Berman Talks Cancellation, Finale

Executive producer Rick Berman said that he didn't think even a guest appearance by William Shatner (Captain Kirk) could have saved the Star Trek: Enterprise.

Soeaking to TV Guide, which confirmed that Jonathan Frakes (Riker) and Marina Sirtis (Troi) would be appearing in the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise, Berman said that Enterprise's doom was apparent last year.

"The writing was on the wall," Berman told Michael Logan, "when UPN moved us to Friday nights and the network began skewing in a different direction." Once the low-rated network dropped its longtime strategy of targeting young males and urban audiences in favor of female viewers, Enterprise - whose audiences had dropped to an average of just 2.9 million viewers this season - no longer fit within its overall scheme.

"I don't think an appearance by William Shatner would have mattered," said Berman, who believes that even luring more original series fans would not have been enough to keep the series from cancellation.

Once again Berman said that the finale would be like a valentine to Trekkers, calling it "surprising — something we've never done before." Though the producer would only say that the finale "might" involve guests from a previous Star Trek series, Logan stated that Frakes and Sirtis had signed on to appear.

The original item is at TV Guide.

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