[Elizadolots]

Originally Posted by rabbitc

There were millions of loyal viewers! And besides - the show was produced in syndication purposely so that it couldn't be cancelled.

I smelled a rat then and I still smell a rat. Want proof? Look what happened to Family Guy - and NO ONE can sit with a straight face and tell me that had bad ratings!

Star Trek wasn't killed by ratings or evil executives - it was killed by the United States Republican party. Think it's bad now - just wait and see what happens if McCain and Palin get elected - Palin will have ST banned for heracy!

As much fun as I think conspiracy theory is (and I do love them so!) there are a couple of fallacies here. First, Enterprise was not produced for syndication. It was produced to run exclusively on the UPN network. Indeed, I believe it was viewed as "magnet show" for the new network. The belief was that enough Star Trek fans would clamour for UPN on their cable systems that they'd end up in a lot of markets. That didn't happen. As noted, Enterprise's ratings went down dramatically after the first season and, in fact, the failure of Enterprise to capture a significant audience is a huge reason UPN failed.

Family Guy utterly tanked in the ratings when it first aired. That's why it got cancelled. However, it did really, really well in DVD sales. Much as the audience for Star Trek (TOS) grew dramatically when it went into syndication, the audience for Family Guy grew dramatically in DVD distribution. That got Fox to bring the show back and it's been thriving until this day. Here's an article from USA today at the time to suppport that.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by Elizadolots

As much fun as I think conspiracy theory is (and I do love them so!) there are a couple of fallacies here. First, Enterprise was not produced for syndication. It was produced to run exclusively on the UPN network. Indeed, I believe it was viewed as "magnet show" for the new network. The belief was that enough Star Trek fans would clamour for UPN on their cable systems that they'd end up in a lot of markets. That didn't happen. As noted, Enterprise's ratings went down dramatically after the first season and, in fact, the failure of Enterprise to capture a significant audience is a huge reason UPN failed.

Family Guy utterly tanked in the ratings when it first aired. That's why it got cancelled. However, it did really, really well in DVD sales. Much as the audience for Star Trek (TOS) grew dramatically when it went into syndication, the audience for Family Guy grew dramatically in DVD distribution. That got Fox to bring the show back and it's been thriving until this day. Here's an article from USA today at the time to suppport that.

Wasn't VOY UPN's "magnet show?"

[Elizadolots]

Yes, and Voyager did reasonably well, however, UPN did not. Viacom bought CBS (the parent company) and retooled the network. After Voyager ended, Enterprise was brought onboard to be a "beacon" show....

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by Elizadolots

Yes, and Voyager did reasonably well, however, UPN did not. Viacom bought CBS (the parent company) and retooled the network. After Voyager ended, Enterprise was brought onboard to be a "beacon" show....

Ok, gotcha!!