Screenwriting : The common sense genius of Rod Serling. by Phillip E. Hardy, "The Pro From Dover"

Great post, Phillip. I loved Night Gallery, too - at least the first few seasons where Mr. Serling had a heavier hand in it - and the original live teleplay (which I saw in later years) Requiem for a Heavyweight. (Jack Palance was such a great actor throughout his career, even though he was typecast most of the time.) Mr. Serling was a true intellectual and a brilliant writer. He even taught some courses at Sherwood Oaks back in the 1970's - another one of Gary Shusett's coups in the early years. (RIP, Gary Shusett, Rod Serling and Jack Palance.)

Bill: I really liked Night Gallery when I was in high school. I have not seen the show since then but I still remember "The Earwig" and "Camera Obscura". I never saw the teleplay version of RFAH but I did see the theatrical version with Anthony Quinn as Mountain and thought it was great. I love the clip of Rod talking about how people contact him all the time with great ideas but they just can't write them. Now those people advertise on Craigslist.

Phillip: So many great episodes of each show. My favorite Twilight Zone episode was probably Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, and my favorite Night Gallery episode was probably Sins of the Father. Mr. Serling's Twilight Zone teleplays reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's short stories. Steven Spielberg directed the first Night Gallery episode at the age of 21. There's a funny backstory on Youtube by him, where he recounts how the crew - mostly people in their 50's - weren't exactly enamored by the youngster, until Joan Crawford vetted him on the set. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EeRJCJe88g What great insights on that link you provided. Writers could also study those two early shows and see how well-rounded and emotionally complex that those quick short stories were.

Bill: Geez! Here I'm praising the guy and didn't spell his name correctly last night. I was unaware the Rod S-e-r-l-i-n-g had written almost two thirds of the Zone episodes. I knew he produced and wrote a lot of them, but holy cow! Nowadays, most shows have sizable teams led by a show runner. Rod had help mainly from two other writers and he still collaborated with them on most of the remaining episodes he didn't write. I mean who does that? Susan Harris wrote the first season of "Soap" but then had to hire several writers for the following three seasons, to alleviate the stress of keeping up with the overwhelming writing demands. Rod seemed to thrive on the demands. Number 26 is this quote from Serling: “I’m an affluent screenwriter and all that — I’m a known screenwriter, but I’m not in the fraternity of the very, very major people. I would say a guy like Ernie Lehman, William Goldman, and a few others are quite a cut above.” I would definitely disagree with him on this one point. Rod was definitely in that fraternity. There many never be another like him.

Phillip: One of the cool things about Mr. Serling is that he, like many at that time, came from radio and transitioned to the new medium of television. How cool that time must have been. I don't think anyone was doing that type of television before him. Naked City was close, but I think Rod Serling beat Sterling Silliphant to the "anthology series" style.

Bill: Great point. Rod was way ahead of his time. He was also quite adept at social commentary in a way that remains timeless. Yet he skillfully touched upon the hot button issues of his day like racism and America's growing obsession with beauty and fame. Nobody was doing anything like that back then.

What a fantastic link, Phillip. Thanks for posting....very informative and inspiring.

Brian: You're most welcome