British series approach?

[Infern0]

A British Star Trek would be horrible, and i'm a brit. There is no way enough money would be put in to make it look and feel legit, it'd be like Doctor Who, mickey mouse special effects and all.

 

[Caretaker]

Well, a shorter summer "miniseries" season seems to be working for CBS with Under the Dome. I've heard speculation that it's success may lead to the format being used for other shows in the future. Why not Trek?

 

[Iamnotspock]

A British Star Trek would be horrible, and i'm a brit. There is no way enough money would be put in to make it look and feel legit, it'd be like Doctor Who, mickey mouse special effects and all.

You haven't seen Who for a few years have you.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Why not indeed ? But I think CBS would rather the show air on its network. I might be wrong about that.

CBS itself would be the last place a new Trek series would ever be. It's the #1 US TV network with shows that are cheaper, easier to produce, and have broader appeal (bigger audience) than Trek does.

Perhaps Showtime? Isn't it owned by CBS? Has a long history of science fiction shows but hasn't had any in a while, maybe the time is ripe.

I think there are pros and cons to moving Trek to premium cable, namely with it becoming a Showtime exclusive and less visible to mainstream audiences (and thus smaller as an overall franchise).

 

[Garppo]

I thought Elementary was far superior to Sherlock. But that's besides the point, sort of. If the BBC were to make Trek then it would be in mind to sell to the Americans - so you'd have to expect lots of Jack the Ripper based episodes as well as ones set in country estates.

 

[Third Nacelle]

I think there are pros and cons to moving Trek to premium cable, namely with it becoming a Showtime exclusive and less visible to mainstream audiences (and thus smaller as an overall franchise).

Is that necessarily a bad thing?

I'd rather have a show that appeals a lot to a niche audience than a show that appeals a little to a mass audience.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think there are pros and cons to moving Trek to premium cable, namely with it becoming a Showtime exclusive and less visible to mainstream audiences (and thus smaller as an overall franchise).

Is that necessarily a bad thing?

I'd rather have a show that appeals a lot to a niche audience than a show that appeals a little to a mass audience.

You may prefer that, but CBS may not. I think they'd rather have Trek be available to the biggest possible audience, rather than become something exclusive to a small audience.

 

[Third Nacelle]

You may prefer that, but CBS may not. I think they'd rather have Trek be available to the biggest possible audience, rather than become something exclusive to a small audience.

Well I don't work for CBS, so I tend not to speak from their point-of-view.

Personally, considering the dreadful state of network television these days, I'd much rather have Trek on cable.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I do think there's a good chance that if Trek returns to TV, it'll be on a cable network, but not a premium one.

 

[KGator]

As others have said, a British shorter season won't necessarily work for a US show.

Worked for game of thrones

I see Game of Thrones used as a comparison quite a bit but didn't GOT peak at 5.4 million in their ratings while I believe STNG ratings were consistently TWICE that.

I mean wasn't the Star Trek finale the series' highest rated episode with something like a 17 rating?

If CBS was getting GOT ratings for a new Star Trek show it wouldn't get a second season. JMHO

 

[AviTrek]

As others have said, a British shorter season won't necessarily work for a US show.

Worked for game of thrones

I see Game of Thrones used as a comparison quite a bit but didn't GOT peak at 5.4 million in their ratings while I believe STNG ratings were consistently TWICE that.

I mean wasn't the Star Trek finale the series' highest rated episode with something like a 17 rating?

If CBS was getting GOT ratings for a new Star Trek show it wouldn't get a second season. JMHO

1980s/1990s numbers are not the same as today. You can't compare the two. All ratings are down. Plus cable numbers are different from broadcast, and premium is different from cable. The point of 5.4m for GOT is that the numbers are huge for a premium cable show. And Walking Dead is huge for basic cable(approaching low end broadcast numbers).