Actually what doomed Trek(as Berman confirms it) was over saturation of the market. How much Trek could you have on at one time? Spin-off's can also divide your audience because you're expecting them to be loyal to all but only have the attention span for one. Trek's fan base was never big enough to handle 3 Treks on at the same time and the general audience isn't that big into Trek to watch all 3 either. Plus, you also can't compare DS9's rating to Voyager due the fact syndicated TV runs on a different ratings system than network.That may have been if Voyager wasn't on a what was at the time considered a major network. That changed EVERYTHING!My concern isn't so much specific details like shuttle count. Rather that themes of limited resources and difficulties in keeping the ship running, would have been a good source of story ideas and and helped the show feel more distinct from previous trek.
They used a darker approach on DS9. While it did well in syndication, the numbers DS9 pulled wasn't going to work for show on a major network like Voyager. They have a marketing research dept. that finds all this out for them.
Therefore they had to rethink the show and went back to what they felt was a more family friendly show(less darker tone) that would pull back in that audience they were loosing on DS9. While a few fans maybe disappointed, the fact that it allowed Voyager to run a full 7 years was considered a successful move on Paramount's POV and told them there was a larger audience beyond the fan base they were reaching.
Actually, Voyager's ratings went down along the same curve that DS9's did [link]. Paramount probably wasn't too happy about those ever-dwindling ratings.
They already knew there was a larger audience to be had from the TNG days, which was probably why the powers in charge wanted to make both VOY (and later ENT) more like TNG. Unfortunately, what the powers in charge failed to appreciate was that that prospective larger audience wasn't interested in proverbial warmed-over servings from last week's Sunday dinner. And why should they be? The idea that they could keep going on automatic pilot without getting fundamentally creative was what doomed Prime Universe Trek on TV.
Actually what doomed Trek(as Berman confirms it) was over saturation of the market. How much Trek could you have on at one time? Spin-off's can also divide your audience because you're expecting them to be loyal to all but only have the attention span for one. Trek's fan base was never big enough to handle 3 Treks on at the same time and the general audience isn't that big into Trek to watch all 3 either. Plus, you also can't compare DS9's rating to Voyager due the fact syndicated TV runs on a different ratings system than network.That may have been if Voyager wasn't on a what was at the time considered a major network. That changed EVERYTHING!
They used a darker approach on DS9. While it did well in syndication, the numbers DS9 pulled wasn't going to work for show on a major network like Voyager. They have a marketing research dept. that finds all this out for them.
Therefore they had to rethink the show and went back to what they felt was a more family friendly show(less darker tone) that would pull back in that audience they were loosing on DS9. While a few fans maybe disappointed, the fact that it allowed Voyager to run a full 7 years was considered a successful move on Paramount's POV and told them there was a larger audience beyond the fan base they were reaching.
Actually, Voyager's ratings went down along the same curve that DS9's did [link]. Paramount probably wasn't too happy about those ever-dwindling ratings.
They already knew there was a larger audience to be had from the TNG days, which was probably why the powers in charge wanted to make both VOY (and later ENT) more like TNG. Unfortunately, what the powers in charge failed to appreciate was that that prospective larger audience wasn't interested in proverbial warmed-over servings from last week's Sunday dinner. And why should they be? The idea that they could keep going on automatic pilot without getting fundamentally creative was what doomed Prime Universe Trek on TV.
However, the up swing was Paramount was satisfied enough with the numbers. Even with the ratings drop, it wasn't enough were Voyager was ever in any danger of cancellation. With such a high production cost as Voyager was, they wouldn't have kept production going if they were loosing money on it. The numbers and amount of merchandise Voyager sold(Thank you, Seven!) made them open the Las Vegas Experience & gave a greenlight to ENT.
It's the let's twist words game, I got it.Actually what doomed Trek(as Berman confirms it) was over saturation of the market. How much Trek could you have on at one time? Spin-off's can also divide your audience because you're expecting them to be loyal to all but only have the attention span for one. Trek's fan base was never big enough to handle 3 Treks on at the same time and the general audience isn't that big into Trek to watch all 3 either. Plus, you also can't compare DS9's rating to Voyager due the fact syndicated TV runs on a different ratings system than network.Actually, Voyager's ratings went down along the same curve that DS9's did [link]. Paramount probably wasn't too happy about those ever-dwindling ratings.
They already knew there was a larger audience to be had from the TNG days, which was probably why the powers in charge wanted to make both VOY (and later ENT) more like TNG. Unfortunately, what the powers in charge failed to appreciate was that that prospective larger audience wasn't interested in proverbial warmed-over servings from last week's Sunday dinner. And why should they be? The idea that they could keep going on automatic pilot without getting fundamentally creative was what doomed Prime Universe Trek on TV.
However, the up swing was Paramount was satisfied enough with the numbers. Even with the ratings drop, it wasn't enough were Voyager was ever in any danger of cancellation. With such a high production cost as Voyager was, they wouldn't have kept production going if they were loosing money on it. The numbers and amount of merchandise Voyager sold(Thank you, Seven!) made them open the Las Vegas Experience & gave a greenlight to ENT.
Yeah, it was Berman's story all right that nothing was wrong with the product itself.Of course it's the audience's fault for not wanting to watch what was being put out, or the only fault the studio made was putting out too much of it.
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It's the let's twist words game, I got it.Actually what doomed Trek(as Berman confirms it) was over saturation of the market. How much Trek could you have on at one time? Spin-off's can also divide your audience because you're expecting them to be loyal to all but only have the attention span for one. Trek's fan base was never big enough to handle 3 Treks on at the same time and the general audience isn't that big into Trek to watch all 3 either. Plus, you also can't compare DS9's rating to Voyager due the fact syndicated TV runs on a different ratings system than network.
However, the up swing was Paramount was satisfied enough with the numbers. Even with the ratings drop, it wasn't enough were Voyager was ever in any danger of cancellation. With such a high production cost as Voyager was, they wouldn't have kept production going if they were loosing money on it. The numbers and amount of merchandise Voyager sold(Thank you, Seven!) made them open the Las Vegas Experience & gave a greenlight to ENT.
Yeah, it was Berman's story all right that nothing was wrong with the product itself.Of course it's the audience's fault for not wanting to watch what was being put out, or the only fault the studio made was putting out too much of it.
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I just watched this video and while it's funny, it also shines a light on one of the weaker aspects of Voyager, namely, continuity.
Just like the ship never showed any wear despite all it went through.
Now don't get me wrong, this is not meant to bash Voyager, it's just an observation.
What other examples of poor continuity did we see?
It's the let's twist words game, I got it.Yeah, it was Berman's story all right that nothing was wrong with the product itself.Of course it's the audience's fault for not wanting to watch what was being put out, or the only fault the studio made was putting out too much of it.
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There's no need for me to twist anything. So, no. I simply find that statement of Berman's to be not only self-serving but moreover completely uninformative about What Went Wrong in TV Trek. If the problem with Trek on TV was truly overabundance, then it was an overabundance of programming that was incapable of holding an audience. There's no need to twist the facts to support that statement, since the facts are that the ratings of post-TNG Trek only went down, down, down.
In my view, the topic of this thread is a symptom indicative of the problem, which was that powers on high stifled innovation and the attempts of creators and writers to try fundamentally new things. Buy into or reject what I'm saying, I really don't care.
TV Trek tanked, and it won't come back at least until the suits at CBS are satisfied that what caused it to tank won't happen again. If the problem was only an overabundance of the product, then expect it to look more or less the same when it finally comes back. Except—wait for it—it won't look the same. It's going to have to actually compete, which means it will have to take at least some risks, especially relative to the expectations of hardcore fans.
What I see to be going on in this thread is that, when we say things like, "No, they really should have done it this more interesting way instead of the way they did it," we're taking another step towards the realization that maybe overabundance wasn't exclusively the problem after all.
Hardcore fans don't think as a monolithic bloc, that's for sure.But some of those hardcore Trek fans as you put it are the ones saying, it would have been more interesting if you had done X instead of Y. Trek's failure on TV wasn't down to just one thing but rather a combination of things.
If it was that incapable of holding an audience, it would have been cancelled.There's no need for me to twist anything. So, no. I simply find that statement of Berman's to be not only self-serving but moreover completely uninformative about What Went Wrong in TV Trek. If the problem with Trek on TV was truly overabundance, then it was an overabundance of programming that was incapable of holding an audience. There's no need to twist the facts to support that statement, since the facts are that the ratings of post-TNG Trek only went down, down, down.
Sometimes economics takes point.In my view, the topic of this thread is a symptom indicative of the problem, which was that powers on high stifled innovation and the attempts of creators and writers to try fundamentally new things. Buy into or reject what I'm saying, I really don't care.
Doubt it.TV Trek tanked, and it won't come back at least until the suits at CBS are satisfied that what caused it to tank won't happen again. If the problem was only an overabundance of the product, then expect it to look more or less the same when it finally comes back. Except—wait for it—it won't look the same. It's going to have to actually compete, which means it will have to take at least some risks, especially relative to the expectations of hardcore fans.
Everything would be prefect if life was lived retrospectively.What I see to be going on in this thread is that, when we say things like, "No, they really should have done it this more interesting way instead of the way they did it," we're taking another step towards the realization that maybe overabundance wasn't exclusively the problem after all.
If it was that incapable of holding an audience, it would have been cancelled.
I agree that there's no sign of it for the foreseeable future. There's not even a blip of it on the horizon. We're not going to be in the demographic, no. Even if it's not set in the JJ-verse, it won't even be set in Prime Universe either, most likely.IF Trek comes back to TV, we'll be 60 and won't be in the demographic anymore, so our expectations aren't going to matter as much as the younger audience.
Are you repeating what I just said?If it was that incapable of holding an audience, it would have been cancelled.
TV Trek finally was canceled. To his credit, Berman claimed too much TV Trek was a risk, and he was right.
Even though the numbers never went low enough for cancellation during Voyager's run, the numbers for ENT continued down along the same trend. Due to the constant rate of decay in the viewership, eventual cancellation of some Trek show at some point was inevitable and had been all along since the end of TNG.
In terms of viewership, post-TNG TV Trek was never a growing franchise. If it was sustainable, it was sustainable only in a temporary sense, because it had long enough to fall at the rate it was decaying, for the fall to take about a decade.
I agree that there's no sign of it for the foreseeable future. There's not even a blip of it on the horizon. We're not going to be in the demographic, no. Even if it's not set in the JJ-verse, it won't even be set in Prime Universe either, most likely.IF Trek comes back to TV, we'll be 60 and won't be in the demographic anymore, so our expectations aren't going to matter as much as the younger audience.
Are you repeating what I just said?I agree that there's no sign of it for the foreseeable future. There's not even a blip of it on the horizon. We're not going to be in the demographic, no. Even if it's not set in the JJ-verse, it won't even be set in Prime Universe either, most likely.IF Trek comes back to TV, we'll be 60 and won't be in the demographic anymore, so our expectations aren't going to matter as much as the younger audience.![]()
You need a sense of humor.Are you repeating what I just said?I agree that there's no sign of it for the foreseeable future. There's not even a blip of it on the horizon. We're not going to be in the demographic, no. Even if it's not set in the JJ-verse, it won't even be set in Prime Universe either, most likely.![]()
I've boldfaced and underlined the words and punctuation that convey I was voicing agreement with what you said. So, no, I'm not a parrot, and since I put those words in, nor did I intend to come off as one.
They never thought to spin off "Quincy".When CSI first came out there weren't ten zillion crime procedurals on TV. Give it time for scifi to come back.
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