So, with the above deployment, the "Start Date" is 9/26, the "Start Time" is 6pm. I wonder if Netsuite is interpreting this as: "If it's less than 6pm right now, then, don't bother with this deployment yet." Or, is the intent of "Start time" supposed to mean: "This deployment should start on 9/26/2019 at 6pm, and then run forever after?"

The start time, presuming you are talking about a map/reduce or scheduled script is the time the script will start running EACH DAY. So if you're at at 10am when you deploy it and think, "I know I'll set the start to 11am and watch it run..." Just be warned every day after that it will not start until 11am. Between 00:00 and 11:00am, nothing will happen, even if it's set to run every 15 mins. with no end date.

Good to know, thank you for the tip!