Perhaps a bit premature because the first half of season one of Stargate Universe doesn't actually finish until next Friday, December 4. But since there is no new SGU this week and since I saw some mutterings in the Twitter-verse that there was no comprehensive "ratings" info available, here's a table with the household rating/share, 18-49 rating/share and average audience through last Friday's episode, "Life."
I'll update it with the results for "Justice" somewhere around December 7.
| Episode | Date | HH Rating/Share | 18-49 Rating/Share | Avg Audience (Millions) |
| Air Pt 1 + 2 (2 hours) | 2-Oct-09 | 1.5/3 | 0.9/3 | 2.346 |
| Air Pt 3 | 9-Oct-09 | 1.5/3 | 1.0/3 | 2.447 |
| Darkness | 16-Oct-09 | 1.3/2 | 0.9/3 | 2.099 |
| Light | 23-Oct-09 | 1.3/2 | 0.8/3 | 2.015 |
| Water | 30-Oct-09 | 1.3/2 | 0.8/2 | 1.974 |
| Earth | 6-Nov-09 | 1.1/2 | 0.7/2 | 1.626 |
| Time | 13-Nov-09 | 1.1/2 | 0.7/2 | 1.802 |
| Life | 20-Nov-09 | 1.2/2 | 0.8/3 | 1.891 |
| Justice | 4-Dec-09 |
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As you can see, the show had its ratings and average viewers peak in the series second week on October 9, 2009. Though average viewers have recovered the last two weeks from the lows on November 6, the overall trend for household rating, 18-49 rating and average audience is still down. The latest episode, "Life", retained about 80% of the premieres household rating and viewers, and almost 90% of the 18-49 rating, and around 80% in all three categories versus the series highs October 9.
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. All ratings above Live+SD (live viewing plus same day DVR viewing).
What does this mean for the show? Is it doing o.k.?
Renew / cancel / not sure / …?
Judging by what these people are saying, those ratings will continue to fall:
http://www.cinemaspy.com/article.php?id=3600
It would be nice to have demo information to compare Eureka (which aired on Fridays earlier in the year) and SGU but I don’t think we ever got weekly numbers on Eureka and the End of Season Press Release’s averages are half based on when it was on Tuesday.
But we know Eureka was getting around 1/2 a million more total viewers (those numbers we did get) in it’s last airings.
I still don’t think SGU will get cancelled. You just don’t order a full season in advance unless you’re committed to the franchise. But some changes will probably have to be made (look for Ming Na and any other expensive actor whose name is not Robert Carlyle to get accidentally blown out a hatch in the Season 2 opener)
I hope they get the message. It’s not very surprising that this happened. I don’t want to list everything that’s really bad, the list would be just too long. Stargate is no more fun to watch. Time for a change of the change.
thx folks
How do they compare to Atlantis?
Last time I chimed in, I was told that the network would be ‘ok’ with those numbers. So without something like renew/cancel, I couldn’t begin to guess. I quit watching anything on SYFY at the end of October (everyone familiar with SYFY knows why). I don’t know if the show has improved. Judging from the previous comments it hasn’t.
@ Franklin D:
The comments on that site have been negative since the first episode, and the ratings have not followed that. Don’t take what you read on the internet and try to apply it to the 2 million viewers out there, it doesn’t work.
@ Melbye:
SGA’s last season averaged around 1.7 million viewers, but the number of 18-34′s was considerably lower. SGU has only pulled 1 episode lower than that so far. SGA’s first season started off stronger (a 3.2 hh rating) but it dropped 47% by their ninth episode, where as SGU has only dropped 19% (surprisingly the same amount that BSG had dropped by this point, something I found quite interesting considering all the comparisons people like to make in a derogatory sense… There’s one that’s not so derogatory
).
@ alien0
What message? The message that most of the audience are sticking with the show compared to SGA when it started? The message that V, despite only having aired 4 episodes, is down 36% on their premiere while SGU is down 19% after 9 episodes? Don’t worry, I’m sure they got that message
@Les
Thanks for the info. Proves what I suspected. The network is happy with those numbers. So don’t expect any changes, improvements or caving in to some fans. It is just a TV show. There are other channels and shows to watch. I am sure the franchise will survive with the more die hard fans.
I follow the comparison to SGA. Don’t get the reasoning behind the comparison to “V” though. “V” is not even in the same league as SGU. It is network not cable and it is not part of a long running franchise like SG.
It’s pretty good numbers, the same numbers than SGA, SG1 and the last seasons of BSG. Maybe not as strong as the network would have expected, but still good enough to stick around for a while. If it keeps those number I guess we’ll see 4-5 seasons, unless they decide to start a new Stargate..
The primary reasons for the V comparison were…
1. It’s another major scifi show on right now
2. The whole Brad Wright v. Maureen Ryan thing has kind of kicked it up into a rivalry.
Although for me, it’s more to show that the drop in SGU viewers isn’t as bad as many people try to make out. V’s drop is normal (in my eyes), SGU’s drop is better than normal.
If the show was cheap to make then perhaps they could live with these weak numbers. As it is I believe there will be some major changes at the starts of season two. If there even is a season two.
So can we get some professional analysis of the ratings from you Robert? Please
I think it will be renewed, but with budget cuts…
I agree with @Verus. I think S2 is gonna show some changes because I think the ‘studio and network’ have probably already stepped in with their ‘suggestions’. Look for them finding some kick a** alien in leather, rechargeable weapons and fighters and watch the ‘space battles’ begin. lol
Well those alien kick ass and space battles are already scheduled if you look at the synopsis of the second part of the seasons. Stargate SG1 survived for longer than that with weaker numbers (1.5 million per episode for the first 5 seasons on showtime) And the last seasons were around 1.8 million per episode. So it’s an average for Stargate.
This boring, daytime soap opera crap is NOT Stargate. This show sux. …stopped watching after the first episode.
@Samuel, I know, I just can’t help thinking they wanted ‘more’ than more of the same.
I say bring back Atlantis! It was so much better than Universe is. I have been a massive Stargate fan from the very beginning but this is just not what i want to watch. Universe bores me. At least the other 2 were entertaining to watch.
I have always enjoyed the Stargate series but not so much SGU. It is obvious that the producers and writers wanted to go in a different direction with SGU. It is unfortunate that this has caused such a division in a long standing fanbase. I really have to agree that SGU would have been better served without the association with Stargate – they could have their new concept show and maintained an intact fanbase for the franchise. Now I think they have alienated too many people.
@Samuel- SG-1′s first five seasons on Showtime isn’t really a good comparison. It’s a pay channel, not one that relies on advertising. Though I’ve heard one of the reasons they let it go was that while it did OK, it wasn’t enough of a draw to get people to subscribe. Many viewers were in the “Why subscribe when you can wait a year and see it in syndication for free?” camp. I know I was, and had to catch up with early seasons because I didn’t realize it was on broadcast TV until the second season was airing.
The ratings aren’t all that much better than SGA, but I have to wonder if it would have been cheaper to give the cast of that show raises that would have been required to continue into a sixth season (they were at the end of their contracts, so they could negotiate for more money), versus dumping a ton of money into a new show announced a day after SGA’s cancellation. It’s often cheaper to continue as is than reinvent the wheel.
Or maybe it’s time for this franchise to just stop for a while. There’s a desperate need for some new blood behind-the-scenes.
I just can’t bring myself to start chanting “Hallowed are the Producers”, because they ain’t.
SGU is off my viewing list. I find nothing engaging about it, whatsoever, unlike SG1 and SGA.
I greatly miss their stories and humor.