Movies - TV
Every Twilight Zone Episode Was Supposed To Follow These Specific Rules
By MICHAEL BOYLE
In Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone,” with seemingly so many storytelling opportunities to choose from, it was vital for there to be three specific rules to govern every episode.
The first rule was to create an interesting yet relatable character or group of characters in a moment of crisis and introduce them to an unknown magical or supernatural event.
In his book "What a Producer Does," showrunner Buck Houghton said to avoid lack of credibility, “Allow only one miracle or special talent or imaginative circumstance per episode.”
The final rule that Houghton and Serling recalled was, “The story must be impossible in the real world. A request at some point to suspend disbelief is a trademark of the series.”