04-FEBRUARY-05
Enterprise Won't Be Shopped
Rick Berman, executive producer of UPN's just-canceled Star Trek: Enterprise, told SCI FI Wire that Paramount is not shopping the series to another network in the hope that it will remain on the air past its anticipated May 13 series finale on UPN. The studio considered that option last year, when the fate of Enterprise hung in the balance, but UPN ultimately renewed the struggling series for a fourth and now last season.
"One of the greatest things that Paramount has offered us over the last 18 years has been the kinds of budgets that have allowed us to produce the show at the quality that it's been done," Berman said in an interview hours after the official announcement was made by UPN. "The budget that all of our Star Trek series have demanded are the kinds of budgets that would be prohibitive on cable. So as of now the powers-that-be seem to feel it's time to give the franchise a rest, and I think it's most likely a good idea."
Sources told SCI FI Wire that the show costs as much as $1.6 million per episode to produce, for which UPN paid about half. To win renewal last year, Paramount cut its fee to UPN, which resulted in some cost-cutting, which included shooting the series on high-definition digital video instead of film.
