Movies - TV
How Star Trek’s Walter Koenig Knew The Original Series Was Doomed
By DEVIN MEENAN
Walter Koenig joined “Star Trek” in its second season as Ensign Pavel Chekov. Unfortunately, the show would continue for only two more years, a prediction Koenig had foreseen.
Per TrekMovie.com, Koenig recalled when he found out, “Our showtime in the third season was not going to be eight o'clock Monday night. It was going to be 10 o'clock Friday night.”
TV shows that air on Friday nights typically garner low ratings and are prone to cancellations. The move to a Friday night time slot indicated a lack of confidence from the network.
Koenig stated, “They had brought me aboard for the very obvious reason of appealing to very young people, literally eight to about fourteen years old.”
By then, Koenig was confident that the show was over, sharing, “So at that moment, I knew that our fate was sealed, and that the third season of ‘Star Trek’ would be the end.”