PBS - Pioneers of Television Series 2 (2011) Part 1 Science Fiction

Pioneers of Television Series 2

Nearly 100 stars from TVs formative years bring their stories to PBS in season two of the Emmy nominated documentary series PIONEERS OF TELEVISION. Narrated by Kelsey Grammer, each episode melds compelling new interviews with irresistible archival clips to offer a fresh take on TVs founding celebrities. This season’s four new episodes profile science fiction, crime dramas, local kids' shows, and westerns.

Part 1 Science Fiction

This episode looks at the development of the science fiction genre on US television in the 1950's and 1960's. Gene Roddenberry had long been working as writer in television but realized that the industry was not prepared to deal with major social issues such as race relations, drug addiction and war. By setting his stories in a fictional future, he was able to do that and thus Star Trek (1966) was born. Somewhat surprisingly, its greatest competition came from Lost in Space (1965) produced by Irwin Allen who was also responsible for The Time Tunnel (1966) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964). The classic series The Twilight Zone (1959) set a very high bar that the others had to follow.

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