Paramount's Woke 'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Show Was Insane Ratings Disaster

After years of Hollywood trying to force woke content based on historic franchises down audiences' throats, it's finally backfired on them.

"Star Wars" got the left-wing ideological treatment, thanks to former Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, producing "The Acolyte," a short-lived Disney+ streaming show that leaned heavily into progressive politics. To the point where the creative talent behind the series bragged about their efforts to inject their beliefs into a "Star Wars" show. 

That was canceled after one season due to low viewership.

Then, another franchise got the "woke" treatment, with "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy." The Paramount+ show based on the legendary "Star Trek" franchise, "Starfleet Academy" almost immediately turned into a recurring punchline. Storylines were atrocious and absurd. The writing and acting was amateurish and obnoxious. Each episode was worse than the next.

RELATED: Somehow, Hollywood Reaches A New Low As Woke 'Star Trek' Show Just Keeps Getting Worse

Well, it turns out, that nobody wants to watch yet another predictable, boring, left-wing show based on a beloved, formerly great brand name. This week, a new report came out confirming that there was a catastrophic lack of viewers for "Starfleet Academy."

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 10: Actor Kerrice Brooks attends the Los Angeles premiere of Paramount+'s "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" at Linwood Dunn Theater on March 10, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

Viewership For ‘Starfleet Academy’ Was Abysmal

Mike Stoklasa from Red Letter Media said in a new YouTube video that he'd heard from a source who worked on the show that total viewership figures for it had been atrocious.

"I heard from my source," he said. "The entire first season of ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,' not individual episodes, the entire season total views, about 400,000. Not per episode. Cumulatively, the entire series. About 400,000 views. Which is an average of maybe 40,000 views per episode."

That is indescribably low. And it makes Paramount's decision to cancel it that much more understandable. Well, cancel it is an understatement. 

For some inexplicable reason, the previous regime at Paramount Studios greenlit a second season of "Starfleet Academy" before the first season had aired. Somehow assuming that a woke version of the show would find a large audience. Well, now that we've seen it fail, as any outsider would have predicted, they announced that the show would end before the second season even aired. 

That essentially unprecedented decision makes a lot more sense now. 40,000 viewers per episode is an embarrassment. Paramount+ isn't exactly Disney+ or HBO Max, but for the budget that show received, it's jaw-dropping. That amount of money lost on that show, with those numbers, is incalculable. Disaster doesn't even begin to cover it.

And therein lies the problem. For years, Hollywood has churned out woke content because the creative teams behind them incorporate their political beliefs wherever possible. Even if it has no business being there. Sure enough, at some point, people tune out. Audiences know better, they're sick of being lectured to, or having their beliefs criticized and demonized. This is just the latest in a long list of examples. 

Now that David Ellison has taken over, it's a near-certainty these types of shows end. At least in the studios under his control. But once again, you have to be amazed and in awe of how much money the entertainment industry was willing to loes to promote their political beliefs and massage the egos of Hollywood creatives.