CBS has Embargoed All Reviews of Their All Access Streaming Original Star Trek: Discovery

Rarely a good sign, when a network puts an embargo on an entire show’s reviews when it comes to the first season.

Occasionally, it can be used as a tool to keep too much information from leaking into the public before a show launches, but 99% of the time, an embargo is a warning that the network is nervous a show is going to get panned. This sort of reaction could potentially destroy CBS’s attempt here at creating a series to promote their standalone streaming service, Paramount Plus. And thus, CBS wants to prevent the press from getting its hands on Star Trek: Discovery in hopes the fans will show up and make their own assessments.

Today, several tweets expressed that CBS had embargoed reviews from not only being published before the premiere, but won’t even be screening the show for the majority of the press.


What’s often very common, however, is that a network like CBS will have back-channel access to several entertainment journalists they can get in touch with to learn off the record what sort of review will be written. If this is true for Star Trek: Discovery, and the early reviews have been that bad, we should all be worried.

Now the question remains, will the show at least appeal to the Trekkie community? Did they push too far away from the source material that even the original fanbase will be offended by the content?

As a huge fan of Star Trek’s catalog, of course I’m going to show up for the premiere no matter what any review might have said. But if even the network is nervous about that initial reaction from critics, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t feeling a bit of a pit in my stomach that my beloved Star Trek might be in trouble here.

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