Rod Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, reveals how Lucille Ball helped get the show on the air.

“I haven’t read any memoirs or any books that necessarily have it in there, but that is the story that I’ve been told for years,” Rod told uInterview’s Erik Meers. “And it was Lucille Ball at Desilu Studios that took it in.”

“My understanding is that she didn’t play by rules,” he said, “she was a bit of a tough broad as they would say, and I think she took a chance on this guy and on this show because no one else was doing it and it was different. So whether you call that ingenious foresight on her part or insanity on her part she deserves tremendous credit for being the one who gave my father the chance.”