Near the end of his life Serling was little more than a background voice in the mass media, yet during the fifties and early sixties he was one of the loudest and most outspoken critics of American society and the television industry. His stark, realistic screenplays, produced on such live dramatic programs as Playhouse 90 and Kraft Television Theater, subjected American institutions and values to close scrutiny, confronting controversial issues like the fierce competition in corporations, corruption in labor unions, police violence, and racial prejudice. Not surprisingly, he soon incurred the wrath of the television censors. (p. 354)

Yet when Serling developed The Twilight Zone in 1959, he was in fact criticized for "pandering his work," for evading his avowed moral responsibility as a writer. What was so difficult for his critics to accept was his sudden and bewildering shift from realistic drama, in which social commentary and moral issues were...