The “Unofficial” Twilight Zone Pilot Debuted a Year Before The Series Began

If you’re ever asked to name the pilot episode of The Twilight Zone, there are two answers.

The official one is “Where is Everybody?” It launched the series on October 2, 1959. But there’s an unofficial answer as well: something known as “The Time Element.”

It first aired almost a year earlier – on November 24, 1958, to be precise – and for viewers lucky enough to tune in to the CBS’s Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse that evening, it marked their first trip, in all but name, to the fifth dimension.

The story certainly has some familiar plot elements for anyone who’s a fan of the series to come. Let’s do a brief recap – spoiler alert! – then go behind the scenes.

We’ll start with Desi Arnaz’s introduction. Yes, Lucille Ball’s husband himself hosted each episode. Just as Serling would do later on “the Twilight Zone,” he sets the scene for viewers:

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. Tonight, we’re going to see a story written by Rod Serling and starring William Bendix. Our story begins in a doctor’s office. A patient is sitting there. He walked into this office nine minutes ago.”

The patient in question is a man named Pete Jenson, and he’s visiting a psychiatrist named Arnold Gillespie. Jenson tells Dr. Gillespie that he’s been disturbed recently by a recurring dream in which he finds himself in Hawaii, near Pearl Harbor, on December 6, 1941. It’s the day before the surprise Japanese attack, and he – unlike the people around him – knows what’s going to happen the next morning.

And here’s the real kicker. Jenson says this isn’t just a dream. No, he says, he’s really going back in time. How or why, he doesn’t know, but he insists that it’s true. This leads to the age-old question: How do you warn people what’s coming without sounding like a crazy person?

Why CBS Finally Took a Gamble on Twilight Zone

Imagine you found yourself transported back in time to December 6, 1941. It’s the day before Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

There you are, near the attack site, surrounded by people who have no idea what the next day will bring. Can you warn them without sounding crazy?

That’s the dilemma Pete Jenson faces. He’s been dreaming every night that he’s back there … only it’s not a dream, he tells his psychiatrist. He’s really going back.

Sound like a plot stolen from a Twilight Zone episode? Not exactly. I’m describing “The Time Element”, an episode of CBS’s Desilu Playhouse. It aired on November 24, 1958, the year before TZ debuted. And it was written by Rod Serling.