Movies - TV
Scott Bakula Thinks This
Is Why
Star Trek: Enterprise Was Doomed
By LYVIE SCOTT
On the “Bog Saget’s Here For You” podcast, Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer) shared the behind-the-scenes upheaval that led to "Star Trek: Enterprise’s” premature end. The main culprit was UPN, the network that the show had been on since 2001, and the failed partnership of its two co-owners, ViacomCBS and Paramount, by 2005.
“Enterprise” was the first of the “Star Wars” franchise to rely on a single network instead of starting in syndication like the others. According to Bakula, “[“Enterprise” was] subject to the whims of the network and the advertisers” while "all the other [Star Trek shows] ... set up their deals with all the little stations all around America for seven years[...] Which we would have done also if we had been syndicated."
However, Viacom and CBS’s 2006 split led to UPN combining with its sister network, The WB, and “Enterprise” and other shows got the ax to make way for the new combined network, The CW. Before the cancellation, Bakula remembered how "[...] studios [were] changing personnel completely,” which included “Enterprise’s” original showrunners being replaced in the fourth and final season.