C. L. Moore
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, who first came to prominence in the 1930s writing as C. L. Moore, she was among the first women to write in the science fiction and fantasy genres, though earlier woman writers in these genres include Clare Winger Harris, Greye La Spina, Francis Stevens, amongst others. Moore's work paved the way for many other female speculative fiction writers. Moore married her first husband Henry Kuttner in 1940, most of her work from 1940 to 1958 was written by the couple collaboratively, they were prolific co-authors under their own names, although more under any one of several pseudonyms. As "Catherine Kuttner", she had a brief career as a television scriptwriter from 1958 to 1962, she retired from writing in 1963. Moore was born on January 1911 in Indianapolis, Indiana, she spent much of her time reading literature of the fantastic. She left college during the Great Depression to work as a secretary at the Fletcher Trust Company in Indianapolis.
The Vagabond, a student-run magazine at Indiana University, published three of her stories when she was a student there. The three short stories, all with a fantasy theme and all credited to "Catherine Moore", appeared in 1930/31, her first professional sales appeared in pulp magazines beginning in 1933. Her decision to publish under the name "C. L. Moore" stemmed not from a desire to hide her gender, but to keep her employers at Fletcher Trust from knowing that she was working as a writer on the side, her early work included two significant series in Weird Tales edited by Farnsworth Wright. One features the adventurer Northwest Smith wandering through the Solar System. Both series are sometimes named for their lead characters. One of the Northwest Smith stories, "Nymph of Darkness", was written in collaboration with Forrest J Ackerman; the most famous Northwest Smith story is "Shambleau", Moore's first professional sale. It appeared in the November 1933 issue of Weird Tales, netting her $100, becoming a popular anthology reprint.
Her most famous Jirel story is the first one, "Black God's Kiss", the cover story in the October 1934 issue of Weird Tales, subtitled "the weirdest story told". Moore's early stories were notable for their emphasis on the senses and emotions, unusual in genre fiction at the time. Moore's work appeared in Astounding Science Fiction magazine throughout the 1940s. Several stories written for that magazine were collected in her first published book, Judgment Night One of them, the novella "No Woman Born", was to be included in more than 10 different science fiction anthologies including The Best of C. L. Moore. Included in that collection were "Judgment Night", the lush rendering of a future galactic empire with a sober meditation on the nature of power and its inevitable loss. Moore met Henry Kuttner a science fiction writer, in 1936 when he wrote her a fan letter under the impression that "C. L. Moore" was a man, they soon collaborated on a story that combined Moore's signature characters, Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry: "Quest of the Starstone".
Moore and Kuttner married in 1940 and thereafter wrote many of their stories in collaboration, sometimes under their own names, but more using the joint pseudonyms C. H. Liddell, Lawrence O'Donnell, or Lewis Padgett — most the latter, a combination of their mothers' maiden names. Moore still wrote solo work during this period, including the anthologized "No Woman Born". A selection of Moore's solo short fiction work from 1942 through 1950 was collected in 1952's Judgement Night. Moore's only solo novel, Doomsday Morning appeared in 1957; the vast majority of Moore's work in the period, was written as part of a prolific partnership. Working together, the couple managed to combine Moore's style with Kuttner's more cerebral storytelling, they continued to work in sf and fantasy, their works include two anthologized sf classics: "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", the basis for the film The Last Mimzy, "Vintage Season", the basis for the film Timescape. As "Lewis Padgett" they penned two mystery novels: The Brass Ring and The Day He Died.
After Kuttner's death in 1958, Moore continued teaching her writing course at the University of Southern California but permanently retired from writing any further literary fiction. Instead, working as "Catherine Kuttner", she carved out a short-lived career as a scriptwriter for Warner Brothers television, writing episodes of the westerns Sugarfoot and The Alaskans, as well as the detective series 77 Sunset Strip, all between 1958 and 1962. However, upon marrying Thomas Reggie in 1963, she ceased writing entirely. Moore was the author guest of honor at Kansas City, MO's fantasy and science fiction convention BYOB-Con 6, held over the U. S. Memorial Day weekend in May, 1976. In 1981, Moore received two annual awards
Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, looking to break into the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L. Gold, who made Galaxy the leading science fiction magazine of its time, focusing on stories about social issues rather than technology. Gold published many notable stories during his tenure, including Ray Bradbury's "The Fireman" expanded as Fahrenheit 451. In 1952, the magazine was acquired by its printer. By the late 1950s, Frederik Pohl was helping Gold with most aspects of the magazine's production; when Gold's health worsened, Pohl took over as editor, starting at the end of 1961, though he had been doing the majority of the production work for some time. Under Pohl Galaxy had continued success publishing fiction by writers such as Cordwainer Smith, Jack Vance, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg. Pohl never won the annual Hugo Award for his stewardship of Galaxy, winning three Hugos instead for its sister magazine, If.
In 1969 Guinn sold Galaxy to Universal Publishing and Distribution Corporation and Pohl resigned, to be replaced by Ejler Jakobsson. Under Jakobsson the magazine declined in quality, it recovered under James Baen, who took over in mid-1974, but when he left at the end of 1977 the deterioration resumed, there were financial problems—writers were not paid on time and the schedule became erratic. By the end of the 1970s the gaps between issues were lengthening, the title was sold to Galileo publisher Vincent McCaffrey, who brought out only a single issue in 1980. A brief revival as a semi-professional magazine followed in 1994, edited by H. L. Gold's son, E. J. Gold. At its peak, Galaxy influenced the science fiction genre, it was regarded as one of the leading sf magazines from the start, its influence did not wane until Pohl's departure in 1969. Gold brought a "sophisticated intellectual subtlety" to magazine science fiction according to Pohl, who added that "after Galaxy it was impossible to go on being naive."
SF historian David Kyle agreed, commenting that "of all the editors in and out of the post-war scene, the most influential beyond any doubt was H. L. Gold". Kyle suggested that the new direction Gold set "inevitably" led to the experimental New Wave, the defining science fiction literary movement of the 1960s; the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, appeared in 1926. By the end of the 1930s, the genre was flourishing in the United States, but World War II and its resulting paper shortages led to the demise of several magazines. In the late 1940s, the market began to recover. From a low of eight active US magazines in 1946, the field expanded to 20 just four years later. Galaxy's appearance in 1950 was part of this boom. According to sf historian and critic Mike Ashley, its success was the main reason for a subsequent flood of new releases: 22 more science fiction magazines appeared by 1954, when the market dipped again as a side effect of US Senate hearings into the putative connection between comic books and juvenile delinquency.
H. L. Gold, Galaxy's first editor, had worked at Standard Magazines in the early 1940s as an assistant editor, reading for Standard's three science fiction pulps: Startling Stories, Thrilling Wonder, Captain Future. With the advent of the war, Gold left publishing and went into the army, but in late 1949 he was approached by Vera Cerutti, who had once worked for him. Cerutti was now working for a French-Italian publisher, Éditions Mondiales Del Duca founded by Cino Del Duca, that had opened an office in New York as World Editions, she asked Gold for guidance on how to produce a magazine, which he provided. World Editions took a heavy loss on Fascination, its first attempt to launch a US magazine, Cerutti returned to Gold asking for recommendations for new titles. Gold knew about The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, a digest launched in the fall of 1949, but felt that there was still room in the market for another serious science fiction magazine, he sent a prospectus to World Editions that included a proposal for a series of paperback sf novels as well as a periodical, proposed paying three cents a word, an impressively high rate, given that most competing magazines were paying only one cent a word.
World Editions agreed, hired Gold as the editor, the first issue appeared in October 1950. The novel series subsequently appeared as Galaxy Science Fiction Novels. Gold suggested two titles for the magazine, If and Galaxy. Gold's art director, Washington Irving van der Poel, mocked up multiple layouts and Gold invited hundreds of writers, editors and fans to view them and vote for their favorite. For the first issue, Gold obtained stories by several well-known authors, including Isaac Asimov, Fritz Leiber, Theodore Sturgeon, as well as part one of Time Quarry by Clifford D. Simak. Along with an essay by Gold, Galaxy's premiere issue introduced a book review column by anthologist Groff Conklin, which ran until 1955, a Willy Ley science column. Gold sought to implement high-quality printing techniques, though the quality of the available paper was insufficient for the full benefits to be seen. Within months, the outbreak of the Korean War led to paper shortages that forced Gold to find a new printer, Robert M. Guinn.
The new paper was of lower quality, a disappointment to Gold. According to Gold, the magazine was profitable within five issues: an "incredible" achievement, in his words. In
To Serve Man (The Twilight Zone)
"To Serve Man" is episode 89 of the anthology series The Twilight Zone. It aired on March 2, 1962 on CBS; the episode was directed by Richard L. Bare; the story is written by Damon Knight. The title uses dual meanings of the verb to serve: "to assist" or "to provide as a meal." The episode is one of the few instances in the series wherein an actor breaks the fourth wall and addresses the viewing audience at the episode's end. The episode, along with the line "It's a cookbook!" have become elements in pop culture. The Kanamits, a race of 9-foot-tall aliens, land on Earth as the planet is beset by international crises; as the Secretary-General announces the landing of aliens on Earth to the worldwide public at a United Nations news conference, one of them arrives and addresses the assembled delegates and journalists via telepathy. He announces that his race's motive in coming to Earth is to provide humanitarian aid by sharing their advanced technology, including an atomic generator that can provide electric power for a few dollars, a nitrate fertilizer that can end famine, a force field that can be deployed to prevent invasions and air warfare.
After answering questions, the Kanamit departs without comment and leaves a book in the Kanamit language, which leads to Michael Chambers, a US government cryptographer, getting pressed into service. Wary of an alien race who came "quite uninvited", international leaders begin to be persuaded of the Kanamits' benevolence when their advanced technology puts an end to hunger, energy shortages, nuclear proliferation. Trust in the Kanamits seems to be justified when Patty, a member of the cryptography staff led by Chambers, decodes the title of the Kanamit book: To Serve Man; the Kanamits submit at the request of the UN delegates. When declaring their benevolent intentions, the polygraph indicates that the Kanamit is speaking the truth. Soon, humans are volunteering for trips to the Kanamits' home planet, which they describe as a paradise. Kanamits now have embassies in every major city on Earth. With the U. S. Armed Forces having been disbanded and world peace having been achieved, the code-breaking staff has no real work to do, but Patty is still trying to work out the meaning of the text of To Serve Man.
The day arrives for Chambers's excursion to the Kanamits' planet. Just as he mounts the spaceship's boarding stairs, Patty runs toward him in great agitation. While being held back by a Kanamit guard, Patty cries: "Mr. Chambers, don't get on that ship! The rest of the book To Serve Man, it's... it's a cookbook!" Chambers tries to run back down the stairs, but a Kanamit blocks him, the stairs retract, the ship lifts off. Michael Chambers's ship quarters are a cot in a spartan interior. A voice offers him a meal, delivered through a small aperture in the wall. Chambers throws it to the floor, but a Kanamit retrieves it and encourages him to eat, to keep Chambers from "losing weight". At last Chambers says to the audience: "How about you? You still on Earth, or on the ship with me? Doesn't make much difference, because sooner or all of us will be on the menu... all of us." The episode closes as Chambers breaks his hunger strike. Lloyd Bochner as Michael Chambers Richard Kiel as the Kanamits Susan Cummings as Patty Joseph Ruskin as Kanamit voice Hardie Albright as Secretary General Theo Marcuse as Citizen Gregori Bartlett Robinson as Colonel #1 Carleton Young as Colonel #2 Nelson Olmsted as Scientist Robert Tafur as Señor Valdes Lomax Study as Leveque Jerry Fujikawa as Japanese Delegate The arriving Kanamit ship is shown as scenes extracted from The Day the Earth Stood Still, but with different sound.
Marc Scott Zicree, writing in The Twilight Zone Companion, has criticized a cardinal plot point in "To Serve Man": "In the show... a staff of cryptographers led by Lloyd Bochner attempts to decipher the alien language as though it were some secret code, utterly ludicrous. Without some sort of interplanetary Rosetta stone, deciphering an unknown language would be impossible." Zicree points out that the chances of the word "serve" having the same dual meaning in both English and another language an alien one, are nil. In 1997 TV Guide ranked the episode at No. 11 on its "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time" list and in 2013 ranked the ending as the "Greatest Twist of All Time." In 2009, Time listed the episode among the "Top 10 Twilight Zone Episodes." An unofficial badge of the 509th Bomb Wing based in Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri shows a space alien with huge eyes holding a stealth bomber near its mouth. The text reads, "To Serve Man," and the caption below reads, "Gustatus Similis Pullus"—Dog Latin for "Tastes Like Chicken".
The plot device of the alien cookbook is parodied in the segment "Hungry Are the Damned" on The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror". In the segment, the benevolent aliens Kang and Kodos are discovered to have a book titled "How to Cook Humans"; the humour is played up by a series of reversals in revealing the actual title of the book. What begins as "How to Cook Humans", through a series of repeated blowing of "space dust" from the book, becomes "How to Cook for Humans", "How to Cook Forty Humans", "How to Cook for Forty Humans"; the trope is subverted, as Lisa comments on their suspicious attitude towards the aliens: "Truly there were monsters on that ship, we were them." In the 1991 film The Naked G
Supernatural (season 7)
The seventh season of Supernatural, an American dark fantasy television series created by Eric Kripke, premiered September 23, 2011, concluded May 18, 2012, airing 23 episodes. The season focuses on protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester facing a new enemy called Leviathans, stronger than anything they have encountered so far as well as rendering their usual weapons useless. On January 12, 2012, the season won two People's Choice Awards including Best Network TV Drama; this is the second and final season of Sera Gamble as showrunner, with Jeremy Carver taking over the role for season eight. Warner Home Video released the season on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on September 18, 2012, in region 2 on November 5, 2012, in Region 4 on October 31, 2012; the seventh season had an average viewership of 1.73 million U. S. viewers. Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester Misha Collins as Castiel / Emanuel James Marsters as Don Stark Charisma Carpenter as Maggie Stark DJ Qualls as Garth Fitzgerald IV In this table, the number in the first column refers to the episode's number within the entire series, whereas the number in the second column indicates the episode's number within this particular season.
"U. S. viewers in millions" refers to how many Americans watched the episode live or on the day of broadcast. The series was renewed for a seventh season on April 26, 2011, remained on Fridays at 9:00 pm; the CW announced on August 20, 2011, that the season would be increased to 23 episodes, up one episode from the 22-episode pickup the series had received. On January 11, 2012, it was announced by the executive producer of the show, Robert Singer, that there was another cliffhanger ending planned for season seven. Critical reception to the season has been positive, it received a positive review from the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where it was reported as having a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.8/10 based on 5 reviews. However, one criticism from reviewers was of the lack of an emotional link between the Leviathans as a whole and the Winchester brothers, an element, present in previous seasons; the lack of threat from the monsters was noted as a downside to the season, though the portrayal of James Patrick Stuart as Dick Roman, using corporate mannerisms and charm mixed with his own self-confidence, was pointed to as a high point of the story arc.
The overturn of Mark Sheppard's character Crowley at the final moments of the season, was surprising for the critics. Many argued that Crowley's successful separation of the Winchester brothers by taking advantage of Dean's imprisonment in Purgatory and the kidnap of both Kevin and Meg was a good cliffhanger going into the next season, that it opened up many possibilities and questions. Another well-received point was the return of the Impala at the end of season, much to the appreciation of the fans, Misha Collins' portrayal of the resurrected and traumatized Castiel, which brought a new element to the chemistry between the brothers. Official website List of Supernatural episodes on IMDb List of Supernatural season 7 episodes at TV.com Supernatural at epguides.com
Far Out (book)
Far Out is a collection of 13 science fiction short stories by American writer Damon Knight. The stories were published between 1949 and 1960 in Galaxy Magazine, If Science Fiction and other science fiction magazines. There is an introduction by Anthony Boucher; the book contains the story "To Serve Man", adapted for television. Introduction "To Serve Man" "Idiot Stick" "Thing of Beauty" "The Enemy" "Not with a Bang" "Babel II" "Anachron" "Special Delivery" "You're Another" "Time Enough" "Extempore" "Cabin Boy" "The Last Word" Knight, Far Out, Simon & Schuster, New York
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of slacker Philip J. Fry, cryonically preserved for 1000 years and is revived in the 31st century. Fry finds work at an interplanetary delivery company; the series was envisioned by Groening in the mid-1990s while working on The Simpsons. In the United States, the series aired on Fox from March 28, 1999, to August 10, 2003, aired in reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim from 2003 to 2007, it was revived in 2007 as four direct-to-video films, the last of, released in early 2009. Comedy Central entered into an agreement with 20th Century Fox Television to syndicate the existing episodes and air the films as 16 new, half-hour episodes, constituting a fifth season. In June 2009, Comedy Central picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes, which began airing in 2010 and 2011; the show was renewed for a final, seventh season, with the first half airing in 2012 and the second in 2013.
The series finale aired in September 2013. An audio-only episode featuring the original cast members was released in 2017 as an episode of The Nerdist Podcast. Futurama was nominated for 17 Annie Awards, winning seven, 12 Emmy Awards, winning six, it was nominated four times for a Writers Guild of America Award, winning for the episodes "Godfellas" and "The Prisoner of Benda". It was nominated for a Nebula Award and received Environmental Media Awards for the episodes "The Problem with Popplers" and "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular". Merchandise includes a tie-in comic book series, video games, calendars and figurines. In 2013, TV Guide ranked Futurama one of the top 60 Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time; the television network Fox expressed a strong desire in the mid-1990s for Matt Groening to create a new series, he began conceiving Futurama during this period. In 1996, he enlisted David X. Cohen a writer and producer for The Simpsons, to assist in developing the show; the two spent time researching science fiction books, television shows, films.
When they pitched the series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and story lines. Groening described trying to get the show on the air as "by far the worst experience of my grown-up life". Fox ordered thirteen episodes. After, Fox feared the themes of the show were not suitable for the network and Groening and Fox executives argued over whether the network would have any creative input into the show. With The Simpsons, the network has no input. Fox was disturbed by the concept of suicide booths, Doctor Zoidberg, Bender's anti-social behavior. Groening explains, "When they tried to give me notes on Futurama, I just said:'No, we're going to do this just the way we did Simpsons.' And they said,'Well, we don't do business that way anymore.' And I said,'Oh, that's the only way I do business.'" The episode "I, Roommate" was produced to address Fox's concerns, with the script written to their specifications. Fox disliked the episode, but after negotiations, Groening received the same independence with Futurama.
The name Futurama comes from a pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Designed by Norman Bel Geddes, the Futurama pavilion depicted how he imagined the world would look in 1959. Many other titles were considered for the series, including "Aloha, Mars!" and "Doomsville", which Groening notes were "resoundly rejected, by everyone concerned with it". It takes six to nine months to produce an episode of Futurama; the long production time results in several episodes being worked on simultaneously. Groening and Cohen served as executive producers and showrunners during the show's entire run, functioned as creative consultants. Ken Keeler became an executive producer for subsequent seasons; the planning for each episode began with a table meeting of writers, who discussed the plot ideas as a group. The writers are given index cards with plot points that they are required to use as the center of activity in each episode. A single staff writer wrote an outline and produced a script. Once the first draft of a script was finished, the writers and executive producers called in the actors for a table read.
After this script reading, the writers collaborated to rewrite the script as a group before sending it to the animation team. At this point the voice recording was started and the script was out of the writers' hands; the writing staff held three Ph. D.s, seven master's degrees, cumulatively had more than 50 years at Harvard University. Series writer Patric M. Verrone stated, "we were the most overeducated cartoon writers in history". Futurama had eight main cast members. Billy West performed the voices of Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Doctor Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan and many other incidental characters. West auditioned for "just about every part", landing the roles of the Doctor Zoidberg. Although West read for Fry, his friend Charlie Schlatter was given the role of Fry. Due to a casting change, West was given the role. West claims that the voice of Fry is deliberately modeled on his own, so as to make it difficult for another person to replicate the voice. Doctor Zoidberg's voice was based on George Jessel.
The character of Zapp Brannigan was created and intended to be performed by Phil Hartman. Hartman insisted on auditioning for the role, "just nailed it" according to Groening. Due to Hartman's death, West was given the role. West states that his version of Zapp Brannigan was an imitation of Hartm
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created and presented by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. Each episode presents a stand-alone story in which characters find themselves dealing with disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering "the Twilight Zone," ending with a surprise ending and a moral. Although predominantly science-fiction, the show's paranormal and Kafkaesque events leaned the show towards fantasy and horror; the phrase “twilight zone,” inspired by the series, is used to describe surreal experiences. The series featured both established stars and younger actors who would become much better known later. Serling served as executive head writer, he was the show's host and narrator, delivering monologues at the beginning and end of each episode. Serling's opening and closing narrations summarize the episode's events encapsulating how and why the main character had entered the Twilight Zone. In 1997, the episodes "To Serve Man" and "It's a Good Life" were ranked at 11 and 31 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
Serling himself stated that his favorite episodes of the series were "The Invaders" and "Time Enough at Last". In 2016, the series was ranked No. 7 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest shows of all time. In 2002, The Twilight Zone was ranked No. 26 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the third best-written TV series and TV Guide ranked it as the fourth greatest drama and the fifth greatest show of all time. By the late 1950s, Rod Serling was a prominent name in American television, his successful television plays included Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight, but constant changes and edits made by the networks and sponsors frustrated Serling. In Requiem for a Heavyweight, the line "Got a match?" had to be struck because the sponsor sold lighters. But according to comments in his 1957 anthology Patterns, Serling had been trying to delve into material more controversial than his works of the early 1950s; this led to Noon on Doomsday for the United States Steel Hour in 1956, a commentary by Serling on the defensiveness and total lack of repentance he saw in the Mississippi town where the murder of Emmett Till took place.
His original script paralleled the Till case was moved out of the South and the victim changed to a Jewish pawnbroker, watered down to just a foreigner in an unnamed town. Despite bad reviews, activists sent numerous wires protesting the production. Serling thought that a science-fictional setting, with robots and other supernatural occurrences, would give him more freedom and less interference in expressing controversial ideas than more realistic settings. "The Time Element" was Serling's 1957 pilot pitch for his show, a time travel adventure about a man who travels back to Honolulu in 1941 and unsuccessfully tries to warn everyone about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. The script, was rejected and shelved for a year until Bert Granet discovered and produced it as an episode of Desilu Playhouse in 1958; the show was a great success and enabled Serling to begin production on his anthology series, The Twilight Zone. Serling's editorial sense of ironic fate in the writing done for the series was identified as significant to its success by the BFI Film Classics library which stated that for Serling "the cruel indifference and implacability of fate and the irony of poetic justice" were recurrent themes in his plots.
There is a fifth dimension, beyond that, known to man. It is a dimension as timeless as infinity, it is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination, it is an area. The Twilight Zone premiered the night of October 1959, to rave reviews. "Twilight Zone is about the only show on the air that I look forward to seeing. It's the one series that I will let interfere with other plans", said Terry Turner for the Chicago Daily News. Others agreed. Daily Variety ranked it with "the best, accomplished in half-hour filmed television" and the New York Herald Tribune found the show to be "certainly the best and most original anthology series of the year"; as the show proved popular to television's critics, it struggled to find a receptive audience of television viewers. CBS was banking on a rating of at least 21 or 22; the series' future was jeopardized when its third episode, "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" earned a 16.3 rating.
Still, the show attracted a large enough audience to survive a brief hiatus in November, after which it surpassed its competition on ABC and NBC and convinced its sponsors to stay on until the end of the season. With one exception, the first season featured scripts written only by Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont or Richard Matheson; these three were responsible for 127 of the 156 episodes in the series. Additionally, with one exception, Serling never appeared on camera during any first-season episode (as he woul
