[Brainbin]

The "present date" is May 19, 1972 (a Friday). In Hollywood, the first annual Saturn Awards ceremony is underway. Star Trek, despite having been off the air for nearly a year, is cleaning up in the television categories. The event marks the first full reunion of the cast and crew since filming wrapped on the series finale in April, 1971. It marks a fitting conclusion to the 1971-72 season.

The year has been one of transition throughout the television industry; the aftershocks of the PTAR continue to resonate with the networks. CBS executives, having completed their Rural Purge, can't help but face lingering questions as to whether those drastic measures might have gone too far. Fred Silverman, for his part, continues to regret nothing. In contrast, NBC spends most of the season facing an identity crisis, which represents a microcosm of the societal changes facing the United States in the early 1970s.

Both Desilu and Paramount, whose studios are next-door-neighbours to each other in Culver City, are each developing an additional series that will premiere in September of 1972. Paramount, which continues to lease studio space from Desilu, is finally seeing sustained success in the television industry, despite its (very) late start. But Desilu continues to uphold their own sterling reputation, with Lucille Ball and her right-hand man Herbert F. Solow intending to keep it that way; the studio is also branching out into entirely new ventures.

So, what can we expect next, and all on account of that wacky redhead?

We'll be taking our usual general overview of the next production and broadcast season: 1971-72.

There will be another production appendix, this time with assorted trivia and statistics for the entire run of Star Trek.

We'll have a look at the reception of Doctor Who as a continuing series broadcast in the United States.

Our exploration of pop culture will continue with a look at sport (or "sport", depending on your definition of the word) in the early 1970s.

We'll tackle the transformation of Those Were the Days from a raw, edgy, and controversial sitcom to a touchstone of early 1970s society.

And, finally, we'll continue to explore the world of science-fiction in this era, as the impact of Moonshot Lunacy finally begins to wane...

All this and more, coming up on... That Wacky Redhead!

Thanks to all of you for over 30,000 views, and for 25 pages of comments! You can expect the first of these updates this weekend.