Re:New Star Trek Series Premieres January 2017
by exelius on Monday November 02, 2015 @12:38PM
(#10493468)
The staff costs for sitcoms don't get to be that high until the show has already established itself as a ratings draw. So as a network, you can invest in 10 shitty sitcoms, pay tons of money to the 2 or 3 shows that actually build an audience and come out ahead. You have to invest a lot of money into a Sci Fi show before it even makes it in front of an audience, which means it's a riskier bet. TV executives hate risk, so there aren't a lot of Sci Fi shows on TV right now.
Worth noting: for sitcoms, staff costs are often as high/higher than the SF shows that make it to the screen. For example, actors on _The Big Bang Theory_ are rumored to earn $1m per episode each. Ditto other shows like _Modern Family_.
Likely there are relatively few Sci Fi shows because the Sci Fi writ large has yet to figure out how to connect with audience sizes beyond a niche. If they achieve mainstream reach, the cost of the sets will not matter as much.