Star Trek: Enterprise

Ratings troubles

The threat of cancellation

Despite most critics agreeing on the strength of the third season and most episodes of the fourth season receiving near-unanimous praise, the series experienced a continual decline in its ratings.

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(See for the Nielsen Ratings.)

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This, along with the poor box office performance in 2002 of ', cast an uncertain light upon the future of the Star Trek franchise in general.

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While some placed blame on the current production staff or on the concept of the series, others blamed its parent network UPN for not promoting the series and allowing major affiliates to preempt it on many occasions for local sports coverage.

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Many fans also reported that they chose to watch UPN's weekend rebroadcasts of the series, which were not counted in the ratings. This led actor Connor Trineer, in an interview with Starlog magazine, to unusually request that fans not watch the weekend replay. Another factor cited for the show/franchise's decline was the fact that, as of 2005, there had been continuous Star Trek production for nearly 18 years, and executive producer Rick Berman in part blamed "franchise fatigue" for the show's poor reception.

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In response to reports that the series was headed for cancellation at the end of its third season, several fan campaigns to save the show were launched: most notably those of "The Enterprise Project" and "Save Enterprise".

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The former purchased several full page advertisements in the Hollywood Reporter to encourage the network to renew the show. The ads were funded by donations from fans and excess funds were donated to charity in the names of several cast members.

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On May 20, 2004 it was announced that Enterprise had been renewed for a fourth season but that the show would move from Wednesday to Friday nights. Paramount cut its per-episode price and reduced the number of episodes from 24 to 22 so that the series would be more financially attractive to the struggling UPN; it is assumed that one reason why the show was renewed was so that Paramount would have enough episodes for proper syndication should it be cancelled (100 episodes are generally deemed necessary for this, although Enterprises total output is considered close enough with 98 episodes). This move echoed the rescheduling of the original ' to a Friday night time slot (see Friday night death slot) for its third season prior to its ultimate cancellation.

Related Topics:
May 20 - 2004 - Syndication - 100 episodes - Friday night death slot

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Paramount Network Television president Garry Hart was quoted in an August 2004 New York Times article that Paramount and UPN stood by the series and hoped to see it continue for several more seasons. Only days later, however, Hart resigned his position and this, combined with the departure or reassignment of other Star Trek supporters within Paramount and UPN during 2004, placed the future of the series in doubt.

Related Topics:
August 2004 - New York Times - UPN - 2004

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A new co-executive producer, Manny Coto, was brought in for the fourth season.

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Coto decided to retain the "arc" concept of season 3, but reduce it from one arc for the entire season to several "mini-arcs" of two or three episodes, with a few standalones. In order to attract more viewers, particularly Star Trek fans who had not found Enterprise or the previous Star Trek: Voyager to their liking, the producers brought in Brent Spiner, a veteran of ', to appear in three episodes of the fourth season. In addition, the producers attempted to attract viewers by terminating an unpopular story arc (the Temporal Cold War) and scheduling numerous episodes that served as prequels to storylines from the Original Series and TNG.

Related Topics:
Brent Spiner - Temporal Cold War

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Beginning in the summer of 2004, and continuing throughout the fourth season, rumors persisted that William Shatner would reprise the role of James T. Kirk in the series, however an agreement could not be reached.

Related Topics:
William Shatner - James T. Kirk

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The fourth season got off to a slow start in the ratings on October 8, 2004 due to preemptions by local sports in some markets, and by coverage of a presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry in others. The ratings also continued to be affected by the "rerun effect" when first-run episodes were rebroadcast over the weekend by UPN affiliates in time slots not registered by Nielsen. Enterprise fans continued to indicate that they chose to watch the weekend showing rather than the Friday broadcast, or chose to "time-shift" the program using their VCR or TiVo equipment. In October 2004, it was announced that Enterprise was the 25th most popular Season Pass on the TiVo television recording system in the United States.

Related Topics:
October 8 - 2004 - George W. Bush - John Kerry - VCR - TiVo - October 2004 - Season Pass

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In December 2004, it was reported that Enterprise was the top-rated dramatic program on UPN, although by January 2005 it had fallen behind the law drama Kevin Hill, but it remained ahead of the critically acclaimed mystery series Veronica Mars. (In May 2005, UPN cancelled Kevin Hill but renewed the low-rated Veronica Mars on the basis that it better fit the network's newly desired female demographic.)

Related Topics:
December 2004 - January 2005 - Kevin Hill - Veronica Mars

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The internet gave rise to near-continuous rumors and speculation regarding the show's future from the earliest days of the series, and this reached a fever pitch as the fourth season began and Nielsen ratings for the show, although an improvement for the Friday night timeslot, still dropped in comparison to the previous season.

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Cancellation and aftermath

Speculation as to the future of the series came to an end on February 2, 2005, when UPN announced http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/9469.html that the series had been cancelled and that its final episode would air on Friday May 13, 2005.

Related Topics:
February 2 - 2005 - May 13

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In the days immediately following the cancellation announcement, the Star Trek fan community remained divided between those who were upset by the news and by those who welcomed it. Some fans, posting to online newsgroups and bulletin boards, blamed Berman and Braga for the cancellation, while others blamed network head Les Moonves, who was identified in the media as the individual who made the decision to cancel the show.

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During an online chat at startrek.com on February 11, 2005 http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/community/chat/archive/transcript/9564.html, and later repeated in other media, Scott Bakula stated that the major reason for the show's cancellation is that it no longer fit the profile or desired demographic of UPN (the network's schedule primarily consists of so-called "urban" sitcoms and reality programming). He also said that major changes to the management of both Paramount and UPN during 2003-2004 resulted in past supporters of Star Trek departing the organization (most notably the aforementioned Garry Hart). Bakula said the series was to have been cancelled at the end of the 2003-2004 season, but support from Hart and others earned the show one final year.

Related Topics:
February 11 - 2005 - Demographic - Sitcoms

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Soon after the cancellation announcement, Enterprise received its fourth consecutive Saturn Awards nomination for Best Dramatic Series.

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On February 15, 2005, during the ratings period known as "sweeps week", the enterprisefans.com joint group ran an advertisement http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/16/tv.startrek.ap/index.html in the Los Angeles Times, paid for by fan donations, exhorting the American Sci Fi Channel to pick up the show. The ad received wide press coverage from, among other outlets, the Associated Press, BBC and CNN. Later that month, a group of fans held a rally in front of the Paramount Studios facility in Hollywood.

Related Topics:
February 15 - 2005 - Sweeps - Los Angeles Times - Sci Fi Channel - Associated Press - BBC - CNN - Paramount Studios - Hollywood

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Around this time, several fan groups including Save Enterprise joined forces to create TrekUnited.com, and announced a drive to raise money via fan donations to finance a further season of Enterprise. On March 1, Trek United and Save Enterprise announced http://www.saveenterprise.com/3m_contribution.htm that three anonymous individuals connected with the fledgling commercial spaceflight industry had pledged $3 million to the cause, although millions of dollars more will be needed in order for this effort to be successful (approximately $30 million US is the goal of the campaign, based upon estimates of the cost for a full season cited by John Billingsley and othershttp://www.trekunited.com/faq.php?lang=en).

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Critics of the initiative have labelled it unrealistic, but supporters have said that it is a symbolic gesture.

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Another fan based effort through Trek United sought members of the United States Congress to sign a letter of support for the series which is to be sent to Paramount at a later date. On March 1, supporters of this effort announced that Florida Republican Mark Foley had become the first Congressman to agree to sign the letter.

Related Topics:
United States Congress - Florida - Republican - Mark Foley

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Production of the fourth season concluded on March 8, 2005, and by the end of the month, Startrek.com was reporting that the Enterprise sets had been taken down, marking the first time that Stage 9 at Paramount Studios has been without Star Trek sets since the late 1970s. The website did not indicate whether the sets have been preserved in storage or if they have been destroyed.http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/9513.html

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As of April 13, 2005, Paramount and UPN remain adamant that the cancellation of the series is final and that the studio is not interested in continuing the current incarnation of Star Trek and Startrek.com revealed that studio officials had actually denied TrekUnited's fund-raising efforts as early as mid-March. TrekUnited officials, however, still claimed to be in talks with Paramount over the future of the series.http://www.trektoday.com/news/120405_02.shtml

Related Topics:
April 13 - 2005

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On April 15, TrekUnited revealed that it had joined forces with several Canadian film production companies to put forward a proposal to Paramount that would see further seasons of Enterprise filmed abroad (most likely Canada) and jointly produced by Paramount and these several unidentified production houses. http://www.trektoday.com/news/150405_01.shtml On April 16 TrekUnited revealed that it was Canadian producer Al Vinci who had been negotiating with Paramount Network Television President David Stapf on a co-production with established Canadian motion picture and television producers, backed by US$18 million from private investors. Then Trek United announced that the studio had formally rejected the idea and that promised refunds for those fans who had donated to the cause would be issued beginning on April 18.http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/604/604625p1.html

Related Topics:
April 15 - Canadian - April 16 - April 18

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The Web site IGN Filmforce, reporting on rumors that Paramount had actually decided to cancel Enterprise after its fourth season as early as midway through the second year, quoted an unidentified "executive involved with Enterprise" as saying this scenario was "very likely".http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/604/604625p1.html Soon after, Scott Bakula, in an interview with Sci Fi Wire, reiterated his belief that management changeovers at Paramount in 2003-2004 left Enterprise and the Star Trek franchise without strong support, adding that as recently as 2004 now-departed management at the studio had expressed interest in developing a feature film based upon Enterprise.http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30849 This was later denied by Berman.

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The local sports preemptions that had plagued Enterprise through most of its run continued unabated in a number of major markets as its final episodes were broadcast in the rest of the country, including the Boston and New York City UPN affiliates. Boston's WSBK-TV, for example, moved the series to Saturday night beginning in April in order to accommodate local baseball coverage, although it did air the finale on May 13 due to the fact the Boston Red Sox game scheduled for that night did not begin until later in the evening. Several affiliates reportedly preempted the finale for local programming.

Related Topics:
WSBK-TV - Boston Red Sox

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In May 2005, UPN announced that starting in the fall, WWE Smackdown!, its longtime professional wrestling series, would move into the same Friday night timeslot vacated by Enterprise, a move coinciding with reports that UPN does not plan to renew its contract with the WWE in 2006, bringing to a close another TV franchise.

Related Topics:
WWE Smackdown! - Professional wrestling - 2006

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UPN continued to air reruns of Enterprise for only a month after the series finale, with the last network-broadcast episode, "In a Mirror, Darkly Part II", airing on June 11, 2005 -- this despite initial announcements that reruns would continue throughout the summer. In August 2005, Startrek.com announced that the syndicated rebroadcasts of Enterprise, scheduled to begin in North American markets on September 17, will not be offered in original broadcast order.http://www.trektoday.com/news/270805_02.shtml

Related Topics:
June 11 - 2005

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