'Enterprise' Falters Through Sweeps

See Also: 'The Communicator' Episode Guide

Enterprise has failed to shine throughout the crucial November sweeps period, achieving some of its lowest ratings this season.

'The Communicator', which aired on November 13, scored a 3.0 rating / 5 share, according to final ratings data published at the Futon Critic. This means approximately 3.0% of American households with television sets were tuned into Enterprise, while the episode was viewed by 5% of households watching television at the time.

Watched by 4.46 million viewers, the episode scored Enterprise's lowest first-run audience numbers ever. The previous least-watched episode, 'Fusion', had 4.49 million viewers.

'Singularity', which aired on November 20, managed a slightly higher 3.1 rating / 5 share. In terms of viewers, the episode was seen by 4.83 million people, making it the third least-watched episode this season.

Enterprise lead-out series The Twilight Zone, while already renewed for the season, has not proved to be a ratings winner, losing an average 33 percent of its Star Trek lead-in audience. The last two episodes scored final ratings of 1.9/3 and 2.0/3, respectively, and the series does seem to have stabilised around the 3 million viewer mark. That said, Mediaweek's Marc Berman gave last week's outing a D grade for its ratings performance.

November sweeps is a crucial time for networks as it determines how much they can charge for advertising time, and UPN is poised to finish in last place this year. In the week of November 18, the network was down 8 percent in total viewers and 11 percent in the key adults 18-49 demographic from last year, while principal rival the WB has seen gains of 34 and 35 percent, respectively.

As UPN's Monday night comedy lineup and WWE Smackdown have performed well for the network, trade paper Variety said yesterday "Enterprise declines are now most responsible for the net's year-to-year dropoff." But network entertainment president Dawn Ostroff isn't fazed. "We're exactly on track where we finished last season," she said. "What's exciting about Monday night is we've created an environment, a destination. We also have created shows that are pretty young, so there's a lot of room for growth."

Further information can be found at the Futon Critic, Mediaweek and Variety.

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