Television in the 1960s at a Glance
At the start of the ‘60s, there were over 52 million TV sets in households across the US, and its influence only continued to grow from there. This decade also marked a period of transition from black and white television to color. This technological shift would slowly inspire a new wave of TV programming for years to come. For many people, television became a source of political enlightenment. It was a prominent time for TV as people we're no longer using it as just a source of entertainment. In fact, 1960 was the year that the first-ever televised presidential debate aired nationwide. The 1960s was a transformative decade for both viewers and producers, one that paved the way for massive advancements in the years to come.
The 5 Best Television Shows From The '60s
The Twilight Zone
Multiple directors worked on this American anthology television series, but the whole concept was created and presented by Rod Serling. The Twilight Zone ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. Every episode depicts a different story that stands-alone from the others. The one thing in common about these stories is that the characters are often dealing with unusual, supernatural, and usually disturbing events. Despite the show airing predominantly science-fiction episodes, some also had paranormal or Kafkaesque qualities.
The Twilight Zone won three Primetime Emmy Awards for categories like Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama (1960 and 1961), and Best TV Producer/Director in 1963.
Take a peek at one of the most famous episodes from The Twilight Zone:
