FACT TREK—The Off-Center Seat: 55 Years of Myth Making

As usual, @Harvey and I (with the able assist of @Ryan Thomas Riddle) are giving TrekBBSers an advance peek at our latest blog post, where we take to task the historicity of the debut episode of The Center Seat. Below are a few of excepts.

If you find it compelling, you can read the entire and far more in-depth piece at our blog here (link).

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In today’s post-truth, fact-challenged world, just what, in fact, is a fact?

And what happens when the people who have direct and personal experience/memories of an event are no longer with us? Absent their first-hand accounts must we depend on second-, third- or nth-hand accounts by people who weren’t there?

With that in mind, let’s rip through the upholstery of “Lucy Loves Star Trek,” the debut episode of the recent docuseries The Center Seat, and see how close the oral tradition on display in it conforms to historical documents, first-person accounts, and contemporaneous media coverage.


Format
We present quotes from the show in the following format:

We’re also not going to I.D. the speakers in most instances because the program is terribly edited and we suspect some of the mistakes are soundbites used in the incorrect context, and it’s unfair to pillory the speakers for the mistakes of the filmmakers.


DesiLucy

CBS didn’t rebroadcast any episodes of I Love Lucy the summer after its inaugural season (1951-52). For 14 weeks it was replaced by My Little Margie.[6] We’ll address the “million dollars” in a moment…

CBS actually paid Desilu 4.3 million…and that deal didn’t happen after the first season in 1952. 1957 is when the deal was completed. The final sale price for RKO was $6,150,000.[7]

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Startup SNAFUs

Confusing presentation, conflating the network (NBC) with the studio (Desilu), over the total pricetag of the pilot. What they appear to be inarticulately relating is that the cost of the second pilot wasn’t what anyone thought the episodes should cost. This is a big “well duh.” Due to start-up costs, pilots are almost always more expensive than regular production episodes.

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Anyway, to clear up this confusing mess, for the second pilot NBC actually increased their investment by 13% and ponied up $209,000.[40] The $185,000 figure is roughly what Desilu itself budgeted as the average cost per-episode when the budget was cut at the end of the 1st season (when it was dropped by ~$7,000 per segment).

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Liar liar pants on fire.

NBC never paid a licensing fee of less than $140,000, 40% more than claimed, and that fee went up every year.

In the first season, when you add in foreign sales and the license fee for on-network reruns—and subtract Ashley Famous’ 5% commission, foreign distribution costs, and network repeat costs—against an average episode budget of (initially) $192,373 that was lowered to $185,349 near the end of the season, the studio was actually deficit financing something closer to $26,308 per episode (dropping to $19,284 when the budget was cut at the end of the season).

That’s still a lot of money but more than three times lower than the figure claimed.

In fact, by the end of the Star Trek’s run NBC was paying $160,812 out of the average episode budget (slashed by Paramount) of $178,362, which meant NBC was paying 90% of the average 3rd season budget, leaving the studio (now Paramount) only deficit financing $17,550 per segment. When we factor in all the other fees and revenues, during the third year, the studio was actually bringing in more net revenue per episode ($185,004) than the average budget per episode.[40]

Yes, we’ve looked at the actual paperwork. You’re welcome.


That's 5 out of 45 items on our blog. The rest is here (link).

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End Notes & Sources

[6] ‘My Little Margie’ Replaces ‘Lucy’ for Summer—’Celebrity Time’ Alters Its Format, New York Times, June 20, 1952, p.33
[7] Desilu Closes Buy Of RKO Lots; Must Alter Studios' Tag, Daily Variety, December 12, 1957, p.3.
[40] 1968 (approximate, document undated) Paramount Television Division Cost-Revenue Analysis for Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, and Mannix, UCLA, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek television series collection, 1966–1969.

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I really enjoyed that piece, it was - like the previous blog posts on your site - very well done.

 

Hey, thanks!

This one was a lot of work, and just about every section could have been an even lengthier dedicated post. I'm sure we'll have more to say about many of these topics in future, less debunking driven articles.

 

I've been subconsciously waiting for this ever since they announced the series.

 

That was a fantastic write-up. Thanks to previous Fact Treks and the regular debunking that goes on around here I could already guess a lot of the problems just from reading the quotes from the show, although things like Friday 10pm not actually being the "death slot" was a new one to me. I haven't got time to read it now, but I'll definitely read that debunking of how the ratings demographics of Star Trek would have saved it too.

Is there anything we know about the show that's true any more?

 

Great info as always, and achieves the extra level of difficulty for being a great read. And it's always nice to be reminded that high standards still exist.

 

Great piece, Maurice!

On a side note, your talking about Kelley brought up a conversation with a rando on FB who maintained Kelley went to Trek because the Western genre was dying. Off the top of my head, I listed the 12 Westerns currently (66-67) on the air and looking forward, I see a few more coming on (Rango, Cimarron Strip, there's another I can't remember the name of).

So Dee may have wanted a change of pace, but he couldn't have known he was about to be out of regular work. And as you point out, he'd been doing non-Western pilots for a while now.

I also appreciated your mentioning The Lieutenant and the episode that "never got aired" (which, of course, did, and also was on KGJ on the appropriate day).

And reading newspaper reviews of the various Trek eps in the 1st season, the show seems pretty well regarded. Of course, Fred Pohl, in his editorial opening to the Feb. 1967 Galaxy says Trek is probably already off the air by print time -- which makes sense. He probably wrote his piece in late November, right after Harlan sounded the alarm that Trek might be canceled (though it never was in danger, the rest of the season having been ordered in early October '66.)

Now there's a myth to write a piece on.

Anyway, thanks again! You're doing God's work.

 

@Neopeius I have a recollection of Kelley stating in an interview—maybe the Snyder one in the 70s—that a show like Trek was such a pleasant change from the repetitive roles he'd played on westerns. Or words to that effect.

Part 1 (don't know if it region locked)

 

Of that, I've no doubt. And he really is quite a good actor, perhaps the best on Star Trek.

 

They all were better than some give them credit for, even Shatner. It is interesting watching the Snyder interview to realize just how much of the mythos is already in place by 1976.

 

And thanks to @J.T.B. for catching an error that I made when I relied on my faulty human memory instead of double checking a plane model number.

 

Maurice, at one point in the piece, you say that the Man From Uncle was defeated in the ratings by Gunsmoke on ABC and the Lucy Show on CBS. Gunsmoke never aired on ABC. It ran for 20 years on CBS.

During th 1967-68 season, Man from UNCLE ran opposite the second half-hour of Gunsmoke, followed by the Lucy Show.

UNCLE's competition on ABC was the last half hour of Cowboy in Africa and the Rat Patrol.

 

This was a wonderful piece, Maurice, this was informative. I look forward to more of your insights on Trek's historical past.

 

"Even" -- he's arguably the best actor in the cast!

 

Likely a cut and paste error. I know Gunsmoke was a CBS show even on radio. I’ll fix it. Thanks.

 

@Donald G I fixed the error. I'd be happy to mention you and @J.T.B. in the acknowledgements for your input.

 

He could of just been saying it to promo the movie but I think he was sincere.
Doohan knows a lot about the ship. I bet you Shatner doesn't. LOL. Or Nimoy

Actually reminds me of a Comic-Con in Australia where Discovery-Pike was on stage. He said from early college days he liked TOS but he apparently was doing a Western before Discovery which he really loved.

 

Thanks, but @Harvey deserves at least an equal share of the recognition.

 

And you both do an amazing job.

 

No need, but thank you!