Herbert Franklin Solow

Herbert Franklin Solow (December 14, 1930 – November 19, 2020) was an American motion picture and television executive, screenwriter, motion picture and television producer, director and talent agent. Biography Solow was born to a Jewish family in New York City. After his graduation from Dartmouth College in 1953, Solow was hired by the William Morris Agency in New York City to work in the mailroom. In 1954, he was promoted to talent agent. Later he was hired by NBC and transferred to Los Angeles in 1960 and was subsequently hired by CBS as Director of Daytime Programs, West Coast. He returned to NBC a year later as Director of Daytime Programs. The middle 1960s: Desilu before the Paramount merger In 1964, he joined Desilu Studios and was appointed Vice President of Production in 1964. Solow oversaw the development, sales, and production of Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix. Solow said that Gene Roddenberry's initial treatment for Star Trek was much like other science-fiction shows that had come before, but what made the series treatment unique was the use of nautical terms such as "Yeoman" and "Ensign." As Solow and Roddenberry worked to develop the series idea, it was Solow's suggestion that each episode should be treated as an event that had happened in the past, and Solow suggested the use of the "Captain's Log" as a mechanism to bring the viewer up-to-date. At MGM Solow joined MGM Television as vice president in charge of television production. There he oversaw the development and production of Medical Center, Then Came Bronson (produced by Robert H. Justman and Robert Sabaroff), and The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Later, Solow was appointed MGM's Vice President of Worldwide Television and Motion Picture Production, and headed MGM Studios in Culver City, California, and Borehamwood, England.