There once was a man who completely brought intelligence with entertainment and had figured out a creative way to be able to express undiscussed and touchy issues without being censored. The sheer, unadulterated brilliance and magical writing ability of Rod Serling had broken down barriers through his presentation of “The Twilight zone”. The show delivered unique tales of endless versatility of premises and was the way for Rod Serling to be able to broadcast issues of racial prejudice, philosophical perspectives, and various bizarre predicaments dealing with nightmarish, comedic and sometimes romantic fantasies that was to be categorized as “Science fiction”.

Held a Bachelor’s degree in Literature from Antioch College in Ohio, Serling’s first writing job was in WLW radio as a staff writer. Inspired by television and radio playwright, Norman Corwin, Serling hones his writing skills and eventually found his home in CBS as WLW was one of its many franchises. 1951 breaks Serling’s television doors through numerous series including “Fireside theater”, “The Doctor” and “The Storm” to name a few. Finally tired of his original scripts from being butchered by the networks and sponsors, Serling achieved to have his own show in 1959 that would be one of the most legendary breakthrough to convey important social messages through fictional and scientifically inspired fantasy. Armed with writers that he absolutely admired namely Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson, the show successfully tackled issues of controversial categories in social perspectives like no other. Generating a loyal fan base, The Twilight Zone lasted Five seasons with 156 episodes (92 was written by Serling himself). 1964 was the final season of the show as Serling became wearied and just let the show get canceled.

Rod Serling paved the way for innovative stories with epic proportions that packs premises that was so ahead of its time and influenced more of the same category that it pioneered with such shows as “The outer limits”, “Star trek”, “The X files” and others. Serling pushed the envelope of story telling with quite a few lessons for the moral and a lot of thought provoking originality. One of my many favorite episodes was “Eye of the beholder”. The story of a woman that was allegedly repulsive and rejected by her society because of her appearance. She went to get a surgery to fix the problem, while no faces were revealed throughout the episode and the twist of the story’s climax revealed with the opposite of mundane and predictable expectancies. Rod Serling will always be an inspiration for me as far as creative writing is concerned and I am eternally grateful for all the tales that he told.