Rod Serling, “Hogan’s Heroes” and Bob Crane

If Rod Serling didn’t like something, you were going to hear about it. And he hated Hogan’s Heroes.

So you might conclude that Serling also disliked its main star, Bob Crane. On the contrary, they enjoyed a friendship that began before the show and continued after it was over.

I knew that Crane, who first came to fame as a radio host, had appeared (voice only) as an announcer in The Twilight Zone‘s “Static”. I also knew that Crane had interviewed Serling on his radio show several times (most notably about “The Shelter”, which you can listen to here), and that he’d starred (post-Hogan’s Heroes) in Night Gallery‘s “House—With Ghost”).

“You’ve Just Crossed Over Into … The Twilight Zone”

Twilight Zone marathons always bring an influx of new followers to my Twitter page, and this year’s extravaganza on Syfy was no exception. About 500 additional fans joined in the fifth-dimensional festivities, enough for me to break the 14,000-follower mark.

If you’re one of them, welcome! I thought a quick orientation post might help.

“A Stop at Willoughby”

Why? Well, sometimes people express surprise that I tweet about anything other than The Twilight Zone. Some, in fact, are surprised that I tweet at all when there isn’t a marathon on.

But I didn’t create my Twitter page simply to live-tweet TZ marathons. I did it to share quotes and facts from ALL of Rod Serling’s works, and to do it year-round. They’re primarily from The Twilight Zone, of course — that’s his crowning achievement. But I also draw from Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (the horror series that followed TZ), as well as Serling’s pre-TZ teleplays, movies and books.