#17 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" - Behind the Scenes - Part 2

Suzanne opens this episode with some brief gushing over Chris Hemsworth in Ron Howard’s Rush, a film she and Bob both recommend this year along with Dallas Buyers Club.   After mentioning the ongoing Hollywood-Santa Barbara connection—with a nod to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival soon coming to their neighborhood—Bob admits that he  may not have been the “perfect fit” as writer-producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation.   Bob confesses his frustration with the “downward spiral of politics” among the show’s executives and producers, and reveals his ironic point of view about writing for one of television’s cultural holy grails.    With a focus on the show’s characters and storylines, Bob’s year as a writer-producer was colored by his irreverent take on all things technical...to the point that he wrote Samaritan Snare, an episode featuring an alien culture that was the antithesis of The Star Fleet.   Giving a couple of dialogue quotes from the episode, Bob points to an old grammar school joke he employed in the script, and admits to simply “having some fun” among all the behind-the-scenes drama on the Paramount Studios lot.   Suzanne then points out the remarkable connection between I Love Lucy and the original Star Trek, following that up with the announcement of Bob’s recent award from the Writers Guild for having been named for “outstanding television writing” on the show...and a moment later teases Bob with “where’s the money?”