Fred Freiberger
Fred Freiberger | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 19, 1915 |
| Died | March 2, 2003 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Television producer |
Fred Freiberger (February 19, 1915 – March 2, 2003) was an American television producer and script writer. He is best known for his work as producer of the third and final season of science fiction series Star Trek from 1968–1969. He was later contracted by Gerry Anderson and became the producer of the British-made science fiction series Space: 1999 for its second and final season. He wrote three episodes for Space: 1999 under the pseudonym "Charles Woodgrove" as he had done when writing episodes of the Western series Rawhide. Perhaps unusually for writer/producers of his standing in his generation, Freiberger also did a considerable amount of work in animation, including Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, yet another Freiberger space series.
Early life and career
Freiberger's career began as a writer for film in the 1940s, and by the late 1950s he was working extensively in television, writing Westerns and other genres. In 1960, he became producer of the popular medical drama, Ben Casey, which was followed by a stint as producer of The Wild Wild West during its first season in 1965-66.
Star Trek: The Original Series
In 1968, Gene Roddenberry, as a result of differences with NBC, stepped down as showrunner for Star Trek, and Freiberger was hired as producer for its third season. The season was derided by critics and fans, was plagued by reduced production budgets from NBC, and was scheduled in the so-called Friday night death slot which resulted in it failing to attain sufficient ratings numbers to continue; it was cancelled in the spring of 1969.
Space: 1999
Freiberger went on to write episodes for a number of popular early-1970s TV series, such as All in the Family, Emergency!, Starsky and Hutch, and Ironside before being hired to take over from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson as producer for the second season of Space: 1999.
In the pre-production analysis for the second season of Space: 1999, Freiberger pointed out that the first season was too intellectual for his target audiences, and he consequently redesigned the series.
The retooled series introduced the popular character of Maya but failed to generate sufficient ratings for renewal to a third season (although according to the book The Complete Gerry Anderson by Chris Bentley, a third season was anticipated).
Later career
Freiberger then moved on to produce the final season of The Six Million Dollar Man in 1977-1978 and the short-lived Beyond Westworld in 1980 and, still later, wrote numerous episodes of the 1980s syndicated series, Superboy.
Negative reputation
Freiberger has a somewhat dubious reputation in science fiction fandom, mostly due to his involvement in the final seasons of Star Trek, The Six Million Dollar Man and Space: 1999, all of which were cancelled under his watch. This led to Freiberger being given the nickname "The Series Killer", [1] although he was also involved in the establishment of several other series that lasted for several seasons, such as Wild Wild West and Superboy. Both Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner refused to assign any blame to Freiberger for the inferior third season of Star Trek in their published autobiographies.[2][3] In fact, Freiberger was a person who was repeatedly called in to "save" already-failing TV series like Star Trek and Space: 1999--and tended to give them make-overs in an attempt to do so.
As Nichols observes, the result of NBC's severe budget cutbacks to the third season of Star Trek—in an environment of rising production costs and escalating actor's salaries—meant that
you saw fewer outdoor location shots, for example. Top writers, top guest stars, top anything you needed was harder to come by. Thus, Star Trek's demise became a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I can assure you, that is exactly as it was meant to be....In the third season [the] new producer Fred Freiberger did everything he could to shore up the show. I know that some fans hold him responsible for the show's decline, but that is not fair. Star Trek was in a disintegrating orbit before Fred came aboard. That we were able to do even what we did is a miracle and a credit to him. One day Fred and I had an exchange, and he snapped at me. Even then, though, I knew he wasn't angry with me but with his unenviable situation. He was a producer who had nothing to produce with.[4]
However, it is a fact that a disproportionate number of the series Freiberger allegedly was attempting to save, including shows from other genres such as the Western The Iron Horse and the detective series Big Shamus, Little Shamus were canceled after his involvement with them.
References
- ^ http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?m=200809
- ^ Nichelle Nichols, Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories, G.P. Putnam & Sons, New York 1994. p. 189
- ^ William Shatner, Star Trek Memories, 1993. pp. 264–72
- ^ Nichols, Beyond Uhura, p. 189