![]() ![]() Serling was visibly irritated by the question, but Wallace did have a point. Wallace asked him why he wanted to create a show based on the supernatural: “Are you giving up on writing anything important for television?” In an interview with Mike Wallace in 1959, Serling was questioned on his latest sci-fi show for which he would serve as a writer and an executive producer, His most popular creation, however, was still in the making. ![]() With a career studded with six primetime Emmy awards - Serling became a household name for scripts like It was in this era that Serling came of age as a television writer. Even the technicians had to be on their toes as one misplaced cable could put a show off-air.Īnd yet, this period in the medium’s history is dubbed by many historians and social commentators as the ‘First Golden era of American Television”. This meant even one slip-up from the actors or the director could jeopardise the entire production. Playhouse 90 were broadcast live on American television. Kraft Television Theatre, The U.S Steel Hour and What made their feat even more impressive was that all this was achieved in one take. The creators aimed at catering high-quality Broadway production like teleplays to the average American audience. This period saw the advent of hour-long anthology drama series, many of which were recipients of critical acclaim.Įlements of theatre, radio and filmmaking were churned into the big pot of television, producing content which was meticulously choreographed, brilliantly acted and socially progressive. Television in the early 1950s was an infant medium in America, just starting to gain popularity over Radio broadcasts. Rod Serling in his opening monologue before the episode Soon he could read the doomsday message on the wall for the medium and shifted to writing for television. Army on the morning of his High School graduation day.Īfter his stint with them, Serling began his writing career in the Radio industry. Serling was born in Syracuse, New York to a Jewish family on Christmas day, 1925.Ī vocal supporter of America’s war effort in the Second World war, Serling enlisted as a paratrooper in the U.S. Not many of us remember much about Rod Serling himself, or the era in which he became a successful television writer. ![]() Rod Serling’s era: The First Golden Age of Television Tales from the Loop have found it difficult to hide their resemblance to Serling’s landmark series. Many widely popular shows exploring supernatural themes - the likes of Since then, new generations of viewers have discovered it and the appreciation for and interest in Serling’s show have shown no signs of waning. It aired on one of America’s biggest Television Network - CBS, and ran for a total of five seasons, before being cancelled in 1965. Where is Everybody? - is the first among 156 stories in Serling’s supernatural anthology series, a television offering which tries its hand at telling inherently moral tales of the human condition and the society at large using popular science fiction and fantasy tropes. Ultimately, he is driven down the hellish depths of acute paranoia.īut what is this town? Where is it? Can it be somewhere in the real world?Ī still from the pilot episode ‘Where is Everybody? He tries to come to terms with the nightmarish situation he finds himself in, but ends up believing that he is being watched. Soon, this gives way to a lingering sense of loneliness and desolation in him. Initially, he is unfazed by the lack of human life around him. Wherever he goes, he is met with ominous signs - a burning cigar, water running on the sink, a plate of unfinished food - evidence of prior inhabitants having left in a hurry. The town exhibits all the evidence of a community residing in it, but Ferris fails to come across any living, breathing human being. He travels on a dirt road to arrive in a small midwestern American town. With Serling’s opening intro accompanied by the now-iconic score of the show fading into the background, viewers are introduced to an Air Force pilot by the name of Mike Ferris (Earl Holliman). “There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man.it is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.this is the dimension of imagination.,” said Rod Serling, kickstarting his anthology series. ![]()
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