Alright all you Stargate Universe bashers (I caught up yesterday, it's growing on me...kinda) and alienated Stargate Atlantis fans who are rooting for Stargate Universe to fail: it's doing just as well as SGA did last year (actually better). Though this episode was down, it was the same as the Live+SD ratings for the series finale of SGA in January.
Here's last week's top ten (in terms of viewers) shows for Syfy:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY | Time | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | GHOST HUNTERS | SYFY | Wed | 09:00P-10:00P | 3,067 |
| 2 | GHOST HUNTERS | SYFY | Wed | 08:00P-09:00P | 2,068 |
| 3 | STARGATE UNIVERSE | SYFY | Fri | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,015 |
| 4 | DESTINATION TRUTH | SYFY | Wed | 10:00P-11:00P | 2,011 |
| 5 | GHOST TOWN | SYFY | Sat | 09:00P-11:00P | 1,843 |
| 6 | Sanctuary | SYFY | Fri | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,694 |
| 7 | SCARE TACTICS | SYFY | Tue | 09:30P-10:00P | 1,633 |
| 8 | SPLINTER | SYFY | Sat | 07:00P-09:00P | 1,615 |
| 9 | FLU BIRD HORROR | SYFY | Sat | 05:00P-07:00P | 1,552 |
| 10 | TIMBER FALLS | SYFY | Sat | 03:00P-05:00P | 1,488 |
I know what you're thinking as you slap your foreheads: "I can't believe I missed "Flu Bird Horror" and "Timber Falls!"
What does the future hold for SGU? Time will tell.
One thing we don't have to guess at is this: Ghost Hunters isn't going anywhere. It was the only show on Syfy to rank in the top 50 of ad-supported cable shows with adults 18-49 last week. It was #15 out of all ad-supported cable shows with 1.813 million (for the Wednesday 9pm episode on 10/21). It's not as popular with adults 18-34, but it still made the top 50 (again the only Syfy show to do so) at #33 with 813,000 adults 18-34.
But Stargate Universe DID rank with Adults 25-54
It was #41 with 1.224 million adults 25-54. That was still behind the 9pm Ghost Hunters (#16, 1.896 million), Destination Truth (#32, 1.267 million) and even the 8pm Ghost Hunters (#39, 1.241 million).
Sanctuary did not rank in any of the top 50 age demographic rankings we saw.
Hm.. funny that table looks totally weird.
Anyway, they have fully produced 10 episodes, and they have shot all of the scenes for all 20 episodes (but need to edit the remaining and music and special effects etc)
So you’d think the show would run for the full season 1.
And I’m expecting it to continue.
Still a bit of a melrose place vibe to the whole thing (i’m guessing, never actually saw melrose place
– but with a little luck someone will get killed of and they’ll stop jumping into bed all the time.
They have only aired 5 episodes of SGU. Hopefully, for SyFy and fans, the downward trend will stop here and level out. If the ratings decrease to SGA Season 5 levels during this first half of the Season, will it get a renewal? Given what I have read about the deal Wright and Cooper made, I would think it probably will, as long as it does not go lower than SGA.
Unfortunately, after the first 10 episodes air, there will be a long hiatus while Caprica is shown and the series will resume in 2010. How do long absences like this affect ratings? And will the last 10 episodes be shown in the UK on Sky prior to their airing here in the US?
I imagine that SGU will be a keeper on Syfy, unless it really plunges, but I think that Syfy has long range plans for it. I don’t know why they are comparing it to the last season of SGA, since that was SGA’s fifth season, not its first, so it had some age on it. It was doing ok, or at least that was what fans were told at the time, and that they wanted to retire it as a series while it was still successful.
I can’t believe there are SGA fans who want it to fail.
I personally think it is the best Stargate to date. Don’t have too high of hopes for Caprica’s quality, but it will probably do well merely because of BSG.
Also had no idea Ghost Hunters was their #1 show… Wonder if thats why South Park made fun of it…
Lainey, I completely agree that the comparison to SGA’s last season isn’t the best comparison to make. But, as a general rule, we only compare to the previous year here.
So many things have changed that comparisons beyond the previous year are usually useless. In 2005 (SGA’s fist season) DVR usage was still relatively tiny and Nielsen wasn’t even measuring it.
We’re not picking on SGU/SGA , it’s similar for any show. We won’t compare Ghost Whisperer 2009 to Ghost Whisperer 2007 or whatever was on in 2004 for similar reasons.
I’m a sad case, I’ve always wanted all Stargate franchise series to be successful and go on forever, I miss SG-1 and Atlantis and I’ll miss Universe when it goes, hopefully Cooper and Wright are developing a new series for future pitching to TPTB as we speak
Now if that is not progress I don´t know what is. Same ratings for a far more expensive show. Bring it on!
SGA also has tons of aliens and action packed episodes where they run around looking for exciting things like more air and water.
booyah!
I just can’t seem to get into SGU. I want to so bad but it just doesn’t like it fits within the same mythos as SG-1 and Atlantis. Sure they have links with Stargate Command on earth via some shiny rocks and Lou Diamond Phillips meatsuit. But everything about the Icarus team and civilians on the Destiny do not seem to click as a Stargate show. Its like they are trying to gain credibility with the whole “no rubber/plastic faced aliens” mission statement.
Going into the alien homeworlds through the Stargate and finding whatever indigenous society is established there was part of what made the previous two series so engaging and interesting. Right now it just seems like wer’re gonna be stuck zipping through hyperspace with these same people on board from the beginning for a long time.
Also, I dont know how much more yelling from Rush I can take…its honestly got to be about 80% of his dialogue.
Not sure why he claims himself to be such a genius. Sam Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Rodney McKay would have ended this joy ride by the end of the first episode.
Stargate Universe is clearly the best thing SyFi has produced outside the BSG Universe. Ambitious and dark but still entertaining enough too reach the masses. Too bad that many people will never give it a chance because of the Stargate stigma.
They will never see that the days of one-dimensional characters, bad acting and childish stories are (hopefully) gone. Qualitywise a very promising restart for a once laughable franchise.
I also agree that it is not the best comparison. It just makes SGA look bad. It did not get the promotion SGU got. We are comparing the Series premiere episode of a brand new series to an entire final season of SGA. To be more fair compare it to the final ep, which had 2.5 Million viewers. Now the difference is not so far off. I knew SGU would do better and I am glad the show is doing well, I am really enjoying it and last episode was likely my favorite. I just don’t like people giving SGA a bad name. SGA had a lot of work to do, since it was lacking in promotion and lacking in a good lead in show for almost a year and a half until Sanctuary came into play.
I want to thank Robert for softening the differences between SGA and SGU, because a brand new series is supposed to do better than a veteran 5 year series.
We cannot compare Season 1 of SGA because that was over 5 years ago, and things have changed, like DVR viewing. But SGA is still the king of premieres with 4.2 Million viewers.
@Walter
Rush is the best character from every SG series. Colonel Young and Ming-Na’s character are very interesting and the medic character has a lot of potential.
And what is the big deal with some T&A from the female characters? BSG ows some of its success to Tricia Helfer and a red dress.
It’s a teen soap, with a space backdrop. It’s all about who Chloe is sleeping with, big brother like “confession cameras”. With some extra jiggle to excite tween boys. Over the top inept characters as a source of more melodrama when the love triangles and sweater meat aren’t enough.
Do I want it to fail? Yes, I do. I cheered when Defying Gravity Failed and if this one fails, I am hoping the concept of soap opera disguised as science fiction can end.
When crap succeeds we get more crap. Imagine if “Survivor” had failed utterly in it’s first season and reality crap never took off.
These first 5 episodes have been the least compelling of the stargate shows. I will still watch, but its just not interesting, boring as hell , I cant click with the cast. It really does feel like Battlestar Galactic with a mix of Star Trek Voyager. Semi dark and cant get back home.
“But Stargate Universe DID rank with Adults 25-54″
Darn, if only that were the demo they were going for when Syfy said they wanted “younger viewers”.
I still am of the mind that SGU has “potential” compared to SGA which was going nowhere, and especially Dollhouse which is absolutely nowhere I want to be..
So for me Friday nights are sussed up.
As to Rush, he is more compelling than most of the SG characters. He is a mystery, and I wish for it to be explained, thus I will continue to watch, and as an actor, Carlyle is truly top notch.
The reason most people have fallen from the shows direction is the loss of the “Explosions” and “Alien of the week” storytelling that most expect from SG.
I love SG-1 and SGA was passable…but here with SGU, we have a real drama with real people acting like they should, and not like the “Superhero” caricatures of the previous shows.
I am on board for the season.
I kinda liked the “Superhero caricatures” of SGA and SG-1. I enjoyed both shows. They were fun, popcorn shows. There is a place for that. I like some lighter fare on my viewing schedule, balances out Madmen and Dollhouse. I like the light and the dark. I really wanted to love SGU and was very much looking forward to it. I was on board with a new, darker version of the Stargate world. Remember I like the dark as well. My problem with the show is its attempting to be dark, gritty and substantial but with the same group of folks who really only know light, airy and popcorn. Its just not working for me. I find the characters annoying and lacking any true substance. Which would be fine (well maybe not the annoying part) if the show were just going for fun, but no they desperately want to be more. So they need to dig deep and find more because I’m only on board the Destiny a little while longer if they don’t start giving me a reason to tune in next week aside from mocking them. That only gets me so far and then I’ve got better things to watch or read.
…even though I gave massive thumbs up to the first one or two, the last episode was really on shaky ground… the whole camera confession thing- it doesn’t work if we don’t really know the characters yet? It seems a very clunky plot device. Maybe if the writing in those scenes was amazing, but no, there’s nothing startling there? I’m kind of tired of everyone saying ‘goodbye’ to their relatives, and it’s hard to build all this suspense, implying the whole crew is going to die, when obviously they’re not, since, you know, the show kind of needs it’s core cast, and setting (!)… plus everyone talks a LOT. It would be great if maybe, like the Atlantis crew, they could start, I don’t know, actually working? Exploring? Morale? Group therapy? And yes, it’s an accident they’re all there, but come on, seriously- aren’t they meant to be trained professionals? It’s like adolescent-style insubordination week, every week… trying to bring a fresh edge to the Stargate Universe is admirable, but not if you’re throwing away the core tenets of the Stargate ethos? Sometimes I feel like they’re trying to create those kind of multifaceted storylines Deep Space Nine used to offer, revolving around Garak? So you get a glimpse of this morally ambiguous (and therefore fascinating) character… but those gem-like episodes take a lot more writing skill than they’re showing at this point…
SGU has potential. It just hasn’t found it. After five hours in, I still don’t really know the show’s focus or direction. Give me an interesting ride and I’ll come along. Maybe I’m just not in the younger demographic and I don’t ‘get it’.
Not one character is compelling, I don’t even know who some are, and I have no reason to care about the characters or what happens to them. The kino ‘confessionals’ are clunky, the women characters have little if anything to do, and there doesn’t seem to be any real danger. The communication stones are awkward and may have worked better if someone found them closer to the end of the season. I’m trying to give it a huge chance based on the franchise’s overall goodwill. Right now, I’m happily snarking about the show.
Ghost Hunters has really gone downhill in the last few years. Too much crap with the KPI meter (ooo, the lights flash – must be a spirit interacting with us and not an off-screen camera guy pushing a button…) and too little debunking. I can’t remember the last time they did a show where nothing happened. Well – the Fort Henry ep from my hometown, but they still presented the evidence as though something DID in fact happen.
At least it’s better than Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel (aka Jocks taunting the air around them).
Also – anyone else shocked by the numbers the awful sci-fi movies of the week pull in?