Herb Solow, Producer Who Sold ‘Star Trek’ to NBC, Dies at 89

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/herb-solow-dead-star-trek-1234837054/

Herbert F. Solow, a longtime television executive who pitched the original “Star Trek” series to NBC while he was at Desilu Studios, along with “Mission Impossible” and “Mannix,” died on Thursday, his wife, Dr. Harrison Solow, confirmed. He was 89.

Solow helped guide “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry on their pitch to the network, and continued to champion the series until Ball herself got behind the effort.

Solow told the publication Carpe Articulum that he came up with the idea of presenting the story as a flashback. “I made a key change whereby we treated every episode, the whole series, as a flashback and invented Star Date,” he said. “A flashback is very interesting. People become kind of relaxed with the characters and the story knowing what they were watching had already happened. We’re not dealing with the future, absolutely not, we’re dealing with telling a story from the past. The Captain’s Log setup each show. Bottom-line, telling the story from the past was a huge plus.”

He also helped persuade Roddenberry that Spock should retain the pointed ears, but lose the devilish long tail and red face.