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Rod Serling hated when ''The Twilight Zone'' went into syndication
"You wouldn't recognize what the series was."
In the same way that Rod Serling was a major part of The Twilight Zone from beginning to end, both on-screen and off, the series had an incredible impact on his life, professionally and personally.
According to Anne Serling's book, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling, the series had an impact on Serling even after it went off the air. She wrote, "Shortly after it goes off the air, The Twilight Zone begins its eternal life in syndication. My father sees what syndication does to each episode."
Serling worked hard to discuss heavier and more socially conscious topics in episodes of The Twilight Zone, and it's arguably the reason that so many moments throughout the series still have an impact on viewers after all of these years.
According to a Detroit Free Press article, Serling once stated of the show's move to syndication, "You wouldn't recognize what the series was. Full scenes deleted. It looks like a long, protracted commercial separated by fragmentary moments of indistinct drama." Anne Serling wrote, "It is tremendously frustrating for him to watch the dissection of his stories."
It was a tension that existed between Serling and the network even before The Twilight Zone went into syndication. An article in the Kingsport Times remembered Serling having said, "It's a crime, but scripts with social significance can't be done on TV." and that he was "tired of fighting the fight."
It was also something that Serling's entire family was aware of, not just his daughter. According to an interview with the Associated Press, Serling's widow, Carol Serling, said of her husband, "Through parable and suggestion, he could make points that he couldn't make on straight television because there were too many sacred cows and sponsors and people who said you couldn't do that."
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16 Comments
Hosted The Zero Hour.
Serling never touted himself as any paragon of virtue... he editorialized, and in a free society, the ability to express one's opinion - even if it meets with the disdain or rejection by others, is what we always cite when speaking of our First Amendment rights.
The very ability to post your point of view on this forum is a pure example of this... and although I may disagree with your take on the show, I certainly respect your right and privilege to feel as you do. Equally, I admired Serling's ability to make people think about their actions and behavior, and what consequences might result from taking anything too far afield.
I found many of the episodes thought-provoking and even timely to this day... and perhaps you felt just the opposite... but neither of us should ever fall into the trap of invalidating the other's point of view.
Dissention in any productive form is a positive tool that [hopefully] leads to a better understanding of people, and perhaps even promotes reasonable compromise where neither party gives in, but both parties gain from their contrasting opinions...
Twilight Zone. They should be watching a show where you don't have to think. Like "Sesame Street".
I just wanted to show him that these stories do not have to be a "soapbox" in order to open someone's mind to a perspective that teaches a moral or point *without* being preachy... but only the perspective of the writer/producer/director, etc.