CBS Making The New STAR TREK Exclusive To Their Streaming Service Is The Stupidest Idea Ever
Dear CBS President Glenn Geller,
I'm so consumed by dismay and hatred I can't even form a decent intro to this. Any joy I had about a new Star Trek series in development was crushed by the swift announcement made by CBS. While many overlooked the detail in headlines (us included), I couldn't even get hyped as I saw it and instantly got pissed.
The first episode will air on CBS...but the rest will air exclusively on the CBS streaming site.
I think a quote from Spock is appropriate here...
“May I say that I have not thoroughly enjoyed serving with humans? I find their illogic and foolish emotions a constant irritant.”
Indeed, CBS has lost their Vulcan minds in thinking Star Trek will pull an audience to its stupidly selfish and outdated paid app. Sure, they aren't the first to offer an app, but unlike the various other networks who offer their app as a companion for free, CBS will be charging you for their back catalog — a back catalog that has been extensively sold to Netflix over the years, as well as their current programming...all of which is available on demand AND ON THEIR FREE NETWORK THAT EVERY AMERICAN HOME OWNS. Oh yeah, and I can't even watch football on it, but they want me to pay $5.99 monthly if I want new Star Trek.
F*** that.
CBS, get your head in the game. Let me remind you that Star Trek as a franchise has held a key role in your network's holdings and success. Star Trek: The Next Generation ran several years at a consistent viewership of 20 million viewers from 1987-1994 on CBS. It was so popular its new episode was shown not once, but twice weekly in prime-time slots. I concede the other series' may not have been the juggernauts that it was, but even at their worst, DS9 and Voyager were pulling in Arrow ratings on much smaller networks.
PLUS, YOU PREPPED A RELAUNCH WITH SOON TO BE THREE MOTION PICTURES.
It absolutely stuns me. You have the perfect lead-in shows with either The Big Bang Theory or Supergirl, you're at the height of geek sci-fi craze on television, and you want to make us pay for an app so you can play Netflix.
I don't get it. Why do you want to be Netflix? You're already one of the biggest television networks in the United States, and you have something Netflix will never have! A giant free signal with an audience already conditioned to watch commercials!
I'm telling you all this because even Star Trek will not buckle me into buying your app, and I don't think a majority of America will either. You're going to flush a lot of time, awesomeness, and money straight down the drain all in the name of greed and it really, really hurts.
Please...please rethink this, CBS. Bring Star Trek back to major television so that we don't have yet another cancelled geek series that could've been great. I leave you with yet again another quote from Spock:
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few.
I can't be the only person who wants this, so I started a petition you can sign here. Let's try to make a change, guys!