of the most storied. The anthology format was perfect for telling sci-fi tales with an ironic twist, using the whiplash ending to keep audiences coming back week after week. It arrived during the height of the Space Race, and captured the zeitgeist of the time with uncanny accuracy. At the same time, Serling's penchant for social commentary and observations about human nature helped The Twilight Zone transcend the era it was made to become a timeless classic.

Considering its pedigree, it might come as some surprise that the series has never been a massive ratings hit. The first incarnation of The Twilight Zone lasted five seasons, which is respectable, but far less than other big TV hits of the series such as The Virginian and The Beverly Hillbillies. Its eventual...

In the world of television, first impressions are everything. A great pilot episode is a promise to the audience, telling them what the show is about and how it will go about it, in the hopes that people will be so impressed that they'll tune in every week. If you don't grab them early, you might lose them altogether.

Case in point: If you watch the first episode of Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" you'll find that it is one of the most striking TV series debuts in history. The disturbing standalone tale "Where Is Everybody?" stars Earl Holliman ("Police Woman") as a man who finds himself in a town without any people in it. It's completely deserted from top to bottom, or is it? He keeps coming across signs that people were here, and he only just missed them. Trapped in a completely open world, alone in a...