Fred Freiberger
Fred Freiberger | |
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Spouse | Shirley Freiberger[1] |
Children | 2[1] |
Fred Freiberger (February 19, 1915 – March 2, 2003)
Freiberger was the producer of the
Freiberger died on March 2, 2003, at his Bel-Air home, according to his son, Ben. No cause of death was given.[3]
Early life and career
Freiberger was born to a
Television career
From 1958, Freiberger worked almost exclusively in television. As a writer, he contributed scripts for dozens of tv shows in the period 1952 through 1989.
Producing Star Trek
Freiberger had been interviewed as a possible producer for Star Trek before it entered production in 1966, but had left the selection process due to a planned trip. In 1968, as a result of creative differences with broadcaster NBC, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry resigned as showrunner. Freiberger was again contacted and hired as producer for the series' third season. He assumed this role with a reduced budget that made the series more difficult to produce,[9] as well as a new "Friday night death slot" that resulted in a further decline in viewing ratings for what was already a low-rated program. Many Star Trek fans have since criticised Freiberger for being the cause of this decline, but actress Nichelle Nichols (who played Uhura) wrote in his defense. Nichols argued that NBC's considerable budget cutbacks to the third season of Star Trek, in an environment of rising production costs and escalating actors' 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.[10]
Producing Space: 1999
On 15 December 1975, Freiberger was confirmed as both script editor and producer for the second season of Gerry Anderson's British science-fiction TV series Space: 1999, recruited in part to make the series more appealing to the American market. To that end, Freiberger re-worked the series with major cast and character changes, a heightened emphasis on action and drama, and even ensured that signs appearing in the episodes used American English spelling.[6] He also wrote three episodes for the show's second season, under the pen name "Charles Woodgrove", a pseudonym he had employed when writing for movies and television in the USA: he first used that name as a screenwriter on the movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), and subsequently in writing television episodes of the 1960s Western series Rawhide.[citation needed]
Negative reputation in science fiction fandom
Freiberger has a dubious reputation in science-fiction
References
- ^ a b c d Oliver, Myrna (March 7, 2003). "Fred Freiberger, 88; Film Producer, Writer for Early Dramatic TV Series". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Funny Old Guys". Archived from the original on 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
- ^ latimesobit
- ^ "My Jewish Trek" Jewish Journal Sheldon Teitelbaum. March 18, 2015
- ^ "Fred Freiberger". Archived from the original on 2011-12-09. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
- ^ ISBN 0-345-25265-9.
- ^ "The Beast from 20, 000 Fathoms (1953) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ "Fred Freiberger". IMDb.
- ^ Solow, Herbert F. and Justman, Robert H., Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, Pocket Books, New York, 1996. p. 399
- ^ Nichols, Beyond Uhura, p. 189.
- ISBN 978-0-415-64108-1.
- ^ 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, 296
- ^ McCorry, Kevin. "The Space: 1999 Page". www.kevinmccorrytv.ca. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
External links
- Fred Freiberger at IMDb
- Fred Freiberger at Find a Grave