How NBC's Own Ratings Panic Killed Star Trek and Then Made It a Hit

The first time Star Trek was killed was in 1969, and it wasn't because audiences rejected the show. It was because NBC didn't seem to understand what it had: a gold mine.

NBC Didn't Understand the Audience Star Trek Actually Had

When the series originally aired, it pulled in a highly specific, highly coveted demographic: intelligent, affluent men between the ages of 20 and 40 with disposable income. That is exactly the kind of audience that today is, in my words, absolute music to advertisers' ears.

But at the time, networks and advertisers weren't thinking that way. They were more focused on overall ratings numbers, and Star Trek's overall numbers weren't the best.

ABC's Scheduling Against Bewitched Made Things Worse

Unfortunately, things only got worse after ABC moved Bewitched into direct competition with Star Trek.

The Friday Night Move Backfired Completely

To chase better ratings against ABC and CBS, NBC moved Star Trek to Friday nights at 8:30 p.m. for its second season. Their logic was that this new time slot would attract a broader, younger family audience that was sitting at home before the start of the weekend.

This completely backfired. Not only did the show fail to attract the new audience, who just weren't interested in it, its actual audience, young males, weren't sitting at home watching television on Friday nights either. They were out having fun. So the show's ratings absolutely cratered, and that led NBC to finally cancel it.

Gene Roddenberry's Secret Letter Campaign Bought One More Season

However, a letter-writing campaign secretly orchestrated by Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry, convinced NBC to give the show one last chance.

Except in what I'd call their infinite wisdom, or perhaps by design, NBC slashed the show's budget and moved it from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., which is known as the graveyard slot, because it's where shows go to die, and Star Trek was no different, as it would yet again be cancelled after its third season.

Getting Cancelled Ended Up Saving Star Trek

However, getting killed off like a red shirt was ultimately the best thing that could have happened to it. While NBC may have been setting the show up to fail in its third season, they had also accidentally funded the exact number of episodes it needed to survive in syndication.

And this is where Star Trek became, in my words, an absolute monster hit in reruns.