Claim: The Twilight Zone is a television series.

The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling . The episodes are in various genres , including psychological horror , fantasy , science fiction , suspense , and psychological thriller ; and often conclude with a macabre or unexpected twist , and usually with a moral . A popular and critical success , it introduced many Americans to common science fiction and fantasy tropes . The original series , shot entirely in black and white , ran for five seasons from 1959 to 1964 .   The Twilight Zone followed in the tradition of earlier television shows such as Tales of Tomorrow -LRB- 1951 -- 53 , which also dramatized the short story `` What You Need '' -RRB- and Science Fiction Theatre -LRB- 1955 -- 57 -RRB- ; radio programs such as The Weird Circle , Dimension X , and X Minus One ; and the radio work of one of Serling 's inspirations , Norman Corwin . The success of the series led to a feature film , a radio series , a comic book , a magazine , and various other spin-offs that spanned five decades , including two revival television series . The first revival ran on CBS and in syndication in the 1980s , while the second ran on UPN from 2002 to 2003 . TV Guide ranked the original TV series # 5 in their 2013 list of the 60 greatest dramas of all time .