Why were TV viewers more interested and excited for space in the 90s?

[CmdrShep2154]

In 1998 HBO pulled a viewership for a Tom Hanks produced miniseries about the Apollo program that even exceeded the audience numbers for Game of Thrones.

https://www.multichannel.com/news/hb...s-earth-140394

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/a...e-ratings.html

I doubt a series like that would get half those numbers nowadays.







Why were TV viewers more interested in space in the 90s? Both realistic and sci fi?

[Daedius]

Maybe got something to do with the near 2000 being 'the future'?

[Saltysquidoon]

Fads come and go there could be any number of cultural reasons why or even just one lightning rod moment.

For my part the 90s was the golden age of TV sci-fi with the multiple flavours of trek and stargate airing simultaneously, so that might have had something to do with it.

[Skizzit]

The 90's were a far more optimistic time. The economy was booming and the overall outlook on the future was one of promise, at least in the US. People could dream about one day exploring space or living on Mars. And then the shit hit the fan. 9/11, the endless Iraq/Afghanistan war, the housing crash, global warming, and now we have a racist, idiotic, misogynist, greedy, living Cheeto in the White House. No one is looking to the stars anymore, we are all scared that the world is going to burst into flames any day now and are just trying to survive until tomorrow.

[xChurch]

Probably because getting to the moon remains the high mark of space travel and that was damn near 60 years ago. Hard to be excited when we still can't even get people in and out of orbit easily, and I mean high orbit, not that silly tourist stuff.

[Biomega]

There's various historical confluences that can influence such trends, but often it's also simply a matter of momentum - multiple successful media franchises might reinforce trends, and as a result create a spiral of content that blows up until it reaches critical mass and collapses. That's why you tend to see similar films clustered together, or similar TV shows springing up in close proximity.

These trends rarely have single causes, so you can't just point to "oh X happened" and explain it all - it's a complex interplay of many factors, including political, historical, economic, social, etc. that favor or disfavor certain trends. And trends can be fickle and unpredictable, ending as quickly as they sprung up.

Certainly the end of trends can also be the result of larger paradigm shifts. 9/11 for example is a pivotal moment in media history, where a lot of paradigms shifted towards a bleaker, more domestically oriented perspective rather than one espousing the hopeful globalism that often follows with space-themed SF (which in turn also spawned darker, more dystopian versions of that, too). I love how this is directly addressed in the series Farscape, where the protagonist experiences a very different world upon his return to earth after years of being lost in space, and seeing how the hopeful vision he represented as part of the space program has turned sour in the wake of 9/11.

[gd8]

The 90's were a far more optimistic time. The economy was booming and the overall outlook on the future was one of promise, at least in the US. People could dream about one day exploring space or living on Mars... No one is looking to the stars anymore, we are all scared that the world is going to burst into flames any day now and are just trying to survive until tomorrow.

basically this. 50 years ago people thought we'd have flying cars by now. now we're "more technologically advanced" yet almost no one would say that would happen within even the next 100 years

culturally, politically, and economically, things aren't looking good and people aren't looking to the future much anymore. our society has reached a point of complete stagnation in technology, science, medicine, art, culture, etc compared to the last century and our expectations are much much lower as a result. it's become more profitable to produce the same things over and over with little variation rather than pursue anything innovative and we're being stifled as a result.

[Saltysquidoon]

The 90's were a far more optimistic time.

Which given the whole awkward sarcastic nihilistic bent the 90s had at the time makes it hilarious in hindsight that it can now be called optimistic by comparison.

[Sunseeker]

Ah dear me I almost missed these threads.

[NordWitcher]

There was more of a focus on high school and teen shows and movies than anything space related. Literally every new TV show coming out late 90s early 00s were teen/high school heavy. That was the huge craze and that lasted a while. Then you had the indie pop scene that exploded with Deathcab for Cutie and all.

Sci fi actually only really took off late mid to late 00s and still strong right now.

[Ihavewaffles]

Because star trek was star trek? And not whatever the f this is...

[Sanguinerd]

Because star trek was star trek? And not whatever the f this is...

What the hell man...

[Ihavewaffles]

What the hell man...

One would have thought that a writer for rick n morty would be...funny? Weird how bad this is..

[Shadowferal]

I recall a blueprint of a sort back in the 80s for a manned mission to Mars. A space station and a moonbase wete considered necessary for success
And it was supposed to take 2yrs for a round trip.
I suspect that there was a detailed psych eval to go with it...
As interesting as it was, I'm sure it was readily dismissed. 12 for a crew At least 5 had to be women....yeah. That just wasn't going to happen. (If anyone has read the original "Alien" there's the reference.)

[JDL49]

The bottom line with these sorts of things is that they are for the foreseeable future nothing but vanity projects. If nothing else the rising cost of healthcare has killed any chance of our ever seeing them barring a scientific breakthru.

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

Big popular movie/tv-show/game make a lot of money, suddenly there are more of those types of movie/tv-show/game made.

Then it dies down once they have milked it.