Why is the original series has bin canceled?

It's hard to say because anything we theorize is really just speculation. Any number of things could have been just a bit different and possibly effected a different outcome.

- What if NBC had paid a bit more money for the series and thus given Desilu a bit more per episode?
- What if TOS hadn't been scheduled on Friday nights? What if NBC had given the show a Monday timeslot as initially said for the third season?
- What if GR had opted to stay more involved during the third season?

 

I don't think any of those things would really help it. If there had been another fifty or seventy-five episodes, I don't think it would have been as remotely successful over the long term. It would have felt like they accomplished everything they could and there really wouldn't have been a hunger from audiences to see more.

Just my gut feeling.

 

I'd wager your instincts are correct on that. Though it's still very interesting to ponder what those episodes would have been like. The closest we'll ever get is the TAS adventures. Sort of.

Then again I wish I had the means to leap from dimension to dimension so I could visit the universe where Phase II actually made it to production and could see how In Thy Image compares against TMP.

 

Jackson Roykirk actually appears, portrayed by Shatner in a mustache.

 

Why the show was cancelled and why NBC held onto it as long as they did has been argued in numerous threads here. But what many fans seem to miss is that NBC could have killed Star Trek at any point and for any reason it wanted to. many better rated shows have been cancelled. In 1967 CBS actually cancelled Gunsmoke, which was ranked #34 compared to Star Trek's overall low 50s position. (Gunsmoke did get a last-minute reprieve at the cost of killing Gilligan's Island, which had just slipped out of the top 25, but was still rated far more highly than Star Trek).

That NBC held onto Trek despite middling ratings meant they had some faith in or, or at least didn't think they had anything else in the wings they felt could do better. After 3 years of ratings that stayed stubbornly mediocre, they probably decided they could do better trying something else.

Sure, in a different timeslot it might have flourished (which happened to the the reprieved Gunsmoke when it moved to a new timeslot and jumped from #34 into the top 10), but since NBC never did try Trek in a timeslot like Mondays at 7:30, as was proposed for season 3, all we can do is guess.

/quotation fingers

In my view the author was being a thorough and careful researcher, establishing the methodology by which his conclusions were drawn. I think he makes a better case re interpreting the ratings than Cushman has. Your mileage clearly varies.

 

The letter writing campaign didn't save Star Trek, it was meaningless. Star Trek got a third season because RCA (which owned NBC) wanted a third season. RCA produced color tvs and their market research showed that Star Trek sold color tvs.

The letter writing campaign didn't even make sense, NBC already knew the numbers of people watching Star Trek, it wasn't enough. How exactly was a fraction of the existing audience writing letters going to help?

 

I guess I was lucky in that regard. In the second grade (1978), TOS was shown on what is now our local FOX station (but was then an independent) at 5pm weekdays, and right before it at 4:30 was the George Reeves Superman show. My mom, being a fan of both, would watch both with me every day. Then at 6pm, we'd make dinner, and she'd help me with my homework. It was a daily ritual in our house.

 

^^^
HEY! There was UHF (PBS, and a lot of small independents with some very interesting/unique programming too. - in those days, a UHF antenna was almost like cable/satellite is now and it added 10+ whole channels in many areas.)

 

The letter writing campaign didn't save Star Trek, it was meaningless. Star Trek got a third season because RCA (which owned NBC) wanted a third season. RCA produced color tvs and their market research showed that Star Trek sold color tvs.

So you're saying BJ Trimple wasted her time and efforts?
JB

 

It was a nice PR effort by Roddenberry and Trimble. But if there weren't other financial concerns involved (RCA Color TV's), Star Trek would've likely been cancelled.

I wasn't there, so I can only go by what was written about the period.

 

It added four in Detroit and one had Star Trek. Another had The Ghoul. Win-win.