Scottie, Now would be a good time!

[peteym5]

Have to keep in mind we are talking about Star Trek movies and not just some big sci-fi movie that came out of the blue with no connection to anything. If the next Star Trek movie makes 300 million and then do a 3rd one that does the as well, it would compel many producers to look into starting up the Star Trek television project.

I would say it is more likely be a CW or basic cable program before CBS or Showtime. It is hard to say how much someone is going to spend on making the series, they may be able to get away with less than 3 million per episode. Everything is CGI for visual effects that ends up being easier to produce than using models. Its going to be costly to get some good writers.

Star Trek shows has a very high potential to continue to make money in syndication or on basic cable after their initial run. Plus selling the home video media. The 5 shows continue to be shown somewhere on cable. You cannot say CBS is going to dump a hundred million into a Star Trek show and not see a profit from that. In the short term, a Trek show will break even, long term, earn many times back what it cost.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I would say it is more likely be a CW or basic cable program before CBS or Showtime.

CW probably wouldn't do it because sci fi doesn't appeal to its core demo of young females. They'd be more likely to stick with the fantasy genre that has served them well. Aliens and robots are quite a leap from vampires and witches.

If they get more into sci fi, it would be more incremental - X-Men style mutants, for instance. Heavy on the teen angst. Also, given the skimpy ratings, I doubt CW could afford to produce a decent looking space opera series.

For the show to be on cable anywhere but Showtime means CBS needs to become motivated to make a show for another outlet. I just don't see that being a huge priority for them, and if they want to do that, why don't they just stick with the cop show and sitcom formats that they are known for?

You cannot say CBS is going to dump a hundred million into a Star Trek show and not see a profit from that.

But what if they put 100 million into another CSI spinoff instead? That would also make a profit, and since it's what CBS knows, they'd have far more confidence in it and expect a bigger profit.

Star Trek not only needs to look profitable, it needs to look more profitable than competing shows that CBS could fund instead. CBS knows it can make money from spinoffs of its proven franchises. It doesn't know it can make money from TV versions of summer blockbuster movies. Given that CBS is the most successful broadcast network and it's done that by not taking risks, why should it change its successful track record and decide to take risks?

 

[T'Girl]

One of the key ways Showtime or any premium channel motivates new subscribers is to offer them stuff they can't get elsewhere, on broadcast or basic cable.

Problem there is, not all (or most?) Star Trek fans will want to view a Star Trek series that includes occasional soft porn. And despite the existence of a small number of scenes of exploding heads, Star Trek has kept the violence within PG-13.

A premium channel series, with the type is storylines that go with that venue, might just be the wrong direction to take Star Trek. One of the prime selling points of Star Trek is that it comes with a ready made core audience, you start peeling away a portion of that group and the show begins to look less desirable.

 

[AviTrek]

For the show to be on cable anywhere but Showtime means CBS needs to become motivated to make a show for another outlet.

That's why I'm cautiously waiting for news about Scent of the Missing and Enigma. If CBS TV begins to produce more shows for TNT, then there is a greater chance that they would think about working something out for Star Trek.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Problem there is, not all (or most?) Star Trek fans will want to view a Star Trek series that includes occasional soft porn.

That's not mandatory on Showtime. Dexter for instance doesn't usually do that. It also doesn't show as much violence as they could and as you'd expect from the subject matter.

 

[peteym5]

You mean we can see what happens when Captain Kirk is with all those ladies???

If Star Trek does end up on Showtime, they probably will avoid going too deep into anything pornographic because the episodes will be sold to syndication later. With the current tv rating system, they probably will not try to make it a TV-M series. Star Trek has also been family oriented and would have to appeal to the younger viewer as well. Something people complained about with "Stargate Universe" was the use of sex during the series, departing it from SG-1 + Atlantis. They kinda limited their audience. For us older more mature and intellectual viewer found SGU more appealing, but not the majority right now.

About the comment regarding Syfy channel having no interest for new space dramas, "Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome" pilot has completed production. I would imagine it will be premiering soon. Looks like it is going to be more action oriented than Caprica and I hope they move story lines along much quicker this time. Don't drag us through 10 episodes with no action.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I haven't heard that Blood & Chrome has been picked up by skiffy. And from what I've heard of it, I'm almost hoping it isn't.

 

[Harvey]

Problem there is, not all (or most?) Star Trek fans will want to view a Star Trek series that includes occasional soft porn.

That's not mandatory on Showtime. Dexter for instance doesn't usually do that. It also doesn't show as much violence as they could and as you'd expect from the subject matter.

Are you kidding? Dexter is filled with nudity, almost always of young attractive women, of course. I don't think the reporter in season four did anything except show her tits in half the episodes she was in.

I've found HBO shows to be a little less heavy-handed with the nudity than Showtime, which is a little less classy (though, still above what I've seen from Starz).

I haven't heard that Blood & Chrome has been picked up by skiffy. And from what I've heard of it, I'm almost hoping it isn't.

Interviews have described it as a back door pilot, so we probably won't know about a season order until after the ratings are in.

 

[Kegg]

I've found HBO shows to be a little less heavy-handed with the nudity than Showtime, which is a little less classy (though, still above what I've seen from Starz).

That really depends on the HBO show. I've seen some people complain about the nudity in Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, for example. but I've also been watching Big Love lately and that's far tamer fare.

More to the point: Showtime did get its hands involved in a space opera series before. It was called Lexx. The series may have involved just a little smattering of sex.

Cable has its advantages in that success can be measured by a much smaller audience then networks, and given that sci-fi series can have infamously dedicated fanbases it strikes me, as someone with no business experience or common sense, as a model that could possibly work.

I don't think a cable series has to be adult entertainment, but then, I don't think a Star Trek series would really be on HBO or Showtime.

I haven't heard that Blood & Chrome has been picked up by skiffy. And from what I've heard of it, I'm almost hoping it isn't.

I'm really not wild about the idea, but I'll watch it anyway.

 

[AviTrek]

There has been little to no nudity in The Borgias on Showtime. The violence they have shown has also made sense in the context of the show.

 

[Ryan8bit]

Who cares if there was nudity even? Nudity is a part of life and people get way too up in arms about it, especially when it's typically only attractive 20-30 somethings that we see. It's not the fat, hairy, old guy at the gym parading around in the locker room.

If something like TNG had allowed nudity, you can bet that we would have seen it quite often.

 

[peteym5]

CBS will most likely not let a Star Trek show use Sex and Nudity to bump up the ratings. All the prior Star Trek shows later aired in syndication on broadcast stations around the Unitied States and Canada. They would have to edit a version for syndicated runs. I believe "Sex and the City" does that.

However with less restrictions on violence, we can actually have some good battles with Klingon Warriors, Borg Drones, Romulans, etc. One of the complaints about Star Trek was they were wimpy on good battle action.

Any new Star Trek show is probably going to incorporate traditional Star Trek adversaries. Might use them in a new way and have room to introduce a new adversary. Trying to do Star Trek without Klingons is sorta like trying to do Superman without a Lex Luthor. Most of the popular episodes and movies involved the Klingons.

 

[AviTrek]

Any new Star Trek show is probably going to incorporate traditional Star Trek advisories. Might use them in a new way and have room to introduce a new advisory.

So what type of advisories did you have in mind? The Prime Directive? Only use thrusters in spacedock? Wait until a species develops warp drive before making first contact?

 

[peteym5]

Sorry the spell checker threw the wrong word back at me. It was suppose to be ADVERSARY. I had to bring up my word processor to get the right word. Sometimes the one in firefox suggests the wrong word.

 

[Harvey]

More to the point: Showtime did get its hands involved in a space opera series before. It was called Lexx. The series may have involved just a little smattering of sex.

I don't think they were involved with Lexx, but I admit I'm relying on wikipedia here, as I've never seen that show.

On the other hand, they were involved with Stargate SG-1, Odyssey 5, Total Recall: 2070, and the remake of The Outer Limits. I believe, however, that there was a regime change around 2002 that led them to discontinue all of their sf programming.

 

[Kegg]

I don't think they were involved with Lexx, but I admit I'm relying on wikipedia here, as I've never seen that show.

They were only involved in the first 'season', that is, the four telemovies.

I believe, however, that there was a regime change around 2002 that led them to discontinue all of their sf programming.

Well, that doesn't bode well for this hypothetical argument. If Showtime is focused on being a HBO-type channel, airing Dexter and the Borgias and so on, sci-fi programming doesn't really seem to fit. Syfy's Caprica (with actresses picked up from Rome and Deadwood) seemed a conscious stab at that model, and arguably BSG itself, but beyond that...

 

[peteym5]

I did some Google searching on BSG Blood & Chrome and apparently they completed shooting the pilot. This is contrary to what people were posting that Syfy is given up on the Space dramas after cancelling "Stargate Universe" and "Caprica".

Showtime seems to have pulled out of the sci-fi show business. They only aired the first 5 seasons of Stargate SG-1 that was continued successfully on Sci-Fi for 5 more seasons. I am not sure how long the Outer Limits went for but I know it only had a few seasons. A new "Star Trek" show is highly unlikely to be put there first.

If any of these new sci-fi shows take off big on Syfy or TNT, other networks may be looking for something to do something. If something CBS owns wants to compete, they can do it with a Star Trek show.

We cannot be looking at how "Star Trek Enterprise" got cancelled just because the ratings were lower than the prior shows. Keep in mind "Enterprise" and "Voyager" were spin offs from "The Next Generation." Spin offs usually don't do as good as the first show, especially if you run one immediately after another or at the same time as another. I can say the same for all the Happy Days spin offs, Stargate shows, etc. I have not checked the numbers for CSI, but would not be surprised if NY & Miami have lower average ratings than the first one.

A new Star Trek show will draw for the premiere episode. If it maintains numbers for the remainder of the series depends on quality of writing, acting, and directing. They should pay attention to what made TNG, DS9, and original show popular and why people liked Voyager and Enterprise less. Don't do Neelix and Kes this time, or an episode about the Captains Dog getting sick. Give us Klingons, Romulans, Vampire Clouds, and get assimilated by the Borg.

** Before some idiot disagrees with my about the CSI ratings, I took a few minutes to find them. CSI had seasons clearing 25 million, NY and Miami were much lower. The last seasons of all 3 programs had shown a drop. Don't know how many more seasons of CSI will go on. After the first one is gone, the other 2 be out within a season. This Crime-Drama Juggernaut on CBS is not going on much longer. I am not saying CBS should do "Star Trek" unless the next movie grosses like "The Dark Knight" or "Titanic". If that happens, everyone will want "A Piece of the Action."

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Are you kidding? Dexter is filled with nudity, almost always of young attractive women, of course. I don't think the reporter in season four did anything except show her tits in half the episodes she was in.

I guess I don't much notice such things.

I sure notice when Michael C. Hall takes his shirt off, though.

There has been little to no nudity in The Borgias on Showtime.

Technically not, because the body parts are covered up by other body parts during the softcore porn scenes of which there are many.

If something like TNG had allowed nudity, you can bet that we would have seen it quite often.

I have to admit, I'm a bit curious about Data. Missed opportunity there.

However with less restrictions on violence, we can actually have some good battles with Klingon Warriors, Borg Drones, Romulans, etc.

They could really go to town with the Borg assimilation stuff. That was creepy enough on broadcast!

If Showtime is focused on being a HBO-type channel, airing Dexter and the Borgias and so on, sci-fi programming doesn't really seem to fit.

HBO's success with Game of Thrones could inspire Showtime to look for a strong sf/f franchise with a fanatical fanbase...

I did some Google searching on BSG Blood & Chrome and apparently they completed shooting the pilot. This is contrary to what people were posting that Syfy is given up on the Space dramas after cancelling "Stargate Universe" and "Caprica".

They still do space opera every now and then - Red Faction: Origins just last Sat night - but it's far from being their mainstay programming type.

And CSI has less than nothing to do with Star Trek. The audiences are too different.

 

[peteym5]

I recently confirmed Star Trek The Next Generation did in fact over around 20 million viewers per episode and it is on the Wikipedia page. If I a new Star Trek show was to go into production shortly after the next movie, we can expect large viewership. The comments about CBS and CW having absolutely not being an outlet for a new show is bogus. The face of these networks is constantly changing. CBS might be majority crime drama now, but the 3 CSIs had a major slip in ratings last season. They might have to try starting up types of programs in the next 2 years. To be honest, the CW being all female teen programs is not working, nothing lasts and with Smallville out of the picture, they're probably going have to do the same thing soon. Keep in mind some of CW programs appeal beyond for teenagers. Smallville also had appeal of Superman and Sci-Fi fans. Same with Supernatural. 90210 probably attracted fans from the original. However, If CW stays in its course, they're probably going to crash.

 

[xortex]

If you're looking for FrankenTrek to run the marathon, you better buy it a new pair of sneakers. It just got off life support.