3THE TWILIGHT ZONE

Aired: CBS, 1959-1965

No show in the history of television has lingered in the imagination quite like Rod Serling's anthology series, which could function both as a science fiction chiller and an issues-driven examination of human behavior and moral complexities, with climactic twists. Serling had written for Playhouse 90, where he authored the drama "Requiem for a Heavyweight." The Twilight Zone anticipated the hit writer-driven TV dramas of today, given that the actors some famous, some not were less the star of The Twilight Zone than the stories themselves, and the tone Serling conjured, between Cold War paranoia and the dark comedy of life.

How Ray Bradbury mentored Rod Serling and censorship begat The Twilight Zone