13 Ways ‘The Twilight Zone’ Transformed Sci-Fi TV

4. The Murderer’s Row of TV Writers

While it was Serling who wrote about about two-thirds of the episodes of the original run, he also drafted a group of people who would go on to influence the paths of both science fiction and television. Among the show’s original writers were esteemed sci-fi writers Charles Beaumont and Ray Bradbury, George Clayton Johnson, who wrote the first episode of Star Trek and Logan’s Run, Richard Matheson, who dropped I Am Legend, Earl Hamner, Jr., the creator of The Waltons, Reginald Rose, one of early televisions most influential writers, and Jerry Sohl, who later contributed to Alfred Hitcock Presents, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek.

5. Science fiction was a tough sell in the 50s

Rod Serling — previously esteemed in the television writing community — saw his star take a considerable hit in the early days of The Twilight Zone. At one point Mike Wallace even told him, “[Y]ou’re going to be, obviously, working so hard on The Twilight Zone that, in essence, for the time being and for the foreseeable future, you’ve given up on writing anything important for television, right?”

6. Serling Was a ‘Behind the Scenes’ Man

Everyone who’s seen an episode of the show has likely fallen just a little in love with the businesslike man who introduced each story. Over the years, Rod Serling’s hosting duties on The Twilight Zone have become incredibly esteemed for the unique charisma he lent the series. At first, though, Serling actually had to be coerced to appear on the show because he was extremely nervous going in front of the camera.