There is an interesting biography of Shatner. He was present in a meeting between Rick Berman and several writers just after DS9 concluded. They were trying to figure out why DS9 didn't pull the same amount of people to the show. The only reason they could think of was that it was "to dark" so they decided that the next series would focus less on conflict and more on discovering the unknown. We all know that Voyager sucked some ass and the more I read about the idea behind it the more I understood why.
The problem is you need a good story line and that means it needs struggle and hardship. But that is not nearly enough to keep most people’s attention. It also needs to be relevant. DS9 brought up issues such as; religion, terrorism (and the unknown enemy), war, sacrifice, and politics. Voyager had at best struggle and hardship because they were lost and cut off. However, that can only keep people interested for so long.
Several problems existed with DS9 that had little to do with the show’s content. The time slot often placed it just after TNG aired. This was done so that they could be watched by the same audience. However, it often started at 10pm which is on weekdays whereas TNG was from 9-10. Also, DS9 started just as TNG really started to into its own. I was a regular watching fan of TNG and knew that DS9 came on a different channel but it had little or no relevance to me until almost a year after TNG went off the air. I happened to catch an episode one night when I couldn’t fall asleep. After which I was hooked.
