William Shatner's First Starring TV Role Was On A Short-Lived '60s Legal Drama

In 1965, audiences were introduced to an assistant district attorney who was prepared to boldly prosecute the crooks no man had prosecuted before when William Shatner landed his first starring role on "For the People." Shatner is of course known and loved by millions for playing James T. Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise on the original series of "Star Trek." The classic sci-fi series, where Shatner made his name, debuted in the U.S. on NBC in 1966. His role as Captain Kirk catapulted him to new levels of superstardom and he remains a household name 60 years later. 

While "Star Trek" was the show that earned him a global fanbase, it wasn't his first time in a leading role. Just one year before "Star Trek" premiered, he had led "For the People" as assistant DA David Koster. Shatner spent years playing bit parts in shows like "The Twilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," before landing the lead role in the legal drama. "For the People" followed Koster as his obsessive drive for justice saw him butting heads with his boss and clashing with the criminal underworld.

Speaking about the series to the Television Academy Foundation, Shatner compared "For the People" to another legal drama on which he had briefly appeared, "The Defenders" — a series about father and son defense attorneys. Shatner remarked, "the dramas [on 'For the People'] told the story that 'The Defenders' told, except from the prosecutor's point of view. And that was different and interesting."

"For the People" was ultimately overshadowed by William Shatner's work on "Star Trek," but the sci-fi series' success wasn't the only reason the legal drama was quickly forgotten. Despite Shatner's assertion that viewers who actually watched "For the People" enjoyed the show, it only ran for 13 episodes. Both Shatner and the series' executive producer, Herbert Brodkin, claimed that they failed due to the time slot, which saw the show competing with the hugely popular "Bonanza" on NBC. Whether the time slot was truly the reason for the series' low ratings and cancellation is a matter of some debate. 

As quoted in Hal Erickson's "Encyclopedia of Television Law Shows," CBS programming executive Mike Dann shared that Brodkin's catalogue of similar shows "all started declining at one time. Despite what [Brodkin] says, 'For the People' did not fail because of the time slot." Whatever the reason for the cancellation of "For the People," its failure became a net positive for Shatner — and for "Star Trek" fans everywhere. With the series ending in 1965, he became available just in time to audition for "Trek." NBC had seen the pilot and expressed an interest in the series if the original pilot's Captain Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter, was recast. Shatner, already returning home to LA where "Star Trek" would shoot, was asked to audition and the rest is history.