The original The Twilight Zone had five seasons. Created and hosted by Rod Serling, the CBS anthology series ran from October 2, 1959, through June 19, 1964.
The series produced 156 episodes, with each installment usually telling a self-contained story involving science fiction, fantasy, horror, suspense, or social commentary. Most episodes lasted about half an hour, but the fourth season expanded to an hour, changing the show’s usual format for that year.
The five-season run is sometimes confused with later versions of The Twilight Zone. Revival series aired in 1985, 2002, and 2019, but they are separate productions and are not additional seasons of the original 1959 series. The original program’s final season returned to the half-hour format.
Rod Serling remained the central creative force throughout the run, writing or co-writing 92 of the series’ 156 episodes. The show’s five-season structure also matters when identifying episodes: “Living Doll,” for example, belongs to season five, while “To Serve Man” appears in season three.