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''The Twilight Zone'' (simply ''Twilight Zone'' in its fourth and fifth seasons) is an American science-fiction〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Twilight Zone (Series ) () )〕 anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consists of unrelated stories depicting paranormal, futuristic, Kafkaesque, or otherwise disturbing or unusual events; each story typically features a moral and a surprise ending. The series is notable for featuring both established stars (Joan Blondell, Ann Blyth, Art Carney, William Demarest, Buddy Ebsen, Jack Elam, Buster Keaton, Kevin McCarthy, Burgess Meredith, Agnes Moorehead, Ed Wynn) and younger actors who would become more famous later on (Bill Bixby, Charles Bronson, Donna Douglas, Robert Duvall, Anne Francis, Mariette Hartley, Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Montgomery, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, Don Rickles, William Shatner, Telly Savalas, George Takei and Lee Van Cleef). Serling served as executive producer and head writer; he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the show's 156 episodes. He was also the show's host and narrator, delivering monologues at the beginning and end of each episode. Serling's opening and closing narrations usually summarize the episode's events encapsulating how and why the main character(s) had entered the Twilight Zone. In 1997, the episodes "To Serve Man" and "It's a Good Life" were respectively ranked at 11 and 31 on ''TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time''; Serling himself stated that his favorite episodes of the series were "The Invaders" and "Time Enough at Last".〔(Rod Serling Reveals his Favorite TWILIGHT ZONE Episodes )〕 In 2002, ''The Twilight Zone'' was ranked No. 26 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.〔(TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows )〕 In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the third best-written TV series ever〔(101 Best Written TV Series List )〕 and ''TV Guide'' ranked it as the fifth greatest show of all time. ==Development== By the late 1950s, Rod Serling was a regular name in television. His successful teleplays included ''Patterns'' (for ''Kraft Television Theater'') and ''Requiem for a Heavyweight'' (for ''Playhouse 90''), but constant changes and edits made by the networks and sponsors frustrated Serling. In ''Requiem for a Heavyweight,'' the line "Got a match?" had to be struck because the sponsor sold lighters; other programs had similar striking of words that might remind viewers of competitors to the sponsor, including one case in which the sponsor, Ford Motor Company, had the Chrysler Building removed from a picture of the New York City skyline. But according to comments in his 1957 anthology ''Patterns'', Serling had been trying to delve into material more controversial than his works of the early 1950s. This led to ''Noon on Doomsday'' for the ''United States Steel Hour'' in 1956, a commentary by Serling on the total lack of repentance and defensiveness he saw in the Mississippi town where the murder of Emmett Till took place. His original script closely paralleled the Till case, then was moved out of the South and the victim changed to a Jewish pawnbroker, and eventually watered down to just a foreigner in an unnamed town. Despite bad reviews, activists sent numerous letters and wires protesting the production. Serling thought that a science-fictional setting, with robots, aliens and other supernatural occurrences, would give him more freedom and less interference in expressing controversial ideas than more realistic settings.〔Zicree, Marc Scott. op. cit. p. 15〕 "The Time Element" was Serling's 1957 pilot pitch for his show, a time travel adventure about a man who travels back to Honolulu in 1941 and unsuccessfully tries to warn everyone about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. The script, however, was rejected and shelved for a year until Bert Granet discovered and produced it as an episode of ''Desilu Playhouse'' in 1958.〔Zicree, Marc Scott. op. cit. p. 19〕 The show was a huge success and enabled Serling to finally begin production on his anthology series, ''The Twilight Zone''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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