Would TNG Have Worked Without Picard?

[drt]

I'm sure they could have added endearing qualities or softened the edges if she was a regular. A lot of times characters get introduced as a lot less likeable as they end up being - it gives them room to grow.

Undoubtedly that would have been the case. She was obviously introduced to be a foil for Riker to demonstrate how complacent he'd become as first officer, so of course she was going to rub the audience the wrong way.

I think Paramount just wanted their own TNG to be the anchor for UPN and get 15-20 mil viewers a night. Didn't work out that way though. There was less pressure on DS9 due to it being in syndication.

It's totally understandable, DS9 was never as popular as TNG, so UPN would of course try and walk back what DS9 was doing and try to make their new show more like their super-successful one. They were probably battling diminishing returns by that point, but I wonder if they had stuck with their original plans would VOY have done better or worse?

 

[NigellaDeanna20]

How is replacing Picard with Riker an attempt at replicating TOS? Riker was similar to Kirk, especially in the first season, but he became his own character fairly quickly. Picard's influence was one of the reasons why.

"Riker was similar to Kirk, especially in the first season" That's exactly what the OP meant by replicating TOS. From what I've heard over the years, Roddenberry didn't want to replicate TOS with TNG. He apparently wanted it to be it's own seperate identity which it turned out to be.

 

[SatrianiRules]

"Riker was similar to Kirk, especially in the first season" That's exactly what the OP meant by replicating TOS. From what I've heard over the years, Roddenberry didn't want to replicate TOS with TNG. He apparently wanted it to be it's own seperate identity which it turned out to be.

yeah I remember seeing that TNG was closer to Gene's vision of what he wanted TOS to be. Far more cooperative and collective in problem solving and task delegation.

But that was not the format at the time on TV shows in that era. There was always the 'hero' that solved the problem of the day, usually the main character, who did the deed, came up with the solution, solved the problems, that's why in one episode, Kirk knew more about Biology that Bones, or knew more about Warp engines than Scotty etc...(wonder if this was also Shatner's influence as well?). Pretty typical standard fare of the time.