Was Every Trek Show Profitable?

[Aike]

Did every Trek series show a profit in the end?

I know that NBC/Desilu lost 4.7 million dollars on the original show, that´s according to the Official Biography about Roddenberry by David Alexander.

But it must have been profitable for Paramount, right? And what about the other shows?

 

[barnaclelapse]

I would imagine TNG and DS9 to be quite profitable.

Voyager, I'm unsure of.

Enterprise likely lost money, but that's just a guess on my part.

 

[Ziz]

Every show was profitable. The accountants just have this magic spreadsheet that makes everything look like a failure so the studio doesn't show any profits. If they don't show a profit, they don't have to pay income tax on those profits.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

ENT's cancellation - or any show's cancellation - isn't proof that it was unprofitable. Profitable shows get cancelled all the time, if the network thinks they could replace it with an even-more-profitable show.

And there are a plethora of other factors. For instance, ENT suffered from the fact that its network was changing strategies to target the young female demo, which Star Trek will never be suited for. Regardless of what you think about that strategy, that was their choice and they are right that ENT didn't fit.

 

[Trekwatcher]

There is also significant revinue in reruns, DVD's, books, merchandise, etc. I suspect all of the series have been profitable.

 

[caisson2delta]

There is also significant revinue in reruns, DVD's, books, merchandise, etc. I suspect all of the series have been profitable.

I totally agree. I would also assume that, with the success of the new movie, there are new fans that may want to experience some of the other incarnations. I would imagine that DVD sales make them a ton. I also doubt that TPTB would be doing the BluRay crossover if they didn't see profit in it for them.

 

[DevilEyes]

ENT's cancellation - or any show's cancellation - isn't proof that it was unprofitable. Profitable shows get cancelled all the time, if the network thinks they could replace it with an even-more-profitable show.

And there are a plethora of other factors. For instance, ENT suffered from the fact that its network was changing strategies to target the young female demo, which Star Trek will never be suited for. Regardless of what you think about that strategy, that was their choice and they are right that ENT didn't fit.

I dunno, the new movie seems to be doing quite well in the young female demo.

 

[AuntKate]

ENT's cancellation - or any show's cancellation - isn't proof that it was unprofitable. Profitable shows get cancelled all the time, if the network thinks they could replace it with an even-more-profitable show.

And there are a plethora of other factors. For instance, ENT suffered from the fact that its network was changing strategies to target the young female demo, which Star Trek will never be suited for. Regardless of what you think about that strategy, that was their choice and they are right that ENT didn't fit.

I dunno, the new movie seems to be doing quite well in the young female demo.

And there's the rub. Star Trek always had a considerable female audience, but TPTB chose to ignore that in favor of the more "traditional" male scifi fans. More's the pity.

 

[Cyke101]

ENT's cancellation - or any show's cancellation - isn't proof that it was unprofitable. Profitable shows get cancelled all the time, if the network thinks they could replace it with an even-more-profitable show.

And there are a plethora of other factors. For instance, ENT suffered from the fact that its network was changing strategies to target the young female demo, which Star Trek will never be suited for. Regardless of what you think about that strategy, that was their choice and they are right that ENT didn't fit.

I dunno, the new movie seems to be doing quite well in the young female demo.

And there's the rub. Star Trek always had a considerable female audience, but TPTB chose to ignore that in favor of the more "traditional" male scifi fans. More's the pity.

To think, the show could have been saved with Trip and Mayweather going shirtless on a desert planet. A shame that didn't happen, really...

And on top of that, the writers were just using the decon chamber gimmick on the wrong crew!

 

[EEE]

... chose to ignore that in favor of the more "traditional" male scifi fans. More's the pity.

As a "traditional" male scifi fan, I don't see any problem with that! *grin*

As to profitability question, the money for TV shows has traditionally been syndication. Read Solow & Justman's Trek book. I did not know that if a series breaks even while on the air, it's considered fantastic. The gamble of a whole series was in reaching the 100 episode (or so?) mark that syndication used to require. (Now, I'm not sure how it would/did work for the Trek's that were done solely for syndication. That production money must've made it a bigger gamble?)

Every incarnation of Trek has been in syndication forever. So yes, every incarnation of Trek made serious amounts of money.

While it is changing, the financial goal of being syndicated is why the vast majority of TV shows (Trek included) use the oft-maligned (continuity)"reset button." It used to be a prerequisite for/by the syndicators, so that they didn't have to worry about scheduling and the problems inherent with viewers missing some episodes.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Now, I'm not sure how it would/did work for the Trek's that were done solely for syndication. That production money must've made it a bigger gamble?

They did some creative accounting, of course. The only way they could make the TNG sets viable was to cost the sets across a theoretical five-year run. (And they needed to know the sets were paid for by then because contract negotiations had to happen for Season Six.) They off-set their early overseas profits by selling the rights to VHS releases upfront to companies like CIC-Taft Australia, and promised them a twelve-month "video holdback" before the local TV stations could run the show. That way there was guaranteed cashflow even though the show might not make immediate profits.