 Four years later, he got the idea for an otherworldly fantasy drama, to which he could slide moral and political messages under the whimsical sci-fi guise. Here are the facts. In 1958, Serling pitched the idea to CBS executive William Dozier. Dozier loved the pitch, but CBS had reservations about the pilot episode, deeming the tale of a town where nobody is allowed to live past 60 too dark.