ROD SERLING: SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL

Director Susan Lacy / 1995 / USA

Submitted for your approval: the man in cardiac crisis is Mr Rod Serling—writer, producer and agent provocateur of a certain electronic medium he helped to create and which, by way of thanks, kindly ushered him out the door. Mr Rod Serling, who once remarked that he just wanted to be remembered as a writer, is about to get his wish, during a short stay in a small town called Yesterday, found on any map in the Twilight Zone"

A documentary homage to a television innovator told in Serling's own words and extensive interviews with the people who knew him and worked with him. A departure from pedestrian film biographies that adopts the actual look and feel of a Twilight Zone episode, to the extent of using a Serling sound alike to bring essays, letters and interviews to life. The film is a remarkable and entertaining journey into the life of a man whose imagination made provocative and illuminating drama on television a reality.

From the outset Serling served notice that The Twilight Zone would address subjects that included racism, cut-throat corporate politics, the Holocaust, labour rackets and controversy drawn directly from the headlines of the day. His ingenious mixture of morality fable and fantasy writing captured millions of viewers.

Rod Serling Submitted For Your Approval is a superb salute to a man who was awarded more Emmys than anyone in the history of television and made an invaluable contribution to the American cultural landscape.

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