Maybe the network doesn't take the ep into consideration either so that the bad ratings won't matter much?

Hmm, that's interesting. I sure hope so. I thought this episode was great but probably a really poor introduction to the show in general. The network shouldn't just ignore it though. Of course I've found alternate ways of downloading the ep but making it available on iTunes couldn't hurt. I really hope this move isn't really a signal that they've given up on the show in any way.