Or if you don't like sitcoms, how is Babylon 5 more influential than Game of Thrones.
Granted, in the '90s you also have Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which also shared in many of these trends, but TFA is still worth reading.
You are talking quantity of viewers when this article is talking about quality, or at least quantity of qualities. You're also responding facilely to an article's title without actually engaging in its substance.
> A commenter named Steven Hopstaken left the following comment in the io9 article:
> I was working at Warner Bros. in the publicity department when Warner Bros. and Paramount were preparing to launch a joint [emphasis mine] network. Warner Bros. already decided to buy Babylon 5 for their adhoc PTEN network (a group of independent stations that agreed to show Warner Bros. shows in prime time.)
> Paramount and Warner Bros. both agreed that Deepspace 9 would be the show that would launch the new network and there wouldn’t be room for two “space” shows on the network. I was told they purposely took what they liked from the B5 script and put it in the DS9 script. In fact, there was talk of leaving the B5 script in tact and just setting it the Star Trek universe. I had to keep rewriting press release drafts while they were trying to make the final decision.
https://www.tor.com/2013/02/26/is-this-the-smoking-gun-provi...
While both shows were conceived independently, elements might have made their way from B5 to DS9 due to the studio suits.
- One of the first, if not the first series where a single author wrote most episodes (and the ones JMS didn't were penned by legends such as Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman and DC Fontana).
- A five-season story arc, with episodes you should watch in order.