CBS CEO Touts International Appeal Of Star Trek Picard Series

Today CBS Corporation announced their first-quarter earnings results for 2019, which included a follow-up conference call with the investment press. On the call, the acting CEO of CBS talked up the planned international expansion of CBS Access and also noted how the Picard show will appeal overseas.

Discovery Season 2 helps deliver the best quarter yet for All Access

Acting CEO Joe Ianniello talked up the continued growth of CBS All Access, home of Star Trek on TV, saying that the first quarter of the year saw a jump of 71% in subscriptions. He used the growth of All Access as an example of how the company’s investment in programming is paying off:

The driving force behind our direct-to-consumer services and our entire company is our premium must-have content and we continue to increase our output. This year we are on track to invest more than $8 billion in programming…the benefits of this content-driven strategy were on full display at CBS All Access in the first quarter. Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery started in January, and the return of The Good Fight dropped in March. Add to that Super Bowl LIII and March Madness and CBS All Access had its biggest quarter of sub[scription] growth ever. The momentum continues here into Q2 with the The Twilight Zone, which was the most watched original premeire on CBS All Access and which we just renewed for a second season.

Earlier this year CBS already said they passed their goal of 8 million subscribers (split evenly between CBS All Access and Showtime) and the acting CEO said the latest quarter has the more optimistic about the future, noting:

Between our content investment and our expansion onto new platforms, we feel even better today than we did just a quarter ago about reaching our [domestic] target of 25 million direct-to-consumer subs in 2022.

Also on the call was head of CBS Interactive Jim Lanzone who also pointed to the investment in more in original content as the key to keeping subscribers:

We have been very happy to see many lapsed users come back to All Access upon the seasonal return of their favorite content. We think of these users as “pausing” their membership instead of canceling it in the traditional sense and the data suggests our investment in content across CBS will be our most effective tool for eliminating or reducing the pause cycle for these users, as well as deepening their engagement.

Picard show’s global appeal

When going over the 2019 slate of original programming planned for CBS All Access, Ianniello added an interesting note:

We will launch a whole new Star Trek series starring Sir Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, which will have strong international appeal.

It’s noteworthy that the CEO talked about the international appeal of the Picard show because as of now, it is not known when or where the show will be available outside of the USA. The Picard show is set to premiere in the USA on CBS All Access later in 2019, and went into production in April.

While the Star Trek: Discovery exclusive international deal with Netflix was announced early on in development, CBS has yet to announce how the new Picard show will be distributed around the world. Speaking to TrekMovie in March, Picard show executive producer Alex Kurtzman said news on the international distribution of the show “will be coming very soon.”

All Access global headed next to Latin America and Western Europe

One possible home for the Picard show would be All Access outside of the USA. While the service is currently only available in two countries, Ianniello said that is going to change:

We launched All Access in Canada a year ago and followed it up with 10 All Access in Australia last fall. Next up, we will launch our direct-to-consumer services in Latin America and Western Europe, two regions where we see high growth potential and strong interest in our premium content.

When pressed during the Q&A, the CEO would not commit to a specific timeline regarding the international expansion saying they are taking their time and being methodical, adding “we are going as quickly as possible but thorough, focused on making sure the offering to the consumer is robust.” But he also said that CBS is committed to rolling subscription streaming to 200 countries around the world, adding it was “probably singlehandedly the largest opportunity ahead of us.”

Ianniello noted the company will be pragmatic as it looks to international licensing in territories where it is planning on expanding its own service:

It’s country by country and franchise by franchise. I don’t think we are saying anything now or in the future that we are not going to license content to third parties. Sometimes if they can pay you more money because they have the better infrastructure to monetize it, we will take that money and reinvest it into our businesses.

NOTE: Article has been updated to include longer quotes from the investor call for more context.


Keep up with all the CBS and Paramount corporate news here at TrekMovie.com. And keep up with all the upcoming Star Trek TV shows on TrekMovie.com.

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The Picard show will easily be the biggest thing On AA by far! If this doesn’t get more Trek fans on board, I would be shocked. Now if it will be as big as they are hoping, thats a different question but if Discovery can get to three seasons I have no idea how this won’t unless it just outright sucks (which of course is always a possibility). But everyone will be tuned in first season, especially those missing the 24th century era of Trek stories and characters.

I’m not so sure. Hardcore fans will bite, of course, but TNG left the air over twenty years ago, and I’m not at all sure this is on the radar for most people. We’ll see.

I’m mainly talking hardcore fans! I actually don’t think it will get many new fans on board at all. But there are MILLIONS of potential old fans who have not signed up for AA because they didn’t want another prequel or the new characters didn’t appeal to them. I think those will give this a chance. But I’m not under the impression its going to reenergize Trek like TNG did or anything. It could, but yes they would really have to knock it out of the park, Picard or no Picard.

Will Patrick Stewart at his advanced age appeal to the masses. The TNG fans will tune in for sure. Even Star Trek fans as a whole, we think is massive fan base will make a difference but I’m guessing if this series does not attract a younger broader audience, it will need more than Patrick Stewart, it will need younger newer actors and good story telling but the splashiness must be there to appeal to a broader audience. AS a TOS fan, I no longer want to see William Shatner or any of the TOS actors in any role on Star Trek. it’s hard to see them in action again. Also the demographics will determine who the show caters too. Bottom line, if the series caters to the hardcore fan, it may not be enough to keep it on long term, it needs to appeal to the masses too.

Good thing they have a cast of younger actors around him

You just answered a question I had about why the cast was so young, makes sense when you put it like that.

Hmmm… I honestly cannot predict this. TZ got bigger premiere numbers than Trek did, according to the article. That doesn’t bode well for the Picard show. Although, the Picard show does have Stewart. Who does have charisma to many. I have no doubt it will be bigger than Discovery. But beyond that I cannot say. It may not even be the biggest thing on All Access. Which, to me, says something about the overall popularity of Star Trek.

The article just literally says how amazed and proud cbs is of Star Trek carrying its “access” brand. They are making good money off of Star Trek. That’s what they are going all in. This is a brand that sells. PERIOD. the proof is right above you.

Did you miss the part where they said Twilight Zone has outstreamed Star Trek to become the most popular property on CBSAA? I would have assumed Discovery was. So I’m a bit surprised but not entirely shocked.

Remember that Discovery premiered on CBS, so this wording gives some wiggle room.

The thing about streamers is they don’t post ratings, so you kinda have to just take their words for it if a show is doing well, and you’re also going to be in the dark about if the show really deserves cancellation (and streamers tend ot cancel shows much sooner than broadcasters do since they are all about growth instead of steady viewership; old shows are less valuable than sparkly new ones).

All Ianello talked about is series premieres – we don’t know which show is more popular on average, and may never do.

Just because they are sticking with it doesn’t mean it has done well. Execs stuck with voyager when the ratings we’re less than projected. They are committed to CBS all access as an option. I’m not sure that means star trek discovery is a success or that it is profitable. We really don’t know since profitable on a pay model is hard to compare to metrics based on viewers. It is the least watched trek ever if the reported average numbers are accurate that several sources are reporting. Is there a way to get those numbers from CBS directly?

Honestly it makes sense. Twilight Zone has a bigger appeal to a mass audience because of black mirror now, and the fact there’s no baggage to it. You don’t need to know any canon or watch week to week.

I agree.

Not all trek fans are TNG fans, I for one will likely not watch. They will need more than boring Picard to get me to watch

I would respectfully hope that as a Trek fan, you’d at least be excited about new Trek, even if it’s one character (amongst a larger new ensemble) you didn’t really care about in the past.

I am not a fan of “boring” Picard. I do think Stewart’s portrayal of the character was good, however. And I am looking forward to new Trek. However, given the results of Discovery that excitement has been severely tempered. I feel better about Lower Decks than I do about anything mentioned that’s coming down the pipe.

Same, Lower Decks and the Nick series I think will be way more interesting than Picard

That is my guess before seeing any of them. But if they make Picard NOT perfect, then that show could have potential.

My uneducated guess at what Picard show will be like: a troubled, aging Picard doing some unconventional things, changed substantially from the man we knew 20 years ago, more planet-bound and less trek across the stars, lower budget, more character-driven stories. That, to me, makes the most sense given Stewart’s age and all the comments we’ve heard from major players so far. Which I think will be fine, intriguing, but not the show I’m anticipating the most of the ones coming down the pipe.

I hope he plays “Movie Picard”.

I will not be watching either TNG is my least favorite star trek series. Zero chracter growth, chracters that really are not that interesting. To me Picard was always the worst captain. Anyone who leaves Data on the bridge, despite how many times some alien virus has taken him over, is not captain material in my book.

I don’t think it’ll be a cultural event, but I agree it’ll be about as big as anything on CBSAA so far. It’s not just an established property but features one of its most iconic characters, played by the original actor. I think that’ll bring more visibility than the other content they’ve created so far.

Exactly! I think some are reading too much into my post. I’m not suggesting its going to be the new GOT or anything, simply the most popular show on AA and admittedly thats a pretty low bar already lol. And even then, only if its GOOD, then I don’t see how it won’t be a guaranteed winner out of the gate because the curiosity factor is probably pretty big, especially being the first true Star Trek sequel in nearly 20 years and bringing back an iconic character to boot. Seeing Spock on Discovery was cool, but it wasn’t Nimoy either. Stewart will only be the second Trek actor to reprise his original role since Enterprise went of the air. So there are a lot of factors in play. But yes I could still be wrong.

Not exactly missing the 24th century era of Trek stories (my DVDs are still there after all), but excited to see it reimagined to a degree. This could be a real first for ST, if they don’t simply set the thing on a ship and assign eight regular crewmembers to it. It is for me the most anticipated of the Kurtzman/CBS Treks.

I’m greatly missing the 24th century but I will admit I was starting to like Discovery setting more in season 2 (unlike season 1) with the Pike stuff but now in many ways I’m actually more excited about the 32nd century potential. But the 24th century can bring back characters and story lines I miss. It may not but as Discovery second season proved, its indeed possible.

I still have a feeling the show will take place on a ship but maybe not a starship. I would have no problem if Picard found his way to an old Cardassian space station on the edge of the final frontier near a stable wormhole and settle there for a season or two. ;D

The Picard show will always be Discovery’s little brother.

Maybe. But then, following that logic, Discovery will always be TNG’s distant second cousin.

I don’t consider those shows related.

Following your logic, I don’t consider the Picard show and Disco related.

Just because you are constantly arrogant in regards to anything that challenges Discovery it doesn’t make you correct.

Its NH4 up to his old trolling ways. He’ll probably be banned again soon.

I’ll wait for the usual desperate denial from A34. “Who is this person you keep aligning me with Tiger? I do not know of such a person and clearly you mistaken me for someone else sir. That gentleman wore glasses, from what I been told, and I do not. Clearly we are two different people!”

@Tezna. How am I “constantly arrogant”? I express my opinion with a great deal of respect for others here, including those I don’t agree with ideologically.

And I’ve never once expressed my opinion as though it’s the only correct one.

Pretty sure that’s aimed at the other poster and not you Holden.

You clearly can not read the comment chain. My response falls under A34.

Apologies, Tezna. It is hard to parse out the comment chain on a smart phone.

ahahahahahahahaha

A34 I find it difficult to understand why you feel that any one show needs to dominate, be a ‘big brother’ or flagship.

Kurtzman and CBS seem to have a clearheaded understanding that Trek fans aren’t a monolith, even if many will watch a series once even if it’s not a fit for their niche.

A menu of offerings that suit different niches of Trek fandom and draw new fans in is very sound strategy.

There doesn’t seem to be any positive reason to promote one show as the anchor for the franchise.

Discovery is the flagship show. The short 3 season Picard show won’t changed that.

A. None of that matters. All that matters is who watches what show the most.

B. There is no guarantee Discovery will even be on for another 3 seasons. It could be, even longer than that, or it could over by season 3. Its hard to say.

C. Same for Picard show. It could be cancelled by season 1 or go to season 5. The three season thing is just the minimum they plan to go and its probably up to Stewart. Trust me, if this IS a truly big hit and Stewart wants to keep going it will easily go longer than that (this is CBS we’re talking about). And even if Stewart himself is done and its really successful they will probably just make another spin off with another character from that show like the Section 31 show with Yeoh and possibly a future Pike show with Mount (which is the show fans actually want and they really SHOULD be doing).

Your really odd and trollish obsession you have with Discovery for two seasons now doesn’t take away the reality it will no longer be the only Trek show on after this year and many more shows will be coming, so it will just be whatever show that garners the most attention. Discovery did because its literally the only Trek show on now. That’s now changing very soon.

And if Discovery stays in the 32nd century, which it sounds like it will, then they will need other shows like Picard to fill the gaps of the earlier time periods.

I’m starting to wonder if Russian fake posters do their apprenticeship at trek boards. Once they become sufficiently vituperative, they graduate to defending indefensible ethical and moral policies, along with whiny and dangerously incompetent Presidents.

Just as long Alex Kurtzman isn’t involved, it will be great. He ruined STD IMHO.

Kurtzman heads the whole Trek TV franchise so he will be involved in the Picard show. He may take a more hands-off approach with it than with Discovery as long as he thinks it’s running smoothly without him.

Discovery will be the flagship show. I actually expect less people to watch Picards show for various reasons, will gain a lot of attention but can he hold the show up on his own, will it attract younger viewers? Not so sure yet.

I may be wrong but I get the feeling that season 3 will be the last for Discovery. Streaming is a different animal but in the past when shows made a major off season overhaul for whatever reason (and I consider changing their time setting a major overhaul) it never worked and those shows were not long for their world.

Online streaming, I’m still not gonna pay a subscription when I already have cable, Netflix, and prime.

CBS had bloody better not launch ANY Star Trek series on 10 All Access here in Australia. It is a completely worthless service and I’m not paying anything for it. Just do a global deal with Netflix or even Amazon.

I suspect there’s a good chance this will happen. I’ve often made the point that we Aussies are used to paying for Star Trek. I know I had to fork out for the DS9 and Voyager VHS tapes every month back in the day. It was that or wait years for Channel 9. It may soon be time for me to put my money where my mouth is. If Picard ends up on 10 All Access, I’ll pay for a subscription. The biggest disadvantage, for me, is that I’ll have to buy a ChromeCast, as there’s no Playstation 3 app for 10 All Access. That’s actually the biggest issue with these little small-time streaming services. Lack of wide support for devices. I’d much rather watch on my TV than my phone or computer.

Playstation 3? Chromecast? This is clearly a message from the distant past.

Welcome to the club, Adam. I was forced to buy a Chromecast just for the privilage of watching CBSAA on the TV. They have no TV app and still don’t. It is obvious they have no intent on making it easy to watch their TV service on a TV.

They have apps for some TV brands and models but not all.

They’ve eliminated some; last year we could do the CBS trial on our TV, but this year the TV wasn’t a recognized component or some words to that effect. We got a different blu-ray machine that it did recognize, but the machine conked out after a week, so we still canm’t do the CBS thing (not that I’m in a big rush anyway.)

I was finally forced to buy a new BD player last month. No CBSAA app.

Boo Hoo. Welcome to the plight of us Americans.

Glad to read that TZ was renewed for a new season! The show’s been a little uneven, but overall far better than not, for my money. Speaking of which, where’d the reviews of that show go? I was looking forward to discussing it more.

I’ve seen 4 episodes thus far and none have been very good. The Commedian was OK but it was WAY too long. The rest have not only suffered from being way too long but also as being not very good at all to downright dumb. I’ll check out the rest when I re-up for Picard but I’m not very hopeful it will get any better.

I do agree with the length part. Every episode could’ve worked under 30 minutes and been just as effective.

…and that’s why the 60’s versions still have excellent replay value. In 30 minutes you can get a tight, well-written story. They’re gems. It’s a shame this new incarnation didn’t follow that formula.

Let’s hope the new Picard show will “engage” us!

Patrick Stewart. Full frontal. I smell a winner….

Gee, Phil, I hate to see a man expose his “shortcomings” just to make a buck!

Hopeful. Optimistic. Suspicious though of the cbs star trek team after discovery. Hopefully this captures our imaginations!

Speaking of Twilight Zone, Trekmovie didn’t you say you were going to do weekly reviews of the show??? You did one for the first two and its been zilch since. Are you not reviewing the show anymore?

Co-sign.

I’m fine with them ignoring TZ now. It hasn’t been very good at all.

So we’re pretty exhausted from the breakneck speed of doing Discovery stuff every week. Right now, we just don’t have a lot of energy to review them. It doesn’t help that the episodes so far have just not been that amazing.

We’ll likely revisit the season in a more limited way, we may do a half way point review of the season, or review of the season as whole, we’re not sure yet.

I wrote a preview of the first 4 episodes and we reviewed the first two in depth. Those reviews kind of summarize all the episodes I’ve seen so far (I haven’t watched this week’s episode yet) – “neat idea, too long, execution was mixed bag.”

I will say I liked “Replay” a lot, but it too was smidge too long for the maximum impact.

‘Replay’ was the best so far. I think all of them (except for ‘Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,’ which I don’t really know what it was going for) had really cool premises, and mostly interesting twists. But, yeah, I think the problem might be each one could be tighter, which might have made them more effective for some audiences.

Really? “Replay” was worse than “Shatteryday” from the 80’s TZ. “The Comedian” has easily been the best and it wasn’t even that good. Maybe if all of them were shorter it might be different. This lesson was learned back in the 50’s when TZ went to the hour format. And the few longer ones in the ’80’s version were not among the better ones. Seems that people have not learned from the past.

I’m not arguing the point about running time, which I think is a valid criticism. But, yes, Replay was the most powerful in terms of concept and in terms of payoff. I’ll concede it took too long to get there.

But how can you say it was the worst? Some guy listening to a podcast on a flight that came true meant. . . . what?

Seems people have not learned from the past, indeed, ML31.

All 4 that I saw did suffer from being too long, yes. That said, Replay was tired and cliche. If you want to touch on that subject I would have hoped TZ would have done so without resorting to overused tropes. The podcast that comes true was indeed genuinely creepy. But the payoff was utterly ridiculous. The Comedian was the best of the lot thus far. But that’s not saying much.

Need some help? Any justification to watch (streaming) TV is a motivation…

OK Matt, I completely understand. I was just confused because you guys announced that’s what you would be doing but then there hasn’t been a single review since the premiere.

But can’t blame you, especially with all the great weekly Discovery reviews. And for me personally, I’ve only seen one episode myself so far lol. The Nightmare at 30,000 feet episode. I liked it but wasn’t amazed by it. And as said most people seem to be very mixed on the show so haven’t been personally motivated myself to watch more yet.

I’ve seen all I want regarding this character, and watching geriatric Stewart bumble his way through this limited endeavour isn’t of any interest whatsoever. This vanity piece is somewhat niche I’d venture, it’s psndering to the type of Trek fan seen so often in these pages, you know, the haters.

Nice ageism there. The elderly have a lot to contribute in story telling and narrative POV. Also no one here knows what hate is. Hate is when someone sets you on fire for believing in a different sky fairy.

Oh please. It’s a fact, he’s old.

But why is the “fact” that he’s old relevant? That’s like saying something sexist and then saying, “well, but it’s a fact that she’s a woman.” Or, saying something racist . . . and so on. What weird circular logic.

Not at all. I’ve owned a 1978 Porsche 911 for a few years now. By any modern measure, it’s ghastly to drive. It’s brakes badly, steers badly, has lumpy power delivery and is loud and uncomfortable. It is more than the sum of its parts however. That said, it’s time has come and gone. It’s a mere nod to a past where it was better than most of the similar offerings available. Point to point, my 2018 diesel Audi A4 estate is a quicker car.

Think of Stewart like that. I do.

So, you’re making very broad, very negative assumptions based on age alone? (we won’t even touch the weird car/human analogy)

Yeah, dude, that’s the exact definition of “ageism.”

And please don’t tell me what/how to think. Thanks.

But you need guidance, clearly.

Gee, Marty, I’m so glad you’re not making assumptions.

You may, but others don’t. That a person is past his prime doesn’t mean that he has nothing to offer, or that interesting stories can no longer be told about him. Amazing, that this even needs to be explained.

What a bizarre mentality. In my culture old is good. It is wisdom and experience, as well as a sign of growth of character and resilience of the spirit. That makes for a good performer who knows what they are doing. I think you come from an extremely self centred and narcissistic mindset making you a very toxic person.

You must be very young then, as you have no wisdom.

Yes, that he’s old is a fact. Ageism refers to your use of ‘bumble,’ I suspect. If you think that’s all older people are capable of, the label fits.

Stewart’s never “bumbled” his way through anything, and this won’t won’t be where that starts.

And if expecting modern Trek to possess the spirit and philosophy of its forerunners makes me a hater, I hope I never stop hating the shows that fail in that regard.

Thumbs up. Hate away. Disco is a huge letdown. They can and should do better. Change is fine but uninspiring characters paired with bad writing shouldn’t be praised or accepted.

For the record, I find old Picard just as inspiring a character as the younger version. He doesn’t need to be an action star to lead a team on an interesting and thought provoking adventure. He was never Sisco, Kirk, Janeway, or Archer who were more hands on. Picard’s character lends itself well to an older version of himself dealing with unfinished business. I just hope the writing team makes the most of it!

Not an issue with Picard or Stewart, but certainly the hardcore will be going into eternal meltdown again when the BELOVED CANON is mishandled from anything from a wrong door chime to the lighting 10% less than it should be on the bridge of a ship

I agree. And Picard is now a prequel show what with Discovery going forward 900 years or so. How long before we see a clip of Picard in his new show and the fan base shouting how ‘he’d never deliver a line like that?’

Meh.

What’s truly bizarre is predicating your level of enthusiasm for something on the assumption — justified or not — of what other people might say about it.

Meh indeed.

Meh.

This isn’t a prequel to Discovery, it’s a sequel to TNG.

Also: nobody says “meh” anymore. That died around the time people stopped saying “First!”

Alternatively, we’re seeing Picard 20 years after the events in TNG. It’s a natural progression; of course there will be technological advancements over those 20 years. Of course Picard will be different after 20 years, people change. Unless they literally try to change the events which happened in TNG, which would be ridiculous, I think/hope hardcore fans may be much more forgiving of any changes, because they’re natural. This isn’t Discovery, shoehorning crazy technological advancements in right before the TOS era. We’ll actually be seeing the future of the Prime timeline we’ve been following since Day One, actually going forward.

Exactly why I’m much more excited for Picard Danpaine, because they CAN be different and more advanced tech and they don’t have to ‘explain it’ like they feel they had to with Discovery. A lot can change in 20 years, both characters and the setting, so I’m wide open to whatever they do with both.

Discovery just felt wildly out of place for the time period and they clearly know it, hence rebooting that show 900 years into the future. They wanted to shut fans up about ‘this stuff looks like it belongs in another century’ well they certainly done it lol.

I’m now looking forward to what they will do with a 32nd century show but the Picard show (for the time being anyway) will be the only show that will continue the timeline we all know and FINALLY not go backwards in it like Enterprise and first two seasons of Discovery but forward again. And in a period that had 21 seasons and four movies of previous story telling, from TNG to VOY, so there is a lot they can reference while doing something completely new at the same time. This is exciting for many of us!

Kirsten Beyer wrote the concept and has been in the writers room since early fall.

Michael Chabon’s Calypso was marvellous.

I think it will be fine.

If all the shows are free to watch than pay to watch, I’ll watch it then. I won’t watch Star Trek Discovery and any other future shows that are pay to watch if they will doing this. Forget it I’ll pass. I like watching Star Trek on digital signal television.

If CBS were to broadcast S1 of Discovery on its main network as a summer replacement, would you give it a try?

Based on Hub’s comment it sounds very much like it would get seen under those circumstances. I understand Hub’s point of view, though. I pay for CBS while Trek is on but I’m not a fan of doing so at all.

I’m wondering.ML31, because CBS execs have mused about doing this as a way to attract new clients to CBSAA.

Basically, the it sound like they’re contemplating inverting the direct-to-customer sequencing to start with original content behind the premium pay wall followed by mass broadcast.

It will be interesting to see if everyone who says the paywall is what’s holding them back will watch the show on broadcast.

Have any images from the Picard show leaked online yet?

Anyone have any leaks at all? It’s been so silent from the production house!

I love that shot of Picard from First Contact. I know that FC has a lot of haters who complain that PIcard was an action hero and too different from the TV series, but I love it.

While it’s been many years since I last saw Fist Contact I enjoyed the movie quite well. However, when I saw that shot now I thought: Wow, that (CGI) space view of Australia looks pretty bad.

Especially considering they left out New Zealand

We’re there. We were simply cloaked.

It was completely obliterated in World War Three.

But they used Picard’s friend’s continent building technology to recreate NZ by the 2370s so Tom Paris can be there

The views of Earth are weird because Rick Berman and/or Peter Lauritson kept asking ILM to paint out more and more clouds so you could see terrain from space. Pretty weird (and utterly stupid, wrongheaded) choice given Earth should still be in the throes of nuclear winter, given the radiation and the number of dead.

I just rewatched this on Monday, and it has slipped back to where it was for well over a decade for me – a real grind. The last couple times I saw it, I was able to put all my grumbles aside and enjoy the good parts, but this time, once again I just found myself getting angry at so many of their choices. The miniature spaceship stuff looks vert very good, though. (to give you an idea of how much I disliked this, I watched INSURRECTION last week and enjoyed that a lot more – I watched NEM about 3 weeks back and while it was lousy, it was somehow less annoying than FC.

First Contact was good because it presented Picard with (gasp!) a character flaw.

He had a few on TNG. The episode Tapestry showed his ego, for example. But I know what you mean.

I liked that scene myself, but much of the rest of the film left me cold. It’s okay, certainly the best of the TNG films (though I consider INSURRECTION to be somewhat underrated), but that’s a pretty low bar.

I’d much rather see action Picard on TV, but I don’t think there’s “time” for that

I see what you did there

Insurrection was exactly like a tv episode and no one showed up to see it. So i guess First Contact being different worked.

Is anyone else not surprised that Twilight Zone got more premiere streams than Star Trek?

No not really! If AA has grown so fast, the paying viewer base is now bigger than it was at the premiere of DSC.

Not surprised whatsoever.

It’s a better show. It has writers who understand the source material. It’s more appealing to a general audience. It doesn’t have any baggage. It doesn’t have people freaking out all over the internet about what they’ve changed from the original. It doesn’t have people freaking out all over the internet about what they would do differently.

Not surprised at all, basically.

Agreed. It also has a *ton* more star power than DISCO so far.

As we’re discussing the ratings for the premiere, that it’s a better show in your opinion is pretty irrelevant.

Thanks for the clarification.

At the end of the day it’s all going to come down to the writing with this show, any show, for that matter. I call bullsh*t on anyone saying Stewart can’t draw in viewers at 80 years old. Sure he can, IF the story is compelling, tightly written, his ensemble cast is talented and appealing and the sfx are good. Older people can certainly still draw viewers, and nostalgia goes a long way.

“We think of these users as “pausing” their membership..” Oh, make no mistake, Mr. Lanzone, I cancelled it, back in March, as in I am not paying CBS anything. I may pick it up again when Picard comes out, depending on reviews. Saying I ‘paused’ my sub. doesn’t change the fact you’re not getting any money from me. The hubris. The only Trek fans I know who watched Discovery are on this site. Everyone I know personally who is a Trek fan says the same thing, “if it means subscribing to another service, I’m not interested.” So to the casual viewer, I don’t think the Picard name will draw more subs. TNG fans who weren’t turned on by the idea of Discovery may. I’m not surprised Twilight Zone drew more viewers when it premiered; the brand is arguably more popular than Trek. But it still wasn’t enough to make me fork over $10 a month for it. I’ll wait. The content isn’t going anywhere, and my streaming bill for other services is already high enough (and I’m about to cancel…oh excuse me, ‘pause’ Showtime, too);) Disney + is on the way, which will be cheaper than both CBS and Showtime. Need to discard some lesser services for that.

I was going to mention the “pausing” comment. I guess that’s a nice way of referring to those to canceled until the next Trek show appears. But I refer to it as canceling, myself. And no. TZ would not be enough to get me to subscribe in the first place. Much less keep it going after Discovery S2 ended. Even if it was good (which it’s not) I wouldn’t have kept it going.

It’s just a marketing euphemism, jeez. No need to take it so personally.

And it sounds nicer than ‘churn’ which is what the CEO called it at the last investor briefing.

True, reading it back it does come off that way. Not intended.

Section 31 is also being made for the international market. Michelle Yeoh is huge overseas.

That doesn’t make the premise sound any less silly.

To a market that has no context to base if something is silly or not, it won’t matter. If that market loves it, and it’s ten times bigger, then it’ll be what it will be.

I think what you are trying to say is what seems silly here may not play that way elsewhere. Which is true. But it doesn’t invalidate my response.

If the foreign market is 90% of the audience for this show, and they find the premise not silly, then the concerns of the remaining 10% are going to be secondary. This thing has a long way to go before episodes hit the air, there’s plenty of time to fine tune it.

It does seem a bit odd to me that CBSAA, a service that only reaches perhaps two other countries than the USA, would be producing a show intentionally geared for an “international” audience. (Whatever THAT means). To be honest, I have not found anything from CBS mentioning that intent abut the show at all. Not even in subtext. I’m suspecting that the “international” aspect (which probably means east Asia more than anything else) is a mere side effect and not the primary intent.

Agreed. I don’t know where people are getting the idea the Section 31 show is being aimed at a international audience anymore than Discovery is. No one has talked about the Section 31 show like that, which is ironic since this entire article came about because that’s how they referenced the Picard show and believe it will have international appeal.

Now maybe they do plan to launch the Section 31 show because they feel Yeoh is a big enough star to get more people into Star Trek internationally but so far it just sounds like this is more for Star Trek’s domestic and current audience than anything.

While I’m sure the Picard show will be a big hit, it would be remiss if no other Next Gen actors are involved. Obviously we dont expect this to be Next Gen Vol. 2, but considering how much of his life Picard spent with them, and how much he gave of himself, I cant see this new show working ignoring those characters

My guess is if they are really not around in season one and fans complain about it, you will definitely see them in season two. I’m still not convinced we won’t see a few show up in first season but if they don’t it would prove they are trying to do something different and not just have it be about fan service (although having Picard himself is essentially fan service).