DS9 & TNG have been off the year for a decade now so I suppose the ratings don't really matter but that doesn't mean I and other fans still don't have questions. I've always read that TNG had superior ratings compared to DS9 even though I believe DS9 was a superior show. Now don't get me wrong I enjoyed TNG but never as much as DS9.
I guess my question is why was TNG seemingly poor popular (ratings wise) than DS9 even though it wasn't nearly as complex as DS9. Was it that TNG was a safe show that the whole family could watch and you has a parent didn't have to worry about it's content as opposed to DS9 which dealt with some complex themes that weren't nessessarly that easy to follow.
Now, I'm not trying to suggest that the DS9 audience (smaller compared to TNG's) is the smarter more cultivated audience as opposed to TNG "safe zone" audience but it does seem as though DS9 wasn't a show that invited just anyone to go along. It was a show that was dependent upon viewers who were going to pay attention because what you learn now might come up later.
TNG was obviously less concerned with continuity (not to the extent Voyager was) and I don't believe this was a major weakness of TNG. Sometimes it's nice to follow a show where you don't have to think all that much. So it comes down to this, did TNG create the aforementioned "safe zone" where anyone could watch and not feel threatned and DS9 never reach TNG's popularity because it attracted a slightly brighter audience that were willing to stay with the show no matter what.
I guess my question is why was TNG seemingly poor popular (ratings wise) than DS9 even though it wasn't nearly as complex as DS9. Was it that TNG was a safe show that the whole family could watch and you has a parent didn't have to worry about it's content as opposed to DS9 which dealt with some complex themes that weren't nessessarly that easy to follow.
Now, I'm not trying to suggest that the DS9 audience (smaller compared to TNG's) is the smarter more cultivated audience as opposed to TNG "safe zone" audience but it does seem as though DS9 wasn't a show that invited just anyone to go along. It was a show that was dependent upon viewers who were going to pay attention because what you learn now might come up later.
TNG was obviously less concerned with continuity (not to the extent Voyager was) and I don't believe this was a major weakness of TNG. Sometimes it's nice to follow a show where you don't have to think all that much. So it comes down to this, did TNG create the aforementioned "safe zone" where anyone could watch and not feel threatned and DS9 never reach TNG's popularity because it attracted a slightly brighter audience that were willing to stay with the show no matter what.