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Rod Serling: Submitted For Your Approval (Serling Documentary On TV Tonight)
PBS.Org ^
| December 2003
Posted on 12/29/2003 3:22:04 PM PST by PJ-Comix
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I will definitely be watching this documentary tonight on PBS at 9 PM EST since I am a big Rod Serling fan. HOWEVER, the writer of this piece just couldn't resist showing his political bias by slamming conservatives. Take a look (sigh):
Throughout the 1950s he continued to write probing investigative dramas about serious issues. He was often hounded by the conservative censors for his uncompromising attention to issues such as lynching, union organizing, and racism.
WHAT "conservative censors?" These "censors" were hired by the LIBERAL networks.
Fed up with the difficulties of writing about serious issues on the conservative networks, Serling turned to science fiction and fantasy.
SIGH? Again, WHAT conservative networks? Name ONE! The writer of this piece just tosses "conservatives" out there as some sort of boogymen with NO evidence.
Through an ingenious mixture of morality fable and fantasy writing, he was able to circumvent the timidity and conservatism of the television networks and sponsors.
Again with the hangup about conservatives. The FR is the biggest CONSERVATIVE forum on the web but I've read nothing but compliments here about Rod Serling. This writer must be in his own TWILIGHT ZONE beyond time and space...and reality.
Anyway, please don't let the IDIOT writer of this piece turn you off to this documentary. I definitely plan to watch it. A lot of folks including the LIBERAL networks didn't understand Serling. When his Twilight Zone series was remade they concentrated on the special effects at the expense of the great story lines. One thing not well known about Serling was that many of his nightmarish Twilight Zone episodes were directly affected by his horrifying experiences in the Phillipines during WWII as a paratrooper. For years afterwards, Serling suffered from nightmares of this experience and this was reflected in his scripts. Hopefully this topic will be covered on this documentary.
1
posted on
12/29/2003 3:22:05 PM PST
by
PJ-Comix
To: PJ-Comix
No mention of Night Gallery, a watchable reprise of Twilight-Zoney themes for a season or two in the early 70s. Used to come on after Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, I think.
2
posted on
12/29/2003 3:26:29 PM PST
by
VadeRetro
To: PJ-Comix
The son of a butcher, he joined the armySurely just an accidental juxtaposition there. The author couldn't possibly have meant or intended readers to infer: "The son of a butcher, [naturally] he joined the army ..."
3
posted on
12/29/2003 3:29:01 PM PST
by
coloradan
(Hence, etc.)
To: PJ-Comix
Thanks for the heads-up. I always enjoy TTZ, even if I've seen the episode a dozen times.
4
posted on
12/29/2003 3:29:03 PM PST
by
jolie560
To: VadeRetro
I hate the Spielberg Twilight Zone episodes they broadcast after Serling died. They were horrible. Basically they relied on special effects and the storylines were just afterthoughts. They (NOT conservatives) just didn't understand the IDEAS behind the Twighlight Zone.
5
posted on
12/29/2003 3:29:20 PM PST
by
PJ-Comix
(Saddam Hussein was only 537 Florida votes away from still being in power)
To: PJ-Comix
Was the Planet of the Apes the 1960's movie script or was it a twilight zone episode?
I read the book by Pierre Boulle many years ago, and Serling had no part in that effort.
I was also a big fan of Rod Serling, and some months ago I posted some information about him was was easily obtainable from diverse internet sources.
6
posted on
12/29/2003 3:29:30 PM PST
by
Radix
(I am just a FReeper, with a winning Football team..)
To: jolie560
I don't think this will be a rebroadcast of Twilight Zone episodes. Instead it is a documentary about Serling. BTW, if you notice, quite a few of the Twilight Zone episodes take place in central Ohio. Most likely because Serling went to college in that area.
7
posted on
12/29/2003 3:31:21 PM PST
by
PJ-Comix
(Saddam Hussein was only 537 Florida votes away from still being in power)
To: PJ-Comix
Hey thanks for the heads up! I loved the TZ and Night Gallery had its moments as well.
Could you imagine the morons responsible for dreck like Will and Grace, Queer Eye, or just about any TV show you can name writing up to the standard of the worst TZ show?
LOL!
To: Radix
Was the Planet of the Apes the 1960's movie script or was it a twilight zone episode? 1960s movie script.
I read the book by Pierre Boulle many years ago, and Serling had no part in that effort.
True but Serling's script actually improved things. Boulle set the ape society in a futuristic setting. Serling changed that so the apes advanced only to the technological level of the 19th century. It worked beautifully on the big screen that way.
9
posted on
12/29/2003 3:36:01 PM PST
by
PJ-Comix
(Saddam Hussein was only 537 Florida votes away from still being in power)
To: Walkin Man
The Twilight Zone was probably the BEST series ever on TV. And remember, its HIGH QUALITY lasted through all its seasons. Almost every episode was of OUTSTANDING quality.
10
posted on
12/29/2003 3:37:43 PM PST
by
PJ-Comix
(Saddam Hussein was only 537 Florida votes away from still being in power)
To: PJ-Comix
Thank you so much for posting this; I will be watching.
I LOVED 'Twilight Zone' and 'Night Gallery', and I have every VHS that has been made available on both of them. One of my favorites from Twilight Zone: An elderly lady knows "Death" is coming to visit her and she does not want him to. So when a handsome, young, gentle stranger comes to visit, she doesn't realize it's "Death" until he finally convinces her to go with him. I kept thinking I recognized "Death" but couldn't place him; turns out it was Robert Redford at about age 20-22!
Kids today don't know what they've missed...excellent writing with unexpected twists in the plots.
11
posted on
12/29/2003 3:40:49 PM PST
by
Maria S
("…the end is near…this time, Americans are serious; Bush is not like Clinton." Uday Hussein 4/9/03)
To: PJ-Comix
Any mention of the radio dramas? Not that they were made in Serling's lifetime, but perhaps interesting to show the lingering power of the show.
12
posted on
12/29/2003 3:41:07 PM PST
by
supercat
(Why is it that the more "gun safety" laws are passed, the less safe my guns seem?)
To: PJ-Comix
After returning from the service, Serling enrolled as a physical education student at Antioch College, but before long realized that he was destined for more creative endeavors.
We've all had some real characters as gym teachers or sports coaches in our lives, but I think he would've made a particularly interesting one.
To: Maria S
Kids today don't know what they've missed...excellent writing with unexpected twists in the plots. Yeah, the original episodes always had those great twists. The later series just relied on SFX. Serling had a way of tapping into the nightmarish recesses of our minds and putting it on the screen. I still remember as a kid fearfully looking for the boogyman on the airplane's wings whenever I was on a flight just like the William Shatner character did in one of the episodes.
14
posted on
12/29/2003 3:45:03 PM PST
by
PJ-Comix
(Saddam Hussein was only 537 Florida votes away from still being in power)
To: PJ-Comix
Serling had the greatest show ever on television. I was fortunate to befriend one of the producers, who gave me copies of every episode. Some are so great that I retaped them 2-3 times.
Rest in peace, Rod......today you would not be a liberal:)
15
posted on
12/29/2003 3:58:01 PM PST
by
international american
(support our troops................itch slap a liberal today!)
To: PJ-Comix
"YOU MUST CONFORM!"
(No, Waxman didn't say this. But, TZ fans might understand the confusion.)
To: PJ-Comix
The series was called THE TWILIGHT ZONE and was incredibly popular, winning Serling three Emmy Awards. I always heard, and seem to remember, that The Twilight Zone was NOT popular, and always had very poor Neilson ratings.
To: PJ-Comix
"...slamming conservatives."It's PBS. They politicize everything they touch. Now Rod Serling is no longer simply a screen writer, he's been posthumously metamorphosed into a leftist crusader against conservative oppression. That's what our tax dollars are paying for -- a thinly disguised political viewpoint that demeans and slanders us. We actually get to pay for that.
To: Maria S
There were some creepy Night Gallery's, too.
The one's I remember are: 1) the painting of the house that keeps changing, showing a cadaver emerging from a grave and closing in on the house, 2) the lady with the green thumb who is killed by a developer, but she plants her finger first, 3) the mirror into a prehistoric world where a nagging wife goes, 4) the earwig.
-PJ
To: Political Junkie Too
I remember one with Joan Crawford who played a rich blind women who bought sight from a poor man, camera obscura(sp) a primitive camera that could see into hell and another one about an SS death camp guard and a painting.
Pretty scary stuff at the time.
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