Fascinating interview with one of my favorite screenwriters, Rod Serling. Everything I know about society and human beings was highly influenced by the Twilight Zone. There are topics raised which are very much salient today, particularly when it comes to censorship and pre-censorship as they concern the public’s relation with the sponsors of television stations and/or programming.

No one could have predicted how these issues would be exacerbated by social media in the modern era, and that there is still a tug-of-war happening between content providers and the “letter writer” now that the traditional advertising model of sponsorship has been replaced by the subscription model. Many streaming services are taking more chances and are deliberately tackling controversial topics because they are afforded some greater freedom than the broadcast network of the 50s thru to the turn of the millennium. However, that freedom is not absolute as venture capital and stock investors can play a similar role now as corporate sponsors did then.

Sadly, the politicization and polarization of issues on who decides what people see is overshadowing the vastly more important intent of such stories to draw attention to and help us examine our current circumstances.