If NBC entertainment chief Jeff Zucker had looked out the window of his Burbank, Calif., office last Tuesday, he would have seen a plane flying overhead trailing a banner that said, "Save Ed."

It’s that time of year again when fans begin to get that sinking feeling that their favorite show is about to be sunk by a network.

The people who love "Ed" got that message earlier this year when NBC aired the season finale of the romantic comedy months before the season was over.

The fact that "Ed" was 77 in the season rankings probably should have been enough of a clue for its fans. But, also, anytime a series marries off its two leading characters, who had been doing a mating dance for several seasons, viewers should know that the romance is over - along with the show.

None of that, however, kept its loyal supporters from hiring that plane last week, according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

"Ed" supporters also have bought full-page ads in trade industry magazines and dispatched a balloon express message to Zucker’s office. Did Zucker pay any attention to the plane? Doesn’t matter. "Ed" was shot down a long time ago, and it is not about to rise like some Phoenix from the ashes.

Neither is "Star Trek: Enterprise," UPN’s series that has gone where no "Star Trek" series has ever gone before, namely to last place in the season rankings out of almost 200 series.

This plummet into oblivion may sound the death knell for the "Star Trek" franchise, which can trace its lineage to the original 1966 series. It suffered sudden ratings death after three seasons.

"Star Trek" lived on as a cult show in reruns and was revived in a long string of theater movies and four spinoff TV series. But ""Enterprise," starring Scott Bakula, was a poor progeny that never lived up to the series name. Still, die-hard Trekkies are besieging the network to give it just one more flight.

USA Today solicits letters from angry viewers about series sucking their last gasp in its annual Save Our Shows campaign, which resulted in 43,000 responses this year.

Many were appalled that Fox, after only four episodes, killed off "Wonderfalls," a quirky comedy-drama about a lackadaisical young clerk in a novelty shop who talks to inanimate animals.

Falling to 162 in the standings and 3.5 million viewers didn’t help, but when a network yanks a show that fast it’s because it saw something in the ratings it didn’t like, such as the show wasn’t attracting the young viewers it was supposed to.

Fox has stuck with "Tru Calling," about a young woman who hears from the dead. But now that it is buried at 141 in the Nielsens, protests to bring it back next season are likely to fall on deaf network ears.

There is considerable outrage that "Arrested Development," another Fox show and one the critics love, could be dumped since it’s 120 in the standings. The show never developed much of a following and is drawing just over 6 million viewers, which probably isn’t enough to survive. "Arrested Development" is too smart a sitcom to be on Fox. It might have made it on NBC.

There’s also outrage that "Angel" (157) is headed for the hereafter on WB. Fans of these vampire shows feel as if they’re being jerked around. First "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" bit the dust and now "Angel." These sorts of shows have been hemorrhaging viewers for the past few seasons. "Angel" was down to its last 3.8 million souls, not enough to breathe new life into another season.

The real viewer fury will be heard week after next when the networks announce their fall schedules, and a show or two that nobody expected to expire will suffer sudden death.

Readers always ask what they can do when their favorite show is dumped. The answer is, not much.

It’s been forever since a network caved into a protest campaign and returned a show to the schedule. By the time the obituaries appear, the network computers have crunched and scrunched the rating numbers. The death certificate already has been signed and sealed, leaving viewers to post eulogies on the Internet.

In the news

Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean isn’t finished with the media yet. He’s talking with Paramount studio about doing a syndicated, non-political TV talk show.

Speaking of syndicated talk shows, Donald Trump has signed a deal to do 90-second radio commentaries on anything that comes to his mind for any station that wants to air them starting this fall. On TV tonight

"American idol" is back at 8 on Fox with the final five.

"The Guardian" has its third-season finale at 9 tonight on CBS.

NBC airs two "Frasier" repeats at 8 and 8:30 and a new episode at 9 p.m. The series finale is next week.