 Irwin Allen (I) (qv) pitched his idea for the series to CBS  programmer James Aubrey (qv), who immediately snapped up the idea.  A couple of weeks later Gene Roddenberry (qv) pitched his idea for  _"Star Trek" (1966)_ (qv) to Aubrey, who turned him down as he felt  that "Lost in Space" was the more commercial of the two.