You have reached the The Irreverent Guide to Irwin Allen Television.

What's this website all about, you ask?

Well... Irwin Allen, (IA) the famous director of popular disaster motion pictures, The Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, and The Swarm in the 1970's also did a brief stint producing 1960's action/adventure television shows - a bunch of them. It was not usual for the guy to have two and sometimes three programs in production at the same time (Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - 1968).

But unlike most 1960's television fare of the day, which revolved around lawyers, cops, and doctors, Irwin decided to try his hand at science fiction. While his goal was to create shows the calibre of The Twilight Zone, or One Step Beyond, he really didn't have any idea how to go about writing and producing something which would be believed by his audience.

In short, his only real problem was he had no idea what science fiction was. As a result,we ended up with some strangely produced shows and plot contrivances rivaling any comedy today.

Bolstered by clueless writers and equally clueless actors we could count on Irwin and crew to produce pretty consistent episodic inconsistency.

Also, it was not uncommon for episodic plots to drift aimlessly through an hour and always with strangely similar plot lines every week. Viewers were routinely subjected to alien invasions, doppelganger possessions, group brain-washing, and all too common time travel accompanied by the weekly, obligatory sparks and flames aimed to create cinematic tension. Unfortunately that formula would most likely result in some lead actor's hair catching on fire. In fact, talk to any Irwin Allen guest star and they can point to the burn scars from errant IA induced explosions.

Now, don't get me wrong. I find these shows a tremendous source of entertainment today! Where else can you find what were pretty darn good special effects created on a shoestring budget, accompanied by some of the finest music written for television? It certainly beats the drab action-less programs currently on the teevee...

You may disagree, but there's only so many television shows with space aliens running at the mouth, sporting bad nose jobs, and moralizing about the inequity of the universe. Perhaps Irwin was right. "When it doubt, blow something up!"

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. From the map menu above please select your favorite IA television show and surf the site. You will note the Lost in Space site is the most complete with stories going back to 1996. The best written are, hopefully, the most recent, which reside in The Time Tunnel site.

Enjoy!