skip's blog

vid: rod serling and mike wallace

Here's Rod Serling, one of my all-time guys, interviewed by Mike Wallace prior to the airing of the first Twilight Zone episode. It's a great interview and interesting on so many levels. Serling discusses Paddy Chayefsky with a veneration most easily compared to Pete Seeger talking about Woody Guthrie. Also, although this is only about '58, Serling recalls the early days of television as if they are light years behind him.

By the way -- Twilight Zone was not quite the cash cow for Serling that he hoped it would be nor that most of us assume it was.

Both Wallace and Serling are smoking like chimneys on camera. Serling is very squirmy and earnest. Hard to believe he'd soon be the confident, charismatic, mysterious guy who gave us the keys to the Twilight Zone every week.

Labels: interview, rod serling

posted by skip heller @ 1:13 AM