"Submitted for your consideration...." I'd like to see an homage to Rod Serling...in the rec room of the starship Enterprise...crew sit around and watch reruns of "the twilight zone".
Met Rod Serling when I was working security at the Atlanta Airport, Serling had almost forgotten his brief case and a friend of mine said don't worry it is just a bad dream which caused Serling to laugh out loud!
Yeah, that was a great episode; I think it was "Time Enough At Last". Burgess Meredith had a few other great episodes like "The Obsolete Man" When Burgess Meredith was in it you knew it was going to be a good episode. Cheers
I am 60 years old, and I remember watching Night Gallery with my papa. Always gave me the shivers, but oh so good. RIP Mr. Serling, and thank you for your service, and your many years of entertaining us ❤
"A Stop at Willoughby" really hits home for me. Didn't see the significance when I was younger, but now at 60, I can relate. Another one with a similar plot is "Walking Distance." You just don't know how good life was as a youngster.
We all dreamed of a place that was in our minds as kids and as adults, I guess we still do, like that line in that episode which said " a man can slow down to a walk and live his life full measure ".
Crazy he was so young. What a loss. Plus, he looked so much older t me than 50, but I think that comes down to the styles of the time. Smoking three packs a day couldn't have helped his skin either.
Met his daughter in Palm Springs in 2021. She was lovely and absolutely adored her father. She made Rod seem more of a person than just an entertainment icon. Her book “As I knew him:My Dad Rod Serling” is a great read for any Rod Serling/Twilight Zone fans.
For me, Rod Serling will always be remembered for "The Twilight Zone." He was an exceptionally gifted host, even his voice sound enhanced the show! "Night Gallery," was good, but no show can compete with "The Twilight Zone," and come out on top.
That Billy Mummy Twilight Zone episode scares me to this day. Another favorite is the next stop is Willoughby episode. I did not realize Serling died so young. I Also did not know his background. But three packs a day will do it to you, I guess...Excellent episode, Steve!
“Willoughby” is my favorite followed by “the bewitching pool” and “nothing in the dark.” I love the twilight zone and these particular episodes gave hope.
@@lexhawkins7442I quit smoking years ago. I’m very glad I did but I have fond memories of drinking beers with friends and smoking cigarettes. But man, they are horrible for you.
The show is regarded as the best TV show of the 20th century. He sold it to CBS for $600K never Considering the re-run money. And of course having no idea that one day there would be home video, DVD'S and blue ray...etc 3 packs a day. Can you imagine? OMG! A brilliant, brilliant man who left his family and the world to soon.
Theirs was a different medium, but movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert agreed that the chief difference between a good movie and a bad movie is not the acting, not the directing, not the special effects--it's the writing. And this explains the greatness of "The Twilight Zone" as well. Serling's writing made you think even as it entertained you. I honestly doubt anything will ever reach the same height again.
I just started watching some Twilight Zone re runs just recently ...not only do they hold up extremely well for an over 60 year old show.. but they reflect a lot of the current issues we see now. Gotta say Rod was in my opinion a genius.
Another example of a very talented and productive person dying at a (relatively) young age because of smoking. It really is mind bogging to me how people could assume it was not harmful to your health and so widely accepted in society. I hope someday, smoking is completely eradicated. I know that is naive, but I still hope.
Doctors were encouraged to smoke while at medical school, especially a pipe as that added a air of intelligence to their appearance ,so patients would listen to their counsel . Also as nicotine is a stimulant and appetite suppressant , smoking was encouraged with the soldiers and on the homefront . Remember food was rationed. The soldiers were issued cigarettes in their meal packets. Everyone smoked almost as part of the war effort, it was one of the few pleasures you could have. Little wonder movies from the 1940's - late 1970's had smoking everywhere by every actor. Right up to COLOMBO , with his constant cigar ... Rod Serling , was a combat experienced paratrooper , smoking would have been the most normal thing in his world ... Serling also volunteered for experimental parachute testing as a way to earn extra money to keep writing ...
I absolutely disagree with your statement that smoking should be eradicated. I guess prohibition didn't teach you anything. It's not the government's business to tell people what to do. Ever here what the government did in New York to people who ignored prohibition...they poisoned the alchohol and murdered 10,000 people and got away with it.
Military handed out cigarettes during WW2 and many got hooked. Stress does that. Getting SHOT at does that, and seeing civilians even if you don't see action can mess you up.
@sdcoinshooter I’m with you on smoking being eradicated some day. But not through governments prohibiting it. Australia leads the way in forcing smokers to quit by high tax on tobacco products. A pack of 20 cigarettes averages at A$55 (US$36), luxury brands up to $60 or more. Australia is the most expensive country in the world in which to smoke. (New Zealand isn’t far behind.) It’s working too. Hardly anyone smokes in Australia, and those that do must be spending so much on ciggies that they’re missing out on other things.
I had a surgery professor who told us in a lecture that "you cannot escape the results of chronic tobacco use over a multi-year period." It causes loss of circulation in many internal structures and organs. As well as chronic vasoconstriction. He told us we will see this among all patients who use tobacco over a multi-year period. It is inescapable. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA) Retired surgeon
Such a brilliant mind and definetly gone too soon. Just about every episode of his shows were favorites. The dollhouse, Creature Outside The Plane, Gambling machine addict and others. I grew up around smokers, never smoked myself. But three packs a day. Guess he was always busy creating he needed something. Brilliant mind. Good video and thank you.
Watched one of my fav's just last night. Anne Francis(Honey West) plays a woman who comes to a Department Store to buy her Mother a gold thimble. She soon discovers she's a mannequin that was on a 1 month furlough and forgot about what she truly was. It is chilling to see mannequin's come alive to bring her back into the fold. Maybe, if you haven't already done it, you can do an episode about her..... Beautiful AND talented. 😀😀😀😀
Three packs a day was excessive even by 1960s standards. Vices ruin lives, whether it's smoking, drinking, drugs. Very few people have enriched the world with such great talent as Rod Serling. it is very sad that he shortened his own life with reckless disregard for his health. RIP
Guy was a total visionary who not only entertained us but predicted many future events. His stories of Irony, fate and the supernatural will live on forever through endless generations to come.
Reading different accounts of Rod's time as a paratrooper during WWII, it's easy to figure out that like so many men who served, Mr. Serling suffered from what we now call PTSD. Writing all those great stories, you can tell it was a form of therapy for Rod. A way to cope with the traumas of begin surrounded by death. With all that being said, THE PURPLE TESTAMENT always comes across as a visual form of survivor's guilt. I like to think Rod imagined himself as the lead character, a man in the armed services with the power to fortell death. Agonizing over the fact that it's a power that hurts more than it helps.❤
Escape Clause, A Game of Pool, The Whole Truth, Deaths-Head Revisited, Printer's Devil, The Masks, to name but a few. The Twilight Zone never gets old.
Everything Rod Serling did professionally was quality TV programming and done in good taste. What sticks out in my mind was the 1961 episode of _The Shelter._ It gives me the creeps to this day!
In the Rod Serling biography, “Rod Serling: The Dreams and Nightmares of Life in the Twilight Zone” by Joel Engle, he wrote that Serling had a four-pack-a-day cigarette habit! In fact, he often felt intensive pain in his fingertips since the nicotine reduced the blood flow to the capillaries.
Some of my teachers in school believed I would not amount to anything because they all said that I was such a procrastinator. I looked him right in the eye and said oh yeah you just wait and see.
Stirling Silliphant, Reginald Rose and Rod Serling-three giants from the golden age of incisive and probing television writing. The likes of which we will probably never see again. Serling’s “They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar” is an indelible teleplay that I’ll never forget my initial viewing of.
I grew up in Pacific Palisades, home to many movie stars and a future President. I went to school with Rod Serling’s daughter who was one of the worst people I’ve ever known. She really thought she was all that and a cup of tea and constantly did really mean things to other students like take a wad of chewing gum and squishing in the hair of a girl that had the most beautiful long hair - she ultimately had to have her hair cut off. She was absolutely horrible and from those that knew her better the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
Hard to imagine Rod Serling as the class clown. I always enjoyed the Twilight Zone but have more vivid memories of watching Night Gallery late nights in the 70’s. Thanks for your content Steve!
Rod spent a lot of time as a young man in Binghamton, NY, near where I live. A few of his episodes were filmed here as well. I wish I had known him, his storytelling was wonderful.
The Twilight Zone has to be one of the best early scifi shows ever. The imagination and creativity that was poured into it was fascinating and gave rise to many other scifi talent in the later years, I mean even as an 80's kid myself I was hooked on it. In recent years, Netflix came up with Black Mirror and that in itself is quite similar to Twilight Zone. RIP Rod your voice and stories will live on as long as the human race runs this little marble.
Decorated World War 2 hero! First volunteer pilot. To help develop the ejector seat. For fighter aircraft. He saved countless lives; involving, military fighter pilots. With his contributions to the fighter aurcraft ejector seat. Genius writer. A true hero and Renaissance man!
Twilight zone was a well thought out series. The stories were riveting. They gave new actors, such as Charles Bronson, Leonard Nimoy, and Elizabeth Montgomery a launching pad for their acting careers.
Ever since I was a kid my favorite episode has been “The Howling Man”. Such a simple concept but so well executed (as were so many episodes). When the devil is released from his cell as a man and progressively transforms into his classical form each time he passes behind a column… Even as a kid it made me think about so much more than just the main plot; it started me questioning what’s really behind a person’s motives when they’re telling you, “Believe what I’m telling you - not everyone else!”
Rod's own secretary said that he smoked five packs a day, and always had a cigarette in his hand. He already looked ten years older than his true age when Twilight Zone began.
@@tzzlite I’ve never understood 1 pack a day, much less 4 or 5. That is a crazy amount of cigarettes in one day, I’d feel sick if I did that. Especially back then they often used to smoke the unfiltered kind, at least before the 50’s.
Nice one! I've been a fan since it was first aired and hardly a day goes by without me watching a few episodes! My favourites are "Third From the Sun", "The Passersby", "Long Live Walter Jameson", "The Grave" and "Mr Garrity and the Graves", just to mention a few. There are just so many great ones! 😎
I really admire Rod Serling. His shows had messages in them, way ahead of it's time. What you need, Obsolete man, Judgement night, the masks, were among my Favorites.
My father was a two packer hacker and died at 62. My oldest sister smoked herself to death with lung cancer at 72. My older brother, tripple bypass at 63. My middle brother had a stroke at 61, also smokers. Cancer, heart disease, and stroke, the smoker's trinity. My last cigarette was June 27, 1975, age 18. I'm 67 and going strong. I hike, bike, weight lift, white water kayak. There's really nothing I still can't do. Just a little slower in some things now.
I worked with a guy who smoked 3 packs a day for years!.. constantly had a cigarette in his hands. He suffered a minor heart attack and quit smoking.. he’s still alive and in his 80’s..
One thing that should be pointed out is not everyone had TV’s back when these shows came out. I grew up in the 80’s and my grandparents didn’t have a TV until 1983. TV’s were a luxury we just couldn’t afford. 3 things I remember my grandparents saving for was that TV, a microwave, and a vacuum cleaner. They were household celebrations when these purchase goals were finally met. Ahhh good times❤️
I worked with a guy who was a 5 pack a day smoker, Lucky Strikes unfiltered, back when smoking was allowed in the office. He died from lung cancer at 53, but he looked at least 70!
Serling was a fantastic writer. He understood the shortcomings of man. He understood that history repeats itself and did what he could to prevent terrible mistakes from happening again. He was an empathetic soul. A genuinely good man. He was addicted to nicotine. If he had lived....he would have no doubt wrote about his battle with that drug.
I had no idea that Rod Serling attended Antioch college in Yellow Springs, which is less than an hour from where I grew up in Dayton, Ohio. And you are right; the Twilight Zone was way ahead of its time and remains one of my favorite programs. I love your videos. I just subscribed.
Rod was brilliant, I believe he stands in the Pantheon of the greatest writers and producers. He won the Bronze Star, holy crap! That is not an easy medal to be awarded and now I understand some of his episodes better. My personal favorite episode is "The Howling Man"; I've watched it no less than 50 times. I was once a three pack a day smoker, it's tough habit to give up.
He was great. His writing was amazing. So sad cigarettes took him at 50 years old. You can see how much the cigarettes Progressed his aging. In the later pictures you showed.i hate smoking. Sorry if I offended anyone
Watching the reruns, I see many stars in when they were just starting their careers. I remember Night Gallery. But, Twight Zone was my favorite. Never knew what to expect.
I remember watching these episodes with my family ... having to turn the lights on when there was a commercial properly assisted with one of my siblings .. then turn ing the lights off when it was time to get back to the show!! Great the stories were in black and white because there were messages to be told in those episodes ... spoke of how we are as human beings!!
Judgment Night, the story of a German U-boat commander that relives the night of his victims every night in his dreams, is my favorite episode of The Twilght Zone. The Four of Us are Dying is another favorite.
I'm a huge "Twilight Zone" fan, and have rewatched every episode within the past few years. Here are some of my favorites: "The Man In The Bottle" "No Time Like The Past" "The Obsolete Man" "Back There"
Oh gosh, there were two that stuck out in my mind, the one with William Shatner and he saw a creature on the airplane wing. Then there was one about the ear wig in the Night Galley, that one really scared me.
Its wild to me to think after such a successful life, his tombstone only recognizes him for his military service. I believe he accomplished greater feats.
A Stop at Willoughby and Time Enough at Last are 2 of my favorites, though I enjoyed so many more episodes. Serling was decades before his time. Today, the Twilight Zone would still be relevant because he took common themes about the human condition and put a sci-fi spin to them. The Twilight Zone would be a blockbuster hit if it were in production today. So sad that another bright light was snuffed out by cigarettes.
Thank you for the video, Mister Sterling was a genius he sould.never been forgotten! I like them all but the one where the business man takes the train and gets off at Willoughby, stayed with me. He travelled through time, simple but so effective! All the episodes make me daydream. Now I cannot wait for Christmas to watch them all again!!
I only got to know "The Twilight Zone" through re-runs, but remember watching "Night Gallery" on live TV when I was a little kid. It aired on a school night and it was a big deal that my mom let me watch it. To this day, I am haunted by the episode where a man begs to be put in a beautiful, serene painting and unbeknownst to him, they switched the paintings and he was forever cast into a hellish torture painting. Thanks for the great bio.
Great video! TWILIGHT ZONE & NIGHT GALLERY are two of my all-time favorite series. It’s a shame he died so young & couldn’t contribute his talents for many more years.
Serling's combat experience affected him deeply and influenced much of his writing. It left him with nightmares and flashbacks for the rest of his life.[4] He said, "I was bitter about everything and at loose ends when I got out of the service. I think I turned to writing to get it off my chest."[3]
The Twilight Zone - the name itself is iconic, even for those of us who never saw an episode. I am sure he was on to something...sounds like a very creative person.
Thank you for a very nice review. I was a Twilight Zone fan as a kid and saw almost every episode as it was released on TV. I recognize every one of the clips you posted. Some of the episodes frightened me so badly that I was terrified to go to sleep. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was one such episode.
