How did the Next Generation continue the franchise?

The Next Generation premiered in 1987 and within a year or two had really started to find its own way. It entered the market in a different way than Star Trek the original series. The original series was broadcast on a major broadcast network, NBC.

Next Generation debuted in syndication. Which was very wise because the Star Trek re-runs had performed very well on local stations and there was a lot more money to be made in syndication- instead of having to worry about licence fees, Paramount could charge local stations an arm and a leg for the show and stations were able to build around the Next Generation line-ups on Saturday nights.

In fact within a couple of years Next Generation became the most popular show in syndication with well over 10 million viewers. It upset some networks because suddenly they found themselves competing against syndicated programming which is something that had never happened before. It really ushered in a new era of original, syndicated programming.

In the past, syndication had been mostly repeats when it came to scripted programming. There were plenty of talk shows and game shows in syndication, but original series hadn't been done.