billcosby wrote:
I mean a budget-heavy 12 or even 6 episode miniseries, to air on a major network.
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How many big-budget miniseries have aired on major networks with any
success in the last five years or so? The so-called "Big Three (and a half)" are moving away from
expensive event programming - economically, they have to. Hell, NBC's just ceded five prime time hours a week to Jay Leno to cut costs.
Plus, of course, Trek doesn't have a particularly successful network track record. Broadcast networks aren't a good fit for space-opera/futuristic type sf/fantasy, so there's no good reason to shoot for that kind of venue other than a kind of misguided lustre of "making it big."
Limited or short-form TV series take root on cable - Showtime, USA, HBO...I don't know what kind of budgets those command, or what CBS Paramount's business position in cable is. Probably less money at USA than HBO, though.
The best place for Trek to flourish for a long time, quite honestly, would be a basic cable series based somewhere like Vancouver and produced along the same lines as the
Stargates or Moore's
Battlestar Galactica. Trek fans (and the studio) would need to be willing to accept the trade-off of flying economy class in return for a chance at long-term viability. They might have to do with a couple fewer funny foam forehead appliances or space battles.