I'm a pretty big Trek fan, and although I didn't think Enterprise was up to the usual ST mark, the fact that Enterprise is in danger makes me more worried about the fate of scripted scifi/drama than the sadly predictable cancellation of wonderfalls. Considering that the last three ST sequels ran 7 years each, and that Star Trek has an even larger and just as loyal fanbase as Jossverse shows, Enterprise in danger at only season 3 makes me wonder just what kind of show can make it through the ratings jungle and still be worth the watch

redtenko | April 24, 11:38 CET

I did just notice the little comment at the bottom of the article about the barbecue, though. That is mildly humorous.

redtenko > I agree, but I also think that the Star Trek fanbase has dwindled recently, and Enterprise seems to be a show that has definitely polarized the fanbase, I think. But I'm not a big fan of the show, so I can't really speak with any experience about this, so...

mchan | April 24, 12:01 CET

okay my personal and bitter opinion even if unliked or unwanted is this is a show that deserves to be cancelled. Angel is a far superior show in my opinion and i just cant see why upn would choose to keep this and not pick Angel up...i know maybe its time i got over the Angel cancellation.

willowzbitch | April 24, 12:28 CET

This season of Enterprise is actually getting a lot better and the quality of writing has improved considerably. I enjoy watching it, tis my guilty pleasure at the moment.

Simon | April 24, 13:21 CET

another ploy of upn was to try and attract the ST fans as well as new sci-fi fans with Jake 2.0, which is often mentioned on when an article talks about the death of good scripted television. The thing is...Jake wasn't all that great. The problem isn't just the networks not giving shows a chance, it's also that many scifi or dramas tried out over the past few seasons deserved to be cancled. Shows like Black Sash and Tarzan dug the hole that Wonderfalls fell into.

mchan> I wouldn't say that Star Trek fans have dwindled, but I would say that many fans don't like Enterprise although they still continue to enjoy ST as a whole (Next Gen and DS9 reruns are going strong on Spike TV) but like fans of Whedonesque shows, Trekies can sense quality (most of my trek friends are buffy fans too), and as ST series go, Enterprise wasn't up to the usual standard.


Willowzbitch> The reason I think that upn would choose to keep Enterprise and not pick up angel goes to the factor that they dont want other networks' "scraps" as I think the execs put it. Buffy put upn on the map, granted, but for a while the network also got a large audience by running Star Trek Voyager, which rated well even when parallelled to DS9 that ran on Fox. Both Star Trek and the Buffyverse have a fanbase that although continues to grow, can also seem exclusive which can be a turn off to the casual tv watcher. Perhaps Enterprise's failure is making upn cautious of "surefire" ratings nets.

simon> is that right? I'll have to give it another shot then. I gave up near the start of season two, but taking Voyager as an example perhaps Enterprise can redeem itself if it's allowed to reach the half way point

[ edited by redtenko on 2004-04-24 11:25 ]

redtenko | April 24, 13:23 CET

Redtenko > Not to play devil's advocate, but UPN was a network built on Star Trek, with Voyager being its flagship television show when the network was first announced. While Buffy was a temporary aid to the network, its ratings over the last two seasons didn't really make it a landmark show, I don't think...

mchan | April 24, 14:05 CET

I enjoy watching Enterprise, although I'm not as much a fan of it as I am of Angel. It's still lightyears better than Voyager ever was. And I don't think the show deserves cancellation any more than Angel does. It's nice that Scott Bakula said something about the cancellation, I remember Angel cast members mentioning the Star Trek set around the corner in interviews as well.

Elo | April 24, 17:10 CET

Redtenko, I'll also vouch that this season of Enterprise has been way better than previous years. They've made this crew have to make decisions that you would never usually see on trek, well not from the starfleet side anyway, and they got rid of the A plot+ B plot = C plot story set up this year. So much so that they have to do 'previously on enterprise' at the beginning of each episode. Anyway, with all the buzz about angel's cancellation I haven't been paying attention to star treks health, I been saying to myself these last few weeks "at least I have star trek next year." Granted Trek is nothing compared to the Whedonverse but I've been watching it since I was 6 years old, it's always been there. Everything I love on t.v. Will be gone next year. Maybe I shouldn't have bought that big t.v. last year, what a waste.

adventures in spelling | April 24, 17:29 CET

I'm sure Xander would be crushed if Enterprise were to be cancelled. No more Vulcan babe.

prufrock | April 24, 18:44 CET

I am a Star Trek fan and am totally disapointed with Enterprise, it is suppose to be a prequel to the origional and fails completely. Having said that, there is so little new
sci-fi being offered it is frightening to see the way the networks are chosing their shows, soon it will be all reality and sitcoms. Thank god for reruns I hope I can survive until the networks regain their senses.

Linda | April 24, 19:15 CET

Well, Voyager killed any interest in Enterprise that I had. The first seasons of Voyager were ok, but then it just grew so... inspid. TNG was inspid too, but at least had some good idas. Voyager was bad.

Firefly is anything but inspid (asipid)- and reminds me of Farscape in that way. I'm glad to see Farscape is returning too btw, gives hope to Firefly.

biki | April 24, 20:39 CET

I only stuck around for several episodes of Voyager (not just from the first season, but trying it out from time to time throughout the show's life), so perhaps it improved...but seeing as the majority of Trek fandom thinks it the least enjoyable of the franchise, I feel pretty safe in my not-so-well-rounded opinion of "it sucked ass". I've been watching Enterprise since the series premiere. I could've very easily given up on it during its first year, but a few standout episodes in the second season got me to stick around, and the finale sealed the deal. Season 3 has only had maybe three or four truly boring episodes, the rest have been good to excellent. It isn't high art as far as TV goes, but it's leaps and bounds better than all the cookie-cutter cop/lawyer/doctor shows (aside from The Shield) crowding the primetime drama slots. They've also got two or three truly great actors in the Enterprise cast. Unfortunately, they had to wait until now to really get some meaty episodes and characters arcs enabling them to really show off their talents. Also unfortunate is that a couple of the supporting actors have either gotten shafted or really aren't up to snuff. If I was only watching the series for its character dynamics, I'd name Phlox, T'Pol, and Trip as my main attatchments. Not all that keen on the captain, though he has his moments once in a blue moon. Meh, Bakula did far better work on Quantum Leap.

I'd take more Firefly over Enterprise any day, but since we're now getting a Firefly film and I'm hopeful that that'll revive it in some other fashion, and I didn't have the power to trade Ent for FF anyway, I'd be happy to see Enterprise finish out its run properly. If a 12-episode Season 4 pick-up happens and it's enough for the showrunners (hopefully someone other than Berman and Braga by then) to conclude things nicely, that'd be great. I'm not hell-bent on my shows going on for half a dozen years, four seasons is damn lucky for any series these days.

Kris | April 24, 21:17 CET

I have read several reports that the catering on Joss shows was always excellent, the sign of a great leader is how well he feeds his troops!

zz9 | April 24, 22:19 CET

I actually gave up on Enterprise earlier this year, since then I caught an episode, and it has improved dramatically, it's actually good now! That said, UPN are fools to have not gotten rid of this and picked up Angel. Angel had a few more years in it, if Enterprise gets picked up next year, I believe it will be for the last time.

UPN's "we don't pick up other network's shows" is rather strange, as far as my understanding of US networks goes, UPN is below the WB, wouldn't it do them favors to pick up one of The WBs most critically acclaimed shows, than to keep a show that has caused many people to lose faith in a 30+ year old obsession.

Ghost Spike | April 24, 22:58 CET

Umph. If anything, the cancellation of Enterprise would do good things for the ST universe. . . I've watched and enjoyed every ST since TNG, and then I was mighty young- but Enterprise is tired.

redruIvI | April 25, 01:31 CET

Ghost Spike - UPN doesn't have very much money--"Angel" would be too expensive for them--and also "Angel's" mediocre ratings aren't high enough to be able to justify the UPN picking the show up. So it wouldn't make financial sense for UPN to pick up "Angel." Critical acclaim is the least of their worries. They have to first learn how to increase their viewership and profits.

One interesting thing to note, is that UPN's overall averaged rating is higher than the WB's. I'm not sure how, but it could possibly be attributed to the success of UPN's "America's Next Top Model" and The WB's failure to get people to watch reruns.

I also think UPN should rethink having a strict "No picking up other network's scraps" policy, but when they have done this in the past, it's gotten them into financial trouble (BtvS, Roswell). As a guideline, sure, but not as a rule.

Invisible Green | April 25, 04:21 CET