Tonight at 8 pm on OPB: Pioneers of Television: Science Fiction, an hour-long doc examining a couple of old-school sci-fi TV shows and their creators: Lost in Space, Star Trek, and The Twilight Zone. The promising sales pitch from the official site:

The unexplored frontiers at the edges of our existence beckon and repel in equal measure. In the early to mid 1960s, a number of innovative television writers, producers and actors began playing with these ideas on the small screen—sometimes preying on our universal fears, and sometimes dreaming up a very different future. Whatever their initial aim, these television innovators left behind a legacy of science fiction television that entertained us and challenged our preconceived notions.

Lost in Space seems pretty lightweight in that regard compared to Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, but okay—maybe Pioneers of Television will convince me otherwise. The show's on a few more times in the coming weeks, too, and if you wanna do some homework beforehand, here! Star Trek's "The Man Trap" and The Twilight Zone's "Time Enough at Last."

(Also of geeky interest: The upcoming Ridley Scott-produced Prophets of Science Fiction, a show that "will profile outstanding sci-fi minds throughout history, including Isaac Asimov, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and Star Wars director George Lucas," examining what their work "meant at the time and how their work affected future breakthroughs.")