TNG was once considered the worst place to work

TNG had many issues its first season

The first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) was so turbulent that there is a documentary dedicated to it. “William Shatner’s Chaos on the Bridge” detailed the problems that went on when the show was trying to get off the ground. And behind the scenes of season two weren’t much better with Maurice Hurley handing in his resignation at the end of it.

According to a quote by executive producer Michael Piller, in The Fifty Year Mission The Next 25 Years From The Next Generation to J.J. Abrams by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, TNG was considered the worst place to work in Hollywood at the time because Gene Roddenberry had very strict rules that simply could not be broken. No excuses, explanations, or arguments would change his mind. So many writers felt stifled and could not work within his boundaries.

The second season of TNG didn’t run much better

Soon after Hurley’s departure, Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman brought Michael Wagner, an Emmy Award winning writer who’d penned scripts for Hill Street Blues and The Six Million Dollar Man, on board as the co-executive producer for season three. But the wheels didn’t turn anymore smoothly with him than it did any other writer.

Wagner had written a script and had given an alien the power to destroy a planet with just his brain. Roddenberry said that they didn’t do that on Star Trek, that people didn’t have that kind of power. When Wager asked why not, Roddenberry’s response was “Because I said so.” Wagner’s tenure lasted a mere three weeks before he, too, chose to leave.

It took the grit and strong staying power of Rick Berman and Michael Piller to keep the series going. Powerful scripts helped to anchor the third season firmly in place and guaranteed a continuance for the series. Looking back, TNG had some of the greatest episodes ever written for a sci-fi series. It’s strange to think that for the first two seasons, its struggled so badly behind the scenes.