Selling “The Twilight Zone” was not an easy task for Rod Serling. The concept of anthologies had more or less been introduced to TV via long-running radio programs like “Suspense” and “X Minus One.” There also already existed “one-and-done” live shows like “Kraft Playhouse Theatre,” “Playhouse 90,” and so on. Yet “Twilight Zone” purported to be a genre anthology show that was to emulate emerging trends in science-fiction and horror seen in literary circles (primarily the works of writers like Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, and Richard Matheson, all of whom worked on the series) at a time when filmed genre entertainment skewed more toward the hokier realm of Atomic Age aliens and giant monsters.
Serling knew that convincing the higher-ups at CBS was only half the battle; he’d have to win over audiences, too, and that struggle would be compounded by the scourge of tone-killing commercial breaks. As Serling ruminated while speaking at UCLA on May 17th of 1971:
“… [H]owever moving and however probing and incisive the drama, [a show] cannot retain any consistent thread of legitimacy when, after 12 or 13 minutes, out comes 12 dancing rabbits with toilet paper. It puts the creator, particularly the writer, in a tough emotional bind, though, because obviously Sanka coffee, here, as tasteless and offensive as those commercials were, nonetheless paid the freight. How do you predatorily bite that hand that feeds you consistently?”