Word of Mouth Takes Forever But It's Worth It

Last year, CBS finally debuted its new Star Trek series. They refused to hire anyone formerly associated with the franchise. The first showrunner left over creative differences with CBS management. The show was a year late coming to market. It was over budget. The namesake ship looked like it had been made with parts from the old Enterprise and Romulan Warbird kits from the '70's and then spray-painted gold.

Instead of running it on the CBS network, the execs decided it would be the centerpiece of their new streaming service. They advertised the hell out of it. After a long casting process, they hired Sonequa Martin-Green, formerly Sasha of The Walking Dead, as the star which many considered a plus. Michelle Yeoh was cast as the captain.

With well-known actors, a familiar franchise, and all that marketing, Star Trek: Discovery should have been a success. Right?

Meanwhile, Fox finally gave in to Seth McFarlane's whining and begging about wanting a hour-long, live-action series. The guys at Fox hate science fiction. I mean, how many SF series have they canceled? Firefly. Almost Human. They wanted to kill The X-Files early on, but it made too damn much money.

But right now, Fox can't afford to lose McFarlane's animated series. So the execs thought, "Hey! Let's make McFarlane happy, do the series, fuck up the marketing, the series tanks, and then he'll shut the fuck up and get back to working on Family Guy."

Except Seth knew in his heart-of-hearts he wanted to do Star Trek, but he also knew he would never be allowed to touch the franchise. So he created a fan-fiction love letter. One that was more Star Trek than the official Star Trek series launched at the same time. In theory, it should have failed. Right?

Last fall, the friends who knew I love Star Trek asked if I'd watched Discovery. Some thought I'd automatically defend it. I couldn't. As much as I love both Sonequa and Michelle, for they are superb actresses, I couldn't get past the grimness, the alteration to Spock's family tree, and the fact that the main character would commit mutiny so bad it resulted in war.

During that same time period, friends. who loved Star Trek and knew I loved Star Trek, asked if I'd seen The Orville. We all agreed it was the closest thing to Gene Rodenberry's original "stated*" intention, and we all fucking LOVED it!

Apparently, we weren't the only ones loving The Orville.

Discovery started strong out of the gate with its broadcast premiere. Comparatively, The Orville's initial ratings sank because many folks tuned in thinking it was a raunchy comedy along the lines of Seth's animated series or movies such as Ted thanks to Fox's crappy marketing plan. However word-of-mouth stabilized its ratings to a respectable level considering it was up against Thursday Night Football and CBS's comedy power block.

Despite CBS's claim of huge viewership on their streaming network, those numbers can't be verified beyond its one-hour broadcast premiere. Many questions abounded, especially since Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman announced a happier, fun-time second season with old characters Captain Christopher Pike, Number One, and Spock coming on board during the San Diego Comicon. Furthermore, the second season isn't scheduled to start until January of 2019, about the same time as the second season of The Orville.

If Star Trek: Discovery is doing so fucking great, why the changes and why the attempt at direct competition with The Orville?

But the main point I'm trying to make is you can have the best franchise name, the best packaging, and the best marketing and still fail if you aren't giving people what they want. On the other hand, you can totally fuck up your marketing, but you will eventually find your fans. Or your current fans will tell their friends, aka your potential fans, how fucking great your book is.

So settle down in your marketing freak-outs. If you've got a good product, your fans will find you. But it will go much easier if you have an appropriate cover and your marketing accurately reflects your genre.

In the meantime, the second season of The Orville premieres December 30th on your local Fox station!


* The word "stated" is in quotes because what Gene said and what he did were two different things. He was definitely more forward thinking than many of his contemporaries, but he still held on to some old-fashioned ideas about male-female relations. The dichotomy shows in ST:TOS, ST:TAS and the first season of ST:TNG. And you know something, that's okay. Especially when The Orville does an excellent job of exceeding Gene's ideals.