I'm bummed...

http://www.trektoday.com/news/020205_04.shtml

UPN Cancels 'Star Trek: Enterprise
February 2, 2005 - 8:17 PM

Star Trek: Enterprise will come to an end following the airing of an as yet untitled series finale on May the 13th, 2005.

UPN and Paramount today jointly announced the show's cancellation. "Star Trek has been an important part of UPN's history, and Enterprise has carried on the tradition of its predecessors with great distinction," UPN Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff said. "We'd like to thank Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and an incredibly talented cast for creating an engaging, new dimension to the Star Trek universe on UPN, and we look forward to working with them, and our partners at Paramount Network Television, on a send-off that salutes its contributions to The Network and satisfies its loyal viewers."

The pity of it all is that, now that they had gotten the whole moronic "temporal cold war" plotline out of the way, the stories were actually getting interesting.

Unfortunately, trying to get friends to try watching the series again after a wasted year was too much of an uphill struggle.

Not that I expect it to do any good, but I'm planning to send the following letter to those in charge, to express my discontent.
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Tuesday; February 8, 2005

Dear (Person In Nice Suit):

I was saddened and disappointed to read the “Star Trek: Enterprise” has been cancelled.

Not surprised, mind you; but saddened and disappointed.

I fully understand that any television series lives and dies by the ratings, and that Enterprise’s ratings were not good, and that any business manager is loath to throw good money after bad.

On the other hand, as a business manager, you understand the need to consider WHY a property didn’t succeed and avoid making the same mistakes again. The short answer is that the producers of the series neither gave the fans what they wanted, nor gave them anything BETTER than what they wanted.

Let me first preface my comments by pointing out that I am probably NOT the prime demographic for much of current television: I am a 50-year-old, professionally-employed white male. I read extensively, watch TV selectively, and have, quite frankly, reached the age where I feel that I no longer have the time to waste on a book, TV show, movie, or person that doesn’t hold my interest and have something entertaining/worthwhile to offer me. It’s simply a case of “so many (fill in the blank)s, so little time.” But I actually made an exception for Enterprise. Whether it was nostalgia for what Star Trek was, or hope for what it could be, I don’t know. But I kept watching. Actually, I think that I KNOW why I’ve kept watching: through all of the contrived plotlines, through all of the bad science (and bad pseudo-science – for pity’s sake; if you’re going to write techno-babble to get your plot-twists in, at least try to write PLAUSIBLE techno-babble!). The reason was that these were still good, likeable, DECENT people; they were people that I wanted to know, and would have enjoyed going out to have a beer with. Any entertainment presented to me MUST have that, to hold my attention: There must be at least one character with whom I can identify, or to which I can aspire. Enterprise has a half-dozen of them, the flood of so-called “reality” shows have none.

I have spent much of the current television season trying to convince friends and fellow science-fiction fans to give Enterprise another watching; telling them that the episodes this season (with the notable exception of the two season-opener “hangover-from-the-disastrous-third-season-Time-Travelling-Alien-Nazi” episodes) were actually fairly intelligent and were FUN. Unfortunately the bad taste left from the aforementioned disastrous third season was too great for many of them. The third season was neither what the fans wanted – the foundation of the Star Trek universe, nor was it good science fiction - which at least would have been an enjoyable alternative. The sheer dreadfulness of season three, and the resultant low ratings can, I believe, be laid squarely at the feet of Messrs. Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.

To be fair to Messrs. Berman and Braga, they actually appear, finally, to be giving the fans what they were hoping for in the first place; the foundations of the Federation and some marginally intelligent stories along the way. Unfortunately, this appears to be a case of “a day late and a dollar short”. If I thought that it would do any good, I would urge Paramount to:
1: Renew the series WITHOUT the current producers,
2: Get some people who know good, intelligent, and compelling science fiction to write and produce,
3: Get them good production managers to keep them on time and under budget and,
4: Let the viewers see that Star Trek can be good intelligent family fun again.

To paraphrase “Field of Dreams”: If you build it, they will come; if you make it GOOD, they will stay and spend money at the concessions stand!

With the steps outlined above, I believe that Enterprise could overcome the current malaise and become a viable and valuable property and an asset to all of Paramount’s stake-holders. Without taking those steps, either now or with any future incarnations of the Star Trek universe, the franchise is, in my opinion, essentially dead.

And that’s a pity, for both the viewers and for Paramount and its stake-holders.

I thank you for your time and attention to this occasionally rambling letter and am;

Respectfully yours;

Michael Moyle
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The current list of recipients include:


Ms Dawn Ostroff
President, Entertainment
United Paramount Network
11800 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Mr. Leslie Moonves
Chairman and CEO
CBS Television
7800 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Mr. Leslie Moonves
Chairman and CEO
CBS Broadcasting Inc.
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019 U.S.A.

Mr. Brad Grey
Chief Executive Officer
Paramount Studios
5555 Melrose Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90038

Mr. Tom Freston
President
Viacom International, Inc.
1515 Broadway
New York, NY, 10036-5794

Mr. Sumner Redstone
Chairman
Viacom International, Inc.
1515 Broadway
New York, NY, 10036-5794

As I said - It probably won't do any good, but it will make me feel a bit better.
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