Where No Pilot Had Gone Before?
According to behind-the-scenes lore, when Desilu produced “Where No Man Has Gone Before” in 1965, it marked the first time a second television pilot was produced for a single series. Like many a bold claim about Star Trek, this one appears to have been birthed in the pages of Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry's The Making of Star Trek (1968):
NBC shattered all television precedent and asked for a second pilot. This caused quite a stir within the industry, because up until that time no network had ever asked for a second pilot. [1]
To be fair to Whitfield (the nom de plume of Stephen Edward Poe, who shared credit with Gene Roddenberry, but wrote most of the book himself), he wasn't claiming that a second television pilot had never been produced for the same property before — only that, prior to Star Trek, no television network had ever asked for a second pilot episode after rejecting the first one.
We’ve previously covered the historicity of this claim (see The Off-Center Seat), but not in any sort of detail.
Let’s remedy that.
Title card from an unaired, early version of “Where No Man Has Gone Before“ (1965) before the segment was conformed to the series format.
The Making of Star Trek Mythos
In the years since Whitfield's book was first published, the record-setting mythology about Star Trek's second pilot episode has only grown. By the time The Making of Star Trek—The Motion Picture (1980) was published, Star Trek's second pilot episode had become “unprecedented” in and of itself:
It was rejected by all three networks. Later, an unprecedented second pilot was ordered (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”), and NBC added Star Trek to its fall lineup for 1966.[2]
(Many other examples of this sort of claim can be found in an appendix at the end of this piece.)
Still from “Where No Man Has Gone Before“ (1965; broadcast 1966)
Like any oft-repeated contention about Star Trek breaking television precedent, we have to ask the question — is it true? Is any of it true? Did “Where No Man Has Gone Before” truly mark the first time a prospective series had a second pilot episode? Was NBC really the first television network to order a second pilot after rejecting the first one? Did the move actually cause "quite a stir within the industry," as first claimed in The Making of Star Trek?
Contemporary accounts in newspapers and trade magazines are helpful in answering these questions. Consider the following, from the Los Angeles Times:
Desilu is reshooting two pilot films. Star Trek, which reportedly cost $500,000 the first time around, is being filmed again without Jeffrey Hunter. The Good Old Days is undergoing script and premise revisions and will be shot a second time with another actor replacing Darryl Hickman.[3]
The passage above was not the lead in the newspaper's regular "Inside TV" column — that was dedicated to announcing the series that would become Green Acres (1965-71). The news about Star Trek's second pilot was buried in the column's fourth paragraph and, notably, was announced alongside the news that another Desilu program for NBC was also receiving a second pilot and recasting its lead.
Nine days later, Weekly Variety covered the same story in a little more detail:
Two Desilu pilots shot for next season, but not sold, may yet be aired.NBC-TV has okayed production of a second seg of "Star Trek," hour-long sci-fi series, and William Shatner will replace Jeffrey Hunter as the lead in this projected series. Web has also okayed three more scripts, and is interested in "Trek" for a mid-season or 1966-67 start. Second seg rolls around July 5, with Gene Roddenberry, who produced the first one, producing it.Second Desilu pilot involved is "The Good Old Days," half-hour comedy starring Darryl Hickman. NBC-TV, for which it was made, and Desilu execs are talking of the possibility of reshooting this pilot, and there may be a change in its cast if this is done.[4]
Buried on the bottom of page 167, the news about Star Trek wasn't treated as a prominent story by Weekly Variety, either. And, once again, it was covered alongside the news that another Desilu series for NBC was being slated for a second pilot. In light of this information, the claim that “Where No Man Has Gone Before“ was causing "quite a stir within the [entertainment] industry" seems dubious at best.
Having established these facts, however, we could find no evidence in the Hollywood trades that a second pilot was actually produced for The Good Old Days, a proposed half-hour sitcom "about a caveman who goes searching for adventure." Does that mean “Where No Man Has Gone Before” really was the first time a second pilot was produced for a single series — or, at least, the first time the same network ordered a second pilot after rejecting the first one?
Strike One, Pilot Two
The answer is a resounding no — not even close. What follows is a chronological list of ten pilot episodes that were rejected, but followed by a second pilot episode. Not all of these second pilots became series (such is the nature of television pilots, most don't sell), but all of them were produced before Gene Roddenberry began developing Star Trek at Desilu.
This list should not be viewed as comprehensive or exhaustive. If there are other programs with second (or even third) pilot episodes that do not appear here — especially if they were produced before 1965 — we’d love to hear about them.
Title card from the Lum and Abner second pilot (CBS, 1949)
Lum and Abner (Pilots: 1948, 1949, 1951, 1956)
The earliest program we’ve found with a second pilot is, so far, the pilot king of this list. Lum and Abner was a successful and long-running (1931-1954) radio comedy program on CBS, which had been adapted for a series of six feature films (1940-1946) before it was piloted four times in eight years…and the fourth attempt yielded three episodes!
The first Lum and Abner TV pilot was filmed for CBS in 1948 and tried to emulate the daily fifteen-minute format of the radio show...CBS president William S. Paley supposedly like it but felt that the market for fifteen-minute television programs was rapidly going to disappear. He commissioned a second pilot, which was filmed during the summer of 1949.[5]
The first Lum and Abner pilot is not available, but the second pilot can be seen online. Surprisingly, after rejecting the second, half-hour pilot late in 1949, CBS decided to try again and made a third television pilot about a year later:
A third Lum and Abner pilot actually made it onto CBS' airwaves in February 1951...Although the pilot received favorable reviews after its airing, it still did not lead to a series.[6]
A few years later, the fourth attempt to launch a Lum and Abner television series resulted in three half-hour episodes filmed in late 1954 and early 1955, but these trio of segments for a proposed series were never broadcast. Instead, they were hastily spliced together into the ersatz theatrical feature Lum and Abner Abroad (1956), which was released theatrically to poor reviews.
Title card from Fibber McGee and Molly (1959)
Fibber McGee and Molly (Pilots: 1954 and 1959)
Like Lum and Abner, Fibber McGee and Molly was an attempt to bring a successful radio program to television, having been broadcast on NBC radio from 1935 until 1959. The network twice attempted to develop the property for television. Their first effort was a half-hour pilot produced in early 1954:
NBC signed Frank Tashlin to produce and direct a pair of pilot telefilms for the "Fibber McGee and Molly" and "Great Gildersleeve" shows which the network owns. He reports next week and expects to finish the assignment by the end of February.[7]
Variety reported that sponsors were bidding on the pilot in May of 1954, but a series failed to materialize. Two years later, Weekly Variety reported that a second pilot was in the works:
Jim and Marion Jordan are once again interested in a television version of "Fibber & Molly" and a second pilot may be coming along soon...[8]
Interest, apparently, took a while to develop into action, but three years later the second pilot was finally ready to go before the cameras:
As a video entry, F & M will have Bob Sweeney and Cathy Lewis playing the lead roles. Pilot is being shot this month in Hollywood with Bill Lawrence as producer.[9]
The second attempt to bring Fibber McGee and Molly to television was only a little more successful than the first. Although it became a weekly series produced by William Asher for NBC, it only lasted twelve episodes before being canceled.
Title card from The Great Gildersleeve television series (1955-56)
The Great Gildersleeve (Pilots: 1954, 1955)
The Great Gildersleeve was another attempt to bring a successful radio program to television. In fact, the character was spun off from the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show in 1941 and remained on the radio til 1958. After showing their first TV pilot episode in 1954, NBC announced they were commissioning a second pilot:
Apparently dissatisfied with audience reaction to its "Great Gildersleeve" pilot film, NBC yesterday announced that it has signed producer Robert S. Finkel to film a new pilot for the long-time radio program."Gildersleeve was previewed twice on the net this fall in order to gauge viewer response. The second pilot film, also starring Willard Waterman, will first be aired on January 6.[10]
The Great Gildersleeve's second pilot led to a weekly series, but it struggled to replicate the success of the radio show and was finally canceled after one season of 40 episodes.
FACT TREK Note: You may not know the Great Gildersleeve from a giggling Mugato but if you watch enough old Bugs Bunny cartoons, you’ve seen or heard the radio original parodied. In 1945’s Hare Conditioned, Bugs observes that the department store manager pursuing him sounds like "The Great Gildersneeze!" Which he does.)
“You know, you sound just like that guy on the radio: The Great Gildersneeze.”
Title card from Have Camera, Will Travel (second pilot, 1956)
Have Camera, Will Travel (Pilots: 1955 and 1956)
Have Camera, Will Travel never became a series, but not before going through two pilot films produced by Hal Roach Studios for NBC. In June of 1955, the first pilot was filmed:
Paul Gilbert pilot, to be filmed by NBC-TV, has been set to roll at Hal Roach Studios on June 6. Program, to deal with the adventures of a pair of photographers, has been titled, "Have Camera, Will Travel."[11]
NBC rejected this pilot, but ordered a second one:
A second pilot of the Paul Gilbert starrer, "Have Camera, Will Travel," will be shot from a new script, the thinking being that the concept is a sound one but that the first half-hour, lensed at Hal Roach Studios last spring, was mis-written and miscast.[12]
The second pilot (which costarred future Desilu Mannix star Mike “Touch” Conners, and guest starred a young Charles Bronson) was filmed in February of 1956. Daily Variety reported that this pilot was screened for NBC executives in April of 1956 along with four other potential shows.[13] That screening must have been unsuccessful; afterward, we can find no mention of the pilot or the proposed series in any of the Hollywood trade papers.
In 1963 Kraft Suspense Theater aired the second pilot based on Double Indemnity, titled “Shadow of a Man.”
Double Indemnity (Pilots: Unknown and 1963)
We have been unable to find detailed information about the first of these two pilots, but a Weekly Variety story from late 1965 mentions that neither resulted in a series:
U TV has ventured into other Par pix as potential series, but not always with success. It made a pilot based on "Double Indemnity," the Par hit of yesteryear, but it didn't sell. A second pilot of the same property was made last season as a spinoff, but it didn't make the grade either.[14]
The spin-off mentioned above was an episode of Kraft Mystery Theater (1947-58), an anthology program that often broadcast potential pilots. Entitled 'Shadow of a Man,' and first aired on June 19, 1963, the pilot was a very loose adaptation of Double Indemnity with Broderick Crawford and Jack Kelly in the roles originated by Edward G. Robinson and Fred MacMurray in Billy Wilder's 1944 film version. This pilot can be viewed in full on YouTube here.
Title card from Tombstone Territory series (1957-59) © 1957-58 Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios Inc.
Tombstone Territory (Pilots: Both 1957)
From 1948 until 1960, Ziv Televisions Program, Inc. was a major supplier of syndicated television, sold directly to local television stations to fill out their schedules. Ziv also employed Gene Roddenberry early in his career, hiring him to write scripts for series including Mr. District Attorney, I Led Three Lives, Highway Patrol, Dr. Christian, Harbor Command, and West Point.
Beginning in 1956, Ziv also began selling programming directly to the networks, which was the case with Tombstone Territory, a half-hour western that began its life as a pilot called Tombstone in 1957:
Ziv TV today rolls pilot for a new western vidpix series, “Tombstone.” Jan Merlin co-stars with Richard Eastham and Norman Foster directs.[15]
Daily Variety later reported that the series had been sold to a sponsor, re-titled Gunfire Pass, and was set to appear on ABC:
“Gunfire Pass,” oater [Western] series starring Richard Eastham, has been sold by Ziv TV to Bristol-Myers, and will be seen on ABC-TV next season....Pat Conway has a featured lead in “Gunfire” series, which will be based on stories of Tombstone, Ariz., produced by Frank Pittman and Andy White. The 89 episodes go into production around the first of June.[16]
Although the sponsor (Bristol-Myers) was satisfied with this pilot, apparently ABC had second thoughts, forcing Ziv to produce a second pilot with significant revisions:
Following reshooting and recasting of a pilot nixed by ABC-TV, Ziv TV's second pilot, called "Tombstone Territory," has been okayed by the network and will be seen on ABC next season, with Bristol-Myers sponsoring.Ziv had originally lensed a pilot called "Town at Gunfire Pass," which BM bought, but ABC termed "unacceptable." As as result, pilot was recast, with Pat Conway, who was second lead in the first pilot, upped to top lead, and the second pilot proved acceptable both to the sponsor and the network. Pilot was directed by Eddie Davis.Conway plays role of a sheriff of Tombstone, while the crusading editor of the Tombstone Epitaph - originally the lead character - is now relegated to a secondary role. Series will be on Wednesday nights following "Disneyland."[17]
Tombstone Territory's second pilot was enough to convince ABC to go forward with the series, which premiered with its second pilot episode on October 16, 1957. ABC eventually broadcast the first pilot (with a new title, “Guilt of a Town”) on March 19, 1958. Tombstone Territory lasted for three seasons and a total of 91 episodes.
Still from Collector's Item (2nd pilot, 1957)
Collector's Item (Pilots: Both 1957)
The earliest mention of this Vincent Price-Peter Lorre television vehicle we've found is a casting item that appeared in an early 1957 issue of Daily Variety, indicating that the pilot would begin filming on January 29, 1957:
Jockey Billy Pearson has been cast by producer Julian Claman in pilot of "Collector's Item," new telepix series 20th-Fox rolls tomorrow for CBS. Vincent Price, who appeared with Pearson on "$64,000 Challenge" stars in series, as does Peter Lorre.[18]
Variety followed this story a few weeks later with more detail on the prospective program:
An adventure-comedy series co-starring Vincent Price and Peter Lorre called "Collector's Item." This is a wholly-owned CBS property created by west coast program exec Hunt Stromberg Jr., the idea stemming from the audience excitement generated by Price's recent participation in "$64,000 Challenge" with Edward G. Robinson. However, this one's not a quiz show; strictly comedy with adventure overtones in which Price portrays the owner of a N.Y. art gallery with Lorre as a phony art dealer who goes to work for Price. Web's hopes are particularly high on this one.[19]
A few weeks later, according to a story in the March 16, 1957 issue of The Billboard, Collector’s Item was ready to be shown to advertising agencies in New York, in search of a potential sponsor. CBS was apparently unsuccessful. However, not ready to abandon the project, CBS hired a new writing team to script a second pilot:
Gwen Bagni and Irwin Gielgud have been signed by CBS-TV to teleplay pilot of a new vidpix series, "Collector's Item," which will star Vincent Price and Peter Lorre.[20]
Bagni and Gielgud did not work out, leading CBS to go with Herb Meadow instead:
CBS-TV has signed Herb Meadow to a five-year pact as producer-writer and assigned him to produce its new series, "Collector's Item," starring Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. Meadow scripted pilot, which rolls soon. First pilot of series, made long ago, was junked.[21]
By the end of the year, the second pilot was completed (it can be viewed in three parts here, here, and here), and CBS again went looking for a sponsor for the show:
Collector's Item—Remake of last season's pilot, starring Vincent Price as an art collector who becomes embroiled in crime and mystery.[22]
Once again, the network came up empty, and the second pilot ended up on the shelf. Interestingly enough, however, this was not the last time the series would be mentioned in the Hollywood trades. About eight months later, Weekly Variety reported that CBS still thought the core idea of Collector's Item had potential, and was considering filming new episodes:
The question of what to do with shelved pilots again was being bandied around, but this time with a new twist.
If the basic idea is good, why give up the ghost if the execution didn't come off well?...CBS along with its syndication subsid, is pruning all of the unsold pilots, discarding those which it feels don't have a good basic idea. But those such as "The City" and "Collector's Item," dealing with fraudulent art practices and starring Vincent Price, are being revived. New episodes may be shot on the latter. Reason for the approach is that what are considered basic good ideas for a series aren't too plentiful. Advertisers and agency execs will be urged to give the second tries a fresh look. Plan will be abandoned if the new pilot is met with that "I've seen that one before" comment, when screened along Madison Ave.[23]
There are a few more references to the potential series in late 1958, which indicate that CBS considered producing the series for syndication with a different lead, but it appears nothing came of it. As far as we can tell, neither pilot was ever broadcast.
Poster for Tarzan and the Trappers (1958)
Tarzan (Pilots: 1957 and 1958)
Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan stories have been filmed on many occasions. Relevant to Star Trek is the 1966-68 television series, which featured Nichelle Nichols in two episodes and served as Star Trek's second season lead-in on NBC (to disastrous results; Tarzan went from being a top thirty show in the 1966-67 broadcast season to a canceled flop in 1967-68).
Prior to both those versions, however, producer Sol Lesser twice attempted to bring the character to the small screen with veteran Tarzan actor Gordon Scott. The first attempt was made for NBC in early 1957:
Deal has been finalized for NBC to be partnered with Sol Lesser in his "Tarzan" theatrical films under an agreement concluded with Alan Livingston, the net's program vee-pee in Hollywood. Included in the joint control is "Tarzan and Lost Safari," now being released by Metro, and the library of animal and native tribe footage shot in Africa. Lesser will produce the half-hour "Tarzan" telepix series for NBC, with Laslo Benedek directing the first episode. Lisa Davis has femme lead opposite Gordon Scott.[24]
Ultimately, NBC passed on the project, but Lesser was undeterred:
With a Tarzan theatrical film now before the cameras, Sol Lesser has reactivated his plans to shoot a vidpix series based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Previously, Lesser filmed a pilot with Gordon Scott and Lisa Davis co-starred but objections and a legal hassle with Commodore Productions at that time curtailed continuation of the "Tarzan" telefilms. Now, however, Lesser is resuming shooting on the "Tarzan" telepix and has already completed filming a second pilot film at Desilu-Culver.Eve Brent, femme lead of the theatrical version, co-stars with Scott in the televersion. Rickie Sorensen, also in the theatrical film, will recreate his "boy" role in the series. Pilot, it's understood, is entitled "Tarzan and the Trappers." Latter pic is now in the editing stages and will be available for agency screening shortly.[25]
Unfortunately for Lesser, Tarzan and the Trappers did not sell. Following a shake-up in leadership at Lesser's company, it was decided to forgo television exploitation of Tarzan altogether:
Lesser had completed a pilot film for the possible introduction of Tarzan as a telepix series. However, after analyzing the costs and market potential, it was considered "complete insanity," according to Howard, to go into TV. Howard's point being that it would be suicide to destroy a property which has grossed some $ 200,000,000 in 40 years. Since 1918, there have been 32 Tarzan films and, according to Howard, there has never been a loss on a Tarzan film. He said the smallest profit has been $ 500,000.[26]
Tarzan and the Trappers was Sol Lesser's final producing credit. The television pilot was re-edited and sold to television as a “movie,” first airing on a Fort Myers, Florida affiliate on Saturday, December 4, 1965, and repeatedly seen on television thereafter.
FACT TREK Note: One reason Gene Roddenberry was relatively hands-off in 1968 during Star Trek's third and final season was because we was developing a Tarzan feature for National General at the time, which never went beyond the screenplay stage (we have it).
Title card from I Remember Caviar (1959)
I Remember Caviar (Pilot: 1959) and All in the Family (Pilot: 1960)
I Remember Caviar was a thirty minute sitcom pilot that starred Pat Crowley (later to star in Please Don’t Eat the Daisies), about a wealthy family forced into poverty—a premise vaguely like Schitt's Creek (2015–2020). It was produced by Screen Gems for NBC, but was not picked up.
Title card from the second try at I Remember Caviar, retitled All In the Family (1960)
However, NBC and Screen Gems decided to try again, shooting a second pilot called All in the Family (not to be confused with the Norman Lear show that would be produced a decade later — after three different pilot episodes, incidentally), again with Pat Crowley in the lead, and with Adam West, years before Batman (1966–1968):
Stars of one of last year's unsold Screen Gems pilots, "I Remember Caviar," reportedly are being recalled to the studio... Although sources at the Columbia vidsubsid will admit only that there is discussion of doing a second pilot of the vehicle, Pat Crowley, who starred in the original, has been paged for the return chore.[27]
Unlike Star Trek, after giving the Pat Crowley-starring series a second chance, NBC passed on the prospective series. Both pilots ended up being broadcast as installments of Alcoa-Goodyear Theater (a popular graveyard for failed pilots, including the Gene Roddenberry scripted 333 Montgomery, which starred DeForest Kelley), one in 1959 and one in 1960.
Starring credit from Head of the Family (filmed 1958), the first pilot for what became The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Head of the Family (Pilot: 1958) and The Dick Van Dyke Show (Pilot: 1961)
When Carl Reiner first developed a half-hour sitcom about a television writer and his family, he intended to star in the show himself. Indeed, Reiner starred in a pilot that he wrote, called "Head of the Family," in 1958. Ultimately, however, this pilot did not sell, and it ended up being broadcast on CBS during the summer of 1960:
CBS-TV will inject a dubious element of freshness info three of its summer time slots with series consisting entirely of unsold pilots. Two of them will be devoted fully to comedy pilots-the "Hennessey" replacement Monday at 10 and the Red Skelton slot Tuesday at 9: 30. Third show will consist of dramatic pilots mostly CBS' own, on Fridays at 9...Comedy lineup includes Carl Reiner in "Head of the Family," which he scripted and starred in and was produced by Peter Lawford...[28]
Later, with producer Sheldon Leonard, Reiner re-conceived the material for actor Dick Van Dyke. A new pilot episode, "The Sick Boy and the Sitter," was filmed on January 20, 1961. This incarnation picked up a committed sponsor, Proctor & Gamble, and the series (now called The Dick Van Dyke Show) debuted on CBS on October 3, 1961. It lasted for five seasons and 158 episodes.
The Second Time Around
Still from “Where No Man Has Gone Before“ (1965; broadcast 1966)
Ultimately, what can be said about “Where No Man Has Gone Before” as a second pilot is that it was unusual in 1965 — but not unprecedented. In the early history of television, when a pilot did not sell, that was most often the end of it. Cast contracts certainly had no contingency in them for second pilot episodes. Most typically, actors were signed for a pilot episode, and the studio had a limited option to continue their services — if a weekly series materialized within a set time frame. Such was the case with Star Trek, which is why Jeffrey Hunter could walk away without repercussions when he declined to do the second pilot.
In a few cases, however, one or more of the entities involved (be they the studio, the network, or the sponsor) liked a pilot enough to produce a second or even a third version of the concept. As we’ve outlined, this happened at least ten times prior to Star Trek.
Myth = Busted
P.S. And speaking of second time’s around, this article is a redo of a piece Michael Kmet originally wrote for the Star Trek Fact Check blog: the predecessor to FACT TREK.
—30—
Appendix: The Unprecedented Pilot—The Many Different Versions
Although it appears the above-cited example of The Making of Star Trek—The Motion Picture (1980) may be the first time that Star Trek getting a second pilot episode was characterized as "unprecedented," it was hardly the last. Below are a few of many, many examples printed over the past 42 years:
After spending approximately $630,000 on one pilot film, the network felt that there was enough quality present in the episode for the series to deserve a second chance. For the first time in television history, a second pilot was commissioned, but some changes were to be made.—Allan Asherman, The Star Trek Compendium (first edition, 1981), p.41
The pilot was submitted to NBC in February, 1965. They rejected it. But the project wasn't canned; NBC still saw promise in the series and authorized an unprecedented second pilot—including an almost entirely new cast.—Author Unknown, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (1988), p.86
However, instead of dumping the project, NBC did the unprecedented, giving Gene the go-ahead to film a second pilot that they hoped would be more appealing to the network’s sensibilities.—William Shatner with Chris Kreski, Star Trek Memories (1993), p.66
However, the executives were impressed enough by Roddenberry's efforts to make an unprecedented request for a second pilot, a more adventurous story by Samuel A. Peeples called "Where No Man Has Gone Before."—Jeff Bond, The Music of Star Trek: Profiles in Style (1999), p.14
NBC then made the unprecedented decision of asking Roddenberry to shoot a second pilot, but with changes...—David J. Shayler and Ian Moule, Women in Space: Following Valentina (2005), p.146
But they [NBC] requested a second pilot. This was unheard of in NBC history.—D.C. Fontana, Star Trek 365 (2010), from the book's introduction
But NBC executives were impressed enough with "The Cage," Star Trek's rejected original telefilm, that they took the unprecedented step of ordering a second pilot rather than abandoning the concept.—Mark Clark, Star Trek FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the First Voyages of the Starship Enterprise (2012), p.71
Revision History
2016-04-05 An earlier version of this story was originally published as “Second Pilot Episodes Before Star Trek?” by Michael Kmet for the Star Trek Fact Check blog (link).
2023—08-06 Published this updated version of that piece with additional information and some new photos…plus Bugs Bunny for the win.
See Also
Our Where Some Pilots Had Gone Before playlist can be viewed below. It includes some first and second pilots for series that had more than one.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Neil B. for offering many corrections and suggestions after reading an early version of this post. Any errors that remain are entirely our own.
Images from “Where No Man Has Gone Before“ courtesy of Trek Core.
End Notes & Sources
Appendix items include their citations in-line.
[1] The Making of Star Trek (Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, 1968), p126
[2] Susan Sackett and Gene Roddenberry, The Making of Star Trek—The Motion Picture (1980), p9
[3] Inside TV: Eddie Albert to Play Rural Lawyer, Los Angeles Times (May 3, 1965), p.D28
[4] 'Definite Maybe' for 2 Unsold Desilu Pilots, Weekly Variety (May 12, 1965), p.167
[5] Tim Hollis, Ain't That a Knee-Slapper: Rural Comedy in the Twentieth Century (2008), p.148-149
Hollis, p.149–150
[7] NBC Sets Tashlin To Guide Telepix On 'Fibber' & 'Gildersleeve, Weekly Variety (January 13, 1954) p.26
[8] From the Production Centres, Weekly Variety (March 21, 1956), p.30
[9] Johnson Wax Still Loves That Fibber, Weekly Variety (March 18, 1959), p.32
[10] NBC Sets New 'Gildie' Pilot, The Billboard (December 25, 1954), p.7
[11] NBC-TV Skeds June 6 Start for 'Camera,' The Billboard (June 4, 1955), p.13
[12] NBC-TV Bears Down on Color Programs, The Billboard (October 22, 1955), p.14
[13] Light And Airy, Jack Hellman for Daily Variety (April 9, 1956), p.10
[14] Universal TV Tries More Old Par Pix as Video Vehicles, Weekly Variety (October 13, 1965), p.34
[15] Daily Variety (February 12, 1957), p.11
[16] Ziv Sells 'Gunfire' To Bristol-Myers For ABC-TV, Daily Variety (May 23, 1957), p.9
[17] Ziv Tombstone' Passes Muster After ABC Nix, Daily Variety (August 22, 1957), p.15
[18]—Collector's' Mount For Billy Pearson, Daily Variety (January 28, 1957), p.3
[19] Hopes High on 30-Min. Bundle, Daily Variety (February 20, 1957), p.23
[20] Pair Plotting "Item," Daily Variety (July 10, 1957), p.3
[21] Herb Meadow's 5-Year CBS-TV Prod.-Writer Pact, Weekly Variety (November 6, 1957), p.52
[22] Nets Vary Widely On Show Types For Fall, The Billboard (February 3, 1958), p.6
[23] What to Do With Old Pilots, Weekly Variety (September 24, 1958), p.23
[24] NBC, Sol Lesser Partner in "Tarzan," Daily Variety (March 22, 1957), p.16
[25] Lesser's Tarzan Telepix on Again, Weekly Variety (February 19, 1958), p.25
[26] Untried Blood Guiding New Lesser Co.; More Films, One Message: 'Escapism,' Weekly Variety (July 23, 1958), p.4
[27] SG 'Caviar' Pilot Stars Recalled To Serve Up Another, Daily Variety (November 5, 1959), p.6
[28] Like Old Razor Blades, What Do You Do With Unsold Pilots? CBS Giving 'Em Summer Airing, Weekly Variety (May 25, 1960), p.27