‘Where is Everybody,’ Season 1, Episode 1
Published October 9, 2026
SPOILER WARNING: Watch the episode before reading here.
I went back and forth several times about whether to feature this episode in October. I genuinely think it is one of the eeriest episodes. Still, I worried people might think I was weak or strange for feeling that way, especially when so many other episodes are obviously creepier. What ultimately sold me on sharing this episode this week was an article I saw in People Magazine last weekend celebrating the 67th anniversary of this episode—the very first episode of the series—and of the show itself. More on that article at the end of this article.
A pilot episode gives you one shot to sell your show to audiences and television executives, and of all the crazy ideas swimming through Rod Serling’s mind, this is the one he chose to start with. What a powerful, bold move.
Ah the very first opening monologue! I feel like a child at Christmas — even though I have seen this episode before, this somehow feels very new to me!
Serling: “The place is here and the time is now, and the journey into the shadows that we're about to watch could be our journey.”
This is very important. Keep this at the very back of your mind.
Let’s explore just what Serling means by…getting in the zone!
Where is Everyone?
A man named Mike Ferris wears a jumpsuit-style blue-collar uniform wanders from the woods into a café. Loud music plays, and he tries to ask someone for directions, which turns into an eerie search for an employee on the premises.
Pause right here: this feels relatable, right? How many of us have walked into a store and been practically harassed by eager salespeople, only to suddenly find ourselves unable to locate a single employee when we actually need help?
I want you to remember something: that was not the experience people had in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Back then, it seems like they just always had eager salespeople ready to help. Anyway, let’s continue:
Ferris extends his search by sneaking behind the counter and shouting out his requests. Watch the language he uses, this is a very early hint at what is to come:
Ferris: Hey, you got a customer out front. Customer! Ham and eggs! Eggs over easy, hash browns. Hey! You got a customer out here. Ham and eggs, eggs over easy, hash browns. Hungry cash customer. I got $2.85, American money…”
Why does Ferris feel like it is necessary to say he has American money? The establishment is clearly American.
Ferris: “Sure, American money... Well, we got that much settled. I'm an American. You see, there's some question about my identity. Let me put it to you this way, I'm not sure who I am. But I got $2.85, and I'm hungry. That much is established. $2.85 and I'm hungry!”
Hmm…why doesn’t he know who he is?
Ferris: “I'm gonna wake up in a minute, I know it. I'm gonna wake up.”
Ah…perhaps he is dreaming…either way, we know this is a nightmare.
Ferris decides to leave the café, let’s follow him to see where he goes!
He makes his way downtown and hears the bells of a clock tower ring, but no one is in sight. Eventually, our hero meets someone…at least that’s what he thinks. From a distance, he sees a woman in her car. He runs up to her and discovers that she is a mannequin! AH! CREEPY! This will not be the first time Serling screws with people using mannequins (see season 1, episode 34). Oh by the way, Ferris’ observation skills aren’t great because he gets close to the car, but doesn’t realize she’s a mannequin until he opens her door and she falls out. In general, why would he just open a stranger’s door? Guess this was a more trusting era.
Looking over the town right now, I can literally see the sights of so many future Twilight Zone episodes. I don’t think the audience was ever meant to notice that, mainly because the explanation is that they were reusing sets from the same studio lot. Looking closer, I realize I have been on that lot multiple times, and many of my favorite films and shows have been filmed there. If you look closer, you can see the town from Back to the Future and Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. That’s right, it’s the Warner Bros lot! I feel very fortunate to have toured it 3 times!
If I let my conspiracy-theory brain go to work here, I would give more airway to this thought: What if the Twilight Zone was actually meant to be some secret, eerie American town? Ah, perhaps it’s Castle Rock, Washington. My family and I have called it the Twilight Zone before! What town would you consider the Twilight Zone? I digress. Let’s continue:
The music makes this episode really creepy. Really all the sound effects do. Que the ringing telephone that Ferris answers, but with no voice behind it…until a voice recording of an operator plays. Ferris isn’t a great listener because it repeats “this is a recorded message” multiple times.
Okay, I keep judging Ferris, but earlier he makes a reference wondering if he is crazy. There must be more to this than meets the eye.
Out of nowhere, the phone booth door is locked with Ferris in it. Someone must be around, right? He manages to loosen the lock, unlock it, and let himself out. He makes his way to the police station, only to find emptiness once again, that is alongside a freshly put out cigar and a running sink. THEN, someone tries to close him in a jail cell, only no one is there. Now it’s getting weird!
Ferris: “I wish I could shake that crazy feeling of being watched...”
He picks up a book about the last man on earth…hmm, I wonder.
He sees a poster for a film about a military battle, and he remembers that he is in the air force. He wonders if there was a bomb…hmm, I wonder.
This is exactly what makes this episode creepy — we don’t know if Ferris is being watched, or who his watcher is. We don’t know if he is crazy, or in crazy circumstances.
Answers
Ferris goes to the ice cream shop to make himself a sundae (because who is going to stop him) to begin reconciling and figuring out the answers to all his questions.
Ferris [looking in the Mirror]: “I'll tell you what my problem is. I'm in the middle of a nightmare I can't wake up from. And you're part of it. You and the ice cream and the police station and the phone booth, that little mannequin, this whole bloody town, wherever it is, whatever it is. I just remembered something. Scrooge said it. You remember Scrooge, old buddy? Ebenezer Scrooge? That's what he said to that ghost, Jacob Marley. He said, ‘You may be a bit of undigested beef, a crumb of cheese, a blot of mustard, a fragment of an undone potato. But there's more of gravy than of grave about you.’ You see, that's what you are. You're what I had for dinner last night. You must be. But now I've had it. I'd like to wake up. I'd like to wake up now. If I can't wake up, at least I'd like to find somebody to talk to.“
I love that Serling makes a Christmas reference here. I heard somewhere that he loved Christmas, and this is a very great reference to make!
Unfortunately, Ferris’ ice cream trick didn’t work. None of his tricks did. So how do we get to the bottom of this? Seeking unveils the curtain.
A group of military men watch Ferris on a little television. They run up to the little room holding Ferris and learn him from his medically induced hypnotic state. What does that mean?
Ferris was trapped in a big room alone for 484 hours and 36 minutes, which proved a success for their mission because it equated to a trip to the moon, several orbits, and a trip home. This is 2 and half weeks. They recorded a series of data on him during this state for analysis. According to these men, Ferris was just fine until the very end when he began to have delusions. This really is quite a remarkable accomplishment.
Ferris talks to the commander, asking him why this happened. This is what is said.
Commander: “You see, we can feed the stomach with concentrates. We can supply microfilm for reading, recreation - even movies of a sort. We can pump oxygen in and waste material out. But there's one thing we can't simulate that's a very basic need. Man's hunger for companionship. The barrier of loneliness - that's one thing we haven't licked yet.”
Serling’s first episode and he wants to talk about man’s ambitions, the consequences of discovering, and loneliness — the thing that connects us all.
Oh yeah, we’ve got a hit on our hands. Serling, close us out:
Serling: “Up there, up there in the vastness of space, in the void that is sky, up there is an enemy known as isolation. It sits there in the stars waiting, waiting with the patience of eons, forever waiting... in the Twilight Zone.”
On the 67th
Throughout this series, I have probably spent more time than most people ever will analyzing Rod Serling—or, more accurately, getting to know him through his work. Granted, you can’t necessarily do that with every artist, especially actors who aren’t portraying themselves on television, but I do think you can learn a great deal about anyone who holds creative power. Most often, that means visual artists, songwriters, artistic or music directors, and ESPECIALLY writers.
I have yet to meet a writer who didn’t put some part of themselves onto the page in one way or another. Writing is one of the most vulnerable things we can do because we take what is happening inside our own psyches and put it on display for others to see. This is where Rod Serling becomes such an interesting case study.
I have been cautious about putting him on a pedestal, as it is so easy to do with any celebrity. When I look at Serling, I hold “the human condition” and “great intentions” in each hand. Knowing that he was a man of the 1960s, I originally theorized that he would at least be sexist, if not a little racist. Yet the more I got to know him through his work, the more those assumptions were rebutted.
I tried not to do much research beyond the primary sources—his show's canon. I always intended to one day see if my theories were correct, but when this article came up, I couldn’t resist. Oh by the way, when it comes to Hollywood history, I fully support reading articles from publications like People magazine because their work revolves around honoring and discussing history rather than gossiping.
Reading it was affirming in so many ways. It confirmed that I am not crazy, and that my instincts about who Rod Serling was were, in fact, pretty spot-on.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the article:
“The idea behind The Twilight Zone grew out of Serling’s experiences as a television writer and his frustration with what could and could not be said directly on network television.”
“His attempts to write about racial injustice, including stories influenced by the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, faced censorship and pressure from networks and advertisers. Those experiences helped push Serling toward using science fiction and allegory as a way to explore difficult subjects without always addressing them directly. That approach became central to the series. Instead of simply presenting science-fiction adventures, The Twilight Zone could use unusual situations to examine prejudice, fear, violence, morality and human nature.”
“According to Smithsonian Magazine, Serling once said: “The writer’s role is to be a menacer of the public’s conscience. He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus the issues of his time.”
When I first read these, I squealed with joy and immediately told my mom about them. When she heard what I had read, she said, “Wow, Rachel, he sounds like your kind of guy!” I couldn’t agree more. Rod Serling is yet another kindred spirit from the past whom I cannot wait to meet in heaven.
So, let’s raise a glass to Rod Serling: the man who risked a great deal to speak bold truths in a closed-minded society; a man who was brave, creative, and had just the right splash of crazy. Cheers to 67 years of The Twilight Zone!
Upon further exploration, I discovered even more articles in People Magazine about Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone. Further reading can be found below: