Would Trek be bigger now if

Discovery and the other new shows actually had aired on CBS?

 

With five shows active and maybe more on the way, does it matter?

 

They tried airing DSC on CBS a couple of times and IIRC the ratings weren't that good.

 

DSC would be cancelled after one season on CBS Proper. I say this as a hardcore fan of the show. So we wouldn't have anything new on the TV end of Star Trek right now.

 

A lot would have depended on when it aired. If they put it in the fall with a strong lead in like NCIS it might have had a chance. But I think it would have been put in as a mid-season replacement or as summer programming and at that point it’s 50/50.

The serialization hurts a show like Disco in regards to over the air broadcasting. Something like SNW might actually do ok especially given that compared to Disco and Picard it’s pretty much universally loved.

 

I watched the "The Vulcan Hello" when it first aired on CBS and while I enjoyed it for the most part, the problem was that it was only part one of a two part premiere. I'm sure the hope was that we'd all be so instantly captivated that we'd all immediately sign up for subscriptions to CBS All Access, but the reality was that they just didn't show us enough of what the show would be like to properly judge it. The only regular characters we met in "The Vulcan Hello" were Michael Burnham, Captain Georgiou, and Saru, and all of the action took place on the USS Shenzou instead of the USS Discovery. That's like if the premiere of TNG only introduced us to Riker and Geordi on the USS Hood.

I think if Strange New Worlds aired on CBS, though, it'd do pretty well. Not only did the premiere introduce us to all of the regulars and give us a typical adventure, it's the most in the mold of TOS, so I think it'd have some crossover appeal. It wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to have the most accessible of the new Trek shows air on CBS to entice people into sampling the others on Paramount+.

 

CBS only aired DIS because of the pandemic, IMO. Production on various CBS shows had slowed or even stopped for awhile, but DIS was a show that already had a full season in the can and was used basically to keep a seat warm on their schedule. Once CBS had enough of their own shows up and running again, it dropped DIS like a bad habit and never looked back.

 

I'll have to echo the sentiments that if Disco did air on actual CBS, it wouldn't have lasted its first season. Simple truth of the matter is, I doubt any space opera show would last on network TV these days, it'd simply be too costly and it wouldn't get the ratings it would need to justify those costs. If Trek were to thrive in today's television market, it would have to have been either streaming or cable. And as stated, where at five concurrent shows with more on the way, so obviously the decision to go streaming has proven a smart choice.

 

Considering The Orville got 2 seasons on Fox before being moved to streaming, I’d hesitate to pronounce it DOA.

Besides, the Disco we have now may have been a very different show than what they would have put on broadcast. Maybe CBS nixes the serialization and makes it more like “classic” Trek. It could have had a smaller budget forcing a greater emphasis on storytelling/writing. And what about episode count, if it’s a mid-season replacement or summer show it probably runs 10-13 eps. But if they put it on the fall schedule maybe they go the full 22-26 eps.

just a lot of what ifs.

 

I feel like it would've made more sense to air "Vulcan Hello" and "Binary Stars" as one big movie-of-the-week, and have "Context is For Kings" be the immediately-available-on-CBSAA episode leading into the series proper. If nothing else, it'd leave the people who didn't jump straight in to streaming with a complete story that they could talk about and stew over and be curious about where things go from there.

 

I think The Orville didn't have as high of a budget as Discovery and I know that Seth MacFarlane has a lot of clout at FOX. So the situations aren't entirely the same.

 

Streaming makes more money than broadcast. There's no middle-men, no split broadcast or advertising costs. 100% of your subscription goes to Paramount. Thus, we can have 5 Trek shows, with less eyes on them, making more money for Paramout than one Trek show on CBS would have.

Even Marvel and Star Wars are doing the niche series thing on Disney+.

 

I think broadcasting the first seasons of PIC, SNW & LD on tv is something that could be tried. The first season of DIS is nothing to go on, since the audience reception for the first season was vastly different from critical reception. Its only by airing PIC, SNW & LD on tv and seeing what ratings they get that any trend can be realized.

 

Well, great. Now we have to pay our tithe to The Orville Reference Coin Jar. It's not an exact comparison anyway. As mentioned, The Orville was a passion project done by someone with clout with Fox, so it earned a lot more leeway than most shows typically get. Also, during the first season anyway, Fox considered the show to be a sitcom, and its ratings were measured accordingly. And even then, it was considered nothing less than a blessed miracle that The Orville even got a second season.

Besides, I presume in this hypothetical "Disco is a network show" scenario, Fuller is still the creator and original showrunner? If so he's still going to be fired, and several other writers and producers are still going to leave as well. The process of hiring replacement writers, producers and a showrunner is going to up the cost of the show and result in its cancellation after the first season. As was the case with Terra Nova. Indeed, that's another thing The Orville had going for it, even after three seasons and a move to streaming, it's kept the same showrunner and production staff.

Serialization is a major component of television these days, there's no reason to expect CBS to "nix it." If anything, they'd be more likely to look at a show of largely standalones like Classic Trek and request it have serialization. Especially considering a lack of serialization was one of the things the Berman era was being criticized for in the early 2000s, which led to the decision to do Enterprise's third season as serialized.

A space opera by it's very nature requires a higher budget than your typical cop drama or hospital drama that dominates the network lineup. There's just no way around that.

First of all, 26 episodes is not going to happen in modern times. Even in the 90s the Star Treks were the only shows doing seasons that long. And that was mostly at Berman's insistence anyway. Even then, there's no guarantees that it would even be 20 episodes long. To use your example of The Orville, the two seasons it aired on Fox were each only 13 episodes long, and the first season anyway was part of the fall schedule. Though what I find far more likely would be the case if Disco were on CBS is they would likely treat it like an Event season with only 10 episodes or less, like the modern seasons of The X-Files, or CSI Vegas.

 

When was the last time a science-fiction spaceship show aired for more than one season on CBS? LOST IN SPACE, back in the 1960s? That's not really their demographic. CBS doesn't need a science fiction show when they can get better ratings airing another mainstream cop drama or reality show.

Heck, when was the last time a space-adventure series lasted for more than one season on any of the major networks? BUCK ROGERS back in the seventies?

Why assume a new STAR TREK series would buck that trend?

 

It has five series on right now.

It regularly trends on Twitter.

It doesn't need to be "bigger."

 

I don't actually have a clear idea of exactly how big Star Trek. I have a vague idea that it isn't as big as Marvel/Star Wars shows, but that it's bigger than a lot of things. I think it’s bigger than Doctor Who, but I also think it’s not as big as we think it is.

It must be doing well to have 5 shows ongoing and it's showing no signs of slowing down. You can see those signs when they come when you've been into television for long enough. So the show must be doing whatever the numbers are.

Star Trek is big, but it's wrong to say it shouldn't be bigger. I don't think any show from maybe ENT onwards has seeped into pop culture in the same way that TOS or TNG or VOY did.

I broadly like all the Star Trek shows since DSC. But in the last few years then I've seen a lot of shows that are better. I was more engaged by Foundation than any current Star Trek, likewise For All Mankind. I watched the first season of Yellowjackets this year before I watched Picard Season 2. The first season of Yellowjackets I found to be tight as a nut in terms of writing. Every episode mattered. Every episode changed the status-quo and pushed the story forward. Picard was a shock to the system in comparison. A strong start and end with a load of muddle in the middle.

I love Star Trek. I love every Star Trek show. But I do think the franchise as it stands could pull it's socks up a bit and be bigger. I want Star Trek to be as big as it can be.​

 

We had 11 months of new weekly Trek, a few nights featured a finale and a premier. I am quite satisfied.

for now