I'm a long-time fan of the Stargate franchise, but so far Stargate Universe hasn't moved me. I watched the first couple of weeks, but it didn't reel me in. Then again, the Original Stargate: SG1 didn't reel me in until about the fourth season! Ultimately I went back and watched all of them. I also enjoyed Stargate Atlantis, even if it did get sort of tired for much of the last couple of years.
With these shows there are always things that wear on me. In SG1 for example, after a while I'd cringe when I'd find out it was yet another episode featuring replicators, and though I loved the character Teal'c, the episodes that centered around him...not so much. But I lump that into the "it's always something" bucket. With Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes featuring visits from Lwaxana Troi weren't for me, and on Deep Space 9, it was episodes that centered around the Ferengi.
So far I'm just kind of blah in general on Universe. I haven't watched last week's episode yet, and I don't have it on the list of things to do. But with these things I can change on a dime!
Anyway, on to the numbers. Here's the top 10 shows in average viewers for Syfy for the week ending October 18, 2009:
| Show | NET | Day | Time | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| Ghost Hunters | SYFY | Wed | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,909 |
| Stargate Universe | SYFY | Fri | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,099 |
| Destination Truth | SYFY | Wed | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,986 |
| SAW III | SYFY | Sat | 09:00P-11:30P | 1,957 |
| Ghost Hunters | SYFY | Wed | 08:00P-09:00P | 1,845 |
| Sanctuary | SYFY | Fri | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,766 |
| SCARE TACTICS | SYFY | Tue | 09:30P-10:00P | 1,612 |
| SAW II | SYFY | Sat | 07:00P-09:00P | 1,596 |
| WOLVESBAYNE | SYFY | Sun | 09:00P-11:00P | 1,543 |
| SCARE TACTICS | SYFY | Tue | 09:00P-09:30P | 1,402 |
Stargate Universe dropped 14 percent from the previous week's 2.447 million. Meanwhile Sanctuary dropped, but not nearly as steep, off 4.5 percent from last week's 1.85 million. But Ghost Hunters was up 6 percent from last week's 2.74 million.
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. All data above based on Live+SD (live viewing plus same day DVR viewing)
Just out of mild curiosity, how did you feel about Battlestar Galactica?
I LOVED the mini-series and really liked the first 1.5 seasons or so very much.
By season 3 I was skipping episodes or doing a lot of fast-forwarding, though I did ride it out all the way to the end and watched all of season 4.
Wasn’t SGU against Baseball? May explain the drop from last week. Sanctuary is doing pretty well although I’m not sure if it will be enough for Syfy to renew it for a third season ATM.
Jon, SGU was against baseball in the east/central time zones, but so was Sanctuary.
I enjoyed this weeks SGU a lot, was probably my favorite so far.
Yeah, SGU hasn’t moved me that much either. I like the darker tone, but it feels like Atlantis with a different crew and setting. And Atlantis got old really quick.
I’m with you Robert on BSG. The mini-series and season 3 was the peak. And I was pissed how it was rushed into a crappy finale. I hope LOST doesn’t go out like this.
SGU needs to wrap up the “ship is in trouble” storyline and get on to the actual star-gating. If they drag this out too long, people will lose interest.
I think there are a lot of people who are kind of ‘meh’ on SGU. They don’t hate it and they don’t love it (at least yet); it seems to be in a holding pattern. It’s a little like waiting for the other shoe to drop. ‘Meh’ is a pretty rough place for a show to be but at least there’s hope?
meh > blech!
I like SG:U so far. I like it a lot.
SG:U has one logic hole that’s holding it back from being great. We’ve got Rush, who needs to establish his character as a ‘great’ scientist who can repair the ship, etc. etc. However, they’ve got these meeting stone things that let two people body swap.
So explain to me why we’re not having Carter, Daniel Jackson, or Rodney McKay on board the Destiny, helping out to fix anything and everything that’s wrong with the ship?
And as soon as you read that, you will spend the rest of your time watching the show thinking about that.
Hey Robert,
Excellent article. I know we’ve been chatting since SGA’s 4th season. I really miss SGA and felt that it was producing some of it’s best eps in Season 4 and 5. Season 5 dipped a little, but I think Season 6 would of been epic.
I also agree about BSG. The first 2 seasons were excellent but then it just went off into a soap opera mode.
I am enjoying SGU, and I think there is going to be more exploration and adventure as the show goes on this season. That is something Stargate has always been about, exploration and adventure. At least they still got the comic relief.
MooTrain just ruined the show for me. Yes, they should body-swap all the useless people out and move in the competent, intelligent people who could actually do some good. DAMN YOU, MOOTRAIN!
It’s on the viewing bubble for me. It’s still mainly ‘meh’. Not happy with the show’s portrayal of women. Gratuitous body part shots? C’mon Stargate guys. Grow up.
Stargate needs a reboot. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper probably thought this would do it for fans. But…not so much.
It is still Atlantis with a different paint scheme
BUT…this is only three episodes into this season. I will reserve final judgment for later.
What do you all think of Sanctuary? I think it’s much improved for the first season and, frankly, Amanda Tapping & Co deserve a lot of credit for putting that product together on virtually no budget.
Those mind swap stones are stamped on who can transfer. Sooner or later they will stop working or have side effects.
Ming-na is being bumped to a regular, so there’s one “strong” female lead on the cast. The other two regulars consist of a shaky medic and manipulating eye candy.
Being that I’ve never watched BSG, with the exception of the Caprica movie, I’m not experiencing the dark/gritty burnout or can make the comparisons. Does that make me fortunate?
Outlander, I liked the ‘Sanctuary’ premiere. It was hit-and-miss last season. Some good eps, some not so good ones. About halfway through the first season, it seemed to find itself. Maybe that’s when the delightful ‘Tesla’ character came aboard. The snark and arrogance works.
The second season premiere came off fairly strong. And much more enjoyable than SGU. Soem of the fight scenes could have been shorter, the green screen is still a bit problematic. The acting performances were good. Action, character development, a bit of humour thrown in. Fun stuff.
I’m not sure about the new Kate Freelander character. She didn’t do much for me. Killing off ‘Ashley’ was a good creative decision. I didn’t find her too well-developed in the first season.
The older ‘The Five’ characters are the most interesting.
I was also hit-and-miss with BSG. The miniseries and first season or so I really enjoyed. It seemed to flounder for a while and then picked up for the last season. The ending seemed rushed or maybe it was that way to leave room for a few ‘direct to DVD’ movies.