Fred Freiberger is one name that is very divisive to Trek fans. As most of you know, he replaced Gene Roddenberry as Producer for the third season, and has been blamed for the fall in quality of that season.

However, many things he was blamed for, such as the slash of the shows budget, were matters out of his control (and a few of the former cast members have gone on record of saying this).

And, despite what some might say, there were good scripts (The Enterprise Incident, Day Of The Dove, All Our Yesterdays) that were made under his watch.

So, I am among those that think that Mr. Freiberger has been unfairly maligned over the last fifty years. Thankfully, a lot of fans don't hate him as much as they used to, so it seems a reassessment of him is happening in Trek fandom.

Found this in the Space:1999 thread about Freiberger from a guy named 'Will' that sums up by opinion, too:

"Something that occurred to me today that some of us might not have considered;
Star Trek, Space:1999, Dr.Who-- they're all high-profile programs thanks to their fan bases, what with the internet, conventions, and everything else that allows us to disect such programs and learn more about the behind-the-scenes details than the producers could have imagined when the shows were in production.
Here's my point; there have been literally thousands of tv series put on the air, popular, average, below average, that we've all watched down through the years, but didn't carry the same interest as our sc-fi shows, and as such we've been oblivious to the revisions to them that newly appointed producers have placed on them. Do we really know what producers were in charge when those shows were cancelled? Freiberger's infamy has been well-publicized, but I think if we dug deeper we'd find that he's in good company when it comes to being in the category of incoming prodcuers that sank established shows.
I hate to defend the guy, even though I've forgiven him for Star Trek's third season,...whereas I'm glad Trek had a chance to give us episodes like The Tholian Web, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Day Of The Dove, The Cloudminders', Elaan Of Troyius, and For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky.
As for the Six Million Dollar Man, I don't know if he ruined the show for me."

The only criticism I still have for Fred is that he apparently was shown a bunch of episodes and said something like, "Oh, I get it! It's spaceships and boobs!" He didn't get the hidden moral plays at work in the scripts, but I agree with Tim; a lot of the bad stuff from season 3 was lower budgets and bad 10pm on Friday time slot, but also no Gene Roddenberry or Gene Coon in the background leaving their mark on the show.

Tim: Actually, Freiberger replaced John Meredyth Lucas as producer. Lucas took over for Gene Coon, who left about two thirds into season two. Bob Justman was promised the producer's job, but Roddenberry did an end run and brought in Freiberger. (I don't remember if he was forced to by NBC.) Justman left after "That Which Survives" wrapped.

Oh yes - Roddenberry kept his executive producer title, but his focus was elsewhere. Namely, writing the movie Pretty Maids All In A Row.

"Oh, I get it! It's spaceships and boobs!"

If only the people behind Discovery had been so insightful... ;-)

I clipped the following from the Memory Alpha Wiki:


Although Freiberger was the executive producer, most written accounts of the season absolve him and deny any drop in quality was a result of his leadership.

Rather, a number of factors led to the less enthusiastic reception. These included budget cuts (down to US$178,000 per episode, from US$185,000 in season two and US$196,000 in season one) – combined with an increase in the principal casts' salaries; the departure en masse of most of the original writing staff and general malaise/decreasing interest of some of the remaining production staff after the hiring of executive story editor Arthur Singer, who seemed to demonstrate a lack of knowledge or caring about Star Trek; [4] the absence of Roddenberry; and the perceived neglect of the series by NBC (such as shifting time-slots as well as story meddling, and the reduced budget). (See also: season three background information.) Additionally, it contained some of the most dismally-received TOS episodes, including "Spock's Brain" (Up Till Now: The Autobiography) and "The Way to Eden". [5]

Yet both Nichelle Nichols in Beyond Uhura (p. 189) and William Shatner in Star Trek Memories (pp. 264–72) deflected blame from Freiberger for any perceived deficiencies in the quality of the third season, instead ascribing it to negligence and mishandling by NBC, aggravated by the (budget) restrictions imposed by Star Trek's new owner Paramount Television, who were likewise looking for ways to cancel the production as soon as practically possible.


As I said, Mr. Freiberger had no control over any of this, yet some unfairly blame him (I've seen similar attacks by Who fans against JNT for the same reasons).

I guess some just need to point a finger of blame at someone, and Mr. Freiberger, being Producer at the time, made a convenient target.