Oh, yeah....Star Trek on tv, after school and before the evening news? Timing couldn't have been better for us!
I never converted any family members, though. Ya done good, Ssosmcin!
Did 'Lost In Space' Contribute To Star Trek's Cancellation
- Thread starter Spock's Barber
- Start date
Oh, yeah....Star Trek on tv, after school and before the evening news? Timing couldn't have been better for us!
I never converted any family members, though. Ya done good, Ssosmcin!
you are made of sterner stuff than me. i would have died laughing.
I'm glad they only did three, they were already running out of ideas midway through season two.
I salute your professionalism.
Do you think, with a more firm and supportive mandate from the Studio, fresh ideas/writers would have infused new energy? I have heard and read opinions similar to yours before about the series running out of plot lines.
I doubt it, as the series attracted different audiences. Yes, you probably had the random sci-fi lovers who watched anything falling into that category, but the heart of LiS' fanbase were weaned on Irwin Allen, which meant many explosions, a lot of lead actors yelling to be intense, and not much on sensible plotting. Oh, let us not forget imaginative main title sequences.
That was not the Star Trek audience. Looking back to the immediate, post network years, I do recall 1970s convention fans discussing TV series, but almost in all quarters, Irwin Allen's work was mocked or dismissed as stupid. If someone identified themselves as a TOS fan, it was pretty much a matter of custom to trash all four Allen TV series.
That opinion was formed while LiS was a first run series, so I do not believe LiS contributed to TOS' cancellation.
I think that these points from Christopher completely refute the idea of a direct connection.
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Bingo.
I think the better question might be, "Did Star Trek contribute to Lost In Space' cancellation."
No, but interestingly enough in Starlog #21 Angela Cartwright seems to think that Lost in Space's turn to juvenile fantasy may have been a reaction to Trek's seriousness.
https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-021 (p.36)
Yes, a more interesting thread question would be Did 'Batman' Contribute To The Lost In Space Cancellation ? Irwin Allen embraced the camp humor of Batman on Lost In Space in it's second and third seasons. Irwin Allen kept that camp humor out of his other shows[Time Tunnel, Land Of The Giants], except to a much lesser amount on Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. If Lost in Space had kept it's early first season serious scripts it would have been a better series.
I don't think they starved for ideas. I think the pressure to maintain a certain level of story was compounded by being squeezed in time and money. Add to that the tensions of so many things that have come to light over the years in terms of interpersonal conflict.
From the beginning Star Trek was a demanding series to make largely because of the bar they were aiming for. They were constantly running into obstacles and over time fatigue is bound to set in on several fronts.
It was a high concept show being produced at a time when the resources available were barely able to deliver it. The show's own parent studio--first Desilu and then Paramount--were at best lukewarm to it. And NBC, while apparently liking the show, couldn't seem to find good timeslot for it.
No matter how creative you try to be eventually you get tired battling obstacles all the time.
No. Star Trek never competed head-to-head with Lost in Space for ratings,therefore, since ratings were what mattered, it would be an unreasonable stretch to link the fate of one to the other.
Now, LiS's first season, as I recall, had a more dramatic emphasis with the more campy elements taking over in season two and three. That transition, based on interviews given by Allen and cast, was said to be a result of Batman's popularity.
NBC never pushed for Trek to become campy. Some episodes ended up as campy schlock (Spock's Brain for example) but that had to do with issues other than LiS.
Wikipedia on US primetime schedules for '66, 67 and '68 seasons (Just for FYI purposes):
1966 Season
1967 Season
1968 Season
None of Allen's 60s shows had a long run. Lost In Space may have been cancelled only because the budget was cut and Allen didn't want to try to produce so cheaply (there are conflicting stories about this).
4 seasons - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
3 seasons - Lost In Space
2 seasons - Land of the Giants
1 season - The Time Tunnel
4 seasons - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
3 seasons - Lost In Space
2 seasons - Land of the Giants
1 season - The Time Tunnel
The first half of the first season was serious and pretty good, but the campiness started to set in by the second half. But that happened to all of Allen's series, and the longer they went on, the worse they got. For all people slag LiS, the final season of Voyager to the Bottom of the Sea beats it in the stupidity department. The Time Tunnel is Allen's best series precisely because it got canceled so early, but even then you can see the campiness sneaking in towards the end with the introduction of aliens and travel to the future.
3 and 4 seasons aren't long runs? I'd say that's pretty damn good for a genre show in the sixties.
Agree, LIS three seasons and VTTBOTS four seasons were good for a genre in the '60s, like TOS three seasons. Even in the '70s a genre series having three seasons was a long run
with the exception being Doctor Who.
Herb Solow wrote the Roddenberry basically blew their pitch to CBS, where Desilu had the most clout. I don't know when the order was put it for the Lost In Space pilot, but it's likely that show had already been ordered and they weren't looking for a second scifi series.
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