Oscar Katz Oscar Katz was a television producer who was the Executive Vice - President in charge of Production at Desilu Studios between 1964 and 1966 . Katz was hired on 1 April 1964 by Lucille Ball , to oversee the development and production of ( new ) Desilu programs . ( " Broadcasting " , 6 April 1964 , p . 10 ) His main task was to find writers / producers with new ideas , and develop them into successful television pilots . In June , he became member of the Board of Directors , replacing Ball ' s brother , Fred H . Ball , according to the trade journal " Broadcasting " ( 29 June 1964 , p . 74 ) , but in reality replacing departing executive Jerry Thorpe . ( " " , 1st ed , p . 27 ) Katz , who was very inexperienced with West Coast studio production and business , almost immediately hired Herb Solow as his assistant . Together , they helped to bring Gene Roddenberry ' s " Star Trek " ( which walked into their offices before they even had the time to settle in ) and ' s " " to life . Charged with bringing the studio new television properties , this the Katz / Solow duo did with much gusto , as evidenced by Katz proudly boasting at his first Desilu shareholders meeting in May 1964 , where he informed the assembly that no less than twenty - two television propositions were under advisement . ( " Los Angeles Times " , 14 May 1964 ) Sure enough , some of these , for the most part half - hour shows , were translated into bona - fide television pilots , but only three of those were actually picked up by the networks , " Star Trek " by NBC , the action series " Mission Impossible " by CBS , and the western series " The Long Hunt For April Savage " by ABC ( produced by Roddenberry and , while ordered by ABC , canceled by them in March 1966 after all ) . It was Katz who accompanied Roddenberry in late April 1964 to the pitch he had arranged at CBS , Katz ' s former employer , shortly after Desilu had bought Roddenberry ' s March 1964 " Star Trek is . . . " premise . However , on that occasion , Katz took a backseat and an awkward and hopelessly unprepared Roddenberry , left to his own devices , seriously bumbled his presentation . Much later , Katz himself recalled the meeting as " frosty " , " " We were in a dining room with six or seven executives , one of whom questioned us rather closely about what we were going to do with the show . We answered his questions and it turned out that his interest was due to the fact that they were developing a science fiction show of their own . " " ( " Star Trek Creator " ) Much to the later chagrin of Roddenberry , who felt that his brain had been picked , this show turned out to be ' s " Lost in Space " . Unsurprisingly , CBS was not interested , as ABC had previously been due to the fact that they already had another Irwin Allen science fiction show , " Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea " , in development themselves . Dismayed , as CBS represented the best chance " Star Trek " had , due to the network ' s longstanding relationship with Desilu ( CBS aired Ball ' s own " I Love Lucy " show ) , Solow subsequently took over after being informed of this , and thoroughly groomed , prepared and coached Roddenberry for his next , very last - chance , meeting with NBC the following month , as well as taking an active part in the presentation , which eventually resulted in success . Though formally credited as Executive in Charge of Production on the two pilots , and , it turned out that Solow had to take over the actual productions as well , as Katz , upon the ill - fated CBS pitch , effectively recused himself to a large extent from " Star Trek " . ( " " , 1997 , pp . 17 - 18 ) In , Katz left Desilu . Solow succeeded him in his position , now officially , and remained there until after the studio was absorbed into Paramount Pictures . When the second pilot was aired as a regular series episode in 1966 , Katz ' s end title credit card was replaced with Solow ' s . Having been an absentee on - stage manager was actually somewhat conceded by Katz himself , " " I ' d made it a habit to attend the first day of shooting of a pilot to show that the head of the studio was with them . On " Star Trek " , I stayed away religiously even though it was just a 15 minute ride away from my office . " " Aside from his own disposition , due to his inexperience , there was a personal reason as well . Roddenberry adamantly wanted Susan Oliver for the part of Vina , but she , exhausted from a previous filming assignment , was looking forward to a well - earned holiday . Roddenberry asked Katz to put he pressure on Oliver , " " Although I ' m usually not that charming with women , I talked her into taking the part . Part of the appeal was that it was going to be very easy , " " and snapping his fingers , " " she could knock it off " just like that " . " " Yet , Oliver ' s part was anything but a snap of the fingers , due to the elaborate makeup sessions she had to undergo in order to show Vina ' s various manifestations . Realizing that she was not to go on holidays after all , she sought a serious heart - to - heart with Katz , who already suspected as much , " " I knew that she would not be kindly disposed towards me . " " Katz subsequently stayed " religiously " away from the soundstage . ( " Star Trek Creator " ) Oliver however , not to be outdone by Katz , had a sign made reading " OSCAR Where are You ? " , consistently showing it on her dailies ( shot footage shown unedited on a day - to - day basis to producers and executives ) at the end of her shoots . It became a running gag for the production team and more than one staffer and performer had their picture taken with the sign . His absence on the practical " Star Trek " productions notwithstanding , Katz " did " make his presence felt in his natural habitat , the executive offices . He was present at the February 1965 showing of the first pilot at NBC and essentially called their bluff , " " [ NBC ] didn ' t like the type of story we told . I think they selected [ this pilot ] to test Desilu on the hardest kind of story to produce because of the reputation Desilu had . Then , when they saw it , they were satisfied that Desilu was able to produce quality material , but it was the wrong kind of episode to take around to advertising agencies and sell . It was too off the beaten path . I asked NBC , " Why are you turning this down ? " and was told , " We can ' t sell it from this show , it ' s too atypical " . " " Famously for balking at the pilot as being too " cerebral " , the point was subsequently pounded home to NBC by Katz , " " I said , " But you guys " picked " this one . I gave you choices " . " " ( Roddenberry ' s " Star Trek " pitch contained twenty - five story outlines of which three were submitted as pilot considerations ) NBC then conceded their bluff being called , as Katz clarified , " " [ Mort Werner ] said , " I know we did and , because of that , we ' re going to give you an order for a second pilot . " " ( " Star Trek Creator " ) It was not only at the highest executive levels that Katz participated in ; he was also present at cast salary negotiations , such as with Jeffrey Hunter for a possible follow - up appearance as Captain Christopher Pike in the second pilot , " " Business Affairs negotiated with Jeffrey Hunter and we all thought it was the usual actor / network situation - - they don ' t want to do it for reason XYZ , and it ' s a device for getting the price up . We kept increasing the price and he kept saying no . One day I said , " What ' s with Jeffrey Hunter ? " and I was told he just won ' t do it at any price . Finally I said , " Tell Jeffrey Hunter to get lost . " " ( " Star Trek Creator " ) Marc Cushman ' s suggests that Katz left Desilu as a result of the warfare between Lucille Ball , Solow , and the " old guard " executives , who thought that such expensive productions as " Star Trek " and " Mission : Impossible " would bankrupt the studio , and Katz was their main culprit , somewhat ironically , as Katz had been hired to bring in new programs for the studio in the first place . On the other hand , Solow had intimated that Katz , while highly adept at running a television network , was woefully out of his depth at actually producing television programs and it had been for this reason that Katz had sought out Solow ( who " did " had ample practical production experience ) in the first place , shortly after he was hired . Found out by Desilu that Katz had all this time been a titular chief operating officer in name only , " did " result in a very strained relationship with Lucille Ball and the rest of the board , and , even though he was a member , Katz was banned from the highly charged February 1966 board meeting where the fate of " Star Trek " was to be decided . It had been his subordinate Solow , not a board member , who was left fighting vigorously on his own to save " Star Trek " , ultimately finding Ball on his side to do so . While " Star Trek " and " Mission Impossible " were allotted space on the Desilu facilities on 6 March 1966 , Katz was let go three days later , for " personal reasons compelling him to move on to other projects in other areas " , as " Variety " magazine of 9 March 1966 would have it . In the article Katz had diplomatically stated that he had asked for and received his contractual release . ( " " , 1997 , pp . 6 - 7 , 103 ) Surprisingly , six years after he had left Desilu , or the entire Hollywood industry for that matter , Katz made a personal appearance as guest speaker in the very first 1972 New York " Star Trek " convention , in his one and only public " Star Trek " appearance ( or interview for that matter , that is , until 1994 ) , recounting the days when Roddenberry made his " Star Trek is . . . " pitch to him and Solow and the subsequent efforts to sell the series to the networks . ( " Marketing the Moon : The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program " , 2014 , p . 3 ) Katz has not been on record on his " Star Trek " involvement ever since , his role all but forgotten by then , until shortly before his death , when he agreed to talk to reference author David Alexander for his below - mentioned biography on Gene Roddenberry . This was followed by Herb Solow ' s two years later , corroborating his former boss ' involvement with " Star Trek " , and both have prevented Katz ' s place in " Star Trek " history slipping into oblivion . Career outside " Star Trek " . Before his ill - fated employment at Desilu , Oscar Katz had worked for 26 years at CBS in New York City , becoming a successful television network executive . Starting out in 1938 in the studio ' s research department , he rose to the position of head of that department , before transferring as head to the CBS - TV Research Department in 1948 . Subsequently he was elected Vice - President Daytime Programs of CBS - TV in 1956 . Eventually , Katz became the Vice - President of Network Programs in 1959 , though he was demoted in 1963 , due to an executive shuffle at the network . It had been this circumstance that had led to his decision to accept a position at Desilu the following year . ( " Broadcasting " , 6 April 1964 , p . 10 ) Herb Solow , who was already acquainted with Katz previously , has said of him that " there wasn ' t a nicer or brighter man than Oscar Katz " , though being endowed with a " dour " disposition . Likening him to then famous comic , Solow acknowledged that Katz was an expert in many fields , which aside from network programming , included marketing , research , stock trading and betting . ( " " , pp . 6 - 7 ) The " Variety " article stating the " other projects in other areas " as reasons for leaving Desilu , turned out to be dead on , as Katz retired from the television business entirely , becoming a securities analyst and stock market investor . He died of pneumonia in Los Angeles , California . ( " " , p . 441 )