Did you all know that the Twilight Zone was created in response to Emmett Till?

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Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” Created After Emmett Till-Based Project Was Censored​

Serling originally set out to create a socially conscious series that reflected on American racism.​

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Rod Serling Twilight Zone


Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" was inspired by the murder of Emmett Till. (Nick De Morgoli/ Condé Nast via Getty Images)

BY ARIEL SCOTTI / APRIL 2, 2019 5:00 AM

After the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy, ended in an acquittal, Rod Serling wanted to create a social conscious TV show about race in America.

He was denied. The television industry wasn’t ready.

The censorship that Serling was met with from advertisers and networks fearful of blowback from white, Southern audiences forced him to rethink his approach, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
His ultimate response in the face of this pushback was The Twilight Zone, “the iconic anthology series that spoke truth to the era’s social ills and tackled themes of prejudice, bigotry, nuclear fears, war, among so many others,” in the words of Smithsonian.

“The writer’s role is to be a menacer of the public’s conscience,” Serling said after the Till murder trial. “He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus the issues of his time.”

Twilight Zone has been remade three times since Serling’s last episode aired in 1964, with the latest adaptation by Jordan Peele available now on the CBS All Access streaming service. While Peele has emerged as one of the horror genre’s biggest stars, the series has received several harsh reviews from critics. But what Peele, like Serling, brings to the table with his version of the classic is an honest and accurate portrayal of real-life issues on the small screen.

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Rod Sterling on policing:

 
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Rod Serling was fighting in the Pacific during WWII and during a lull in the fighting one of his comrades known for telling jokes stood up on his soapbox and started going into a comedic routine… moments later he saw a supply crate get airdropped and land on that guy’s head killing him.

That incident stuck with him and he routinely use ironic timing in a lot of his episodes.
 
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Toe Jay Simpson said:
The writing is a lot simpler which appeals to the emotions and it works
Click to expand...

I disagree that the writing was simpler. It is actually more complex IMO and the reason for that is due to censorship back then they had to create intricate ways to discuss sensitive or adult issues with their writings and scripts.

Where as today any and everything can be said or done on TV or streaming services so the writers don't have to think or put any effort into it. Worse comes to worse if they need filler in a trash script just throw some profanity, sex scene or extremely violent scene in to add filler to the script.

That old late 50s to early 60s Twilight zone had a lot of deep meaning episodes that were multi layered because they couldn't just come out and say what it meant because of censorship. So for example the episode where the world turns dark because of hate was based on America's racism towards black folks, but the twilight zone could say it because the network would censor it.

Also its amazing on how many modern shows and movies have straight up stolen ideas from the late 50s to 60s twilight zone.
 
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