Submitted for your approval: Rod Serling, a man of the television medium, which he helped to create. A medium of sight and sound, forever changed by his timeless creation, The Twilight Zone. Serling actually began his creative career in radio, interning at WNYC while still in school, and soon after writing scripts and acting as needed. For a while it was rough going, with stations wary of taking scripts from unknown authors. But Serlin persisted, and moved on to television, where he felt he could make a real difference. So began the career of one of the most famous men in television.

On this day, December 25, in 1924, Rod Serling – actor, screenwriter, novelist, television producer and political activist – was born in Syracuse, New York.

At NBC, Serling grew from menial tasks to creating the breakout drama Patterns, about the trials and tribulations of a bright young executive on his way up the corporate ladder – the first one ever to be broadcast a second time at the request of the viewers. Serling brought the same tight writing and sense of drama to many of his non-fiction investigative works, focusing on racism and union organization, which incensed the conservative censors. And then he took it to another level, self-producing that “wondrous land, whose boundaries are that of the imagination.”