Orci says ST series talk "getting real"

[BillJ]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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And even if CBS ascribes to the glut theory of Star Trek (has anyone ever officially said they believe that?), the glut has long since dissapated away. It's more of a starvation situation now.

What rock are you living under? I have access to seven-hundred hours of Trek at my fingertips.

If there is a new live-action Trek, my money is that it'll be on CBS. Trek has proven time and again that a wide range of age groups watch it. Why eliminate potential viewers by turning Trek into something it's not?

[Ryan8bit]

BillJ wrote:

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Sure it makes sense. They won't want remastered Trek competing with new Trek for syndication, streaming and home video dollars.

Just speaking for myself, I really don't give a shit about these remastered shows, and find them rather pointless. However, if a new series came along, I would certainly watch it. And if I enjoyed it, I would buy DVDs and other merchandise.

I'm not sure if that's how the majority feels, but I'm guessing that these remastered series are pretty niche.

[BillJ]

Ryan8bit wrote:

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Just speaking for myself, I really don't give a shit about these remastered shows, and find them rather pointless. However, if a new series came along, I would certainly watch it. And if I enjoyed it, I would buy DVDs and other merchandise.

I'm not sure if that's how the majority feels, but I'm guessing that these remastered series are pretty niche.

TNG season one apparently sold very well, even without a standard DVD release done.

[Temis the Vorta]

BillJ wrote:

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What rock are you living under? I have access to seven-hundred hours of Trek at my fingertips.

If there is a new live-action Trek, my money is that it'll be on CBS. Trek has proven time and again that a wide range of age groups watch it. Why eliminate potential viewers by turning Trek into something it's not?

I'm living under the I-want-to-watch-something-NEW rock that I've always live under. I do have TOS and DS9 queued up on Netflix streaming right now, as well as Lost and Farscape. But I can't motivate myself to watch any of them yet, because I have an extremely strong preference for new stuff and only rarely will rewarch anything I've already seen. After the first time, 90% of the fun is gone.

Shows are not made for "all age groups." They are made for the groups that ads are sold for, usually the 18-49 demo. The trend in TV is to be even more targetted, and networks will always prefer to program for their own audience, since they are by far the easiest to market new shows to.

CBS doesn't make anything close to a full range of show types. Look at what the other networks are developing and compare it to CBS. CBS has the most boring-ass development of any network, nothing but cop shows and sitcoms. NBC may fall on its face all the time, but at least its willing to branch out occasionally with something like Smash. Even Revolution would be too out there for CBS.

Add to that the much higher standards CBS has for success. Any show that gets much under 10m audience is a failure on CBS, but a hit on NBC. With ENT getting 3-4m or so, even if it were 3x as popular, it would still be skating on thin ice on CBS. What is the point of reviving the franchise just to put it someplace where it probably can't survive regardless of how good it is?

The last thing we need is another failure on TV. I want a new show to be given the most favorable environment possible. CBS is poison. But 3-4m on cable could be a perfectly comfortable level of success. Netflix's expectations are hard to judge since they've just started doing original content but it's probably similar to other subscription based services.

If NBC or FOX held the rights to Star Trek, I'd leave open some hope of a return to broadcast. NBC is desperate for anything and FOX has a young male demo skew that is right for the franchise. But CBS couldn't be more wrong.

[mos6507]

C.E. Evans wrote:

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I don't believe we'll ever see a "TV-MA" Trek series.

In fact, I really believe the next Trek series will be an animated one aimed at kids myself with a toyline and other related merchandise fully behind it.

Personally, I'd like to see an Adult Swim treatment (animated, low-fi, and edgy) but then that's what I'm trying to do myself anyway.

[Ryan8bit]

I'm just deleting this so nobody gets their hopes up since it was wrong.

[C.E. Evans]

Ryan8bit wrote:

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According to Orci at trekmovie, he said:

"we have one last [prayer] of selling it. Waiting to hear. Thanks for asking."

I wonder if we'd hear it if they don't sell it.

In such situations when someone's trying to sell something to a studio or network, there's generally the "don't call us, we'll call you" response. If the studio/network takes a pass, word of it often comes when the studio/network officially approves another proposal by someone else (I think--although I'm not 100% positive--Roddenberry experienced this when he first pitched TOS to CBS in 1964, but heard that they were going to develop another series called Lost In Space instead).

[thumbtack]

Ryan8bit wrote:

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According to Orci at trekmovie, he said:

"we have one last [prayer] of selling it. Waiting to hear. Thanks for asking."

I wonder if we'd hear it if they don't sell it.

Go back and read it again. He's referring to Shadow Cabinet not Star Trek, which hasn't even been formally pitched yet.

[Sindatur]

I'm in agreement with those who believe a Series Fate is tied to the next movie. If the next movie does well, CBS is likely to listen to a pitch, and if they like it, they'll move forward to prepare the Series to hit right after the release of the third movie

[Ryan8bit]

thumbtack wrote:

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Go back and read it again. He's referring to Shadow Cabinet not Star Trek, which hasn't even been formally pitched yet.

Oops, my bad.

[Temis the Vorta]

thumbtack wrote:

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Go back and read it again. He's referring to Shadow Cabinet not Star Trek, which hasn't even been formally pitched yet.

Phew! you guys scared me. Whatever it was that had one last prayer and then nothing further heard about it, that's a dead dog.

I'd be surprised if CBS makes a decision before seeing how the next movie does at least, even assuming Orci does a pitch before then. He'd probably want another success in his pocket before going to CBS.

I'm extremely curious what tactic he'll take. Two successful movies doesn't guarantee TV success, it just means he won't get the door slammed in his face.