Still trying to pinpoint the third season "difference"

Or Ted Cassidy for Ruk.

 

Yes. I thought of that one too right after I posted, but decided against editing him in.

 

What people tend to forget when discussing timeslots is which advertisers want to program in which slot, so there's a monetary consideration. If NBC could not sell enough ads at the going rate for Star Trek in a given slot they'd move a different show there that could.

 

Speaking of period advertising, we're lucky Star Trek didn't get the full treatment. I distinctly recall on The Beverly Hillbillies, both in first run and early syndication, that they'd suddenly have a scene of the family sitting at the breakfast table eating Kellogg's Cornflakes. Label to camera. And praising the product by name. It was really a commercial, but tucked seamlessly into the show and done with the "Jethro eats a lot" humor you'd expect from the show itself.

 

Was that sort of thing really done outside of comedies by the time Star Trek was on the air?

 

Dunno, but I've seen the Flintstones ads for Winston cigs. Through todays eyes, very weird.

 

I was just thinking of Twilight Zone sponsored by Chesterfield.

 

Noooo... put the cigarettes down, Rod!

 

Seems cigs did Gene Coon in, too.

 

And Susan Oliver (age 58) among many others...
http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/celebsmokingdeaths.html

 

Leonard Nimoy as well...

 

Yes, I should have mentioned him. He did live longer than many others.

 

Nimoy had the sense to quit.

 

Nimoy lived a good long life, though I think hampered by COPD. Serling was early 50s. Coon wa s young too, yes?

 

He died in 1973, so he was only 49. Shame.

 

From Memory Alpha:

"Coon, a chain smoker of cigarillos, died of lung cancer in 1973, only a week after being diagnosed. He visited Robert Justman's office one day, wearing a portable oxygen tank and mask, gasping and coughing. Justman urged him to go in for medical tests, despite the fact that Coon said his breathing difficulties stemmed from the "Goddamned LA smog." (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, pp. 428-429)"

Wikipedia also states "Another possible cause of his cancer was radiation from Nevada bomb testing sites he attended with his mentor Gene Sherman and his first wife Joy in the 1950s."

There is no source provided for this claim.

 

I hate Wikipedia for that reason.

 

I [citation needed] it.

 

Not to be a devil's advocate, but noting a certain Gracie Allen in the list, it popped into my mind that George Burns was photographed smoking big and thick cigars up to 1986 (aged 90), if not later. His death was due to complications from slipping and hitting his head, with no known signs of lung diseases ever found. One's not going to see names like his in that article, but that isn't to say the numbers don't show a legitimately higher chance of probability...

Many of those on the list still died at the same age range as most people - 70s or 80s, just of another cause, but most people, even today, say "good life" if they make it to their 70s regardless of what does them in and are quite correct. But those dying in their 60s, or especially earlier, are of comparative interest as they do show spikes in the proverbial Pareto and Scatter charts. Correlation isn't always proof of causation (Just as Burns and a list of those who had puffed all their lives and didn't get cancer as a result certainly won't say anything definitive about the opposite condition that the list of "smoking deaths" was), but it's still something of fascination to go on regardless... and while ciggie smoking may not be the root cause but still be a contributing factor. That's the fun part, individual biochemistry as opposed to more blanket conditions...

Ultimately, had there not been lung cancer or emphysema flowering due to cigarette smoking, chances are they'd have lived several more years. But that's purely speculative. A healthy jogger could even die of a heart attack by age 35, with no bona fide underlying reason, including foul play... or fowl, if cholesterol count is within healthy range.

 

Those were "integrated commercials." That meant the commercial was integrated into the show, not that white and black folks were in the same commercial together.

When it debuted in 1960, The Flintstones aired in prime time and wasn't considered a "kiddie show." And, of course, prime-time network TV was chock-full of cigarette ads back then.