What's with Star Trek and the seven-season limit?
Some shows last ten, twenty in some cases forty plus seasons.
What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?
- Thread starter Amasov
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What's with Star Trek and the seven-season limit?
Some shows last ten, twenty in some cases forty plus seasons.
Those are pretty clearly exceptional cases. And for an expensive/effects heavy series like Trek, they're almost unheard of.
For no readily discernible reason, I agree. 7. I feel it in my bones.
I can't think of a single show I liked when it was in its tenth season and wanted to stick around for.
When Discovery's time is up (when it's really up, not when the bashers say), then it's time for it to end. Same with the way I think it should be with other series, Star Trek or not.
I'm not a Stargate fan, so I can't say anything about that.Frasier?
Stargate SG1?
I've seen bits and pieces of Frasier. When I was in college in the early-2000s, my brother was watching an episode, and I thought, "Is that still on?!"
As far as I understand it, back in the day standard series contracts (not just for Trek) were for five years. If a show went to five seasons it was usually pretty played out by then, but real hits that were still very popular at five seasons may consider a sixth.
Contract renegotiations could result in big salary bumps as the cast have some muscle, and if the show is that big probably deserve a cut of the rewards anyway.
Going into season seven there could be further renegotiation. Costs can rocket and it's not many shows that are so popular that more than seven seasons are viable. Only the Cheers, Friends and Big Bang level shows really.
Or you can try bringing in a new and cheaper cast members and retiring some of the old guard.
Money, and cast interest are probably the biggest reasons. Actors enjoy variety, and staying with an SF show for so long can feel like "type casting" and they want to try something different. Also, SF shows cost a lot more money than a crime procedural or other drama, so sticking with them is not always financially viable.
Frasier?
Stargate SG1?
Not to mention the old Cheers... where everybody knows your name.
What about Friends then?
I watched some early episodes of Friends with some friends on the 4th of July... in 2017.
Understand that Friends premiered when I was in high school. It was popular, and so I wanted nothing to do with it. I was 15 at the time, and that's how I thought. That's the type of thinking I had for most of my teens and 20s. "DS9 is less popular than TNG? Awesome! I like it even more now! Not too many people my age like TOS? Great! I love it even more!"
Key words in my earlier post:
"I can't think of a single show I liked when it was in its tenth season and wanted to stick around for."
I'm aware of what most people's opinions are, I'm just giving mine.
I watched some early episodes of Friends with some friends on the 4th of July... in 2017.
Understand that Friends premiered when I was in high school. It was popular, and so I wanted nothing to do with it. I was 15 at the time, and that's how I thought. That's the type of thinking I had for most of my teens and 20s. "DS9 is less popular than TNG? Awesome! I like it even more now! Not too many people my age like TOS? Great! I love it even more!"
Key words in my earlier post:
"I can't think of a single show I liked when it was in its tenth season and wanted to stick around for."
I'm aware of what most people's opinions are, I'm just giving mine.
Shows that I was absolutely OBSESSED with (ER, The Walking Dead, 24) I stopped watching after they had overstayed their welcome. Even TNG, which I had seen every single episode in first-run, was failing to hold my interest by the end of S6. I of course watched all of S7...but I was kind of done with it by then and just hoping they'd make a good transition to movies.
SG1 season 10 was nowhere near as good as the early years. And if the new cast/enemies had really caught on that well, the show wouldn't have ended there, so there must've been lots of others who agreed.
Friends could have gone on, maybe, for as long as the actors would be willing to stick around at least. But Friends was always just tv comfort food anyway. It never really changed that much, but you had fun anyway and that was kind of the appeal. Most sitcoms are the same, though not necessarily on that level of popularity. I stopped caring about Frasier years before it ended.
Friends could have gone on, maybe, for as long as the actors would be willing to stick around at least. But Friends was always just tv comfort food anyway. It never really changed that much, but you had fun anyway and that was kind of the appeal. Most sitcoms are the same, though not necessarily on that level of popularity. I stopped caring about Frasier years before it ended.
I'm of the minority that really enjoyed SG-1 seasons 9 and 10, though I do agree 10 had a few duds and was not as strong as some of their early years. But they were dragging some stories out because they thought they would get a season 11, but when that didn't happen, they had to make THE ARK OF TRUTH to ties things up. (In fact, the writers of SG-1 thought it would end every year since season 5, but when they got to 10, they thought they would get another year. Irony.)
SMALLVILLE was an exception in that it got far better in season 8, then 9, and I feel season 10 was pretty strong. When the creators of that show left, it was honestly for the better.
SUPERNATURAL went on for 15 years. I love that show to death. And back again.
Definitely wasn't a case of diminishing returns, though some later seasons were not quite as good as others. A minimal cast, but they got a massive amount of mileage. And it worked.
THE WALKING DEAD suffers the exact opposite problem of SUPERNATURAL. There are too many cast to follow. I kind of watch out of loyalty, but there are some characters where I can't even remember their names. It's hard to root for these people anymore, and it's been very repetitive. I'm glad they are finishing next season.
SMALLVILLE was an exception in that it got far better in season 8, then 9, and I feel season 10 was pretty strong. When the creators of that show left, it was honestly for the better.
SUPERNATURAL went on for 15 years. I love that show to death. And back again.
Definitely wasn't a case of diminishing returns, though some later seasons were not quite as good as others. A minimal cast, but they got a massive amount of mileage. And it worked.THE WALKING DEAD suffers the exact opposite problem of SUPERNATURAL. There are too many cast to follow. I kind of watch out of loyalty, but there are some characters where I can't even remember their names. It's hard to root for these people anymore, and it's been very repetitive. I'm glad they are finishing next season.
The problem with SG1 is that its spinoffs Stargate Atlantis and SGU didn't fare so well. Especially SGU who stopped right when the story was beginning to be interesting. The beginning was slow though.
Friends for me but I admit that reluctantly.
Wasn't DS9 going to be considered for an 8th season? I think I could have stood it if they toned down on the silliness. I felt like series finale was little rushed and I think there are some loose ends that really needed to be addressed more.
Yes, for example, Odo leaving Kira forever after having spent so many episodes affirming that she was the love of his life was a bit anticlimactic.
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