Editing Star Trek: The Original Series (section)

===Season 1 (1966–1967)===
{{Main|Star Trek: The Original Series season 1}}
[[File:William Shatner Star Trek first episode 1966.JPG|thumb|left|180px|[[William Shatner]] as [[James T. Kirk|Captain James T. Kirk]] in action, from the episode "[[Where No Man Has Gone Before]]", 1966]]

NBC ordered 16 episodes of ''Star Trek'', besides "Where No Man Has Gone Before".<ref name="davies2007">{{cite book |author1=Davies, Máire Messenger; Pearson, Roberta |author2=Michael Lowell Henry |editor1=Hilmes, Michele |editor2=Henry, Michael Lowell |title=NBC: America's Network |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhmw637JRgUC&pg=PA209 |year=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-25079-6 |chapter=The Little Program That Could: The Relationship Between NBC and ''Star Trek'' |pages=212–222 |access-date=November 12, 2015 |archive-date=June 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611020828/https://books.google.com/books?id=lhmw637JRgUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA209 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first regular episode of ''Star Trek'', "[[The Man Trap]]",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708469/ |title=The Man Trap |work=IMDb |date=September 8, 1966 |access-date=June 30, 2018 |archive-date=December 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222231751/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708469/ |url-status=live }}</ref> aired on Thursday, September 8, 1966, from 8:30 to 9:30 as part of an NBC "sneak preview" block. Reviews were mixed; while ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'' and ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' liked the new show, ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' were less favorable,{{r|to20060901}} and ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' predicted that it "won't work", calling it "an incredible and dreary mess of confusion and complexities".<ref name="millrod19960916">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fIgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4322,132360 |title=The Trek Continues (? Illegible) |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=September 16, 1996 |access-date=April 26, 2011 |author=Millrod, Jack |page=D1 |archive-date=May 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508080626/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fIgNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kG8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4322,132360 |url-status=live }}</ref> Debuting against mostly reruns, ''Star Trek'' easily won its time slot with a 40.6 share.<ref>"The numbers game, part one". ''Broadcasting''. September 19, 1966: 58–60.</ref> The following week against new programming, however, the show fell to second (29.4 share) behind CBS. It ranked 33rd (out of 94 programs) over the next two weeks, then the following two episodes ranked 51st in the ratings.<ref>Gowran, Clay. "Nielsen Ratings Are Dim on New Shows". ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. October 11, 1966: B10.</ref><ref>Gould, Jack. "How Does Your Favorite Rate? Maybe Higher Than You Think". ''The New York Times''. October 16, 1966: 129.</ref>

{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|quote=I am an avid fan of ''Star Trek'', and would simply die if it was taken off the air. In my opinion it is the best show on television.|source=—M.P., Oswego, New York, February 20, 1967<ref name="tvkey19670220">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5glIAAAAIBAJ&pg=4615,5689397 |title=TV Key Mailbag |work=The Morning Record |date=February 20, 1967 |access-date=May 12, 2011 |author=Scheuer, Steven H. |location=Meriden, Connecticut |page=4A |archive-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505024113/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5glIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UwANAAAAIBAJ&pg=4615,5689397 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

[[File:TOSopeninglogo.png|thumb|right|Title used for the first season]]

[[Frederik Pohl]], editor of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'', wrote in February 1967 of his amazement that ''Star Trek''{{'}}s "regular shows were just as good" as the early episodes that won an award at [[24th World Science Fiction Convention|Tricon]] in September. Believing that the show would soon be canceled because of low ratings, he lamented that it "made the mistake of appealing to a comparatively literate group", and urged readers to write letters to help save the show.<ref name="pohl196702">{{cite magazine |last=Pohl |first=Frederik |date=February 1967 |title=More About Being Bad |department=Editorial |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v25n03_1967-02#page/n3/mode/2up |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction |pages=4, 6 }}</ref> ''Star Trek''{{'}}s first-season ratings would in earlier years likely have caused NBC to cancel the show. The network had pioneered research into viewers' [[demographic profile]]s in the early 1960s, however, and by 1967, it and other networks increasingly considered such data when making decisions;{{r|pearson2011}}{{rp|115}} for example, CBS temporarily canceled ''[[Gunsmoke]]'' that year because it had too many older and too few younger viewers.{{r|to20060901}} Although Roddenberry later claimed that NBC was unaware of ''Star Trek''{{'}}s favorable demographics,<ref name="thomas19760525">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DaVDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2272,5465964 |title=Roddenberry would like to leave 'Star Trek' behind |agency=[[Associated Press]] |work=Williamson Daily News |date=May 25, 1976 |access-date=May 15, 2011 |author=Bob Thomas |location=Williamson, WV |page=14 |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222215757/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DaVDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4a4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=2272,5465964 |url-status=live }}</ref> awareness of ''Star Trek''{{'}}s "quality" audience is what likely caused the network to retain the show after the first and second seasons.<ref name="pearson2011">{{cite book |author=Pearson, Roberta |author2=Niki Strange |editor1=Bennett, James |editor2=Strange, Niki |title=Television as Digital Media |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3cYJndq9K1IC |date= 2011 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-4910-5 |pages=105–131 |chapter=Cult Television as Digital Television's Cutting Edge}}</ref>{{rp|115}} NBC instead decided to order 10 more new episodes for the first season, and order a second season in March 1967.{{r|davies2007}}<ref>"NBC fills final hole for 1967–68." Broadcasting. March 6, 1967: 52.</ref> The network originally announced that the show would air at 7:30–8:30&nbsp;pm Tuesday, but it was instead given an 8:30–9:30&nbsp;pm Friday slot when the 1967–68 NBC schedule was released,<ref>Gent, George. "Alex Segal to Produce 3 Danny Thomas TV Shows." ''The New York Times''. March 15, 1967: 9.5.</ref> making it less appealing to young adult viewers.{{r|davies2007}}
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