'Enterprise' To Premiere September 26

Despite earlier rumours that suggested UPN wanted to launch Enterprise as soon as August, the network is now apparently planning to air the two-hour pilot episode of the new Star Trek series Wednesday the 26th of September.

TrekToday reader Jason Redmond called Paramount on an unrelated matter and was told that Enterprise would debut on that date. At UPN's upfront meeting, the network had previously said it had planned to "start early to get a jump on the other networks" (story).

Though the premiere date is a month later than was originally expected, Enterprise will still debut in the very first week of the official Fall season. The opening episode is expected to attract a very large amount of viewers, and this may have been the reason UPN decided not to air it in August. Viewership averages for the big networks are calculated solely on the basis of programming airing during the official season, and UPN likely not wanted to lose the boost the Enterprise premiere will give it.

According to Ain't It Cool News, Enterprise will still launch before UPN's other science fiction shows. As the Series V pilot will be a two-hour episode, Enterprise lead-out Special Unit 2 will only be able to start in its new 9:00pm timeslot a week later, on the 3rd of October. Buffy the Vampire Slayer will make its UPN debut on Tuesday the 9th of October with a two-hour episode, while Roswell will launch on UPN on the 16th of October.

The delayed Enterprise launch is sure to be a disappointment for Star Trek fans, who will have waited more than four months get new episodes once Enterprise premieres. However, the later start also means that more Series V episodes will be left for later in the season, limiting the length of the rerun periods. In addition, the long wait should be made easier by the publicity material that is bound to appear over the coming months, including the first images and first footage of Enterprise.

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