Time for a Reign Change.... Re: Star Trek Series... (1 Viewer)

[Rex Bachmann]

Joey Nazzari wrote (post #20):

Typical of today's "ME! ME! ME! Now! Now! Now!"-thinking. Of course, the ratings "matter" in trying to figure out why this program, which was so popular with so much of the hardcore Trek fandom, was---or became---so unpopular with the general audiences that were---and are still today---obviously needed to measure and [e]nsure Trek's continuing and future (commercial) viability.

We see this in the Berman (and Braga) trend toward ignoring the hardcore (and often quite knowledgeable) fan base and producing material that is Trek in name only. This is manifested in rehashed stories/plots, in ignoring or subverting established Trek "history" and precedent for mere current story-telling convenience, and the like.

They're obviously playing to a much more generic viewership with Enterprise than the fanbase dedicated to DS 9, and it shows! That means you can expect to see no more DS 9s or TNGs---no more "excellent shows"---produced in the future. Why should they bother?

 

[DaveF]

The Dominion macrostory also hurt the ratings, no matter how much the true fans loved it.

I find that surprising. In my microcosm, that's when the show became interesting and pulled me, and others, in.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Jack Briggs wrote (post #19):

[Ho-hum.] You find it surprising in part because you're not picking up on the terminology. When Mr. Briggs says "no matter how much the true fans loved it", he's speaking about people such as himself, myself, yourself, and the social circle you're speaking about; in other words, the dedicated fanbase that I spoke of in my previous post above (#21). The average viewer is a "casual fan", at best, and watches for the "now"-experience and doesn't give a "damned!" about the plausibility of the science, the series's long-term character development, or the like. Probably doesn't watch episode after episode, and, on average, certainly won't remember many details from episode to episode. Such viewers may not enjoy the "macro-arcs", as they are now being labelled, precisely because they won't be there from week to week to follow them.

These are the people being "catered" to in the modern Trek era, as I have said previously.