The Twilight Zone is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering "the Twilight Zone". The episodes are in various genres, including science fiction , fantasy , absurdism , dystopian fiction , suspense , horror , supernatural drama , black comedy , and psychological thriller , frequently concluding 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 first series , shot entirely in black-and-white , ran on CBS for five seasons from 1959 to 1964.
