It might seem strange in hindsight because the series is experiencing a second wind fueled by the cyclical nature of nostalgia. However, "Star Trek: Enterprise" struggled to build an audience in the early 2000s, so much so that every subsequent season pickup was a surprise. While the numbers weren't ideal, they were trending upward ... but UPN didn't believe in the show's staying power. That's why there are only four seasons and so many unresolved plotlines in "Enterprise" — the network pulled the plug. But before UPN lopped off the whole limb, the studio bigwigs suggested a more surgical approach.
According to "Inglorious Treksperts," a podcast co-hosted by Mark A. Altman and Daren Dochterman, former CBS CEO Les Moonves blamed Scott Bakula for the poor ratings and wanted him gone. During the episode "It's Been a Long Road: Revisiting Enterprise," producer Rob Meyer Burnett said, "[I was] interviewing many people [that] were involved with ['Enterprise'] and one of the highest-ranking members [of the production staff] told [me] flat out that [they were] told by Les Moonves to let Scott Bakula go. [Moonves] didn't like [Bakula's] performance ... and the person [I interviewed] basically told Les Moonves, 'no, I'm not going to do that,' and that person's career subsequent to 'Enterprise' going off the air was made very frustrating."
Burnett added that Moonves' decisions regarding "Enterprise" were often made from a place of active dislike for the franchise. While canceling the series and hating Bakula are among the lesser of Moonves' many alleged crimes, "Star Trek" fans are hopeful that Paramount will eventually write a new journey for Bakula: it could even happen in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
