On September 28, 1987 Star Trek returned to television with The Next Generation. The premiere and the business behind it shifted where and how TV shows could be made and sold.
Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered Sept. 28, 1987 with “Encounter at Farpoint,” drawing a 15.7 Nielsen rating and growing in popularity over its run.
TNG was produced for first-run syndication by Paramount, who kept creative control and split national and local ad minutes to fund the series.
TNG’s syndication success influenced later shows (Baywatch, Highlander, Babylon 5) to follow a similar model.
# The moment TV changed On September 28, 1987 Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) premiered with a double-length episode, "Encounter at Farpoint." Co-written by Gene Roddenberry and D.C. Fontana and directed by Corey Allen, the episode delivered a 15.7 Nielsen rating. The premiere marked more than a new cast and ship — it showed a different way to make and distribute television.
# What was different about the show
# Why the premiere mattered beyond fandom The debut wasn't only a creative success. Paramount chose to produce TNG as a first-run syndicated series rather than follow the usual network route. That allowed Paramount to retain creative freedom, reject network demands for a pilot screening, and control distribution.
Paramount offered the show free to local stations and split advertising time: seven minutes sold nationally by Paramount and five minutes kept by local stations. The company earned enough ad revenue per episode to help fund production. The premiere was broadcast in multiple major markets including Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami and outperformed the four major networks in several places during prime time.
# The ripple effects for TV production Because TNG proved syndication could carry a high-quality, ambitious drama, it changed calculations for producers and distributors. Shows that followed this model included Baywatch, Highlander: The Series, and Babylon 5. TNG also bucked the pattern of declining viewership over a run: ratings increased in later seasons, and the Season 7 finale posted a 17.4 Nielsen rating.
# How it fit into Star Trek's longer arc Star Trek's TV life began with The Original Series in 1966, which lasted three seasons and 79 episodes before cancellation. An animated series aired 22 episodes across two seasons, and the franchise returned to theaters with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. TNG brought the franchise back to television after that theatrical period and moved its storytelling forward both in time and in tone.
# The suite of changes that mattered
These changes combined to make TNG more than a new entry in Star Trek. The show altered how a major franchise could be relaunched on TV and how a distributor could finance and place a series outside the traditional network system.
# Bottom line TNG relaunched Star Trek on television with a new captain, new ship, and a different tone. Paramount's decision to produce and distribute the show in first-run syndication demonstrated a viable alternative to the network pilot-and-commit model and influenced how several later series were financed and placed.
The screen is dark for a mere second. Then, it shifts, dozens of white dots and blue lines illustrating the vastness of space popping up. The familiar chimes of a theme song plays, and any doubt of the series about to unfold is dismissed with four simple words: “Space, the final frontier”. The voice narrating is […]
NBC Given the popularity of the sci-fi genre now, it’s hard to believe that it began as a very niche form of entertainment. But every famous sci-fi franchise initially went through a period of struggle to find a viewing audience, grow it, and keep it. While many franchises have been successful at all three, few have […
Image Courtesy of Paramount Star Trek went through a long period of inactivity after Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled. In 2005, UPN cancelled Star Trek: Enterprise, ending the series after four seasons, the first time that any Star Trek show was cancelled by a network since Star Trek: The Original Series. Producer R
40 years later, one of NBC's strangest sitcom gambles remains a beloved TV oddity that proved even skeptical critics could be won over in time.
When Star Trek premiered on NBC, there was little indication that Gene Roddenberry’s science-fiction series would become one of the most enduring creations in popular culture; the feeling at the time was that it would likely have more in common with Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space than anything innovative. Starring William
"Science fiction imagines the future. We build it."
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.