From: garrison@efn.org   
      
   'Twilight Zone' still relevant at 50   
      
   By William Kates • The Associated Press • October 1, 2009   
      
   On a Friday night in October 1959, Americans began slipping into a dimension of   
   imagination as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. They've really never   
   returned.   
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   "The Twilight Zone," first submitted for the public's approval by a reluctant   
   CBS, has resonated with viewers from generation to generation with memorable   
   stories carrying universal messages about society's ills and the human   
   condition. Rod Serling's veiled commentary remains as soul-baring today as it   
   did a half-century ago, and the show's popularity endures in multiple facets of   
   American pop culture.   
      
   The original show - which ran just five seasons, 1959-64 - included some   
   Serling   
   stories first aired in Cincinnati on "The Storm," a live drama he produced at   
   WKRC-TV in 1951-52. Serling started his professional writing career at WLW in   
   1950 after graduating from Antioch College.   
      
   CBS has no plans to observe the show's 50th anniversary, said spokesman Chris   
   Ender. The Syfy Channel regularly broadcasts "The Twilight Zone" and plans a   
   15-show marathon Friday.   
      
   In 1958, CBS bought Serling's teleplay, "The Time Element" - an expanded   
   version   
   of a story he wrote for WKRC-TV in 1951 - which Serling hoped would be the   
   pilot   
   to his weekly series. The story was about a bartender who keeps waking up in   
   Pearl Harbor knowing the Japanese will be attacking the next day but unable to   
   convince anyone he's telling the truth.   
      
   But CBS shelved the series after buying it. Bert Granet, producer of the   
   "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse," wanted the script. He bought it for $10,000.   
      
   The story aired on Nov. 24, 1958, and became the Westinghouse series' biggest   
   hit. CBS finally decided to take a chance on Serling's series.   
      
   John Kiesewetter contributed to this story.   
   http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091001/ENT11/910010323/1055   
   NEWS/+Twilight+Zone++still+relevant+at+50   
      
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