A shadowy, creeping notion . . .

'The Twilight Zone' was clever, progressive and always packed a twist – modern culture would have been very different without it, writes TARA BRADY

THERE’S A MOMENT in Gore Vidal’s recent memoirs when he laments the proportion of his autumn years given over to various chroniclers of the age: “Meanwhile, almost daily requests arrive from biographers of – well, who’s at hand? – Carson McCullers, Mary McCarthy, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner – thank God I never met Hemingway – JF Kennedy, Truman Capote, Antony Tudor, Anaïs Nin – Rod Serling!”

The amusing use of italics and an exclamation mark is, in the circumstances, a little unfair. Submitted for your approval, a shadowy, creeping notion, an idea so odd yet indisputable it might have originated in one of Serling's own teleplays: that Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, is the father of much of modern culture.

Born on Christmas Day, 1924, in Syracuse, New York, Serling in his brief life would touch every crucial plot point lurking beneath such recent studies in postwar masculinity as Mad Men, Revolutionary Roadand A Single Man. His middle-class Jewish family was badly hit by the Great Depression. Young Rod was equally marked by a stint with the 511th platoon (nicknamed the Death Squad for its high casualty rate) in the Philippines and, later, with the occupation force in Japan. He left the army in 1945 with a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, a Philippine Liberation Medal and post-traumatic nightmares that would haunt him the rest of his days.

Returning to the US, he tested jet ejection seats and parachutes for the air force in order to pay his way through university. He maintained this work ethic throughout his career as a writer-producer and seldom backed away from a skirmish with conservative corporate sponsors. "It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every 12 minutes one is interrupted by 12 dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper," he says in the documentary Submitted for Your Approval.

By the time The Twilight Zonewas beamed into American homes in 1959 Serling had won plaudits and two Emmys for the socially minded teleplays Patternsand Requiem for a Heavyweight. In the aftermath of the McCarthy trials the new programme's generic appearance allowed Serling to pursue his pet preoccupations with minimal interference from the network. In common with the kitchen-sink dramas emerging across the Atlantic, the Zone peddled a right-on, progressive agenda, coming out against racism, atomic weapons, the Vietnam war, capital punishment and cold-war dogma of all kinds.

Unlike its British cousins, Serling's creation sugared these themes with the romance of new technologies and an all-American razzmatazz. You can plot every Twilight Zonescript against an Aristotelian slide rule and they'll still come out the same; the hook arrives at four and a half minutes and the kicker is scheduled somewhere between 18 and 21 minutes in. Each episode was memorably and slickly presented as a self-contained parable and bookended by its progenitor, who would appear within the frame as if by magic to deliver one of his wry, common-sense sermons. He was an immediate hit in an era when television meant impeccable suits, end-to-end cigarette smoking and high-fallutin' allusions.

For viewers, the Zone's appeal lay in escapism, not commentary. In the new technocratic age of the space race, Serling, who wrote most of the episodes, was also able to call on many of the architects behind the golden age of science fiction: Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson both contributed scripts; quality folk from other sectors soon followed. Over four seasons, the programme showcased the talents of Robert Redford, William Shatner, Burt Reynolds, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Charles Bronson, Peter Falk, Lee Marvin, Buster Keaton, Art Carney, Mickey Rooney and Ida Lupino, playing angels, aliens, ghosts, astronauts, time travellers and the last people on Earth.

Serling, who died during heart surgery in 1975, could not have predicted the longevity of his creation. Each decade brings a new tweak for The Twilight Zonebrand: Steven Spielberg produced and co-directed the 1984 film version; Forest Whittaker fronted the 2003 revival; Korn, following in the footsteps of Bernard Hermann and The Grateful Dead, are the most recent artists to grace the end credits. There are Zone postage stamps, Christmas ornaments produced by Hallmark, and so-so to unfortunate rock tributes from Rush and Golden Earring. Leonardo DiCaprio's company Appian Way is working on a new Twilight Zonefilm with Confession of a Dangerous Mindscreenwriter Rand Ravich.

Away from the imprint it's impossible to watch the current vogue for apocalyptic and dystopian themes without thinking Serling did it first. Just as The Twilight Zonewondered what lay beyond the earthly certainties of 1950s ideology, the imagined landscapes of The Walking Deadand Fringeplay out today's social discontent and Luddite nightmares for mainstream audiences. Would Losthave made it out of season one without its many nods to the Serling back catalogue? Would Mediumhave survived being so medium? And picture, if you will, what the movieverse might look like without Rod Serling. His trademark twist ending has been mined and honed by everyone from Quentin Tarantino to M Night Shyamalan.

At the time of his death Serling had won six Emmys, an Edgar, a Hugo and a Peabody, and created such acclaimed TV shows as Night Galleryand The Loner, all the while maintaining a successful academic career at Ithaca College.

The Twilight Zone, however, remains his only creation to register in all five dimensions.

Five great 'Twilight Zone' twists

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

An average American neighbourhood descends into cold-war hysterics when an unidentified object appears overhead. But wait . . . there really is an alien invasion.

Walking Distance

A middle-aged man arrives at the town in which he grew up and is surprised to find himself cast back to the time of his childhood. He encounters himself as a child and kickstarts an unfortunate temporal loop.

I Am the Night: Colour Me Black

A black man is to be hanged for a crime he did not commit. The sun refuses to rise. Later we learn the same darkness fell on north Vietnam, Birmingham, Alabama, and other places where hatred rules.

The Hitch-Hiker

A hitch-hiker, present at every corner, begins to disturb a driver. That's right, he's Death, and she's been dead since just before the first ad break.

Time Enough at Last

A harassed man can never find time to read. When, following a catastrophe, he emerges as the only living being left in the city his problems seem solved. Then he breaks his glasses.