A Tribute to Twilight Zone Creator Rod Serling: A Must-Read for TV Fans

 

Join the centennial celebration of Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.

Written by Emmy-winning television writer and award-winning playwright Joseph Dougherty, Rod Serling at 100: One Writer’s Acknowledgment [ISBN: 978-1949024746; $19.99; Fayetteville Mafia Press; November 2024] is a personal appreciation and exploration of the six-time Emmy-winner’s astonishing catalog, stories that continue to move and chill and enlighten us.

Serling was born in Syracuse, New York on Christmas Day, 1924, and 2024 marks the centenary of his birth. He barely made it halfway. Serling suffered multiple heart attacks in May and June 1975, then underwent ten hours of open heart surgery during which he experienced his third heart attack. He died two days later, on June 28, 1975. He was only 50 years old.

Dougherty knows exactly where he was when he heard the news. “I was alone on the bed, looking up at the peak of the roof above me when someone on the radio told me Serling had died at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York,” he says. “Those fifty years contain a career that saw the last days of radio drama make a shaky transition into live television. [Sterling] did not ‘learn’ television writing; he was one of the people who created the form and craft of it. He created a television series that remains a cultural touchstone more than sixty years after its last network broadcast.”

Today, Dougherty himself is a gifted storyteller whose credits include two socially phenomenal series: thirtysomething and Pretty Little Liars. He picked this special anniversary to reflect on Serling, his contributions to television drama, and his lasting influence.

Rod Serling at 100: One Writer’s Acknowledgment by Joseph Dougherty
Fayetteville Mafia Press
Paperback; November 19, 2024
ISBN: 978-1-94902-474-6
$19.99; 250 pages

Joseph Dougherty is an Emmy and Humanitas Prize winner for his writing on the groundbreaking series thirtysomething. His movies include the Emmy-winning occult-noir mash-up Cast a Deadly Spell, which was nominated for a Ray Bradbury Award by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the revisionist remake of Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman. He has contributed as a writer, director, and producer to several television series, including Judging Amy, Once and Again, and Pretty Little Liars. He is the author of A Screenwriter’s Companion: Instruction, Opinion, Encouragement, The First Cylinder, and the upcoming sequel A Writer Directs: Theory, Discovery, Process all from Fayetteville Mafia Press.

Dougherty earned Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for his play Digby produced by Manhattan Theatre Club. He wrote the libretto for the Tony-winning musical version of My Favorite Year presented at Lincoln Center. His play Chester Bailey premiered at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where it was selected as Outstanding World Premiere Play and Outstanding Production of a Play by the TBA Awards. Chester Bailey was subsequently produced by the Contemporary American Theater Festival, Barrington Stage Company, and opened in New York at The Irish Repertory Theatre. His newest play Off By One debuted at People’s Light in June 2024.