Bakula Pessimistic About Saving Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise star Scott Bakula sounded sad but resigned about the news of the show's cancellation in a chat last night with fans, thanking everyone for their support but saying, "Everyone at Paramount who had history with the franchise is gone. So I wouldn't even know who to tell you to complain to, because there's not anyone who really is interested."

Speaking with viewers at StarTrek.com, Bakula said that he and everyone else involved with the show was disappointed by the announcement of the cancellation, but that the show did not fit into UPN's business plan and really had not for more than two years. "That's a situation that's out of our control and ultimately has no reflection on our show or the quality of our show. Or the commmitment of all of our fans," he said.

Crediting Paramount Television president Garry Hart with getting the show a fourth season, Bakula added that there are really no executives left at Viacom willing to fight for the show, either within the network or at the studio. "Specifically, to shop the show to another network, you have to have someone from your studio have your show's best interests at heart," he explained. "To the best of my knowledge, and from reading the release that Paramount put out, they seem very content to let the show go and, I think, hoping that we would go out quietly."

The actor is aware that fans ahve been "bombarding" Viacom executive Leslie Moonves with e-mails and letters to try to encourage him to save the show. "Knowing Les as I do, I would doubt very strongly that could possibly change his mind," Bakula said. He did have a fond memory of when Quantum Leap was saved from cancellation, saying that Warren Littlefield had run a commercial showing thousands of letters being dumped onto him in his office: "The commercial was something about 'Enough already, we're putting Quantum back on the air!' I got a good laugh out of that and I fondly remember Warren and his openness to the fan support at that time."

Bakula described the cast as "very emotionally attached to the show" and said that because they enjoy working on it, they had hoped the situation would continue. "Obviously we want everyone to tune in and watch the last shows because we're extremely proud of them and we're anxious to share them with the fans," he stated. "It would be a disappointment if there was a dropoff in viewership because of the cancellation."

For more, including Bakula's anticipation of the Defiant and a Gorn in upcoming episodes and Bakula's favourite part of the Superbowl (namely, the halftime show), see the original article at StarTrek.com.

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