Why Rod Serling Apologized To Carol Burnett After Her ‘Twilight Zone’ Episode

The original Twilight Zone ran for five seasons beginning in 1959 and, like any series, episodes could be hit-or-miss (though, in truth, TZ had more of the former than the latter). Opinions may have varied between critics and viewers, but it wasn’t limited to them: in one instance, series creator Rod Serling and actress Carol Burnett were not fans of her episode.

Rod’s daughter, Anne, told HuffPost in 2012 that her father was embarrassed by the turnout of Carol’s episode. “[Rod] had written to Carol Burnett saying how sorry he was that the show was so bad, and he would buy her a pastrami sandwich. She said something like, ‘Oh, it wasn’t so bad, but I don’t like pastrami’,” she said.

Carol’s episode was a near-repeat of season one’s ‘Mr. Bevis’

Carol’s episode, “Cavender is Coming,” was intended, as was season one’s “Mr. Bevis,” to serve as a pilot for a potential spinoff, The Side of Angels.  This goes a long way in explaining why both episodes had the same plot, although CBS rejected Rod’s scripts for Angels and the show never went into production. Rod thought an incompetent, drunken angel getting assigned to a struggling human on Earth was a good idea, but not everyone shared his enthusiasm.

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“Cavender is Coming” featured Jesse White as an angel helping Carol’s character, Agnes Grep, by attempting to make her rich, but as things turned out, the episode was a rather shallow allegory of class and happiness. In the end, Agnes returns to her preferred poor but happy original existence. “Mr. Bevis” had the same storyline of an angel descending to assist an unlucky man.

‘Cavender is coming’ launched Carol to success

Although it was not the most-loved episode, one can admit “Cavender” helped put Carol in the spotlight. In 2019, she still promoted the show in a MeTV ad where she met her younger self. Rod’s daughter also shared her personal opinion that her father excelled better at dramas than comedy. “I’ve seen a couple of [Rod’s] comedies, but I don’t think they quite worked,” she said.

Ironically, she thinks Rod is the “funniest person” she knows, but her opinion about his writing is not unusual. Rod’s apology letter to Carol, dated May 3, 1962, acknowledged this fact as well. “The script, I guess, is part of the trouble, but even more culpable is the direction. This was quite the most heavy-handed, ham-fisted, squarest directing I’ve ever cried through… I promise you that if given a second chance, I’ll make it up,” it read.