Exploring forgotten TV from the 1920s to today.
…on? Did NBC take demographics into consideration when it decided to cancel Star Trek in 1969? Learn more in this look at Star Trek. In The Beginning Perhaps the first mention of Star Trek in the media took place on November 25th, 1964 when Hedda Hopper noted in her “Looking at Hollywood” column that Susan Oliver had been painted green for a scene in the pilot to Star Trek, co-starring Jeff Hunter [1]. TV Guide reported in its December 12th, 1964 e…
…vision’s most famous/iconic/influential shows. More has been written about Star Trek than perhaps any other TV show in history. Its history has been told and retold and retold again. Were you watching the “sneak preview” of Star Trek (“The Man Trap”) on Thursday, September 8th, 1966 on NBC? If so, are you still a fan five decades later? Star Trek and Television Obscurities I’ve written about Star Trek here at Television Obscurities several times o…
…ewers. The following is from the March 10th, 1969 edition of Broadcasting: Star Trek, coming off NBC-TV at the conclusion of the current season, will be placed in domestic syndication by Paramount Television, producer and distributor of the series. The package will include 70 episodes of the science-fiction series, which will have had a three-year network run. NBC broadcast 79 episodes of Star Trek between 1966 and 1969. I’m not sure why the syndi…
…e I Spy, Bonanza and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. posters on eBay but never the Star Trek poster. This auction listing gives the artist’s name as James Bama. A biography for Bama can be found here; it mentions the Star Trek poster. Barry I. Grauman Also seen before “NBC Week” officially began was a special that doubled as a pilot for a potential series, on September 10, 1966 (just before the “Miss America Pagent”)- “CLASS OF ’67”, a variety special bri…
…t of six feature films in 1979 and several spin-offs/sequels starting with Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987. Here’s an early NBC promotional spot for the September 1966 series premiere of Star Trek: And here’s the official trailer for “Requiem for Methuselah”: To NBC, Star Trek was at best a modest failure, neither a massive success or an outright flop. It had enough viewers to survive the 1966-1967 season and keep it on the air for two more…
…er-writing campaign launched by avid fans in late 1967 asking NBC to renew Star Trek for a third season. That NBC received tens of thousands of letters is not in doubt. But there’s reason to believe Star Trek was never in danger, that the network never planned to cancel Star Trek at the end of the 1967-1968 season. Nor was it unprecedented for viewers to campaign for their favorite TV shows. It happened at least a half dozen times before Star Trek…