The situation you describe is essentially correct. One part of the
problem comes from the fact that there have been so few even reasonably
successful SF shows on television...and you can count the ones set in
space on the fingers of one hand. So with so few shows in this area, it
is inevitable that people will make comparisons. If SF space series were
as common place, and had had as many variations, as the cop show, or
the hospital show, I think you wouldn't really have this going on. (When
a new cop show comes on, people don't go around trying to figure out how
it compares to CANNON or POLICE STORY.)

If B5 succeeds, proving you can do SF space series for a reasonable
cost, I think you'll suddenly see a *lot* more of them. (Already people
are talking about the B5 "model" in terms of how to produce a show in this
genre without hitting hideous cost over-runs.)

jms