Solow has said directly that Ball did not fully understand *Star Trek* — that she had initially believed it was something to do with USO tours and Hollywood entertainers — and that her role was primarily corporate rather than creative: she trusted the executives she had hired to make programming decisions, and she backed those decisions when they were challenged by the board.
The accountant who had voted to cancel, Ed Holly, later said — by accounts that have circulated in the production history of *Star Trek* — that “if it were not for Lucy, there would be no *Star Trek* today.” This attribution gives Ball credit for the override while also acknowledging that the decision was made in the context of a board that was otherwise unanimous in wanting to cancel.
Lucie Arnaz, Ball and Arnaz’s daughter, described her mother’s response at a 2006 event as simply: “But I like ’em!” — a characteristically direct expression of support that skipped over the financial analysis entirely.
The nod to Solow overrode the board’s vote. *Star Trek* went into production.
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## Desilu and Its Financial Model: Why the Studio Was Always Under Pressure
Understanding what Ball’s decision actually cost Desilu requires understanding the economics of deficit financing in network television of the 1960s.
The standard arrangement between networks and production companies in this period was that networks paid a license fee for the right to broadcast each episode — typically covering about 80 percent of the actual production cost. The production company was responsible for delivering the episode on the agreed schedule and absorbing any cost overruns. The production company kept ownership of the episode and could eventually profit from it through syndication, international sales, and other secondary markets — but only after the initial broadcast run was complete and the network’s license period expired.