Why Every TV Network Passed On Star Trek: The Next Generation
by Witney Seibold · /FilmWe may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Trekkies know the story well: 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" was something of a disappointment at the box office, and "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry — a producer on the flick — was thereafter officially disinvited from contributing to the next few "Star Trek" movies.
This rejection incensed Roddenberry, who decided to essentially take his ball and go home. He proceeded to create his own new "Star Trek" show, and, in the mid-1980s, began developing "Star Trek: The Next Generation," a series set about a century after the events of the first series. It was infused even more deeply with Roddenberry's socialist utopian ideals and was set on a new version of the U.S.S. Enterprise, with an all-new cast of characters. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) was a thing of the past. It was now all going to be about Captain Picard. There was turmoil in the writers room, but the show launched in 1987.
The original "Star Trek" was originally broadcast on NBC, although it eventually settled into the hands of CBS. Over the years, CBS changed names and mutated several times, eventually becoming Viacom, a company that would take over companies like Paramount. "Star Trek," then, has been seen as a Paramount property for years. And because it belongs to Paramount, the franchise is not owned by any one of the classic "big" networks.
According to Paula M. Block's and Terry J. Erdmann's book "Star Trek: The Next Generation 365," TNG was shopped to the big networks at the time, but they all turned the series down, as the studio had some pretty stringent demands. After the multiple rejections, the studio decided that "Next Generation" would be syndicated instead, allowing it to thrive. The network rejections might have made "Star Trek" more ubiquitous in the long run.
Star Trek: The Next Generation bypassed the networks and went straight into syndication
The "big four" networks, to remind readers, were CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox, which was still brand-new at the time. Traditionally, a studio will make a TV series and then sell it to a network for a hefty sum, leaving the network largely in charge of its broadcasting. It seems that Paramount tried to sell "Star Trek: The Next Generation" to the networks, but they all refused, as Paramount included a great many stringent stipulations. For one, Paramount demanded that "Next Generation" be placed and locked into a notable time slot on the broadcast schedule. Networks would not be allowed to randomly shift the show's day and time (something that networks do often, usually to the detriment of a show). Paramount also demanded that "Next Generation" never be preempted. If there was a football game, "Star Trek" would have to run regardless.
Most demandingly, Paramount insisted that "Next Generation" be given an entire 26-episode season. Also, the networks had to commit to running ads for the new series. Paramount wanted to make darn sure that a network was wholly committed to "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and wouldn't try to shift it about, cancel it, or bury it.
Once the networks refused, Paramount made the daring decision to sell the show into syndication. This meant the studio would lease the show directly to broadcast stations, and not to a network. This kind of made sense, as reruns of the original "Star Trek" had been in syndication for years. Paramount went to the stations that were broadcasting "Star Trek" reruns anyway and leased out "Next Generation" to them. Both shows could, in practice, be run in blocks.
No one would care about Star Trek as much as Paramount
The head of Paramount Television at the time, a guy named Mel Harris, came to the conclusion that "Star Trek: The Next Generation" should be sold directly into syndication after realizing that "nobody else was going to care as much about 'Star Trek' as we did." Syndication can force a show immediately off the air if it's not popular.
Luckily, "Next Generation" was, and it thrived in syndication. And Paramount, in dealing with broadcasters, was able to get everything it wanted. Roddenberry's new show got a regular time slot on a regular night, a lot of advertising and bumpers on local stations, no preempting, and a full season guaranteed. The networks may have been shy, but TV stations were happy to have a hit on their hands. Roddenberry may have been barred from making more "Star Trek" movies after 1979, but only eight years later, he was burning up TV screens again ... without network help.
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" ran in this fashion for seven full seasons. Roddenberry passed away in 1991, and he was likely utterly chuffed to see his new show succeed in the way it did. A few years later, Paramount launched another successful spinoff, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," also into syndication. Several other hit shows were also gaining a lot of traction in syndication, shows like
"Friday the 13th: The Series," "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," the queer-friendly "Xena: Warrior Princess," and "Renegade."
It wouldn't be until the start of "Star Trek: Voyager" in 1995 that Paramount would get into the network game ... by launching its own network. The UPN (United Paramount Network) debuted that January, and sold "Voyager" as its flagship show.