Rare Rod Serling sharing and discussion thread

Hopefully we'll be sharing and discussing some "Holy Grails" of Rod Serling here:

First up Rod's breakthrough writing effort from 1955, "Patterns," the script that changed his life and career.

My intro podcast about Rod and Patterns without spoilers.
http://jack_benny.podomatic.com/entry/2013-01-26T11_52_06-08_00

Here is the complete Emmy winning show from YouTube:


Here is the complete remake Feature Film fro a year later:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogp-Kb918Ys

Comments?

 

Good idea for a topic. Rod Serling is one of my all time favorite people. I have all of the Twilight Zone and Night Gallery on DVD. I wish all of his work from the 50s would be available on DVD(Playhouse 90, etc.)I have never seen any of those early anthology series. I would love to get them in a nice economical package.

 

Criterion has put out a pretty amazing set, and Amazon has it for under $30.

It includes

Marty
Patterns 1955 - Rod Serlings first Emmy
No Time for Sergeants
A Wind from the South
Requiem for a Heavyweight 1956 - Rod Serlings second Emmy
Bang the Drum Slowly
The Comedian 1957 - Rod Serlings third Emmy
Days of Wine and Roses

Here is the link

http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Television-Criterion-Collection/dp/B002M36R1O

 

Here is Rod's third Emmy winning script!



Rod Serling Podcast 1957-02-14 Playhouse 90 Mickey Rooney - The Comedian And here is the actual show

 

Here is Rod's first attempt at a pilot for Twilight Zone.

Rod Serling Podcast 1958-11-24 Desilu Playhouse - The Time Element (Twilight Zone first pilot)
http://jack_benny.podomatic.com/entry/2013-02-09T00_32_15-08_00

Here is the episode in it's entirety!

 

Wow, amazing stuff, thanks!

 

I'm glad you have enjoyed the shows. Now for something really rare and fun! Rod Serling's only other series that he created and controlled in a similar way to Twilight Zone, and Rod's only western series as well!

Here is Rod Serling's western The Loner Starring Lloyd Bridges!

Rod Serling Podcast 1965-09-18 The Loner (01) Starring Lloyd Bridges - An Echo of Bugles - an introduction by me

 

I am really enjoying the Loner series. I have never really been into westerns till a few years ago when I started watching Bonanza reruns. Really like rediscovering the Gunsmoke radio series too.

I've always been a huge Rod Serling fan. Thanks for bringing these to our attention.

Tim

 

Saw a Rod Serling interview just last week while watching Fractured Flickers reruns. Not the usual (for that show) sarcastic repartee; basically Rod plugging his TZ show and a few inspirational authors (like Heinlein & Ballard), saying he daily engaged in interstellar travel (figuratively speaking), before disappearing in a camera gag. I'd like to know how tall Rod was as Hans Conried seemed to tower over him, even while sitting.

 

The Mike Wallace Interview featuring Rod Serling (1959)

 

Great thread Dr Pepper !

 

This has been posted before but it needs to be here! Just call me Twi

 

"The Loner" written by Rod Serling was his next project after the Twilight Zone. It was the "thinking man's western", but the networks as always thought folks don't like to think, so it just ran for one very interesting season. Originally telecast on September 18, 1965, and was Rod Serling's only TV western. He wrote about half of the episodes before "withdrawing" from the series, because CBS complained there wasn't enough "action" happening during his scripts, and that it was "too cerebral" {that is, more social consicous than most westerns}, and Rod ended up bitterly disappointed about the whole thing. The ratings finished the series [opposite NBC's "SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES" and ABC's "HOLLYWOOD PALACE".



Here is my commentary on the first episode. Rod Serling Podcast 1965-09-18 The Loner (01) Starring Lloyd Bridges - An Echo of Bugles

Here is the first episode.


AN ECHO OF BUGLES

Airdate September 18, 1965
Written by Rod Serling
Directed by Alex March
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Film Editor: George Gittens

CAST
Tony Bill...............Jody Merriman
Whit Bissell......................Nichols
John Hoyt........................Colonel
Lou Krugman.................Bartender
Stephen Roberts..................Doctor
Gregg Palmer....................Adjutant

A swaggering gunfighter targets an aging
Confederate veteran, and Colton steps in
to deal with the bully.

 

This is not exactly rare but I hope you don't mind me including it as I think it is a fine example of his writing.

Some folks may not know that Rod Serling wrote the original screenplay for what became the movie. Planet of the Apes (1968) .

See: http://www.rodserling.com/pota.htm

His screenplay was based on Pierre Boulle's original novel of the same name. Serling was hired to create a screenplay by King Brother Productions in 1963 after they obtained the screen rights from Bouille.

After APJAC Productions obtained the screen rights, in 1965, Michael Wilson was brought in to continue working on Serling's screenplay.

Serling was eventually given co-writing credit with Wilson, but from what I've read, the screenplay as filmed is pretty much Serling's original concept (including the shock ending) except that he saw the Ape society as Boulle did; being very similar to ours with Ape City being like a Simian version of NYC, with very similar human contemporary (for the time ) technology.

It was decided that would be far too expensive to film and it was Wilson who suggested a simpler, more primitive ape society and city.

However the main gist of the screenplay remains Serling's original conceptualization.

 

http://theforbidden-zone.com/media/tzone.shtml

 

Here's something odd I would like to see again, once. When Night Gallery went to syndication, Serling did a promo for every channel, with him standing in the "gallery" filmed live on camera. After a few excerpt scenes with his voiceover, he would be on camera standing in the "gallery", and he said something like "Watch Night Gallery every night here on Channel 45". I saw these for channels 45 and 50 and maybe 20. He must have done a piece for every channel number from 2 to 83.

 

It's a shame he died suddenly when he did. I'm sure he had a lot more stories to write.

 

This is really funny that you brought that up. I was just watching my DVD of the Twilight Zone. I am in Season 3 and just finished it. On the last disc there are some extras on it including these Night Gallery promos, bumpers teasers etc. I watched the whole thing. I was laughing throughout it watching Serling doing these station id's for all of these individual channels. Channel 2,3.4 etc. I must have counted about 40 or 50 of these promos. I found it very humorous to see Serling go through these id's. Serling was such a consummate professional and he made even these mundane little station id's interesting.

 

I didn't know those were out there! Is that on The Complete Twilight Zone or something? It's interesting that they are there and not on the (messed up) Night Gallery DVDs. I don't have any of these DVDs, so far.

 

It is on the 50th anniversary complete series box set of the Twilight Zone. It is the DVD version. I do not have the Blu Ray version. It is one of the extras on the Third Season discs. I hope that when the 50th anniversary of The Night Gallery comes out in 2019 or 2020 that these extras will end up on there. They would certainly help fill up some disc space. It is where they belong. Another thing I would like to see on this hypothetical complete series box set is Rod Serling's Night Gallery introductions to the Sixth Sense episodes that were added to the Night Gallery syndication package after Night Gallery was cancelled. Just Rod Serling and the paintings. They are good. The Sixth Sense series should get its own separate dvd release.
Also, I would like to see those Serling intros used to create newly produced Night Gallery episodes. On the Internet Movie Data Base there is a mention of a Night Gallery miniseries being produced. That was mentioned a couple of months ago and I have not heard anything about it since. Nothing official. If they end up doing it though, this would be a perfect place to use those Serling intros.

 

Wilson rewrote the script substantially as I recall and while there are elements of Serling in terms of structure, the dialog is largely Wilson's.

Nevertheless, Without Serling there wouldn't have been a POTA film. He was so well regarded that he was contacted by Arthur Jacobs for a treatment for a sequel.

 

My screenwriting teacher was Serling's next door neighbor and apparently Serling could be a bit of a Robin Williams when other writers got together to talk.

 

Anyone see jacques cousteau undersea documentaries with Rod Serling narrating?

 

Twilight Zone, I grew up on that re-runs of course>


sean

 

One book I read on Serling suggested that he was washed up after The Twilight Zone something I would disagree with. While I think that, in terms of quality and consistency, he may have peaked there, he wrote other scripts that were equally as powerful and of the same quality such as Seven Days in May, Planet of The Apes, etc. his best work on a night a gallery equalled his best work on TTZ. While I think Rod later regretted giving up creative control of his second series, the show--when he was in carol of the quality and not Jack Laird-- could be pretty amazing.

When I was growing up and wanted to be a writer Serling and Paddy Chayefsky were my idols. Interesting that both died so young and we're both very driven. I Do wonder how Serling's use (Chayefsky's) of meth injections to help him keep the working pace on TTZ contributed to his early death.

https://books.google.com/books?id=o...page&q=paddy chayefsky on rod serling&f=false