Star Trek, Behind The Scenes

In response to Star Trek's popularity in the movie theater, the franchise returned to television with Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) in 1987. The show was unusual in that it was broadcast as first-run syndication rather than on a major network. Paramount and the local stations split the advertising time.
After Roddenberry
Roddenberry died on October 24, 1991 leaving Executive Producer Rick Berman in control of the franchise. TNG had the highest ratings of any of the Star Trek series and was the #1 syndicated show during the last few years of its original seven-season run.