The Big Reason Why The Original Star Trek Series Was Canceled

It's hard to even begin to imagine a world without Star Trek. But it's a closer reality than you might think. Here’s how the original series was cut short - and saved thanks to reruns.
#StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #Canceled
Official Grunge Website
www.grunge.com
Read Full Article: www.grunge.com...

[@GrungeHQ]

Please Note: The first Star Trek original pilot filmed was "The Cage" while the second pilot filmed was "Where No Man Has Gone Before" though "The Cage" never aired during the show's original TV run and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" ended up being the third episode of the series.

[@thomasfarney]

I wrote to NBC to support Star Trek and a local NBC star was at my school. We complained that it had been cancelled and Mr Wolfe said that local NBC didn’t want it on. All of us children complained

[@akfreed6949]

NBC put STAR TREK in the Friday night timeslot the second season because NBC didn't seem to understand or like the show .

[@perrymehta6438]

@akfreed when was it on before

[@akfreed6949]

​@@perrymehta6438it premiered on a Thursday . The worst time to put any show was on Fridays . It was switched to Fridays on the second season , again , because NBC didn't understand or like the show .

[@RichardA.-yi5sz]

@@perrymehta6438 , Thursday, 8pm Eastern/7pm Central. The best time slot. Cosby. Cheers. MASH. Seinfeld. And AK Freed is wrong. Star Trek's timeslot got moved AFTER the second season to Friday, 10pm Eastern/9pm Central. That time slot is now called the "death slot", and Star Trek's why. The show was nearly cancelled after the second season, and only saved by the letter-writing campaign organized by Bjo Trimble. (She's the one for whom "tribbles" were named.) NBC's rec'd so much mail from fans protesting the cancellation that to this day, nobody knows how many letters NBC got because the computers of that era broke attempting to count them all. (NBC blamed Trimble for that.) The time slot change plan was to prop up the show's ratings by appealing to an older demographic, figuring the younger fans they had would stay with the show. The strategy backfired: they didn't add older fans to their audience, but they lost some younger fans, dropping the show's ratings to the point where cancellation was the only option. And before we judge the network too harshly...go to IMDB and look up what the fans rated the third season's episodes. Eight of the twelve worst episodes in the series were in the third season; just when the show needed more viewers, the writers were submitting work of poorer quality. And three of those were consecutive: "The Mark of Gideon", "That Which Survives", & "The Lights of Zetar." Those were the last three episodes of January '69. The network announced the series' cancellation February 18th. Based only on what the network knew then, they had no evidence that Star Trek had a future. The ten best episodes were all in the first two seasons except one: "The Enterprise Incident.", the second episode of the final season, with nothing but mediocrity since that point.

[@cheryldeboissiere1851]

I blame Herb Solow’s failed to take over the show.

[@SciTrekMan]

No, they moved to Friday during the *third* season.

[@theresaherman]

Old guy here. I loved the original series of Star Trek! Captain Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, they were the best. Probably seen ever episode at least 5 times. I remember they had a cartoon series on Saturday mornings that ran in 1973 or 74. It had all the original cast doing the voices. We have here in Kansas a channel called Heroes and Icons that runs all the Star Trek series starting at 7pm thru 11pm. Sundays thru Fridays.

[@jamiemac5846]

Still love Star Trek to this day ..............

[@michaelmcintoshatky]

Tng was way better than tos the acting of William shatner was like B movie quality if not worse at times 😂 he actually made serious scenes hilarious honestly 🤣 😂

[@James-w1e5k]

From Gene Roddenberry's info, the series was going to have a fourth season, but he stopped it. His story is in print and dvd recordings that i brought. When you're a Trek fan, you buy anything. His story: Trek got taken off due to low Neilson ratings (a box connected to your tv that evaluated what you watched via time and network. Then, locating what program aired in that slot, they would deem the popularity of said show). Trek was purposely put on Fridays to be canceled. However, an office intern, knowledgeable about the new rating system called demographics, called this to the attention of the head of NBC. He asked why Star Trek was being canceled since the ratings showed it was a clear hit. Explaining to the NBC head that the demographic evaluations are what networks are transferring to, he explained it to him. Based on age, race, gender, etc., you could evaluate a show's popularity. Realizing they canceled a hit, a call was made to Roddenberry and was apologetic about taking Trek off, would he like a fourth season? "I laughed and told him i was so glad to have that curse off my back," stated Roddenberry. "It took three years of my life away that I'd never get back. I told them no. I still have no regrets." So, there was a fourth season offered, but he declined it.

[@dcassus]

The 2nd TOS pilot was “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. It ended up being the 3rd episode broadcast. “The Man Trap” that got shown first was the 6th to be filmed. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” also has a slightly different cast, not featuring McCoy and Uhura yet. Also the uniforms are glaringly different. Oh, and the 3rd season episodes were also awful. Among the worst in the entire franchise.

[@bethpowell6466]

A morality play that a few of us have lived to understand and cherish.

[@Josh-g1h9n]

Born in 1990 Star Trek was on the air before I was born Star Trek was a part of my childhood and when Enterprise was canceled in 2005 it was a bit of a shock for me there was no Star Trek

[@jbrhel]

I was born in 1959 and love Star Trek. Good for you. Live long and prosper.

[@Josh-g1h9n]

@jbrhel thank you

[@extremeconcepts1]

Lucy definitely was a pioneer for TV production

[@brandonflorida1092]

"The Man Trap" was the first episode broadcast, but it most certainly was NOT the 2nd pilot. The 2nd pilot was the 3rd episode broadcast. It was the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Also, when the Trek project was accepted by Desilu Studios, Ball thought it was about a group of movie stars entertaining the troops through the USO.

[@averageamerican4507]

The second pilot was "Where No Man Has Gone Before "

[@jerryrehard7711]

Ball dint even know what the show was about. It was Herbert Solow the vice-president in charge of production at Desilu that convinced her to back the show. It was he who saw the show's potential and she trusted his judgement.

[@Hawken54]

The show is on Saturday nights on MeTV.

[@paulcheek5711]

also on Heroes & Icons station 6 nights a week ( all of the series) if u get that

[@m.f.richardson1602]

Always interesting Thank you❤

[@EddieVBlueIsland]

Thank you Lucille Ball - as the visiting Vulcan to earth in 1950s (Enterprise series) paid homage to his favorite program " I love Lucy"

[@Workerbee-zy5nx]

Star Trek gave us sci fi thats long lasting. 👍👍👍

[@lothean2099]

Let's not forget star trek the experience in Vegas. That was awesome. I loved quarks bar. The actors stayed in character..you just fell in love with them.

[@jerome6572]

Love Star Trek as child and because of Mr. Spock I learned to play three-dimensional chess.Jerome❤❤❤

[@allgood6760]

Q:What did Spock find in the Enterprise toilet?🚽 A:The Captain's log!

[@jaymaynes]

🤣😂

[@jaymaynes]

The third season was great!👍

[@davechristian7543]

This one was the only one worth watching. ( the original )

[@cia1209]

You obviously never watched Star Trek. The next generation Star Trek deep space nine or even voyager. Now quit being dumb.

[@dvsaleios]

@@cia1209 Nah they're another one of those 12 year olds that think that calling something older 'the best' makes them more mature. Any trek fan worth a crap knows that TNG, VOY, DS9, etc don't matter which, are the ones 'worth watching' as they're all trek.

[@typhonplume9374]

Well nothing new here. This is just the same story that's been told for more then 20 years now.

[@EddieVBlueIsland]

Shatner suffered from tendonitis from hhf explosion with the gord attack scene.

[@brandonflorida1092]

Tinnitis? The Gorn?

[@shannonnewman3091]

Star Trek was Grate TV !

[@jbell6642]

2:47 Hey look! It’s Carl Sagan (back row and off to the left).

[@DrZacksCafe]

I’ve seen this pic dozens of times but never noticed! Thanks!

[@cheryldeboissiere1851]

Bjo Trimble organized the letter campaign. Let’s give her a due. 🙇‍♀️ 🙇 🙇🏾🙇🏽‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

[@Frankielaz]

SciFi stories are westerns set in space

[@martykarr7058]

Most Sci-Fi stories can be easily set elsewhere. Avatar, for example, could be set in the Amazon rainforests, or some remote desert island.

[@Frankielaz]

@ classic western stories , films etc are boiled down about the exploration of the west . Same can be said about space exploration (ex: Star Trek)

[@johnbiela9442]

Simple: The show cost too much for penny pinching executives. After the write in, the network put strict bugets on the show. Would only allow directors and writers who had no real base in sci-fi to work on the productions. Yes, put the show on Friday night. Whatever they could to sabotage the ratings. Who knows? If the ratings were still high, maybe they'd have given some slack? But it was always the bottom line. And, it showed. There was no letter writing campaign after the third season. The fans saw the decline and were willing to move on.

[@davechristian7543]

1:15 Bruce Willis 🤪

[@paulcheek5711]

coincidence or did star trek know something the rest of us didn't. regarding aliens and future technology. Its becoming more real and less fiction every day..

[@spyder001]

Once again. They never understand.

[@davidl9232]

So a person known as a joker, saved the show

[@PaulwLetizia]

Kirk , Spock, 🎉

[@diannaschoeman2947]

Love it

[@freezray1776]

Star trek 4 ever!!

[@metalcrow1879]

It only ran for one season. 🙄

[@nataliemiramontes4045]

Never liked Star Trek 😂