Trivia / The Time Tunnel

• Channel Hop: It had an insane case of this in Britain; The BBC showed 13 episodes in 1968 (not the first thirteen, mind you), with the series transferring to ITV in 1970 - it took the regions that showed it until 1974 to get through the whole run (and even then, they seem to have skipped "Idol of Death"); they had another chance in the very late '80s. Thanks to other channels, the entire series did eventually get UK airings.
• Prop Recycling:
  • Irwin Allen reused many of his futuristic props and costumes from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space in episodes such as "Visitors From Beyond the Stars." Props created for The Time Tunnel were reused on those series (and Land of the Giants) as well.
  • A substantial portion of the computer props in Allen’s multiple series were decommissioned IBM AN/FSQ-7 units from the USAF SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) air defense system.
• Screwed by the Network: Fans have competing theories on the reason behind The Time Tunnel's sudden cancellation, and none of them reflect well on ABC. Some people contend that the show was sacrificed to make room for Custer, a short-lived Western Series about the famous soldier that was as ill-fated as its subject. Martin Grams' The Time Tunnel: A History of the Television Program suggests that a new regime wanted to get rid of their predecessors' projects. Others believe that the series was canceled because Irwin Allen refused to cut its exorbitant budget. One thing is certain, though: ABC didn't do the series any favors by pitting it against Tarzan and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on NBC and The Wild Wild West and Hogan's Heroes on CBS, since these were all Action/Adventure Series that were competing for the same demographic.

---