 Before the episode was shown , a half @-@ hour special was shown on the Sci Fi Channel about the making of " Trials and Tribble @-@ ations " on November 2 , 1996 . Paramount also promoted the episode by arranging the placement of around 250 @,@ 000 tribbles in <unk> and buses across the United States . It received Nielsen ratings of 7 @.@ 7 % , placing it in sixth place in the timeslot . This meant that it had been watched by 7 @.@ 7 % of all households . It was the most watched episode of the fifth season during its initial broadcast . The last time the series had received similar ratings was nearly a year earlier with season four 's " Little Green Men " . 
