This episode lies between the pit of man’s fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call, The Twilight Zone…
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of screenwriter Rod Serling. Quoting from the PBS American Masters episode about him, “Known primarily for his role as the creator and host of television’s The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling had one of the most exceptional and varied careers in television.
As a writer, a producer, and for many years a teacher, Serling challenged the medium of television to reach for loftier artistic goals. The winner of more Emmy Awards for dramatic writing than anyone in history, Serling expressed a deep social conscience in nearly everything he did.”
For this episode, we are joined by Emmy Award winning screenwriter Joseph Dougherty, author of Rod Serling at 100: One Writer’s Acknowledgment; and communications professor William Ressler; who teaches at Ithaca College, where Serling also taught. You can learn more about them below.
Joseph and William are interviewed by Nate King, Digital Content Associate at the American Writers Museum. This conversation originally took place December 13, 2024 and was recorded over Zoom.
More about Rod Serling at 100:
Emmy-winning writer and lifelong Rod Serling fan Joseph Dougherty (thirtysomething, Pretty Little Liars) takes a deep dive into the writing of the Twilight Zone creator on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
The year 2024 marks the centenary of Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. Emmy-winning writer Joseph Dougherty (thirtysomething, Pretty Little Liars) picked this special anniversary to reflect on Serling and his contributions to television drama. An appreciation and exploration of the six-time Emmy-winning writer’s catalogue, Rod Serling at 100: One Writer’s Acknowledgment looks at some of Serling’s best known work and also some of his least acknowledged, inviting a new perspective on a master storyteller.
In the process, Dougherty takes a personal look at the time he spent in The Twilight Zone that led to his own award-winning writing career.
JOSEPH DOUGHERTY is an Emmy and Humanitas Prize winner for his work on the groundbreaking series thirtysomething, he has written several movies for HBO including the remake of Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman directed by Christopher Guest, and the Emmy-winning noir/occult mashup Cast a Deadly Spell, which was nominated for a Ray Bradbury Award by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He has contributed as a writer and director to many popular television series, including Judging Amy, Once and Again, and Saving Grace. He was a writer, director, and executive producer on the hit series Pretty Little Liars, cocreated the Pretty Little Liars spinoff Ravenswood, and helped launch Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. His books include Comfort and Joi, Trunk Piece, A Screenwriter’s Companion, The First Cylinder, Psychopomp, and The Persistence of Phosphors, which received an AfterEllen Visibility Award as Best Book of 2013.
WILLIAM RESSLER is the Director of the Park Scholar Program at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College, where he also teaches media and communications courses.