The year 2024 marks the centenary of Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. Emmy-winning writer Joseph Dougherty (thirtysomething, Pretty Little Liars) picked this special anniversary to reflect on Serling and his contributions to television drama. An appreciation and exploration of the six-time Emmy-winning writer's catalogue, Rod Serling at 100: One Writer's Acknowledgment looks at some of Serling's best known work and also some of his least acknowledged, inviting a new perspective on a master storyteller.
In the process, Dougherty takes a personal look at the time he spent in The Twilight Zone that led to his own award-winning writing career.
Joseph Dougherty is an Emmy and Humanitas Prize winner for his work on the groundbreaking series thirtysomething, he has written several movies for HBO including the remake of Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman directed by Christopher Guest, and the Emmy-winning noir/occult mashup Cast a Deadly Spell, which was nominated for a Ray Bradbury Award by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His play Chester Bailey premiered at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where it was selected Outstanding World Premiere Play and Outstanding Production of a Play by the TBA Awards. It was subsequently produced at the Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where it was a New York Times Critics' Pick. Chester Bailey had its New York premiere at The Irish Repertory Theatre. He earned Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for his play Digby, produced by Manhattan Theatre Club, and wrote the libretto for the Tony-winning musical version of My Favorite Year, presented at Lincoln Center.