Underwhelming Ratings For 'Cargo' & 'Catwalk'

See Also: 'Precious Cargo' Episode Guide

Enterprise has finished 2002 on an undistinguished note, with its final two first-run episodes for the year achieving lacklustre ratings.

'Precious Cargo', which aired on December 11, scored a 3.1 rating / 5 share, according to final ratings data published at the Futon Critic. This means approximately 3.1% of American households with television sets were tuned into Enterprise, while the episode was viewed by 5% of households watching television at the time.

The episode was watched by an audience of 4.67 million people, according to the Los Angeles Times. Only three Enterprise episodes - 'Vanishing Point', 'The Communicator' and 'Fusion' - have had smaller audiences.

'The Catwalk', which aired a week later on December 18, achieved a 3.0 rating / 5 share. Despite lower ratings than 'Precious Cargo,' 'The Catwalk' actually had a larger audience, with 4.73 million people tuning in. The discrepancy is due to the fact that the ratings show the share of people watching television at the time, not the actual number of viewers.

Enterprise has had an up and down season ratings-wise. The season two premiere, 'Shockwave, Part II', was actually watched by fewer viewers than last season's finale (4.89 million vs. 5.28 million). Despite this shaky start to the season, 'Minefield', 'Dead Stop' and 'Marauders' pulled in higher ratings than most episodes in the second half of season one, while 'A Night In Sickbay' (seen by 6.26 million) was the most-watched Enterprise episode since 'Sleeping Dogs' attracted 6.5 million viewers in January.

Despite these successes, ratings were lacklustre throughout the key November sweeps period which determines advertising rates. 'The Seventh', 'The Communicator' and 'Singularity' were all watched by less than 5 million viewers, while the series hit an all-time low with 'Vanishing Point,' which was seen by only 3.78 million people. However, 'Vanishing Point's' poor performance was likely due to the usual pre-Thanksgiving dip in ratings, which also affected season one's 'Fortunate Son'.

UPN has also had a downer of a season so far, with an average of 3.9 million viewers compared to the 4.5 million attracted by chief competitor the WB. CBS currently leads the pack with an average of 12.85 million viewers, followed by NBC (12.19), ABC (9.96) and Fox (9.20).

The original ratings information is available at the Futon Critic, while viewership figures can be found here and here at the LA Times.

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