I just heard that Stargate Universe averaged 2.3 million on Friday night between 9p-10p on Syfy. I'm expecting a full release from Syfy shortly. Stay tuned.
Update 10/3 12:20p PT: the full press release is here with results for the full two hour premiere of SGU
That doesn’t seem very good for a Stargate show, or am I mistaken?
That’s either as good or better than Stargate Atlantis.
finale of Stargate Atlantis had 2.019 million Live+SD
SG1 final drew 2.2 million viewers
Yeah it does seem low.
By comparison Stargate Atlantis had 4.2 million, with DVR. So we’ll see.
For a series premiere I don’t think its that great. I thought it would get over 3m. I’d like to see how much they can hold as the series progress.
SGA had 4.2 million with DVR for what episode? Its finale had 2.019 million with just the same day DVR baked in. I think the Gunsmoke Rule has to apply to the Stargate realm as well (no comparing numbers to previous years, except for the previous season!). To me it looks like SGU premiered about as well as BSG finished last season — DVR took BSG finale up to 3.1 million.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/04/07/battlestar-galactica-finale-nielsen-ratings-surge-with-dvr-viewing/16206
The1337, you really expected it to premiere better than BSG finished?
Warehouse 13 premiere drew 3.5 Million
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/07/08/warehouse-13-premiere-draws-more-viewers-than-battlestar-galactica-finale-but/22528
That’s also in the summer and not on a Friday night, Joe; not a real valid comparison there.
It was awful, so it’ll drop a lot next week. I was expecting at least 3 million for the premiere, because they said new people can watch this series.
Warehouse 13 drew 3.5 million July 7, 2009 Tuesday vs what i can only imagine no competition what so ever.
Sgu drew 2.3 million October 2, 2009 Friday vs a weak but still full network lineup.
If Sgu can keep these numbers and unless the audience is very old (aka bad 18-49) It will get a lock second season.
This is on par with the previous Stargate shows. People act like SGA was a ratings monster and it wasn’t.
SGU will be fine.
OK, Eureka pulled 2.6 on a Friday
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/07/14/eureka-on-syfy-scores-2-6-million-total-viewers-in-friday-9-10pm-time-period/22777
It’s weird that there have been so many Stargate shows if they’re this low rated, but hey, it gives me hope that Caprica will survive even if the ratings stink.
Joe, yes, but that’s ALSO in the summer, with no new broadcast competition (AKA, CBS shows) and ALSO down from its own previous summer’s numbers. Just saying…
Eureka pulled a 2.6 in July, its a totally diffrent ballgame.
Please dont compare ratings during Summer vs Second week of Fall season.
I’m pretty sure these are normal numbers for SyFy’s fall line-up.
Unless Variety is wrong…
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117907989.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&query=stargate+atlantis
Vagueness with “total”. But given the date of the article with the premiere date of SGA, it wasn’t a full week of DVR numbers.
Fox just needs to move Dollhouse over to FX and air it on a better night of the week and it will draw a larger audience and can be done for less money. These genre shows just cannot get enough folks to watch to stay on broadcast channels anymore. Before long Fringe will be in danger of being cancelled and yet on FX its numbers would be great. The folks that watch these kinds of shows will go to the channel it is on to watch it, and a wise business decision would be to put them there to begin with. The scale paid to produce them is much lower when done for cable so costs could line up from the start. Several recent failures like Merlin, The Listener, Defying Gravity and other shows would have been considered successful if on cable instead of on broadcast networks. BSG only got about 2.5 million or so and is bragged as very successful by Syfy. I just cannot understand why genre shows are put on a broadcaster to begin with. Something else, writers, directors and actors will just have to come to the understanding they cannot be paid as much for being on shows that draw lower ratings, it is just a fact of life everything cannot be shown on CBS, ABC, NBC or Fox or even CW some belong on Syfy, FX and ABC Family to begin with. Maybe Fox should show some reruns over on MyNetwork TV after their wrestling show on Fridays.
My point is GENRE shows need to start out on cable and be allowed to grow an audience because there are not enough potential viewers for a Dollhouse or even a Fringe to allow them to stay on broadcasters. FX or Syfy should have been the channel Dollhouse was shown on from the beginning, before it became a failed show. None of these genre show will likely EVER make it on the broadcasters and the sooner the industry accepts this the better viewers of off beat genre shows will be. Stargate Universe probably would not draw a larger audience on NBC or ABC than it does on Syfy. That is my point.
These numbers if on a broadcast network would call for Stargate Universe to be cancelled immediately but on Syfy it will certainly not mean instant death for the show. Dollhouse likely could get just as many viewers as SGU so the chow should be produced using cable scale and the costs would allow it to succeed with lower numbers. The genre shows on Friday may have deluded the audience for all of them. Dollhouse, Ghost Whisperer,Smallville and Medium. All probably would have done better if on different times and days.