News Complete 1st Season to Air on CBS terrestrial in Sept

[Char Kais]

Star Trek Discovery season 1 is not only the worst-performing scripted show on CBS in the 2020/2021 season (Nielsen rating of 0.21) but also the worst-performing scripted show among all the big networks ABC/NBC/FOX.

A rebroadcast of an episode of Young Sheldon had higher Nielsen ratings than the Discovery season final.

In the same time slot, the Discovery season final was beaten in the Nielsen ratings by a rebroadcast of an episode of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune", even in the 18-34 demo. Four times as many people, in the 18-34 demo, watched a rebroadcast of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune".

 

[Quinton]

Star Trek Discovery season 1 is not only the worst-performing scripted show on CBS in the 2020/2021 season (Nielsen rating of 0.21) but also the worst-performing scripted show among all the big networks ABC/NBC/FOX.

A rebroadcast of an episode of Young Sheldon had higher Nielsen ratings than the Discovery season final.

In the same time slot, the Discovery season final was beaten in the Nielsen ratings by a rebroadcast of an episode of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune", even in the 18-34 demo. Four times as many people, in the 18-34 demo, watched a rebroadcast of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune".

Sweet, thanks for your research!

 

[Lord Garth]

Star Trek Discovery season 1 is not only the worst-performing scripted show on CBS in the 2020/2021 season (Nielsen rating of 0.21) but also the worst-performing scripted show among all the big networks ABC/NBC/FOX.

A rebroadcast of an episode of Young Sheldon had higher Nielsen ratings than the Discovery season final.

In the same time slot, the Discovery season final was beaten in the Nielsen ratings by a rebroadcast of an episode of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune", even in the 18-34 demo. Four times as many people, in the 18-34 demo, watched a rebroadcast of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune".

Well, if I hadn't seen the first season of Discovery already (and didn't already own it on Blu-Ray to boot), and hadn't already re-watched it several times before, I would've watched it on CBS.

These ratings are ratings on top of whoever already watched it on CBS All Access. And these episodes are over three years old. So it doesn't really matter. On the surface, the ratings don't look good. Taken into the context of the situation, and looking at the circumstances, I'd say it's not bad.

And I can't believe there are people who are 18-49 who still watch regular TV. I'm 41 and I don't. It's all Amazon, Netflix, and CBSAA/Paramount+. And YouTube if you want to throw that in there.

 

[Awesome Possum]

All it's really doing is filling an empty timeslot and promoting CBS All Access or whatever they're calling it now. Any views at all is just adding more money to what's already been made. If ABC aired The Mandalorian in a few years after most people already watched it then it would likely get low ratings too.

 

[ScottJ85]

Some have crafted an elaborate conspiracy where it's an attempt to destroy Star Trek itself

I never really understood this. All it would take to destroy Star Trek would be for CBS to just stop making it, no elaborate conspiracy theory required.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm tired of the Fandom Menace. It seems as if they can't figure out that no more Star Trek means they lose the primary source of their jollies.

 

[fireproof78]

Because they want to be angry.

 

[Quinton]

I'm tired of the Fandom Menace. It seems as if they can't figure out that no more Star Trek means they lose the primary source of their jollies.

Wait, whoa, you’re 41? Dude, if that prior avatar of yours is anything to go by, you’re aging as gracefully as Jeri Ryan. LOL.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I never really understood this. All it would take to destroy Star Trek would be for CBS to just stop making it, no elaborate conspiracy theory required.

They could have done nothing since Trek was basically dead at that point, but they seem to think Star Trek is being defiled by having women and LGBTQ people on the show, you know because Star Trek never had a history of diverse casting and pushing progressive ideas. It's also somehow an attack on white men because they aren't playing every single character.

 

[Lord Garth]

Wait, whoa, you’re 41? Dude, if that prior avatar of yours is anything to go by, you’re aging as gracefully as Jeri Ryan. LOL.

I've looked pretty much the same since my early-20s.

 

[Quinton]

I've looked pretty much the same since my early-20s.

Congrats! I mean, I think people of all ages can look rad or bad, but that’s gotta be helpful when you hit 70. lol

 

[nic3636]

I don't really think its fair to deem Discovery a failure based on these ratings. It's kind of like trying to compare apples and oranges. Discovery was built to drive subscriptions to CBS All Access, so if it's doing that then CBS is going to view it as successful. The fact that it isn't doing good on TV may be an early indicator the show isn't going to age well which in theory affects things like syndication potential, but I'm not sure how relevant stuff like that is anymore in the age of streaming.

So if you look at it from a purely financial point of view, you might see this and take some of the later "re-run" revenue out of your model. But that revenue is likely not a large percentage of the total to begin with and because it happens in the future, it would be heavily discounted, further reducing its impact. I'm making a lot of assumptions, but I don't think this is likely to affect how the network views the show.

 

[nic3636]

To follow up, I could see this news impacting the morale of the writers, actors, directors and other staff who work on the show and will earn residual income from it. But I'm not sure how residuals work on streaming shows and I would assume residual income has gone down across the board now that you have dozens of streaming services cranking out hundreds of new tv shows each year.

 

[Noname Given]

Back in 1990, it was quite a breakthrough for TNG to exceed three seasons, which TOS failed to do. Once DISCO gets its fifth season, it exceeds ENTERPRISE.

After that happens, I look forward to how Midnight's Edge will spin DISCO as a failure. Will the goalpost be "if it doesn't reach seven seasons, it failed"? Or perhaps after it finishes with a seventh season the goal post will be moved to "Yeah, but it didn't reach 176 episodes, so FAIL".

Depends how you view things. Yes Discovery currently has four seasons, but those four seasons total (assuming season 4 is the same length as season 3) 55 episodes.

TOS managed either 79 or 80 depending on how you view things, an ENT managed to get 98.

Discovery at this point is nowhere near either of them.
^^^
That's how they'll spin it and honestly it's not much of a spin.

 

[Cyrus]

The ratings of reruns on CBS were expected to be low and are not of much significance. The productions were delayed for Pandemic so they needed something to fill a timeslot until Clarice was ready. It didn't cost them money (other than minor amounts for some re-edits) since it was already produced a few years ago and any money made from ads was pure profits.They were basically playing with the house money. And if any of the CBS viewers decide to sign up for Paramount+ to see other seasons of Discovery then they benefit from that too.

 

[Vger23]

Saying the ratings were a disappointment is ridiculous. It's all gravy, as @Cyrus said. The show is modeled and released as a streaming property, and as such has been successful enough for both CBSAA and Netflix international where the show has not only continued to be renewed, but also has re-launched the entire franchise.

Star Trek Discovery season 1 is not only the worst-performing scripted show on CBS in the 2020/2021 season (Nielsen rating of 0.21) but also the worst-performing scripted show among all the big networks ABC/NBC/FOX.

A rebroadcast of an episode of Young Sheldon had higher Nielsen ratings than the Discovery season final.

In the same time slot, the Discovery season final was beaten in the Nielsen ratings by a rebroadcast of an episode of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune", even in the 18-34 demo. Four times as many people, in the 18-34 demo, watched a rebroadcast of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune".

O noes! I'm sure that this news is so devistating, not only will CBS immediately halt production on all new Star Trek shows, but they will deploy agents throughout the known world to systematically eliminate all traces of the show, and erase it completely from existence.

 

[fireproof78]

I looked at the numbers and then I shrugged. I'm sure many will find significance in it. What it is I am not certain largely because this is a different era. Claiming the ratings are bad is a small datapoint in a larger picture that we largely don't know.

So, if Discovery is a failure (big if) I trust that CBS will adjust accordingly. If Discovery is cancelled I still have 3 or 4 or whatever seasons of a show I genuinely enjoyed.

But, as another poster commented regarding comparing shows, this is really like comparing apples and giraffes.

 

[nic3636]

I looked at the numbers and then I shrugged. I'm sure many will find significance in it. What it is I am not certain largely because this is a different era. Claiming the ratings are bad is a small datapoint in a larger picture that we largely don't know.

So, if Discovery is a failure (big if) I trust that CBS will adjust accordingly. If Discovery is cancelled I still have 3 or 4 or whatever seasons of a show I genuinely enjoyed.

But, as another poster commented regarding comparing shows, this is really like comparing apples and giraffes.

Yeah, the inner finance nerd in me is genuinely interested in this. I think to have any meaningful comparison, you would need to compare it to another show that also launched first on CBS All Access and then went to TV years later. But comparables may not exist since Discovery was one of the first CBS All Access exclusive shows and helped launch the platform.

Even if you had a valid comparable, I'm not sure how meaningful it would be. Since steaming is an entirely different business model, I'm not sure how relevant the traditional TV ratings analysis is. I would love to read a case study on this or if anyone has any insight on how these things work, please share.

 

[fireproof78]

Yeah, the inner finance nerd in me is genuinely interested in this. I think to have any meaningful comparison, you would need to compare it to another show that also launched first on CBS All Access and then went to TV years later. But comparables may not exist since Discovery was one of the first CBS All Access exclusive shows and helped launch the platform.

Even if you had a valid comparable, I'm not sure how meaningful it would be. Since steaming is an entirely different business model, I'm not sure how relevant the traditional TV ratings analysis is. I would love to read a case study on this or if anyone has any insight on how these things work, please share.

Ultimately, while it would be nice to know it really isn't our business. I don't say that to be dismissive because I am curious as to the inner workings. But, these financial decisions are just not information we get. This is still a new world in terms of business models and streaming will be treated much differently too. And the market is a completely different animal.

And, as dismissive as this question might sound, but why does this matter to personal enjoyment? I know it used to be that ratings were a sign of popularity so is this just an extension of that popularity contest? If the ratings go up then does that mean enjoyment automatically goes up? Because, if that's the case, I completely do things wrong. The more popular something is the less likely I am to enjoy it. If I were to assemble a list of films I really enjoy I can think of 5 that I would call some of my favorites that have negative reviews on various sites. So, I guess I do entertainment all backwards like.

 

[nic3636]

Ultimately, while it would be nice to know it really isn't our business. I don't say that to be dismissive because I am curious as to the inner workings. But, these financial decisions are just not information we get. This is still a new world in terms of business models and streaming will be treated much differently too. And the market is a completely different animal.

And, as dismissive as this question might sound, but why does this matter to personal enjoyment? I know it used to be that ratings were a sign of popularity so is this just an extension of that popularity contest? If the ratings go up then does that mean enjoyment automatically goes up? Because, if that's the case, I completely do things wrong. The more popular something is the less likely I am to enjoy it. If I were to assemble a list of films I really enjoy I can think of 5 that I would call some of my favorites that have negative reviews on various sites. So, I guess I do entertainment all backwards like.

It doesn't matter to my enjoyment of the show at all, this is a separate interest. I'm a very analytical person, I like financial modeling and I loved reading business case studies in college, so along those lines I would be very curious to know how the network would interpret something like this.