We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. The first episode of "The Twilight Zone" is spooky enough to hook viewers in, but not spooky enough to risk scaring them away entirely. "Where is Everybody?" follows a man wandering through a deserted town, trying to figure out why everyone's disappeared.

The protagonist survives in one piece, and the concept is given a perfectly logical, tidy explanation. Overall, it makes for a relatively safe first impression — and one that's much safer than Rod Serling's original idea.

As revealed in Marc Scott Zicree's 1992 behind-the-scenes book, "The Twilight Zone Companion," Serling's first script for the series was called "The Happy Place." The hour-long episode depicted a future in which people are systematically exterminated once they reach 60 years old. For related coverage, explore our detailed analysis on Technology and Digital Systems.

Main Character 58-Year-Old Critical Updates

The main character is a 58-year-old man who is critical of the policy, prompting the totalitarian government to punish him The story ends with the main character successfully executed "It was, I thought, very downbeat and depressing," recalled CBS executive Bill Self. "An interesting episode, but it would never sell as a series." He told Serling his concerns, and Serling took them in stride.

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Self explained, "He went away and he wrote a completely new script." In the audio commentary of the 2004 DVD for "The Twilight Zone" Season 1 , Bill Self recalled that Serling later admitted he'd been correct: "Rod said, 'You know something, you were right. We never could have sold that other show to an advertiser.'" While later anthologies inspired The series never produced "The Happy Place" — not even in Season 4, when it shifted to an hour-long format.

Still, you can see traces of it in other episodes, most notably Season 2's "The Obsolete Man." That episode follows a middle-aged librarian who is set to be executed when his government decides his job is "obsolete." This totalitarian government doesn't explicitly discriminate "The Happy Place" also revealed Serling's penchant for dark, gut-punch endings. Its final scene features the main character's radicalized grandson declaring that people should be executed at 50, not 60.

When Youth'S Father Points Updates

When the youth's father points out that he's closely approaching 50, the youth responds to his father, "I know." If it'd aired, this episode may just have earned itself a spot on the list of scariest "Twilight Zone" episodes ever .