Why ‘The Twilight Zone’ Left a Lasting Legacy Like No Other TV Series

We see a starry night-time sky, and we hear ominous but familiar music — that unmistakable combination of dissonant guitars and clattering bongos. All of a sudden, we hear a low male voice speaking in a much-imitated monotone: “Picture if you will: a young and talented screenwriter who has a remarkable gift for telling hard-hitting stories about the way in which we live today, illuminating the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary human society, both what we’re doing right and where there’s room for improvement. He is one of the first masters of the infant medium called television, but commercial TV comes with a downside, mainly in that networks and sponsors discouraged anything that might be considered thought-provoking or, even worse, controversial. ‘Madison Avenue,’ as Nat King Cole famously put it, ‘is afraid of the dark.’