"Star Trek" was cancelled once before it ended it's run; it took a letter writing campaign to have it renewed for waht would be its final season.
Networks are not run by creative, artistic persons; they are now run by immense business comnglomerates (NBC = Universal, ABC = Disney, Fox = NewsCorp). CBS, which was split off from Viacom, is less corporate bound and the results show in the ratings as their shows are dominating the top 20 shows. CBS has shown a willingness to stick with a show in spite of initially low ratings. One show, in fact, has strangely grown in ratings (NCIS [original]) even after 5 years in production, a point when most shows are starting to fade. The other networks are not as patient with the shows they present and do not reap the rewards of building an audience. Added to this is the current practice of putting large gaps of time between airing of promisimg shows, causing potential audiences to lose interest and stop following the show. How can an audience build when a few episodes are shown then a gap of weeks happens until the show continues to air new episodes, or, in some cases, they completely reschedule the new episodes to new times on new nights of the week.
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