Mel Harris Mel Harris was a television and home video executive who , as head of Paramount Television , was responsible for the launch of " The Next Generation " in the Spring of . Harris was enticed to order his subordinate , President Paramount Network Television John S . Pike to initiate the development of a new " Star Trek " television series , due to the continuing success of the " Original Series " in syndication , now augmented with three successful theatrical , and with a fourth movie and the 20th anniversary of the franchise coming up . Shortly thereafter , Harris found his decision to do so , strongly validated by the subsequently huge success of , which had appealed to a far wider audience than the hardcore " Trekkie " fanbase alone . ( " " ) However , in a time were interest in televised science fiction was at an all - time low , Pike had a tough time finding networks interested . Only Fox Broadcasting Company showed interest for a half - season , but under conditions that were nowhere near enough to cover the projected budget of US $ 1 . 2 million dollar per episode for a full season , and dropped out of the negotiations on 6 August 1986 . ( " " , p . 6 ) . For the briefest of times it appeared that the new " Star Trek " television series appeared to have died before it even had been born , when Pike was approached by his colleague , Paramount Domestic Television President Lucie Salhany . She convinced Pike to produce the new series for direct syndication , an entirely novel idea at the time , ensuring him she could sell a full season of twenty - six episodes . Taking her cue from the syndication history of the " Original Series " , Salhany reasoned that even if the new series did not turn in a profit in first syndication run , the studio should still take its losses on this occasion , as subsequent runs would , not to mention the future revenues from associated sales , such as merchandise , home media formats ( especially appealing to Harris , as he , in a previous function , had been responsible for revolutionizing the studio ' s home media sales ) , foreign sales and the like . Even more novel was Salhany ' s idea to offer the first syndication run of " The Next Generation " for free , in exchange for control over the seven - minute advertisement blocks . In order to manage financial risk , Harris green - lighted a half season run of thirteen episodes by the end of August , packaged with " Original Series " episodes ( which were to be paid for by networks ) was proposed to see if interest , especially from the side of advertisers obviously , in the new series would materialize , to continue production if it did . Subsequent events proved Salhany ' s hunch correct . In ultimately doing so , " Star Trek " again made television history . ( " " ; " " , pp . 5 - 7 , 11 ) Harris subsequently left the hammering out of details to his subordinate executive staff , but took it upon himself to become the studio spokesperson , vigorously representing the new series in public and to the press . One year after the direct - to - syndication decision had been made , Harris spoke in early August 1987 via satellite with the initial 170 television stations ( covering 94 percent of American television households ) , that would air " The Next Generation " in first - run syndication . In a slick presentation , featuring footage and production scenes from the yet unfinished pilot , , praising the business opportunities the new series entailed to commercial ends for those savvy enough to grasp . " " The 24th century is about to begin ! " " , he exclaimed at the end of the presentation , promising , " " ( . . . ) some of the best - looking television anywhere on anybody ' s air this fall . " " ( " " , 2003 , p . 22 ) Harris was even not above intimating to the press that the entirely novel direct - to - syndication approach had been from the start a visionary studio initiative in the first place , when boasting to the " New York Times " of 2 November 1986 , " " We realized that nobody else was going to care as much about " Star Trek " as we did ! " " ( " " , p . 6 ) Harris was interviewed in for the documentary " " . On , shortly before celebrating the 100th episode of " The Next Generation " , the Producers Building at the former Desilu studio lot was renamed " Gene Roddenberry Building " . On that occasion Harris held a speech praising Roddenberry , who passed away only four months later . Remarkably , and very much unlike his ( preceding ) studio executive colleagues , Harris has been one of the very few studio executives , if not the only one , being on record as a Roddenberry supporter ( in public at least ) , having in 1993 attributed the success of " The Next Generation " in full to him , " " In the period since 1987 no other program has been able to get anywhere near [ ' TNG ' ] . . . It ' s primarily because of the program that was created . . . [ I ] f this hadn ' t been created in the way that it was by Gene Roddenberry , it probably wouldn ' t be on the air today and it certainly wouldn ' t be performing as it is . " " If Harris ' praise had been genuine , then it was obvious that he had not been present on those occasions when his subordinate John Pike and his colleagues had to deal with Roddenberry . Like so many predecessors before him , Pike has had his share of run - ins with Roddenberry . ( " " ; ) Previously , and before he attained the position of president of the television division , Harris , upon joining Paramount in 1977 , had been named Vice President of Research for a new television network called Paramount Television Service . The centerpiece of this new network ' s line - up was to have been " " . Ultimately , however , the plans for both the Paramount network ( when Harris discovered that the USA was not yet ready for a fourth network due to the fact that advertiser ' s interest did not materialize ) and " Phase II " were abandoned , with the pilot for the latter project becoming . Career outside " Star Trek " . Harris was born in Arkansas City , Kansas , and began his broadcasting career as a radio disc jockey while attending Kansas State University in the 1960s . He graduated from Kansas State in 1964 and received a master ' s degree in mass communications from Ohio University in 1965 . He served as the commander of a combat photography unit in the Army Signal Corps in Vietnam from 1969 through 1970 , for which he was awarded a Bronze Star . In 1971 , he received his doctorate in mass communications from Ohio University . He then managed local television stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia before joining Paramount in 1977 . With his work for a new Paramount network finished , Harris was named Vice President of Program Marketing for Paramount Television Group . During this time , Harris helped launch the USA Network , the older sister network of the Sci - Fi Channel . He also introduced satellite distribution for first - run programming with the launch of the Paramount news magazine " Entertainment Tonight " ( co - hosted by John Tesh ) . As the President of Paramount Home Video , Harris helped to create the home video market by convincing Paramount to sell low - priced videos directly to the public to persuade customers to purchase videos rather than simply renting them . At the time , videos for sale were priced at around US $ 60 - $ 80 or more ; Harris accurately predicted that decreasing the price would create a market for videocassette purchases . As it turned out , the very first VHS / video tape sold by Paramount under Harris ' new strategy was that of , at the sharply reduced price of US $ 39 . 95 , unheard of in 1982 and sending shock waves through industry and retail stores alike . ( " The Encyclopedia of Television , Cable , and Video " , 2012 , p . 411 ) In 1985 , Harris became President of Paramount Television Group . In this position , Harris oversaw the launch of " The Next Generation " ( which immensely profited from Harris ' videocassette policies ) and many other television series . He also handled Paramount ' s launch of cable and satellite channels overseas . Harris resigned from Paramount in 1991 , around the time Brandon Tartikoff was named the studio ' s chairman , and who incidentally , as head of network NBC , had five years earlier declined " The Next Generation " for the network . During his fourteen - year tenure as a top executive at Paramount , Harris helped to popularize and modernize both the home video market and the first - run syndication business . In 1992 , Harris joined Sony Pictures Entertainment , where he headed the studio ' s television division and later oversaw their home video operations . He took Sony ' s Columbia TriStar Television into first - run syndication before a power struggle forced him to leave in 1995 . He worked as a cable television consultant before returning to Sony in 1999 as co - president and chief operating officer , retiring in 2002 . Harris resided in Malibu , Florida after retirement . He died of cancer at Cedars - Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on 6 September 2008 . He is survived his wife of 42 years , Ruth , their son , Harris , a brother , and two grandchildren .