Bert Granet, a television pioneer from New York, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University. He began his journey in the film industry in 1934, and a decade later, he was working as a writer-producer under contract at RKO from 1944 to 1948.
Granet then set up his own short-lived production company, Kaladore Corporation, which released only one feature film, The Torch, in 1950. This film was set in revolutionary Mexico and featured an all-Mexican cast, with the exception of star Paulette Goddard.
In the mid-1950s, Granet joined Desilu Productions, where he produced light and unpretentious entertainment, including The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour in 1957 and the weekly anthology series Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse in 1958.
Granet's success in television stemmed from his ability to attract top movie actors and acquire scripts from well-established and respected writers. One of these writers was the genial Rod Serling, whom Granet met through a mutual friend, director Robert Parrish.
Granet purchased a story from CBS called "The Time Element" at considerable cost and overcame strong objections from the sponsor's ad agency, McCann-Erickson, who hated "ambiguous endings." The episode was aired with great success as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse and ultimately persuaded CBS to take on The Twilight Zone in 1959.
The Twilight Zone, which was according to Serling himself, "no one wanted to buy," went on to become a huge success. Granet later served as the producer of The Twilight Zone during seasons four and five.
