All I can say is man did she look hot in that outfit she was wearing.
One local DJ, when Jeri Ryan first went on the show, referred to Wednesday night (when Voyager was shown here) as "Jeri Ryan night". So I think she probably helped bring in more viewers.
All in all the series (all of them) had been going downhill since the original show. I mean everyone was so damn "nice" to everyone. I mean JT Kirk had so much action he probably had a raging case of space herpes.
Then there were the great Kirkisms... like one episode he punched this little alien guy whose only infraction was to be watching the actions of the landing party. Right after Kirk punches him in the face for no apparent reason, he says, "We... come in peace, we mean you know harm". Classic.
The other shows just couldn't compare. I mean, none of the other captains had their own fight music for example. None of the other captains would make their women dress up in short skirts and ogle them as they served him
coffee on the bridge. Did you ever get the impression that he hand picked the "clipboard and coffee" girls?
And for the most part in the other shows, people rarely died. Not like the original series. Can you imagine those poor red shirts? There they are sitting around, drinking coffee, minding their own business, dreading the moment that their boss walks into the room and tells them, "Okay, everyone who is important on this ship... and one or two of you... is going to beam down to the planet." Do you think they drew straws? Do you think they even assigned those guys permanent lockers on the ship, or maybe just a carboard box with their name in magic marker on it? Poor bastards.