From Serling to Peele: The 60-Year Journey of 'The Twilight Zone'
"The Twilight Zone" was already 6 decades old before it made its way to Jordan Peele.
April 1st is only days away, y'all and that means we're all so, so close to being able to watch some spine-tingling, anxiety-inducing goodness from Jordan Peele's reboot of The Twilight Zone.
The reboot is getting all types of attention from new audiences—I mean, Peele himself interrupted the friggin' Super Bowl with a TV promo that was more exciting than the game itself—but how well do these young, contemporary viewers, who are no doubt already avid fans of Peele's work, know the program that he decided to bring back from the 5th dimension? (And would they even get that reference!?)
In this video, Charlie "Moose" Lopresto from NowThis Nerd guides us through the controversial history of The Twilight Zone, from its start as an innovative boundary-pusher to its many, many fateful endings due to low ratings. Check it out below:
If you didn't know the origin story of The Twilight Zone, maybe now you see why Jordan Peele is exactly the right person to bring back the show.
The similarities between the Us director and Rod Serling, the original producer/writer/presenter of the show, are many, namely when it comes to their philosophies about storytelling.
Serling says, "The writer's role is to menace the public's conscience. He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus on the issues of his time.”
Peele says, "We go to the theater to be entertained, but if what is left after you watch the movie is a sort of eye-opening perspective on some social issues, then it can be a really powerful piece of art."
Both Serling and Peele have used their art to bring societal issues like racism, sexism, and inequality into the light, compelling them to think about it, process it, and hopefully, in the end, deal with it.
It's easy to discount The Twilight Zone as some low-grade sci-fi horror anthology TV series, but it's not. It never was, and with Jordan Peele at the helm, there's a really good chance it won't be come April 1st.
Source: NowThis Nerd
