Observer Effect - Lowest ratings ever

[Theunicornhunter 2]

According to Trektoday "Observer Effect" had the lowest ratings ever. (for the airing of a new episode)

 

I had wondered what would happen when ENT went head to head with a new episode of Stargate SG1, Stargate airs new episodes June thru August then Jan thru March so when ENT premiered Stargate was in reruns.

 

Imagine if the 2.5 million watching Stargate had joined the 2.76 watching ENT. I actually don't get ENT at 8:00 which is just as well so I don't have to choose.

 

edited to add parentheses to first sentence

Edited January 27, 2005 by TheUnicornHunter

[Sam The Smuggler 1]

I'll Probably End Up Watching Enterprise Friday, Instead Of The Encore On Saturday, Cause They Encore SG-1 After Atlantis...But I Don't Know..

[HRH The KING 0]

How much lower do the ratings in America for ENT have to fall before Paramount admit that something needs to be done?

[Mike 5]

Puzzling. I actually thought that 'Observer Effect' was one of the best episodes of the season. In fact I watched it 3 times. I like SG-1 but I will always watch Enterprise over Stargate if I have to choose..

[Sam The Smuggler 1]

Puzzling. I actually thought that 'Observer Effect' was one of the best episodes of the season. In fact I watched it 3 times.

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That Doesn't Matter If People Just Don't Care About The Show Anymore. They Can't Know How Good It Is If They Don't Tune In For It.

 

I like SG-1 but I will always watch Enterprise over Stargate if I have to choose..

298433[/snapback]

 

I Myself Like The ST Franchise Over Stargate, But I Enjoy SG-1 More Than Enterprise.

[Mike 5]

Puzzling. I actually thought that 'Observer Effect' was one of the best episodes of the season. In fact I watched it 3 times.

298433[/snapback]

That Doesn't Matter If People Just Don't Care About The Show Anymore. They Can't Know How Good It Is If They Don't Tune In For It.

True enough Sam..It's a shame though..Enterprise has improved immensly this season and it will be upsetting if this is the end..

[Sam The Smuggler 1]

Indeed. I'm All For A 5th Season. Nowhere To Go But Up.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

The whole Ratings system is outdated, the TV industry needs to realize this and adapt.

[Takara_Soong 4]

The whole Ratings system is outdated, the TV industry needs to realize this and adapt.

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I completely agree. Here's an excerpt from an interview with Rick Berman:

 

One interesting thing is something that I saw published by the TiVo company - a list of the 100 most season passed shows, shows that people put on a season pass, and ‘Star Trek Enterprise’ was No. 25. It was way ahead of some very major shows. That says that a lot of people are going out on Friday nights, but TiVo-ing the shows. So I think our true number of viewers may be bigger than the Nielsen ratings might suggest."

 

As Mr. Berman indicates TiVo-ing a series doesn't show up in the ratings. I'm still unsure whether traditional VCR use of taping a series shows up in the ratings either. Certainly downloading an episode from the internet doesn't.

 

I think we also need to put Enterprise into perspective of UPN's overall ratings. For the 2004/2005 season to date, UPN's overallhas a 2.3 rating with a 4 share. Up to and including Kir'Shara, Enterprise's season average is 2.01 rating and a 3.78.

 

As well Enterprise is on a network that is trying to change its demographics to appeal to a specific audience which is traditionally not a sci-fi watching group.

 

The network now skews 56% female -- up from 47% three years ago -- fulfilling the gender orientation it guaranteed to advertisers last May.

 

from The Hollywood Reporter

[Klingonmike 0]

I always watch Enterprise first and tape Stargate SG1 to watch later that night.

I thought "Observer Effect" was a very good episode.

I'm still hoping for a season 5 with Enterprise. Its just too good a show!!

[Jack_Bauer 1]

No matter how good Enterprise is (and is very strong creatively right now) the problem will always be UPN. I know I sound like a broken record but Star Trek always fares better in first run syndication. Being tied to a bad network hurt Voyager and is hurting Enterprise.

 

That TiVo fact is very interesting. Enterprise is obviously more popular than ratings indicate.

 

I think someone needs to start a petition to Paramount to continue Enterprise, even if UPN cancels Enterprise.

[HRH The KING 0]

Meh, however Paramount choose to spin the poor ratings and they can make all the excuses they want about new ratings systems and people taping it and so forth, ENT is a disaster and although I do understand some people enjoy the show and therefore I wouldn't say "cancel it", I do feel that keeping it on the air is weaknening the franchise.

 

I'd rather have no Trek for a while, rather than weak Trek. There was no Star Trek series on air from when TOS ended to when TNG debuted and it didn't hurt Star Trek. It was sustained with a few movies and there's no reason why a number of "Mini-Movies" in the sense of a "Star Trek Chronicles" couldn't be released until the time and the concept is right for a new Trek series. Perhaps a new animated series could be released too.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I have to agree that Trek will always suffer as long as it's on UPN.

 

I also agree about the ratings - it isn't spin to say the Nielsen's aren't representative of the total viewing population. All that can accurately be said of them is that they are representative of "that population of people that get selected to have a Nielsen's box and that consent to have the box". Even if Nielsen makes every effort to make the selection process random - there is still the consent factor. (while they say they use random sampling - they don't say how they choose households - they could use a database such a driver's licensee's or registered voters that were themselves non-reprentative, even a phone book would be non representative (some people don't own land phones or have unlisted #'s)) And it is quite possible that the characteristic of who would consent and who wouldn't consent to have their viewing habits monitored may skew the results in a way that is non-representative. I could see people of a suspicious or privacy conscious nature saying no.

 

Here's some Nielsen info: Nielsen.

 

***

edited to add:

Just saw on another site - Nielsen uses Census data - do you have any idea how many people don't get picked up on the Census? So you could say the Nielsen's represent that group of people that actually fill out and send in those cards.

Edited January 27, 2005 by TheUnicornHunter

[Takara_Soong 4]

Here's an update I found on the sale of second run syndication rights at saveenterprise.com

 

Paramount has cleared off-UPN one-hour drama Star Trek: Enterprise in more than 90% of the country for a fall syndicated launch.

 

The series is cleared in 49 of the top 50 markets, including top-market stations WNBC New York, KNBC Los Angeles, WCVB Boston, WSB ATlanta, WXYZ Detroit, KTRK Houston, and WISH Indianapolis.

 

Station groups committing one or more stations to the show include Viacom, NBC U, ABC, Cox, Scripps-Howard, Sinclair, Tribune, Emmis, Hearst, Lin, Raycom, Pegasus, and Clear Channel.

 

from Cable Broadcasting News

 

They seem to have had absolutely no problem selling these rights so I doubt they would have any problem getting that at least that much coverage of the US with first run rights.

[ddillard 2]

Myself I watch ENT on it's first run on friday if I am home in time, if not I watch it on Sunday when it reruns here. I do it this way because of SG1 rerunning at 11pm on friday night here. Once I get my TiVo next week I will be recording them both and watching them after they have aired, simply because of the commercials and the convenience involved. I have never felt the the Nielson ratings were fare, in order for them to be completely accurate there would have to be a box in every home, so I don't think that it provides a fair representation of the people that are watching the shows.

 

And it is often misrepresented that the everyone that watches the show is represented in the ratings while it is really only those that have a box. So what this means is that every person in the country that does not have a box could watch the show, but if the none of the people with the boxes watch the show would have a 0 in the ratings.

[KIMIMELA 1]

I would never watch SG, ENT is better although i'm not really fond of either

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I've seen lots of evidence around the web proving the ratings haven't given a true realistic picture of ENT viewer ship due to lack of countless preemptions of the show, not being shown at a time anyone is watching or not being aired at all.

 

Hopefully Mr. Moonees (sp?) will/has see(n) that evidence and will apply it to his decision making process about the future of ENT.

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I've seen lots of evidence around the web proving the ratings haven't given a true realistic picture of ENT viewer ship due to lack of countless preemptions of the show, not being shown at a time anyone is watching or not being aired at all.

 

Hopefully Mr. Moonees (sp?) will/has see(n) that evidence and will apply it to his decision making process about the future of ENT.

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Guess he didn't see it, it's been canceled...

[headborg 1]

I just watched it again...I think "Observer Effect" has one of the best "teasers" of all the shows. The "teaser" is the first part of the show, before the Intro...