How a Minor Coffee Conflict Shook Up One of the ’Twilight Zone’s Best Episodes

The Twilight Zone is one of television's most iconic shows, a sci-fi/horror anthology series with episodes that cleverly hide commentary on society's ills, like racism. Its content skirted controversy from time to time, and one episode, Season 5's "The Encounter," was even banned for over 50 years. So it's ironic that one of the first conflicts Serling had with the network wasn't about the story, its content, or even its themes. No, the issue CBS studio censors had with "Judgment Night," the tenth episode of its first season, had to do with choosing tea over coffee.