Why do you think TNG has a less than... stellar record when it comes to comedy?

[TrickyDickie]

TNG, as conceived, was about a captain with a different style of commanding than Kirk. Plus, I think people were at least a little bit intimidated by the fact that Patrick Stewart was a very accomplished Shakespearean actor. And I think that they misinterpreted that. Obviously, he is fine with comedy. He voiced the poop emoji.

 

[Nerys Myk]

TNG, as conceived, was about a captain with a different style of commanding than Kirk. Plus, I think people were at least a little bit intimidated by the fact that Patrick Stewart was a very accomplished Shakespearean actor. And I think that they misinterpreted that. Obviously, he is fine with comedy. He voiced the poop emoji.

I think Picard was a retread of Pike/Early Kirk, just aged up.

 

[TrickyDickie]

I think Picard was a retread of Pike/Early Kirk, just aged up.

That's interesting. Maybe Gene thought that TNG was his new opportunity to get what he had really wanted with Pike?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Pikeard.

 

[Dukhat]

Thats absolutely true. Rick Berman himself even said that TNG had three main strikes against it when it started: the fact that it was a sequel series, the fact that it was sci fi and the fact that it was syndicated.

Except Berman was wrong (Well, not about the show being Sci-fi, but that really didn’t matter.) Star Trek was at its highest popularity in the late ‘80’s, and everyone wanted Trek back on tv. The fact that the first two seasons were pretty lousy and it still survived for seven seasons is a testament to how popular the show was, and the fact that it was syndicated and not a ‘network’ show. I’d bet NBC would have cancelled it after the first ten episodes.

 

[Skipper]

the fact that it was syndicated.

Uh, I don't know so well the 80's TV market. Why is it a bad thing? I mean, didn't this give them a little more creative freedom?