Schuck had also appeared in episodes of both "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager". Eric Pierpoint had previously appeared in several episodes of "Star Trek" across the various television series, including the "TNG" episode "" as well as episodes of "DS9" and "Voyager". He had also appeared in the "Enterprise" episode "". Brad Greenquist appeared as a Rigelian in this episode in his second appearance on "Enterprise", he too had also previously appeared in episodes of "DS9" and "Voyager". The other Rigelians were played by stuntmen Brian Williams and Tom Dupont, whilst Linda Park was stunt-doubled by Diana Inosato. It was the second appearance of Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the animated television show "Family Guy", in a role in "Enterprise". He had previously appeared as an unnamed character in the third-season episode "" but gains the name Ensign Rivers in "Affliction". "Affliction" originally aired on UPN, on February 18, 2005. It received a 1.8/3% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 1.8 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 3 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This equals the ratings received by the previous episode, "The Aenar", which received the highest ratings of the fourth season so far. It finished behind programs on NBC, The WB, ABC, CBS and Fox. Michelle Erica Green reviewed this episode for TrekNation, and described it as a "rollicking good ride". She thought that linking the reason for the Klingons' appearance change to the augmented humans from earlier in the season was a clever idea, but the introduction of Section 31 was suspect as they hadn't been mentioned at all through the season three Xindi arc. She was pleased with the level of detail shown on screen, such as the computer-generated targs and Tucker changing the patch on his uniform when he transfers to the "Columbia". Green said that John Billingsley "excels" in this episode, and that the ending was "perfect". Jamahl Epsicokhan on his website "Jammer's Reviews", gave the episode a score of three out of four, saying that it was "solid and entertaining, but with no real signs of greatness" and thought that the cliffhanger ending was unnecessary.