America would undergo some drastic, abrupt and totally unexpected changes during the next four years. In 1959, an oasis appeared in the vast television wasteland… a place where we learned to expect the unexpected, and thus, found inner strength to deflect the blows headed our way. “The Twilight Zone” became one of the most popular (and, certainly one of the best) programs of the Boomer Generation. It began in a time of Puberty Rock, Teen Idols, happy endings when good guys always won, corporate Westerns, Barbie, and American Dream shows like “The Man and the Challenge” and “Men Into Space”… an age of black and white (and, even Reds), until Rod Serling showed us that “middle ground between light and shadow… between science and superstition.”
It would be absurd to examine the rich and extensive content of “The Twilight Zone”, because most Boomers already know every episode by heart. But, each incredible twist ending prepared us a bit more for the future… for better or worse.