Star Trek: Enterprise is the only Star Trek series to have been cancelled after four seasons, and, unfortunately, that was just when it was finding its stride and getting better. For some reasons, viewers didn't tune in to the fifth Trek series that took the Enterprise to space for the first time. But would they have tuned in if the show had kept its original premise?
In Star Trek: Enterprise's season one Blu-Ray bonus feature, Brannon Braga outlined the first concept of the series [via Screenrant], saying that the focus of the show originally was going to be the building of the first starship and making contact with the Vulcans.
"The show originally… was supposed to be set on Earth. The show Rick and I pitched to the studio was a show set on Earth. The Klingons attacked Earth. Same things, general things, happened, but it was all about the building of the first starship and… the Vulcan thing was all there… It was about getting the crew together. It was about Archer putting a crew together to be the first people who went out. It was either the end of the season or somewhere midseason the ship was going to be launched. So it was a much more mud on the boots, gritty show set on Earth for the first large part of the season. So launching the ship was going to be a much bigger deal."Brannon Braga
Screenrant John Orquiola asked the question in a recent post. Would Star Trek: Enterprise have been better with its original concept? It's an excellent question even though we'll never know the answer to it...at least not from this series' aspect. However, that doesn't stop a new Trek series from taking on this subject, which is why now is a good time to ask if viewers would tune in to watch a Star Trek show set on Earth while the Enterprise is being built.
Starfleet Academy is the next new series coming from the franchise, and it, most likely, will have a large portion of its time spent on the ground. If it proves successful, that could be an open acknowledgement that fans are okay with a series that doesn't always take to the skies. But as far as the concept having worked for Star Trek: Enterprise, there was so much Trek in space from 1987-2001 that, I think, it would have been difficult for the audience to accept a grounded Trek show.
With Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finding success at a prequel of Star Trek: The Original Series, it's possible a different prequel could be equally successful if the action is brought to the people on Earth. No one wants to watch a Star Trek drama that doesn't have any of the action and excitement that all other Star Trek shows have brought. So while we can't really answer the question for Star Trek: Enterprise, we can ask the question for a future series.