"...without Star Trek there probably wouldn't be a Babylon 5...."

This is one of the biggest misperceptions we've had to try and correct over
time; if anything, ST has been an obstacle to getting B5 on the air. The #1
reason we were given, time and again, during the 5 years it took to sell B5
for not going ahead with it, was that "There isn't room in the marketplace
for another space show other than ST. There's not an SF marketplace; there's
a ST marketplace, but that's all. ST doesn't create more SF, ST creates more
ST."

Right up until the day we aired the pilot, some folks at WB were saying,
"This isn't gonna work, there's not enough room in the market for another SF
space show other than Star Trek." And suffice to say that Paramount didn't
make things any easier for us in their inimitable fashion.

If the premise as advanced in the first line were true, then why in the 30
years since ST:TOS has there not another space-SF series that's lasted more
than three seasons? Why have there been so very few shows even TRYING this
venue? In those 30 years, with the exception of Quantum Leap, which was more
an anthology show really, no hardcore SF series has gone beyond 3 years; that
alone mitigates against SF being a viable market.

Trust me on this; for the five years it took us to sell B5, ST was one more
obstacle to overcome. It's not their fault, it's the fault of the
marketplace that doesn't understand SF. It's unfortunate that, when a cop
show fails, industry folks just say, "Well, that show didn't work," but when
an SF series fails, they say, "There's no market for SF."

jms