All Time Greatest Television Series: #6 The Twilight Zone

By the time I started watching The Twilight Zone it was long since in reruns. Running between 1959 and 1964, the show ran well before I was born. Yet despite that, I still watch episodes today, and I’m amazed out how timely they are and how well they translate to today’s world. The intro jingle is probably the best in the history in television. It fits perfectly to get the viewer in the mood for the show. Adding to that is the narration by Rod Serling. Besides being a great writer, he also had a great voice. The writing was amazingly intelligent. The acting was hit or miss. Certainly there were great actors who had great careers afterward, but some of the acting makes me cringe.

There were so many classic episodes, many of which were borrowed later on in various forms of media, which showed the power of these episodes. Among my favorite were “Time Enough at Last”, “The Eye of the Beholder”, and “To Serve Man”. There were many shows that came afterward that tried to imitate the original such as The Outer Limits, Tales from the Darkside, and Night Gallery, but nothing will ever equal the original Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone.