via Syfy:
SYFY’S FRIDAY NIGHT SPRING SEASON OFF TO ROUSING START AS Stargate Universe DRAWS 1.5 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS, UP 11% VERSUS SEASON ONE FINALE
MERLIN ENCHANTS 1.3 MILLION VIEWERS
New York, New York – April 5, 2010 – Kicking off the spring season, Syfy’s new Friday night one-two punch of Stargate Universe and Merlin delivered 1.5 million total viewers and 1.3 million total viewers, respectively, on Friday, April 2.
At 9PM (ET/PT), the SGU spring premiere was up 11% in total viewers versus the December 2009 fall season finale. The series also grabbed 936,000 Adults 25-54 (+11%) and 768,000 Adults 18-49 (+12%), while averaging a 1.2 HH rating (+9%).
Following at 10PM (ET/PT), the U.S. Television Premiere of Merlin’s second season bewitched 738,000 Adults 25-54 and 553,000 Adults18-49 along with 1.0 HH rating.
This Merlin performance was up vs. the April 2009 debut of Primeval -- the previous UK scripted series to premiere on Syfy -- by +52% in Adults 25-54, +45% in Adults 18-49, +25% in HH ratings and +18% in total viewers.
Online at syfy.com:
-
- Stargate Universe delivered 319K page views and 164K video streams the week of March 29th, the highest week since December 2009
- Merlin delivered 127K page views and 23K video streams the week of March 29th, its most trafficked week ever
Edgier and younger in tone, SGU takes the franchise in a dynamic new direction, appealing to longtime Stargate fans and first-time viewers alike. The series stars Robert Carlyle, Louis Ferreira, Brian J. Smith, Elyse Levesque, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, Jamil Walker Smith, Ming-Na and Lou Diamond Phillips.
Robert Cooper and Brad Wright, of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, serve as executive producers and writers. SGU is produced and distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., through its operating subsidiaries, is actively engaged in the worldwide production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home video, interactive media, music and licensed merchandise. The company owns the world's largest library of modern films, comprising around 4,100 titles. Operating units include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., United Artists Films Inc., MGM Television Entertainment Inc., MGM Networks Inc., MGM Domestic Networks LLC, MGM Distribution Co, MGM International Television Distribution Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC, MGM ON STAGE, MGM Music, MGM Worldwide Digital Media, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive. In addition, MGM has ownership interests in international TV channels reaching nearly 120 countries. MGM ownership is as follows: Providence Equity Partners (29%), TPG (21%), Sony Corporation of America (20%), Comcast (20%), DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (7%) and Quadrangle Group (3%). For more information, visit http://www.mgm.com.
An imaginative new twist on a timeless legend, Merlin is set in the mythical city of Camelot, before history began. It’s a fantastical realm of legendary beasts and mysterious peoples, and a dangerous world where magic has been banned by the ruthless tyrant, Uther Pendragon.
Merlin stars Colin Morgan as Merlin, Bradley James as Prince Arthur, Anthony Head as King Uther, Richard Wilson as Gaius, Katie McGrath as Morgana and Angel Coulby as Gwen. Merlin is executive produced by Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps for Shine Television.
FremantleMedia is one of the leading creators and producers of entertainment brands in the world. FremantleMedia is part of the RTL Group, Europe's largest television and radio broadcast company, which is in turn 90 percent owned by Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's major media and entertainment companies. FremantleMedia’s worldwide production arm is responsible for many of the world’s highest rated prime time entertainment, drama, serial drama and factual entertainment programmes. FremantleMedia Enterprises is the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, offering a one-stop-shop for all Licensing, Distribution and Home Entertainment around the world. The FremantleMedia Group (which includes talkbackTHAMES, UFA and Grundy amongst others) has operations in 22 countries, one of the most comprehensive global networks, creating over 14,000 hours of programming a year, rolling out more than 60 formats and managing over 300 individual titles. FremantleMedia has some of the world’s most sought after and long running formats in its catalogue, and globally, produces such programmes as: Idols (co-produced with 19 Productions in the US), The X Factor (co-produced with Syco in the UK), Got Talent (co-produced with Syco in the UK and the US), Neighbours, The Bill, Family Feud, The Price is Right, Farmer Wants A Wife and Hole In The Wall.
Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 96 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)
1.5M and 1.3M for SGU and Merlin, respectively, is a bit shit, isn't it?
Considering the 1.0 average for SGU, 1.5 mil. is disappointing, I would say.
Probably not what they were hoping for after all the hype, interviews and promos they did for the start of the second half of the season.
Not sure if it will ever get any better than this, but since there is already a second season filming does it matter all that much?
Crap ratings for probably the best episode this season. Are we allowed to blame Easter?
Anyways, if this does not rise, I foresee Season 2 as the end.
You're right, what does it matter since they've already been green lit. I think SGU is like Caprica, it's got a small steady following who will watch, at least this season regardless. Although I believe the 1.5 was up from the mid season because people we're seeing if it changed any, without realizing the whole season was in the can months ago.
Actually, I'm kind of amazed that Merlin did as well as it did. Lousy time, not a very complimentary lead in (I don't think the shows 'share' a lot of the same audience) and despite the Merlin marathon last Sunday (?) not a lot of promo.
It's a very vague press release. It doesn't say if those are live numbers or live+sd and it doesn't give the actual ratings breakdown in the demos. Plus the percentages are misleading. SGU was averaging around 1.8 million before the hiatus but dipped down to around 1.3 million for it's fall finale (a dip that's widely attributed to airing opposite the Monk Series Finale). So comparing last Friday's episode to the fall finale is an attempt to make the show look like it did better than it actually did.
Then again, it did manage significantly more total viewers than Caprica's finale.
1.5 million viewers for SGU is really bad. That is the second worst episode so far. Only “Justice” was worse with 1.340 million viewers, but it was shown at the same time as the Monk finale. There was so much advertising for “Space”, so only a slight increase is really bad.
I think the people at
http://www.sgusucks.com/index.html
are right. SGU is just not good enough to get high ratings for a long time. Sure, in the beginning the ratings were good, but they are clearly declining.
Of course they were Live+SD numbers, those are the biggest numbers currently available. I think next week tells the tale. For whatever reason (take your pick, Good Friday, Clash of the Titans, The Weather, purely random) Friday viewing was down in general -the broadcast networks had a bad night and 18-49 TV viewing overall was down 9 percent.
Ratings so far (million viewers per episode live +SD and live +7):
1./2. Air, Part 1 and Part 2
SD: 2.346
+7: 2.779
3. Air, Part 3
SD: 2.447
+7: 2.99
4. Darkness
SD: 2.099
+7: 2.6
5. Light
SD: 2.015
+7: 2.673
6. Water
SD: 1.974
+7: 2.64
7. Earth
SD: 1.626
+7: 2.3
8. Time
SD: 1.802
+7: 2.529
9. Life
SD: 1.891
+7: 2.44
10. Justice
SD: 1.340
+7: 1.96
11. Space
SD: 1.5
LOL, SGA had 2.0 Million for their 11th episode 2 seasons in a row! I really miss SGA, and apparently am not the only one
I think it was unfair on Merlin to air it right after Stargate Universe. People need time to meditate and reflect on their sorry lives after watching such a deep, dark and meaningful show as SGU.
Well, I watched SGU live and I didn't like the episode. I'm not interested at all in Merlin. I'd be interested in what the demo rating for SGU is. Anytime a network is spouting off about how great their household ratings are and other demo ratings that don't matter much such as 18-54 that tells me that their 18-49 demo ratings were bad as well as their 18-34 demo ratings. I'm guessing that some viewers did like the space battle but the character development in this episode I thought was bad. I don't get why they keep pushing the character of Chloe on viewers since to me she's the worst character on the show and needs desperately to be killed off. One thing that distinguished the other Stargate series from this one is that most of the characters on the other shows were likable whereas few to none of the characters on SGU are likable.
That's what I don't get. Why are series creating so many unlikable characters?
Advertising to me doesn't do much. Most people aren't glued to their TV sets and not that many are glued to the SyFy channel and definitely not during commercials so realistically how many people even saw any ads for it? Plus the show doesn't have an established series lead-in.
Oh boy, the SGU haters are back. Thought it was probably the 2nd best episode of the season behind Light and I'm looking forward to the next 9 episodes.
FYI: Bill is on vacation and I don't want to muck around with moderating comments so in order for your comments to show up, you need not only to have registered with Disqus, but to also verify your Disqus e-mail. more info: http://disqus.com/verify/ . If you've registered for Disqus but haven't verified your e-mail, your comments won't show up.
Alternatively you can post with your Facebook, Yahoo, or Twitter IDs
I didn't even know it was back until Hulu.com let me in on the secret
I did register my account awhile ago and my comments do show up. I used to be just DonJ here. I apologize if my remarks may be deemed offensive to some.
Don, I apologize, that post should not have been in reply to your comment. That it shows up as a reply to you is a mistake on my part, not yours. Sorry for any confusion. I'll remove that post and try again!
FYI: Bill is on vacation and I don't want to muck around with moderating comments so in order for your comments to show up, you need not only to have registered with Disqus, but to also verify your Disqus e-mail. more info: http://disqus.com/verify/ . If you've registered for Disqus but haven't verified your e-mail, your comments won't show up.
Alternatively you can post with your Facebook, Yahoo, or Twitter IDs
As far as most of the characters being deemed “Unlikeable.” While I agree with that in a sense, I think the whole point of this show is that most of these characters are flawed.