OT: Totally P!ssed off at UPN

[Randallw]

There was talk, earlier,that UPN is only interested in appealing to black people, as shown by their plethora of african american programming. The idea was that an intellectual show mostly filled with white people was of no appeal to UPN's target audience, thus the lax in ratings.

[Captain Kwok]

Come on guys, it's got nothing to do at all with racial motivations. It's an expensive show to make and when the ratings weren't there initially - it got moved to a bad Friday night timeslot and add to that a massive split in the trek community about the series was enough to finish it off. To suggest otherwise is silly.

[Atrocities]

I tend to agree with CK about this. I think that the networks intended demographic simply turned off to many people as there was simply not enough programing that appealed to all audiances. In tuning out UPN, shows such as Enterprise could no longer draw in the revenue needed to keep themselves afloat.

Back in the early 90's Arseno Hall ran into the same problem. His show was revolutionary and a lot of fun to watch but when it began to cater more toward one specific audience, his rating tanked and the show went off the air.

Enterprise faced many hurtles as CK pointed out and it was a combination of all of these factors, UPN's targeted demographic simply was not interested in the show, and the excluded demographic would only tune in to watch Enterprise, and of that group there was a huge split so fewer and fewer would watch out of frustration over the shows pandering disregard for establish Trek history. (Sad as the show was actually very good and did not, for the most part, step on any toes.)

Oh well, what can you do except accept it?

[Starhawk]

Captain Kwok said:
Come on guys, it's got nothing to do at all with racial motivations. It's an expensive show to make and when the ratings weren't there initially - it got moved to a bad Friday night timeslot and add to that a massive split in the trek community about the series was enough to finish it off. To suggest otherwise is silly.

Well CK I don't know if you've watched UPN in it's early days or even in recent years except for ENT but I can certainly understand where the "anti-white" feeling is coming from, UPN said in it's early days that they saught to be a second BET (Black EntertainmentTelevision for those who are unfamiliar with the channel) and 90% of their shows would have been considered racist if it had been white folks talking about black folks, the way these black folks were talking about white people. They had all black casts except for the "inept or goofy stupid" white guy or girl. And they had humor barely above an 8th grade education.

Even these days the vast majority of UPNs shows are casted either entirely or mostly of African American persons, granted they have eased up on their "The White Devil" style talk but their views that "white folks are boring dorks" is still a prominant feature of several shows. They've also made some of their shows "smarter" now a days.

Their targeted demograph is clearly not white people, UPNs only shows with prominant white casts are lucky to survive 1 or 2 seasons so in a way we are lucky ENT lasted 4 because UPN has shown a remarkable lack of patience when it comes to giving "Diversified" shows a chance.


And UPN has stated that they are "unoficially" not happy with the demograph of enterprise, which imho sounds like they are not happy with the fact that the bulk of the cast is as follows:

Scott Bakula: White (or should I say European American these days?)
Conner Trinner: White
Dominic Keating: White
Anthony Montgomery: African American
Linda Park: Korean American
Jolene Blalock: Mixed Race
John Billingsly: White

Notice the issue by UPN's "Targeted Demograph"?

[Captain Kwok]

The reason why you've seen the newer networks like UPN and the WB feature more urban comedies etc., is because that is an under-represented market in the U.S. and it offers a better chance for them to pick up market share - you could easily make the opposite "racial" claim of what you are saying with the big networks like NBC or CBS that they do the exact opposite with their "all-white" shows.

The failure of Enterprise has nothing to do with what you are saying. If you are to blame UPN, it's for poor series promotion and direction. Also be sure to blame fellow trekkies too, of which much damage was done.

[EvilGenius4ABetterTomorro]

All you can really hope for is another network to pick it up. Or maybe Fox will start another series like with Klingons or Orions Pirates or something of that nature. I've always felt glum when my favorite shows were cancelled. It all started with U.F.O. then Space 1999, Buck Rogers, Logans Run (yeah, I liked it). It happens, then something good comes around again. When SG-1 goes though I expect to check into the Betty Ford Clinic. I think your also going to see more Sci-Fi mini series instead of regualr series. Still hoping of "Ring World".

[Renegade 13]

Oooo ah ah, that stings! Good thing I have a natural resistance to venom. See R13 make a miraculous recovery, and take his horrible revenge upon the 8 foot tall mouse known as Narf! Who will have the strength, the grit, the determination to win this final round! Tune in tomorrow to find out, on channel....wait, this is getting a little too representative of reality tv. Ick.

[Starhawk]

Captain Kwok said:
The reason why you've seen the newer networks like UPN and the WB feature more urban comedies etc., is because that is an under-represented market in the U.S. and it offers a better chance for them to pick up market share - you could easily make the opposite "racial" claim of what you are saying with the big networks like NBC or CBS that they do the exact opposite with their "all-white" shows.

The failure of Enterprise has nothing to do with what you are saying. If you are to blame UPN, it's for poor series promotion and direction. Also be sure to blame fellow trekkies too, of which much damage was done.

I said I could understand where their views on the fact UPN is rather racially singular being partially responsible for ENT downfall, it really is a factor, though not the only one.

[Azselendor]

I'm betting Spike and SciFi start a bidding war for syndication rights.

What got me pissed was when UPN said "We bid Enterprise a warm goodbye..."
That sounds a bit like "Good bye, good riddens, now get the hell out before we loose the dogs!"

I think a lot what hurt this series too was advertising, and program blocking. UPN didn't do half the work needed to make good program blocks like other networks. You got one sci-fi show surrounded by ethnic comedies and repeative-situation-sitcoms on UPN. Honestly, how many people can name UPN's daily lineup from memory? How many can do the same for Fox or WB?

Then advertising. I think I heard about 300 Sound-FX driven ads for Enterprise on the radio (most likely they just took the audio track from the TV ads instead of making real radio ads) and maybe 3 broadcast Ads and maybe 5 print ads. That would be like advertising a space empires to a group of woodsmen and ignoreing the sci-fi gaming community.

Enterprise is one of those productions that are plagued from the first day or pre-production. Like the original Battlestar Galactica or any other series that held promise and then exploded in everyone's collective faces.

[Captain Kwok]

Some simple facts:

• $1.6 million per episode
• Currently 3 million viewership, down from 10-12 million first season
• Bad timeslot, against shows of same genre etc, dividing "tune-in" audience
• Poor advertising
• Divisions in the fan base

Even a really good 4th season couldn't save this ship.