From: irwin@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Irwin Kenneth Horowitz)
Subject:  TNG article in 11/6 LA Times
Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Reply-To: irwin@Juliet.Caltech.Edu
Organization: Vulcan Science Academy, Tau Ceti Sector
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 19:54:34 GMT


Jim,
	Here is an article that appeared in today's LA Times Calendar section.
I trust that you can get the necessary permission from Times-Mirror so that you
can post it to rasi.
					Irwin Horowitz
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			  'Star Trek'--Still on the Beam
				 by Daniel Cerone
				Times Staff Writer

[Note - Copyright 1992, Los Angeles Times.  Reprinted by permission.  My thanks
	to the LA Times  for their cooperation - ed.]

Television: One year after creator Gene Roddenberry's death, the born-again
	    series tops the syndication charts.

	Despite the death of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry one year ago,
his humanistic vision of the future is being more widely embraced on television
than ever before.
	For the first four weeks of its fall season, "Star Trek: The Next
Generation" has finished as the No. 1 original program in syndicated television.
That marks the longest period of time that the perennial ratings champ, "Wheel
of Fortune," has been locked out of the top spot since the A.C. Nielson Co.
began publishing weekly syndication numbers in 1987.
	The syndicated spinoff of the original "Star Trek," which was canceled
by NBC in 1969 after three seasons, is averaging a 13.5 national rating (each
point represents 931,000 households).  While it's still early in the season,
that represents a 22% increase in overall ratings from the 1991-92 season.
	The episode two weeks ago featuring James Doohan--who played Scotty in
the original series--received the third-highest rating in "Next Generation's"
history.  And in Los Angeles, the second half of Monday night's hourlong
episode, in which crew members were turned into 12-year-olds, earned higher
ratings for KCOP-TV Channel 13 than the programming on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
	There are many reasons why "The Next Generation," now in its sixth
season, is performing on a ratings level that Paramount claims would rank it
as the No. 6 program on network television for adults 18 to 49 (although
comparisons are somewhat misleading because about two-thirds of the 248 TV
stations that broadcast "Next Generation" give viewers two opportunities a week
to watch it).
	* Promotion.  "The stations that carry 'The Next Generation' on a
national basis promote it as the crown jewel of their station," said John S.
Pike, president of network television and international co-production for the
Paramount Television Group.  "Unlike a network that has to promote an entire
schedule, a station can ferret out the jewels and promote them."
	* Better time slots.  In many markets, "The Next Generation" has been
upgraded this season to prime time, when the viewing audience is largest.  Four
network affiliates, in fact, preempt prime-time network programming to
broadcast "The Next Generation."
	* Increasing viewer awareness.  Many stations began "stripping" reruns
of "The Next Generation" five nights a week this season.  John von Soosten,
programming vice president for Katz Communications, which sells advertising
time for about 200 TV stations, suggested that "there could be a synergy
created between the strip program and the original weekly episodes."
	* Quality.  Perhaps most importantly, there are comments from
advertisers and stations that "The Next Generation" simply keeps getting better.
At nearly $2 million an episode, which is too rich for the belt-tightening
networks, the producers argue that nothing on television looks like their show.
	"One of the reasons people are taking notice is because for yet another
year there's nothing that compares," said Janeen Bjork, programming vice
president for Seltel, which sells advertising time for 117 TV stations.  "I
mean, there's a whole lot of action hours out there that try and never come
close.  So it may look good, almost by default, when you see what the comers
and competitors look like."
	Executive producer Rick Berman, who along with executive producer
Michael Piller took over the creative mantle from Roddenberry, offers a more
subjective explanation for the show's success.
	"I think more than ever, as television continues to change, and
continues to give the audience new and different types of programming, there's
something wonderful about the familiarity of 'Star Trek,'" Berman said.  "The
familiarity of the show has always been a key element.  It deals with a family
of people in a future that's much better than the present."
	At the height of the program's popularity, however, the future of "The
Next Generation" is not entirely secure.  The actors originally signed five-
season contracts, and early in the series' run added a sixth.  With Paramount
intending to keep "The Next Generation" going, negotiations for new pacts are
now under way.
	"I think that there is a possibility that there could be an actor or
two who might choose not to come back," Berman said.  "That would be
unfortunate in that we're a family and it would be like losing somebody in your
family.  On the other hand, I don't think losing an actor would be catastrophic
to the show.  Gene Roddenberry always said the Enterprise is the star of the
show."
	Berman and Piller, meanwhile, are working overtime on "The Next
Generation" and a spinoff, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," a syndicated series
that will premiere in January.  The new, darker series follows a fresh cast of
Starfleet officers who take command of a remote alien space station in the
24th Century, the same time period as "The Next Generation."

--
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Edited by Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith - the official scapegoat for r.a.s.i.
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