To: All Awl Staff From: Alex Balk Re: Year One And Beyond

One year ago today exactly we were all giddy with anticipation for the launch of The Awl. (I was also giddy with liquor, which continues to be the case even up unto this moment.) I can recall the mixture of pride, anxiety, and perhaps a bit of arrogance as we gathered together around that Herman Miller conference table in Meeting Room B of the Awl offices and prepared ourselves for the endeavor we had pledged to undertake.

Fifty years ago today, Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" debuted on CBS. Using creepy science fiction as a veil for thought-provoking social criticism, the 156 episodes that would follow stand as some of the very best television ever created. (Without it, there would be no Chuck. And no Lost! Oh. Hmm.) Here is the opening of the first episode, "Where Is Everybody."