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With "The Twilight Zone" Rod Serling helped pioneer the sci-fi genre for years to come. The legendary anthology series has never really faded from pop culture relevance since it first aired back in 1959, largely thanks to the syndication deal Serling struck with CBS. The show creator sold the series rights to the network after the end of its fifth and final season in 1964. Sadly, Serling subsequently found himself recoiling every time he saw "Twilight Zone" reruns due to the amount of commercial breaks shoehorned into the episodes at the expense of certain scenes, which were cut in favor of selling more stuff to consumers. But it was this very syndication deal that simultaneously helped turn "The Twilight Zone" into the cultural powerhouse it became.

It also didn't hurt that multiple revivals sprang up in the decades after the original series went off the air.

What do entertainers as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Rod Serling have in common? Each one adored The Andy Griffith Show. Serling, the brain behind The Twilight Zone, another enduring television classic, even described Andy Griffith as “one of the few genuinely funny comedies in the medium” in a 1963 TV Guide Magazine article that reported he often visited the nearby set. “What hits me is that the people are characters,” he added, “not caricatures.” That’s certainly been key to The Andy Griffith Show‘s longevity. The actor’s canny sheriff, Andy Taylor, and the other mildly eccentric and eminently lovable residents of the small Southern town of Mayberry have entertained generations for 65 years — even ones who weren’t yet born when the sitcom premiered on CBS on October 3, 1960. Viewers still laugh, cry, and empathize, which is why, each May, MeTV rolls out its annual “Month of...

Jordan Peele’s love for the strange and the supernatural has always been loud and clear, and with The Twilight Zone reboot, he got to play host to a modern version of the legendary 1959 series he grew up admiring. Much like Rod Serling did back in the day, Peele used the format to peel back the layers of society’s darkest corners, mixing horror with moral dilemmas and mind games. Though the revival didn’t stick around as long as fans might have hoped, it packed a punch in its short run and offered a platform for some solid talent.

The anthology came and went, but the faces from the series have moved on to pretty interesting chapters in 2025. From high-stakes dramas to animated franchises, here’s what the key cast members are busy with now.

15. Jordan Peele Jordan Peele in the series The Twilight Zone | Credit: Paramount+

Jordan Peele...

Netflix’s Black Mirror has been toying with reality, but the franchise’s latest offering- season 7 might be taking things too far. Created by Charlie Brooker, the series is a sci-fi anthology, exploring various themes. Most episodes are set in a near-future dystopia containing ultra futuristic technology.

The series is inspired by 1959’s American television anthology series, created by Rod Serling- The Twilight Zone– and uses the themes of technology and media to comment on contemporary social issues. Now, with Netflix dropping its first episode of S7, fans have wasted no time diving into the dark twists of Common People. Alternate endings and fan theories are already flooding the internet, some so clever and well crafted that they could leave the creator, Brooker, scratching his head.

Black Mirror S7: The Controversial Ending of Common People

All in all, there are 33 episodes across seven series and a special, along with a 2018 interactive film,...

Director Ryan Coogler is making history with his highly rated movies, and now he's making his way to television to reboot a beloved science fiction series. While his recently released action horror,Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan, is gaining praise all-around, Coogler revealed that his X-Files reboot will be his next project, and he has been speaking to Gillian Anderson about a possible return.

The X-Filestook over television in the '90s with its blended plots that combined genres like supernatural fiction, horror, mystery, science fiction and thriller. Those are right up Coogler's alley, who has directed and written various hit films, including Marvel's Black Panther.

During an appearance on Last Podcast on the Left, hosted by Marcus Parks, Ed Larson, and Henry Zebrowksi, Coogler spoke a little bit about the reboot. The 38-year-old said, "I'm working on X-Files. That's what's immediately next. So, I've been excited about that for a long time,...

In a 2013 interview with Games Radar discussing the second season of "Black Mirror," creator Charlie Brooker revealed how his show had nearly borrowed the framing device from the hit 1960s anthology show "The Twilight Zone." Just as showrunner Rod Serling would talk directly to the camera at the start and finish of every episode, Brooker nearly did the same for every episode of "Black Mirror" season 1.

The main argument for this was that it would've helped ease a lot of the network's concerns. Brooker explained that studios are often reluctant to do anthology shows in part because there are no recurring characters for audiences to latch onto, like there would be for any other type of TV series. The closest thing "Black Mirror" could do — at least until it started playing around with sequels in season 7 — was to throw in a recurring narrator-type character.

"Rod Serling was the unifying character,...

Jordan Peele became a modern-day horror master with his three directorials, namely, Get Out, Us, and Nope. His debut, Get Out, earned him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and he has become one of the most celebrated directors in the past few years. He is currently working on his next film, which is set to release next year.

Peele has always expressed his love for the 1959 horror series The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling’s anthology series focused on the macabre and the metaphysical, with each episode leaning into horror and supernatural territory. In fact, one episode of the series’ first season reportedly inspired Peel to write Us.

Jordan Peele was inspired by The Twilight Zone for Us Lupita Nyong’o in Us | Credits: Universal Pictures

After delivering one of the most engaging social thrillers of the past few decades and making a brand name from his debut film Get Out,...

For a science fiction series, "The Twilight Zone" had an incredibly broad range of genres that it pulled from. War stories, space adventures, horror tales, post-apocalyptic sagas, and tons of other settings popped up in all five seasons of Rod Serling's acclaimed anthology masterpiece. The series also featured several prominent Western-themed episodes, each with a distinct "Twilight Zone" twist.

Serling seemed to have a soft spot for the cowboy genre. After "The Twilight Zone" came to an end in 1964, he quickly followed it up with a full-blown Western series called "The Loner," which premiered on CBS the next year. "The Loner" was short-lived, but it made clear the affinity Serling had for Westerns, and "The Twilight Zone" has plenty of stories to choose from set in the old American West.

While everyone has their favorite "Twilight Zone" episodes, these particular Western episodes have stood the test of time and...

The Twilight Zone remains one of the most groundbreaking pieces of television ever made. Rod Serling's supernatural anthology series delivered dozens of classic episodes, cloaking moral lessons in clever twist endings, and ranging from the hilarious to the utterly terrifying. It lasted five seasons and was minted a masterpiece almost before it was off the air. In retrospect, it bowed out just in time, with its creative well running dry by Serling's own admission. It thus avoided jumping the shark, and several direct reboots have only fitfully found the magic that it delivered consistently from beginning to end.

The Twilight Zone famously received a little help from an outside source. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is a supernatural anti-war movie which French filmmaker Robert Enrico shot in 1961, and appeared as an episode late in Season 5 as The Twilight Zone was wrapping up. It remains the only episode to come from an outside source,...

Few television shows of any variety are as durable as The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling's supernatural anthology series that still resonates with viewers six decades later. Several reboots have been attempted over the years, with varying degrees of success, but none of them have approached the impact of the original. While it's very much a product of the time -- which includes innocuous things like dated social commentary, as well as more problematic stereotypes of the era -- many of its best episodes hit just as hard today as they did when they first premiered.

The list of still-timely episodes numbers in the dozens, but ten stand out for their evergreen durability. Through a combination of clever storytelling, whiplash endings, and insightful observations on human nature, they have transcended the time they were made to become some of the best pieces of television ever made. They are presented below in order of release.

"The Twilight Zone" is one of those shows so ingrained in popular culture that it's become synonymous with anything mysterious or spooky, even for people who have never seen an episode before. Conceived by Rod Serling as a method of exploring social commentary and often controversial ideas that are still relevant today, the original series first aired in 1959 and ran for five seasons. Serling wrote the bulk of the teleplays and narrated in his own inimitable way, sometimes inserting himself into an episode while dangling an ever-present cigarette. "The Twilight Zone" was also a showcase for some great actors: William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, Buster Keaton, Lee Marvin, Peter Falk, and many others made memorable impressions in classic episodes.

10 years after Serling passed away in 1975, CBS decided to resurrect the show. Although 1983's "Twilight Zone: The Movie" was a disappointment, the '80s "Twilight Zone" TV revamp was still able to...

William Shatnercelebrated his birthday with heartfelt messages from Star Trek fans around the world. On March 22, 2025, the actor turned 94 years old and saw posts pour in from every generation of fans of the legendary science fiction franchise. Shatner, who brought Captain James T. Kirk to life in Star Trek: The Original Series, starred as the character in all three seasons of the series. Although it should've lasted longer, its impact will be around for the next century and beyond.

On Instagram, Shatner posted an iconic picture of himself with the caption: "As I complete my 94th lap around the sun, I am filled with the wonder and awe of life. Thank you, my friends, for making my life so special." There were many comments from fans sharing memories of their first time watching Captain Kirk, and would be excited if he returned to the role. From posting Captain Kirk GIFs...

The Twilight Zone is a cornerstone of science fiction and horror television, providing timeless social commentary wrapped in eerie tales of the unknown. Rod Serling’s iconic series is filled with instantly recognizable classics like Time Enough at Last and Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, but there are plenty of episodes that often go overlooked. These underrated gems, though sometimes overshadowed by the show’s more famous entries, still pack a powerful punch.

They may not be the most famous in The Twilight Zone catalog, but each one offers something truly memorable. Whether they delve into the psychological horror of regret, explore themes of prejudice and fear, or use the supernatural to unsettle the viewer, these episodes are proof that even in a show filled with classics, some stories still fly under the radar.

Updated on March 19, 2025 by Robert Vaux: With hundreds of episodes in its five-season run, The Twilight Zone has...

Among the various anthology television series of the 1960s, none are better-known or more influential than The Twilight Zone. A mix of science fiction, fantasy and horror, The Twilight Zone was conceived by Rod Serling as a weekly allegory and modern-day morality play. As an anthology, the series became a revolving door for existing stars and up-and-coming actors over its five-season run.

Premiering on October 2, 1959, The Twilight Zone aired for nearly five years and featured numerous actors at various stages of their careers. With 156 episodes, multiple reboots, and the 1983 movie, it's easy to forget some of the famous faces that graced the original series over the years. Most of them appeared on the show before they became famous, and because The Twilight Zone has stood the test of time, those early performances have become delightful Easter eggs for new fans to discover.

Updated on March 20, 2025, by Ajay Aravind: The Twilight Zone...

Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone is one of television's evergreens, as pertinent today as it was when it premiered in 1959. Pop culture has changed a great deal since then, and the show cannot help but remain a product of its time as well as a classic that never gets old. Among its numerous fascinating qualities, The Twilight Zone provides a look at what people were watching in the early 1960s, which many of its episodes reflected as part of their commentary.

That includes a thick helping of Westerns, which were staggeringly popular at the time, and which dominated network television when The Twilight Zone originally aired. Accordingly, a number of episodes from the anthology series use Westerns as part of their storytelling. Most of them take on the aspects of a campfire ghost story, which lends itself well to tales of the Old West. A list of the 10 best Western episodes follows,...

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The Twilight Zone is one of the most brilliant and trippy series ever made. Created by Rod Serling, the CBS series is a virtual and psychologically thrilling trip into the unknown. The Twilight Zone premiered over six decades ago, and it still holds up very well as far as the stories and the visual experience go. Maybe that’s why the Jordan Peele reboot failed: it couldn’t capture the same magic as the Serling series did. So, if you loved the trippy stories, inventive settings, and compelling characters in The Twilight Zone, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Severance (Apple TV+ & Prime Video Add-On) Credit – Apple TV+

Severance is a sci-fi mystery psychological thriller dark comedy-drama series created by Dan Erickson. The Apple TV+ series is set in a world where a biotechnology...

Quick LinksSeverance Lifts Its Episode Title Directly from a Classic Twilight Zone EpisodeWhat Does the Moment in Severence's 'The After Hours' Mean?How the Mannequin Episode of The Twilight Zone Relates to Severance

This article contains spoilers for Severance Season 2, Episode 9, "The After Hours," streaming on Apple TV+

Asthe second season of the hit series Severance draws to a close, its penultimate episode makes an explicit reference to a classic installment of The Twilight Zone. Both episodes are titled "The After Hours," and they deal with disconnected identities and what it means to be human. However, just what this reference means in the narrative world created by Dan Erickson is an open question and feels very significant.

Despite its truly original concepts, Severance draws inspiration from other shows like Black Mirror. However, all of them owe a debt to the groundbreaking institution created by Rod Serling with The Twilight Zone.

Rod Serling's groundbreaking anthology series The Twilight Zone is famous for frightening sci-fi and horror stories that always lead up to an ironic twist. But while the show has no shortage of thrills and chills, it is also enormously moving. These are ten of the most heartwrenching episodes the original series has to offer.

"Tearjerker" may not be the most obvious descriptor of The Twilight Zone, whose exciting and disturbing episodes explore every genre from fantasy to the Western. But regardless of the subject matter, Rod Serling's show was always emotional. Some are heartwarming, some are tragic, but these ten episodes are all guaranteed to leave fans in tears.

An Actor From Alien Gives a Poignant Performance Season 3, Episode 35: "I Sing the Body Electric" Image via CBS

When a widower realizes that no nanny can handle his grief-stricken children, the family creates the perfect caregiver from scratch at Facsimile Ltd.

The Twilight Zoneand Gilmore Girlsare two shows that couldn't be more fundamentally different. Rod Serling's science-fiction anthology delivered plenty of chilling, often prophetic tales, while Amy Sherman-Palladino's upbeat dramedy helped lay the foundation for the type of programming that shaped the WB and its successor, the CW. But surprisingly, there is a link between the two in the form of a Twilight Zone Season 5 episodetitled "The Long Morrow." The premiere of Gilmore Girls Season 7 uses the same title, and it's intentional. It also features a direct connection to The Twilight Zone, as Rory (Alexis Bledel) is given a gift by her boyfriend Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) that pays homage to that episode. Logan's gift to Rory is a meaningful one. Although it's meant as a romantic gesture, the gift sums up why their relationship never worked out while establishing thematic ties with The Twilight Zone's "The Long Morrow.

"The Simpsons" is one of America's finest institutions -- and nowadays, one of its most reliable. Even after 36 seasons, the longest-running primetime television series continues to produce timeless half-hour episodes (and the occasional hour-long special) that show why it deserves to still be around after so long.

Of course, there is always the "this show used to be better in the '90s" crowd that can't dare to imagine newer episodes being anything but garbage. Still, they have a point. The earlier seasons of "The Simpsons" were not just meticulously written and impeccably timed, but they have great animation and phenomenal character writing. It's why, despite there still being one modern episode, our list of the best "Simpsons" episodes ever is mostly comprised of episodes from seasons 4 to 6.

Among the best episodes, one common element that pops up a lot in that list (at least in the episode credits) is the name Conan O'Brien,...

Buried somewhere within the 90 stolid minutes of Abby Brenker and Ellyn Vander Wyden’s Voices Carry, there’s a decent Twilight Zone episode. Not from Rod Serling’s iconic original, mind you, but one of the long-forgotten reboots hosted by Forest Whittaker or Burgess Meredith. Voices Carry, which premiered at Cinequest 2025, takes a germ of an idea about generational trauma and then steadfastly refuses to develop it, preferring an M. Night Shyamalan-style approach that turns the screws so lightly and with so little technique that the ending — which felt like it was conceived first and everything else was written to get us there — generates neither sympathy nor catharsis.

Such a slow-moving and uninvolving story needs a star-making lead performance to keep us in the game. But top-billed Gia Crovatin, while holding the film together nicely as a suburban woman who uncovers centuries-old secrets while staying in her family’s lakeside cottage,...

Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" was a labor of love made possible due to the consistent contribution of competent writers. While Serling wrote a chunk of the episodes himself, authors like Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, and Ray Bradbury would often pen stories that challenged what was considered "appropriate" for network television. Some were adaptations of classic tales with a quintessential "Twilight Zone" twist, while others drew from chilling real-life incidents by reinterpreting them for a television audience. No matter where the source of inspiration lay, "The Twilight Zone" rooted scathing social commentary at its forefront, critiquing everything from mass moral hysteria to rampant consumerism in a hyper-capitalist society.

Among the show's contributing writers was sci-fi author George Clayton Johnson ("Logan's Run"), who wrote several notable episodes, including the Robert Redford-starrer "Nothing in the Dark," "A Penny for Your Thoughts," and "A Game of Pool." When he was an up-and-coming writer,...

For a show that began its run at the tail end of the 1950s, The Twilight Zone is as insightful, shocking, and relevant today as it was then, as evidenced by one of its most common themes: the ugliness of man. The man behind the series, Rod Serling, used The Twilight Zone to target the likes of bigotry, mistrust, selfishness, and a host of other manifestations of man's ugliness, cleverly disguising his commentary on these societal issues through his fictitious world. But in one of its most relevant episodes, The Twilight Zone explores what happens when the ugliness of a person's soul is reflected on the outside, in an episode directed by Ida Lupino, the only woman to have directed an episode of the iconic series.

Go ahead and take the elevator back up if you haven't watched season 2, episode 9 of "Severance," titled "The After Hours." There are spoilers down here on the severed floor!

"Severance" never does anything by accident. Everything from the show's musical cues to the props scattered across both the severed floor at Lumon — where our merry band of "innies" toil away as macrodata refiners, unaware of the real world inhabited by their "outies" — to the items we see in the homes of various characters has some sort of importance. Think of the "rabbit or duck" sculpture visible in severed floor manager Seth Milchick's (Trammell Tillman) office, or all of the Eagan-related trinkets Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) found in her childhood home in the prior episode, "Sweet Vitriol." This is all to say that the ninth episode of season 2 of Dan Erickson's nightmarish workplace drama "Severance" is titled "The After Hours,...

The power of a great movie is its ability to capture elements of humanity and imagination in a short period of time, connecting with the audience by crafting stories that are able to hold audiences' attention from beginning to end. One of the best ways that a film can capture an audience is with a twist, something that completely reshapes the narrative of the movie and leaves the audience to question everything that they saw before.

Whether a twist happens halfway through a movie, shifting the narrative and structure of the rest of the film, or at the end of the movie, recontextualizing everything that came before and drawing audiences to immediately want to watch the film again, these films are some of the ones that stick in the mind of audiences. Some of the best movies of all time are the ones that offer a shocking twist for the audience.

Rod Serling's groundbreaking anthology series The Twilight Zone is best known for its paranormal thrills and devastating irony, but the very first season ends with a surprising romantic-comic twist that works as well as any classic episode. "A World of His Own," about a writer struggling to control his creations, even hints at a hidden truth about the whole series.

"A World of His Own" starts out as an ordinary screwball comedy about a man torn between his doting girlfriend and his controlling wife — but nothing is as it seems. What unfolds is a clever allegory for the creative process featuring a startling cameo from Rod Serling himself, which creates a hilarious paradox, and opens up new ways of interpreting The Twilight Zone.

A World of His Own Is a Record-Breaking Episode Image via CBS

Writer Richard Matheson is well-known to Twilight Zone fans for terrifying episodes such as...

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Black Mirror is a British sci-fi thriller drama anthology series created by Charlie Brooker. The episodes of Channel 4 and later Netflix series feature self-contained stories that revolve around a new piece of technology and explore how that technology affects the people around it. Black Mirror stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Cristin Milioti, Hayley Atwell, Jon Hamm, Michaela Coel, Anthony Mackie, Jesse Plemons, Toby Kebbell, Alex Lawther, Jodie Whittaker, and Hannah John-Kamen. So, if you loved the inventive stories, sci-fi elements, and compelling characters in Black Mirror, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

The Twilight Zone Credit – CBS

The Twilight Zone is a sci-fi fantasy horror drama anthology series created by Rod Serling. The CBS series’ episodes feature self-contained stories that revolve around seemingly ordinary people as they find themselves in extraordinary situations. The Twilight Zone stars Serling,...

During his stint playing Commander William Riker on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Jonathan Frakes (seen above left) underwent a rudimentary director's boot camp. Frakes was interested in directing episodes of the show, and the producers said he would only be allowed to do so after shadowing other directors for 300 hours. Frakes put in his due diligence, and he ended up directing eight episodes of the series. The producers were so impressed that they also hired Frakes to direct two of the "Star Trek" feature films. 

His directorial experience on "Next Generation," he found, could be parlayed into other directing gigs. For one, he remained with the "Star Trek" franchise for decades, coming back to helm episodes of "Deep Space Nine," "Voyager," "Discovery," "Strange New Worlds," and "Picard." He directed the family friend sci-fi adventure film "Clockstoppers" in 2002 and "Thunderbirds" in 2004, eventually moving exclusively into television, overseeing episodes of "Leverage,...

As with fellow legendary families like the Barrymores and Fondas, the Bridges are undeniably acting royalty in Tinseltown, with father Lloyd Bridges trailblazing his way in the entertainment industry and sons Beau and Jeff following in his talented footsteps. The big and small-screen star appeared in over 150 feature films throughout his more than 50 years in the business, starring in a slew of hits like Sahara, High Noon, Airplane!, and Hotshots! (among countless others) and programs including Sea Hunt and The Lloyd Bridges Show during his sensational career. In 1965, Bridges continued his television takeover when he headlined the shamefully underrated Western The Loner.

Created by trailblazing producer and screenwriter Rod Serling, the mastermind behind the groundbreaking sci-fi horror series The Twilight Zone, The Loner focused on former American Civil War soldier William Colton as he sets out on a treacherous quest across the country to start a new life and is...

George R. R. Martin will always be best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, the epic fantasy saga that served as the basis for HBO's modern classic Game of Thrones. The author sought to infuse historical reality into a traditional high fantasy setting, presenting jockeying kingdoms which are never entirely good nor evil. Game of Thrones aptly captured the fascinating (and often violent) political conflicts at the heart of his stories, catapulting him to fame and giving his work a prominence and respect on par with the masters of the genre.

It may surprise some fans to learn that Game of Thrones wasn't the first television project associated with the author. Martin's career as a writer stretches back to the early 1970s, and includes a stint in the 1980s writing scripts for the likes of Max Headroom and Beauty and the Beast. That includes multiple episodes of The Twilight Zone...

Westerns have always worked uncommonly well with ghost stories, which occupy a small part of their ethos and can be readily used to serve story needs. Crossovers aren't entirely common, but have produced some striking movies and TV shows. They run the gamut from bloody updates of traditional Westerns like Bone Tomahawk to wilder genre mash-ups like From Dusk Til Dawn, and while the best of them tend to be modern, the roots of Western horror stretch back to the pulp days.

It should come as no surprise that one of the best old-school examples of Western horror came with Rod Serling's classic seriesThe Twilight Zone. Cowboys were all the rage when the series first premiered, and multiple episodes used Western tropes as the jumping-off point for their various spooky premises. One of them -- Season 3, Episode 7, "The Grave" -- is as good as anything The Twilight Zone has ever produced.

Though The Twilight Zone is best known for its eerie horror and science fiction stories, some of the finest episodes occupy the Western genre. One of the most unusual of these frontier tales is "Dust," a powerful drama where all the action takes place within the human heart. Unusually mundane but deeply moving, the story concerns a con artist whose cruel scam triggers an unexpected epiphany in the citizens of a dying town.

In "Dust," a conniving merchant capitalizes on the impending execution of a Mexican man whose deadly misadventure was caused by poverty. Rod Serling often took aim at social ills like racism and fascism, but in this unusual Western episode of The Twilight Zone, the focus is on apathy, and a possible cure for this disease of the human heart.

Season 2, Episode 12 Trades Paranormal Thrills for Powerful Drama Image via CBS.

The striking first image of "Dust" is of a deformed horse,...

The Twilight Zone and the works of David Lynch might not be identical twins, but they could certainly be long-lost siblings. Both are known for their uncanny ability to distort reality, blending the mundane with the macabre, and turning dreams into nightmares. Rod Serling’s anthology series often served up moral allegories and psychological horror draped in mid-century aesthetics, while Lynch’s filmography is drenched in dreamy dread, surreal juxtapositions, and the creeping sense that something just isn’t quite right. If you squint, many Twilight Zone episodes already feel like they could have been ripped straight from the pages of Lynch’s personal notes.

Though Serling’s world is more narratively buttoned-up than Lynch’s sprawling, often impenetrable puzzles, the thematic overlap is impossible to ignore. There are plenty of episodes that mirror Lynch’s obsessions -- loss of identity, small-town façades hiding rot beneath, dreams bleeding into reality,...

More than one wiseguy writer has uttered some variant on, "It's the journey, not the destination," but let's be honest: If you trek a thousand miles through some of the most beautiful, strange, and intriguing landscapes on Earth only to end up at a Burger King, you may wonder why you've endured so much for a lukewarm box of chicken fries. Sticking the landing is a nightmare for every creator, but not everyone can take the occasional wet plop with aplomb like Stephen King can. King is an endurance runner of a writer, and no matter the ending, he still gets us to enjoy our journey with him. That's one of his biggest skills, and it's also the one that always gets us lining up for his next book.

King will also be the first to admit when the ending gets away from him, either from some late game writer's block,...

Plot: Two parents (Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys) receive a panicked phone call from their college-age daughter, who’s just hit and killed someone while intoxicated on a remote road. The two rush to her while grappling with the decision about how to handle a situation that will likely land her in prison and ruin her life.

Review: How far would you go to protect your children? That’s the question Babak Anvari’s (Under the Shadow) Hallow Road asks. While it’s a familiar one, what makes Hallow Road unique is that the parents in this movie aren’t necessarily racing to save their children from an external force but rather from a deadly calamity of their own making.

Running a taut eighty minutes, Hallow Road takes place mostly in a car, as Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys race the clock to drive out to the remote road of...

Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone is one of the most iconic shows of all time and is known for its innovative writing, superb performances by an array of notable stars, and its variety of stories ranging from fantasy, thriller, and science-fiction. Originally airing in 1959, The Twilight Zone is essentially timeless and, even today, it continues to entertain and inspire fans around the world. With the series becoming a staple in pop culture and a vital contribution to the television landscape, The Twilight Zone is also celebrated for its vast collection of episodes with jaw-dropping plot twists.

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The Resort is a mystery dark comedy-drama series created by Andy Siara. The Peacock series follows Noah and Emma, a young couple on a vacation for their 10th anniversary in the Mayan Riviera. They feel their marriage is in a rut, but they soon come across an exciting mystery involving a disappearance fifteen years ago. The Resort stars William Jackson Harper, Cristin Milioti, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Skyler Gisondo, Nina Bloomgarden, Gabriela Cartol, and Nick Offerman. So, if you loved the thrilling mysteries, biting drama, and compelling characters in The Resort, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Signal Credit – Netflix

Signal is a South Korean supernatural crime drama series created by Choi Jin-hee and Park Ji-young. The tvN series is set in two different time periods, and it follows Park Hae-young, a criminal profiler who comes across a mysterious walkie-talkie,...

Few shows in television history can match the influence of The Twilight Zone, which gave the medium one of its most enduring classics. Its anthology format allowed it to tell a wide variety of stories, then shift gears before a given concept or idea became too stale. Creator Rod Serling married sharp technical storytelling with a strong moral compass, using ironic twist endings to wrap each episode up in a bow. At its best, nothing could match it, and even the occasional misfire could be easily forgiven since the next episode would essentially wipe the slate clean.

The Twilight Zone was far from the only anthology series on the air when it was first released, and the story-of-the-week format works for far more genres than sci-fi or horror. While anthologies are less common now, they have never vanished from the scene, and many of them reflect the same sensibilities that Serling perfected.

Stars: Amber Doig-Thorne, Laurence R. Harvey, Dani Thompson, Ayvianna Snow, Simon Bamford, David Gelmini, Charlie Bond, Annabella Rich, Rami Hilmi, Sarah Rorbach, James Hamer-Morton | Directed by Angie Darling Baby, Alexander Churchyard, Paul Doherty, Andrew Elias, Bazz Hancher, Jason Impey, Debbie Lant, Tony Mardon, Hannah Paterson, Richard Rowntree, James Saxon, Teddy Saxon

As a fan of the first entry into this now-turned franchise, I was eager to finally get the chance to see the sequel, Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust & Revenge. Like the first film, this second entry into the series promised a return to the nostalgic charm of retro VHS horror – delivering both scores and laughs, just like the first film, and it certainly delivered on both front.

The film comprises multiple segments, each offering a unique blend of terror and dark humour. Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust & Revenge opens with a trailer for “The Beast...

Rod Serling, the iconic creator of The Twilight Zone, is renowned for his ingenious way of encoding pointed political messages in his imaginative fictions. Serling's early struggles with censorship are well-documented, but one of his later efforts — a Western — contained commentary that may have been too much for contemporary viewers. His short-lived series The Loner, which used the Wild West as a cipher for America's shifting social landscape, was well ahead of its time.

The Loner starred Lloyd Bridges as a Union soldier who leaves the army to seek a new life on the frontier. His westward journey embroils him in various morally complex dramas that rarely have cut-and-dry solutions — which may have contributed to the show's low ratings. Modern viewers are more likely to appreciate the show's grim maturity, which makes it a must for Rod Serling fans.

This Revisionist Western Has Origins in The Twilight Zone Image via CBS.

While the average anthology series doesn’t require a proper conclusion to tie up loose ends, it only seemed fitting for the third and most recent revival of The Twilight Zone to seek some sense of finality. After all, the 2019 take never shied away from acknowledging its progenitor, directly or otherwise, and that reverence became a sort of throughline.

In the Jordan Peele–produced and hosted update, tribute to Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone was routinely made via easter eggs, or remake in the case of “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” however, Osgood “Oz” Perkins’ episode “You Might Also Like” was something of a sequel to a beloved Serling story. In what ultimately became the finale for Peele’s short-lived show, the director of Longlegs and The Monkey not only brought back iconic characters from the original series, he also offered a considerable glimpse into his own future as both a filmmaker and storyteller.

With The Twilight Zone, firebrand creator Rod Serling changed the face of television in a way that would continue on long after his death. In 1994, almost 20 years after his passing, his writing came to life in Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics — all thanks to a chance discovery in his widow Carol's garage. Two previously unproduced stories lit up the small screen, taking fans on one last thrilling trip to the Zone.

Admittedly, "Lost Classics" is a bit of an oxymoron, but this special provides a reminder of what made The Twilight Zone so iconoclastic. Richard Matheson expanded "The Theatre" from an outline full of paranoia and self-fulfilling prophecies; "Where the Dead Are" was a Lovecraftian horror story filmed exactly as Serling wrote it, and it provokes questions about what kinds of stories he might turn out today. Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics is not readily available, but intrepid...

In 1961, Richard Matheson published a short story called "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" that became a cornerstone of TheTwilight Zone franchise. Rod Serling's original series included an instant-classic adaptation that has been endlessly referenced, and remade twice. 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Jordan Peele's 2019 reboot series both tackled the tale in contrasting ways, and watching the three versions together reveals much about why the Matheson story is so special.

The 1963 Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" featured a performance from William Shatner that makes up for the low-budget creature he sees on the wing of his plane. 20 years later, George "Mad Max" Miller remade the story with advanced FX for Twilight Zone: The Movie, and in 2019 the reboot series included "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet," a modern take that may be the most paranoid of them all.

Richard Matheson's Story Was Monstrously Influential Image via CBS.

Author Richard Matheson's...

The Twilight Zone is one of the best series ever put on television, with its sharp storytelling and signature twists elevating it to a perennial evergreen. The anthology format gave it a good deal of creative flexibility, exploring everything from comedy to horror during its run. Creator Rod Serling possessed the precise kind of mind to package it for television at that time. Many of its episodes have become pop-culture staples, and even the fair-to-middling ones still carry a punch that's hard to beat. The series' influence continues to be felt today, though no one has yet succeeded in recreating its formula.

The question of which episodes rank as the best will always be the subject of heated debate among The Twilight Zone fans, and everyone has their favorites. There are more than enough strong episodes to keep that argument going indefinitely. The best of them, however, combine a strong...

Few television shows have stood the test of time like The Twilight Zone. Created by the legendary Rod Serling, the anthology series was more than just eerie sci-fi and horror -- it was a masterclass in social commentary. Serling, a decorated World War II veteran and staunch advocate for civil rights and racial justice, used the show as a vehicle to discuss real-world injustices in a way that network executives would accept. When he attempted to write a script about the murder of Emmett Till, he faced censorship at every turn. Realizing that his message would only reach audiences if it was cloaked in allegory, he turned to science fiction and fantasy.

The result was The Twilight Zone, a show that challenged viewers to think critically about society, often sneaking hard-hitting truths past censors. Over its five-season run, the series tackled racism, authoritarianism, conformity, and the horrors of war -- sometimes subtly,...

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Love, Death & Robots is an adult animated anthology series created by Tim Miller and David Fincher. The Netflix series is a collection of various animated short stories from different genres, including sci-fi, dark fantasy, horror, and mystery. Love, Death & Robots’ voice cast includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michael B. Jordan, Topher Grace, Elodie Yung and many more. So, if you loved the imaginative stories, anthology format, and compelling plots and characters in Love, Death & Robots, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Secret Level (Prime Video) Credit – Amazon MGM Studios

Secret Level is an adult animated anthology series created by Tim Miller. The Prime Video series consists of fifteen standalone stories set in the universes of different video games, including Armored Core, Concord, Crossfire, Dungeons & Dragons, Exodus, Honor of Kings, Mega Man, Sifu,...

"Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan was this year's recipient of the Writers Guild of America's Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement — an annual lifetime achievement award that honors the best of the best in television writing.

In his acceptance speech (reported on by Variety), Gilligan shared some mixed thoughts on the legacy of his most famous work so far. Citing the prevalence of bad guys in the current political landscape, he feels it's time to take a break from antihero protagonists like his own teacher-turned-meth cook lead, Walter "Heisenberg" White (brilliantly played by Bryan Cranston). Gilligan explained:

"Walter White is one of the all time great bad guys. But all things being equal, I think I'd rather be celebrated for creating someone a bit more inspiring. In 2025 it's time to say that out loud, because we are living in an era where bad guys, the real life kind,...

The Twilight Zone is one of the most influential television series of all time. Its anthology format and clever updates of campfire tales struck a chord with audiences in the early 1960s, as creator Rod Serling and his colleagues combined sci-fi with a strong social conscience. The series' signature ironic twists have never lost their sting, and the moral lessons beneath the chills give it an evergreen quality that helped it endure over the years.

In the process, it has influenced countless sci-fi and horror filmmakers who were inspired by it at an early age. Some of them went on to direct movies with a close resemblance to Serling's tales, and there are plenty of feature-length movies which bear the distinctive stamp of a specific episode. Each one tells its own story, while carrying the core of an idea that effectively started with The Twilight Zone.

A Nightmare on Elm...

Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone is not only one of the greatest television series of all time, but one of the most storied. The anthology format was perfect for telling sci-fi tales with an ironic twist, using the whiplash ending to keep audiences coming back week after week. It arrived during the height of the Space Race, and captured the zeitgeist of the time with uncanny accuracy. At the same time, Serling's penchant for social commentary and observations about human nature helped The Twilight Zone transcend the era it was made to become a timeless classic.

Considering its pedigree, it might come as some surprise that the series has never been a massive ratings hit. The first incarnation of The Twilight Zone lasted five seasons, which is respectable, but far less than other big TV hits of the series such as The Virginian and The Beverly Hillbillies. Its eventual...

The Twilight Zone is, undoubtedly, the best anthology series ever made. It covers topics in all sorts of genres, from (predominantly) horror to science-fiction, although a few other genres tend to sneak in, as the writer and creator Rod Serling wanted to tell stories that focus on the human condition. That's why there are some episodes that verge on dark humor and even those that look like Westerns or are set in the Old West.