Movies - TV
The Rod Serling Twilight Zone Sequel That Was Buried Before It Began
By SANDY SCHAEFER
While Rod Serling created a massive cultural phenomenon with “The Twilight Zone,” he failed to pitch its sequel, “Rod Serling’s Wax Museum,” after the show ended.
Serling received an offer from ABC to continue the series under the title “Witches, Warlocks, and Werewolves” but proposed a follow-up called “Wax Museum.”
“Wax Museum” would have had a similar introduction to “The Twilight Zone,” with Serling narrating the opening and revealing the episode’s protagonist displayed as a wax figure.
Unfortunately, ABC’s then-president, Tom Moore, was dead-set on the strictly fantasy-horror angle he’d envisioned with “Witches, Warlocks, and Werewolves.”
Serling told Daily Variety, “[Moore] seems to prefer weekly ghouls, and we have what appears to be a considerable difference of opinion.”
He added, “I don’t mind my show being supernatural, but I don’t want to be hooked into a graveyard every week. [...] I don’t think TV can sustain C-pictures every week.”