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Is Ent Safe Yet?

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Except for the 180-part storylines and the cheesey Nazi ending, I LOVE ENTERPRISE! Does anyone know if they are still thinking of cancelling it? Is it safe yet? I don't think I can survive without some form of Star Trek to watch in the fall.

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Except for the 180-part storylines and the cheesey Nazi ending, I LOVE ENTERPRISE!  Does anyone know if they are still thinking of cancelling it?  Is it safe yet?  I don't think I can survive without some form of Star Trek to watch in the fall.

It's got a 4th season, but fans are going to have to campaign for season 5, otherwise it's not gonna happen.

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We wouldn't have gotten a season four if we hadn't campaigned.  We can do it again.  I wrote so many letters I felt like I had carpal tunnel syndrome.

 

 

To ARMS Trekkers and Trekkies! Bring on the phone #'s, the E-mail addresses, the petitions and the aspirins! :laugh:

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We wouldn't have gotten a season four if we hadn't campaigned.  We can do it again.  I wrote so many letters I felt like I had carpal tunnel syndrome.

Copy and paste!!!

:laugh:

It's renewed...

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I'd like to nominate my friend, Lisa from Seattle, who printed off and sent letters for me via the US Mail, relieving me of the cost of having to send them inter-continental.

 

Well done Moulin Rouge, it is with such souls as yours that the great tides of the world can be turned. For the better. :laugh:

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I think we'll have to start writing support letters again in October prior to the next important rankings.

 

And hey, isn't it a great promotion coup to mobilize the fans every now and than - sorry for being cynical

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If Season 4 Does Well Enough, Would We Still Need To Campaign?   :eekout: 

 

Yes. Don't kid yourself otherwise. There was a big brouhaha on the major TrekBBS today because TV Guide reported that Paramount lowered its license fee to get UPN to keep ENT on the air. I read the article. It's authentic. It stated flat out that in spite of the thousands of calls and numerous letters and Hollywood Reporter Ads thanking the cast that UPN had decided to cancel ENT anyway--until Paramount came across with the lowered fees and a 2 episode reduction for season four. Paramount (not UPN, two different entities) wants fresh Trek on the air because the fortieth anniversary is coming up in 2006. Fresh product also helps ST book sales and toy sales and DVD sales for the other shows. However, when season four is done they will have 98 eps, enough for a profitable syndication deal for ENT/Paramount a few years down the road after cancellation. The 100 ep "rule" is a myth.

 

The question is, is having a current Trek series on the air into 2006 (season five would be 2005-2006) important enough to Paramount/Viacom to keep taking a loss on ENT with its huge budget for a fifth season? Many doubt it. It's a crap shoot. The idea is that DVD sales and syndication will pay off in the long run but money is tighter now than it's ever been. Deals like this were cut for VOY, DS9 and even TNG, but the economy was different then. Less competition from other programs. Production costs were less, period.

 

Parent companies didn't realize during the other series that they could make enormous profits on reality television at literally one tenth to one twentieth the budget of FX ladened science fiction. :laugh: :o :blink: :P

 

In other words, things are different now. A bad economy, soaring costs and the 100 percent certainty of turning a huge profit on reality programming have changed everything. In the past, Paramount most assuredly would have sprung for taking the loss in the short run for a fifth season to air into 2006. However, if they feel they can get enough of a return on a syndication deal for four seasons.....they may not bother. Not if the ratings get any lower, which they may on Fridays. It's all very tenuous. Once in a while a show can strike gold on Fridays like the X-Files and JAG did. Some are hopeful that with a lowered budget for FX that Mike Sussman and Manny Coto (who are taking over a lot of Braga's duties in his absence) will be forced to churn out more character driven scripts, at which they seem to excel. That could be very good for ENT. The writers seem to benefit from cancellation concerns. However, will it be enough? If response is positive, will Paramont be willing to take a loss for one more season? It's hard to tell. Will a greedy suit at the top be lured by a fifth season? Will a 120 episode deal (with a season more of DVD's to sell) be considered worth taking a loss for one more season?

 

I just don't know. One thing is for sure. You'd better have your pens poised again, my friends. Especially you in the UK and Germany and elsewhere. Faxes from overseas might convince the greedy suits that a 120 episode deal (5 seasons on DVD) might be worth taking a temporary loss because it's better than a 98 episode deal (4 seasons on DVD). ENT is not safe, no. Barring a huge increase in ratings, the suits must be made aware that there are fans who would purchase a fifth season on DVD. In the end--money talks. First run syndication on another network might be a possibility. Maybe. Possibly.

 

But be ready to do it all over again with the letters. As for me, I'm ticked off as I can be that Brannon didn't step back two years and hand the reins to Sussman and get Coto on board sooner. They totally coasted during season two and it cost them big time in lost viewers that they haven't ever gotten back. :)

Edited by MoulinRouge

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The main problem is exposure.

 

If UPN would promote the show more we wouldn't have to worry about another fan campaign. They need to put commercials on Spike TV/Sci Fi Channel and get the actors on Leno and Letterman next season. Although, the producers shouldn't rely on it, I think the idea of having Shatner and Wayne Brady guest starring might help give ENT a ratings boost as well.

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UPN isn't going to spend any significant money advertising ENT. It will all go to America's Top Model, which it considers more profitable. Outside of UPN itself (and the audiences on the other nights are not ENT's demographic) UPN didn't spend one penny advertising ENT last summer. I'm serious. Not a cent. Bakula and Keating said so in interviews as did Billingsley. No commercials on Spike, no magazine inserts or radio spots like I heard all over for Smallville. It spent a little more later on during February sweeps on a few commericals on Spike, but that's it. The only time I ever heard an ENT promo elsewhere was in tandem with a much longer promo for America's Top Model. Tyra Banks touted ATM on Good Morning America, BTW. ENT was not mentioned. Heck, UPN didn't even run promos for ENT's next episode during ENT for a while in January.....remember? We were all so mad. That's a network that wants to kill a show.

 

Summer is when the networks must spend money advertising. UPN will spend next to nothing advertising "Enterprise" this summer. I promise. They wanted very much to kill it. They aren't going to spend a damned thing to advertise it.

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Grrr, that is dumb that UPN won't advertise. I thought it was moronic that the only commericials I see for Enterprise (but I don't think they are technically) are during Enterprise when I am already watching it!

 

Whoever knows the address to UPN post it and I'll join the campaign.

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THEY SUGGESTED AT THE STAR TREK CONVENTION IN CHICAGO THAT ALL MAIL CAMPAIGNS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IN BUSINESS SIZE ENVELOPES AND MAILED TO UPN HEADQUARTERS..WITH NOTHING ON THE OUTSIDE TO GIVE IT AWAY THAT IT'S ABOUT ENTERPRISE...THAT WAY THEY WILL BE COMPELLED TO OPEN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM AND HAVE TO HIRE MORE STAFF TO DO IT.

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Thanks for the link, Moulin Rouge. I do hope that oversea letters help. So I'm going to write "Thank you" letters. Since I agree with you on your analysis I'm sure ENT will need our support NOW AND DURING SEASON 4.

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I'm really not happy about the new time slot.  This reminds of what happened to TOS back in the day.

::shakes fist::

 

DARN YOU LAUGH-INNNNNN!!!!!!!!

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I think it is safe to say that ENT has been renewed for another season but did they have to move it to Fridays?

 

I mean I have other shows that I watch on Friday must they conflict with one another.

 

The other shows are as follows:

 

Stargate SG-1

 

Stargate Atlantis

 

I will watch maybe a one of two episodes of Stargate Atlantis just to see if I'd like it. If the show is good then maybe I'll watch it every week that it airs. :dude:

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