I think Picard was a retread of Pike/Early Kirk, just aged up.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.
That's interesting. Maybe Gene thought that TNG was his new opportunity to get what he had really wanted with Pike?
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?
i think it's a combination of the perception that shows developed specifically for syndication are low-quality or cheap; and from the other side, that reruns close to original airing takes divides views revenue
Is there any truth to this perception? Living in Italy, we obviously didn't know whether an American show aired here was originally made for networks or syndication (or cable, if you will).
i feel like TNG's "The Trouble with Tribbles" moment was the episode 'Q-pid'. Or a possible second might be "Captain's Holiday"...both had more humor than normal episodes.I've laughed plenty at TNG bits over the years. They did struggle with any episode designed purely to be comedic, because the nature of the narrative did not lend itself to that very well. As a show, it took itself way more seriously than TOS overall. These characters are ultimately not funny people, most of the time... except perhaps Data, unintentionally, whose naivety tends to amuse his mates.
As for laughs however, John Delancey had absolute bangers. "Oh, very clever, Worf. Eat any good books lately?" or Data reading "Ode To Spot" while Riker dozes off. That's gold. Lwaxana brought a great deal of comedy into the show. Also, Data in "In Theory" asking each crewmate about dating & Picard sidesteps him with "I would be delighted to offer you any advice I have on understanding women. As soon as I have some, I'll let you know."
Their best humor was organic, within the normal course of their interactions, which is why creating whole premises & storylines & episodes, with the express purpose of being comedic, seemed in contrast ... like inauthentic artifice
You're already the second person to mention it among the "comedy episodes." I have to watch it again. The only humorous moment I remember is the cringe-worthy thing about the fertility totem, which Picard doesn't know what it's for.
a little, i guess. not sure what all was the things when TNG was coming out, but certainly there were a bunch of shows in the 90s and 00s that i can recall that generally seemed cheaper and cheesier than if they were made for/by a big network
Nah.
Now that you mention it, you're right!
That kind of TV was where fun, pulpy storytelling thrived. TNG was sort of adjacent to that world but as people have said, took itself a bit more seriously and didn't let itself go into full laugh-out-loud mode like Xena did (which is a shame, really, it would have probably been a better show if it had).
Picard also does a three stooges bit with the phaser/weapon before he punches the Ferengi in the face. And in the beginning when Beverly describes the symptoms of stress while Picard is manifesting them in real time. There are a couple of moments in that episode that broke the mold so to speak.
Riker was supposed to handle the wrestling and romancing.
