Rod Serling

When Serling submitted a script to CBS as the pilot pitch for The Twilight Zone, the network gave it to Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. The 1958 episode, "The Time Element," featuring a man plagued by vivid nightmares and a quintessentially Twilight Zone twist ending, was such a hit that CBS green-lit the writer's proposed science-fiction series.
 Of the many Twilight Zone episodes that he penned, Serling's favorite was "Time Enough at Last." Adapted from a short story, the episode tells the tragic tale of a myopic bank teller with a love for literature who falls victim to a classic twist ending. Serling's favorite episode written by someone other than himself was "The Invaders," penned by Richard Matheson.