NBC's renewal announcement....
- Thread starter Warped9
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End of Season 2, but there was an announcement at the end of season 1 also according to Cushman.
"Two nights later, on March 9, 1967, NBC cried “uncle” in public. During the end credits for Star Trek that night, with the premiere “The Devil in the Dark,” a network announcer told viewers that the series would return in the fall. An on-air announcement of this type was unprecedented, but necessary. NBC wanted the letters to stop. The constant flow of mail, pleading for renewal, had been disrupting business."
Don't know what his source was.
"Two nights later, on March 9, 1967, NBC cried “uncle” in public. During the end credits for Star Trek that night, with the premiere “The Devil in the Dark,” a network announcer told viewers that the series would return in the fall. An on-air announcement of this type was unprecedented, but necessary. NBC wanted the letters to stop. The constant flow of mail, pleading for renewal, had been disrupting business."
Don't know what his source was.
Which alone hardly makes it true.
Case in point: the idea that Star Trek had the first interracial kiss on network TV was talked about decades ago.
It appears to have just happened.
According to Star Trek .com there were some letters written by authors, but the big (how big is disputed) push came after S2. No mention of post S1 announcement, but it happened . . . Believe it . . . or not!
This goes all the way back to The Making of Star Trek, published in September 1968. It's on pages 394-395 in the second printing, dated November 1968.
On Friday, March 1, 1967, NBC shattered all television precedent by making an "on-air" announcement of renewal at the conclusion of Star Trek's program.
There's an error in the year, because there was no broadcast of Star Trek on 3/1/67 (on 3/2/67 they ran "This Side of Paradise"). However, on 3/1/68, "The Omega Glory" aired, which jives with legend. According to the book, this was the announcement:
"And now an announcement of interest to all viewers of Star Trek. We are pleased to tell you that Star Trek will continue to be seen on NBC Television. We know you will be looking forward to seeing the weekly adventure in space on Star Trek.”
This is followed up by an NBC press release released the following Monday, March 4, 1968 (this time the year is correct) stating:
Unprecedented viewer reaction in support of "Star Trek" leads to on-air announcement of series' scheduling for 1968-69.
So, other than the typo, this was written at the time, so I see no reason to disbelieve it. However, there is no mention of it happening a year earlier, and since author Stephen E. Whitfield (and the quoted press release) calls this "unprecedented" and I don't remember anyone ever mentioning it happening twice, I'm of the mind Cushman is wrong about the "Devil in the Dark" announcement.
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Ah, thank you. This is, at least, a plausible account of history, and an explanation of how errors and misunderstand have crept into the legend.
It's also worth noting that TMoST goes on to say this on page 395:
You are correct, they messed up the year. In 1967, March 1 was a Wednesday, not a Friday. 1968 was a leap year and March 1 was a Friday. On that date, "The Omega Glory" aired.
As stated, in 1967, the closest episode to March 1 was "This Side of Paradise" airing on March 2. "Devil in the Dark" aired on March 9.
Neil
Yeah...I'm going to go ahead and accept this explanation unless someone provides some hard evidence to the contrary.
And just to add to the confusion, page 14 of "The Star Trek Vault" by Scott Tipton says, "On March 31, 1968, following the week's episode of Star Trek, a special announcement from the network was broadcast, reassuring viewers that the series would indeed be returning for a third season." That really doesn't make sense, as no new episode aired that night. The season's final episode, "Assignment: Earth" aired on March 29.
Page 263 of "Star Trek 365" also repeats this date. Authors Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann say, "The exact number of letters that NBC received is not recorded–estimates range from tens of thousands to a million–but whatever the count, NBC was so impressed by the response that on March 31, the network included a special announcement after one of the episodes."
"The Star Trek Compendium", first Pocket edition, by Alan Asherman doesn't seem to mention the on-air announcement, but he cites an NBC document, "In 1968 NBC published an updated version of their August 1967 network booklet 'Star Trek Mail Call,' which acknowledged the receipt of 115,893 letters, all the result of the Trimbles' campaign. Of those, 52,358 letters, NBC stated, were received during the month of February 1968."
According to the "Compendium" NBC announced season two on March 14, 1967 at their annual affiliates convention. There is no mention of an on-air announcement occuring in season one.
"Star Trek - The Complete Unauthorized History" by Robert Greenberger, has slightly different numbers than the "Compendium". He states "...114,667 letters between December 1967 and March 1968, including 52,151 in February." That "114,667" comes from the press release issued on March 4, if we're to believe Marc Cushman's book.
Greenberger's book states that the on-air announcement was made during the end credits of "The Omega Glory".
Neil
Page 263 of "Star Trek 365" also repeats this date. Authors Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann say, "The exact number of letters that NBC received is not recorded–estimates range from tens of thousands to a million–but whatever the count, NBC was so impressed by the response that on March 31, the network included a special announcement after one of the episodes."
"The Star Trek Compendium", first Pocket edition, by Alan Asherman doesn't seem to mention the on-air announcement, but he cites an NBC document, "In 1968 NBC published an updated version of their August 1967 network booklet 'Star Trek Mail Call,' which acknowledged the receipt of 115,893 letters, all the result of the Trimbles' campaign. Of those, 52,358 letters, NBC stated, were received during the month of February 1968."
According to the "Compendium" NBC announced season two on March 14, 1967 at their annual affiliates convention. There is no mention of an on-air announcement occuring in season one.
"Star Trek - The Complete Unauthorized History" by Robert Greenberger, has slightly different numbers than the "Compendium". He states "...114,667 letters between December 1967 and March 1968, including 52,151 in February." That "114,667" comes from the press release issued on March 4, if we're to believe Marc Cushman's book.
Greenberger's book states that the on-air announcement was made during the end credits of "The Omega Glory".
Neil
I'm inclined to go with the Making of Star Trek version, mostly because it was written at the time, or shortly thereafter. Also, there was no massive letter writing campaign at the end of the first season, at least not one on the scale of the second season effort. So, I wouldn't think there would be a reason to make so "unprecedented" an announcement that first year.
Yeah, I know, the Justman and Solow book is pretty well respected, but their memories are just as suspect as anyone else's and there's a whole lot of paraphrasing and no documentation to support "The Devil in the Dark" as the episode with the announcement.
YMMV
Yeah, I know, the Justman and Solow book is pretty well respected, but their memories are just as suspect as anyone else's and there's a whole lot of paraphrasing and no documentation to support "The Devil in the Dark" as the episode with the announcement.
YMMV
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