Leonard Nimoy Hosted A '70s Paranormal TV Show That We Don't Talk About Anymore
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Leonard Nimoy is eternal in no small part thanks to his work as Spock in the "Star Trek" franchise. Studio executives tried to cut Spock from "Star Trek" for an absurd reason, but he proved to be a cultural icon. Still, that's far from Nimoy's only major contribution to the fabric of popular culture. In the period after "The Original Series" and before the "Star Trek" movies started up, Nimoy hosted a beloved, long-running paranormal TV show — one that doesn't get discussed all that much anymore, despite its lasting impact.
Airing in syndication from 1976 to 1982, Nimoy was the host of "In Search Of" for its original six-season run. The series explored various mysterious phenomena, covering everything from Bigfoot to the Titanic, with Nimoy providing voiceover to the episodes, in addition to hosting on-screen bits. Created by documentarian Alan Landsberg ("In Search of Ancient Astronauts"), the original series ran for an impressive 144 episodes.
The documentaries made by Landsberg that inspired the show, including "The Outer Space Connection," were all narrated by Rod Serling of "The Twilight Zone" fame. Even though Serling hated being the narrator of "The Twilight Zone," he was the first choice for the job on "In Search Of." However, his death made that impossible, leading to Nimoy getting the gig. At the beginning of each episode, a spoken disclaimer made it clear that the musings on the subject, whatever it may be, weren't the only possible explanations for their existence. The disclaimer proclaimed:
This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
In Search Of was a surprisingly huge part of Leonard Nimoy's career
"In Search Of" became a defining part of Leonard Nimoy's career, spanning nearly a decade and giving him some recognition outside of "Star Trek." He would later go on to direct several movies, including "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," as well as the wildly successful "Three Men and a Baby." (While "Fatal Attraction" became 1987's biggest movie at the box office, "Three Men and a Baby" was the top domestic grosser.)
All of this is to say that Nimoy had a very successful career well beyond his most notable on-screen role, and this paranormal TV series was a major part of that. It's especially strange that it doesn't get talked about more in light of how much it pioneered the ever popular paranormal investigation format, which is still being used today. I myself was a big fan of History's "MonsterQuest," which owes a major debt of gratitude to "In Search Of."
Nimoy was one of the "Star Trek" actors who had a cameo in "The Simpsons," with the actor's second episode, entitled "The Springfield Files," even parodying his time as the host of "In Search Of" with its opening.
The series was rebooted a couple of times, both without Nimoy. First by the Sci-Fi Channel in the early 2000s for a single season, then by the History Channel in 2018 with Zachary Quinto taking over hosting duties. That was appropriate, too, given that Quinto played Spock in J.J. Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek" film (which remains the only "Star Trek" movie to win an Oscar.) But Quinto's run lasted just 18 episodes, a mere fraction of Nimoy's impressive stint as a presenter of the mysterious.