Stargate season ratings off to slow start

cyberwit

NO SPOILERS
NO SPOILERS

According to gateworld.net stargate sg-1 and atlantis new seasons have had low ratings start ALERT ALERT.

The following was stated

At last week's San Diego Comic Con event, SCI FI programming vice president Nora O'Brien encouraged fans to watch the show live, not on TiVo -- since that is ultimately the ratings number that matters to advertisers, and upon which the series' renewals depend.

If the ratings support them, the network seems to have every intention of renewing the two Stargate series for an eleventh and fourth season, respectively. (SG-1's cast has already signed on for a possible eleventh year.)

I am extremely alerted to the above dangers if the ratings are weak in the states the future of both shows might become a concern.

DISCUSS

Catsmokinpot

Hope it doesn't get cancelled

Stargate is one of the only descent scifi series left. Id be sorry to see it go, although the writers need an awfull kick in the backside to get their fingers out.

Pepe LeFrits

Haven't watched it in ages!

layke

Your not missing much.

Nothing is happening. Nothing.

I find myself bored watching the 10th season of SG1 and 3rd season of Atlantis.

cyberwit

Here is hoping the tenth year of sg-1 is just the start for the long running well established series

bizmark

Meh its pritty **** now tbh same thing over and over

delta36

Yes, well have you noticed all the spoiler threads in this forum? Could be that be the cause of bad ratings? People watching it on the internet instead of the old plywood box every week?

ixoy

delta36 wrote:

Yes, well have you noticed all the spoiler threads in this forum? Could be that be the cause of bad ratings? People watching it on the internet instead of the old plywood box every week?

Makes no difference for people here who aren't from the US. Has no impact on ratings except if you're a Nielsen member/polled-person in the States who downloaded it or TIVOed or did a delayed time-shift recording.

User45701

i have to say that i thought season 10 episode of sg1 was a great episode pure classic great SG1 10/10

delta36

Yes, well, the midway episodes (10/11) are usually the best ones becuse of the break in between them, so the suspense is drawn out to longer than a week.

_CreeD_

ixoy wrote:

Makes no difference for people here who aren't from the US. Has no impact on ratings except if you're a Nielsen member/polled-person in the States who downloaded it or TIVOed or did a delayed time-shift recording.

The majority of TV watchers in the states are on cable, I'm pretty sure there are channels built in to the Cable boxes to record watching habits. It only makes sense for them to be able to push the point that they can pinpoint markets within their networks to potential advertisers, so it is more than the Nielsen groups that have an input to the overall ratings.

is_that_so

There is always the danger with a show that has been running for so long that it doesn't know how to bow out gracefiully.

On SG-1 the writing really seems to have manoeuvred itself into a cul-de-sac. The Ori or anything else. There is also the RDA factor. For many people he was Stargate and replacing him with a wisecracking clone has never really worked. Ben Browder does not have the same presence.

IMHO Stargate has always been a combination of decent characters and a strong storyline. While some of the original characters remain I don't believe that the quality of the writing has.

Atlantis does have more going for it in that it is only in season 3 but it is probably tied to its big brother- if one goes they both could.

MrPinK

_CreeD_ wrote:

The majority of TV watchers in the states are on cable, I'm pretty sure there are channels built in to the Cable boxes to record watching habits.

Not a chance. That'd be one massive class action lawsuit for invasion of privicy. Cable companies can't just spy on what your watching. Plus, it needs to be measured by an independant thrid party. Advertisers wouldn't just hand over money based on what the cable company tells them.

senordingdong

Then how does any network measure it's ratings?

mcgarnicle

senordingdong wrote:

Then how does any network measure it's ratings?

From wiki..... Nielsen Television Ratings statistics are gathered in two ways: one is by extensive use of surveys, where viewers in various demographics are asked to keep a written record (called a diary) of the television programming they watch throughout the day and evening. The other is by the use of a limited number of Set Meters, which are small devices connected to all the televisions in a home. These devices electronically transmit the viewing activities of panelists and transmit these records nightly to Nielsen through a collection unit placed in the home. These Set Meters allow market researchers to study television viewing habits on a minute to minute basis, seeing the exact moment viewers change channels or turn off their TV. Additional use of direct reporting devices (called People meters) allow the company to break out household viewing information into various demographic groups.

senordingdong

And according to the response I got in the other thread, Sky uses something similar no?

ixoy

The ratings, FWIW, are continuing to slide URL="http://www.gateworld.net/news/2006/08/week4ratingsfalltoseasonlo.shtml"]article[/URL:

New episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are airing every Friday this summer on SCI FI Channel in the U.S. -- but you wouldn't necessarily know it from the ratings. After a slow start to the season last month, the series fell to their lowest ratings of the summer on August 4.

SG-1 led off the night with "Insiders" at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. The show earned a 1.3 average household rating, down two-tenths of a point from the previous week.

The tenth season premiered with a 1.4 rating on July 14, and offered a glimmer of hope with a jump to 1.6 the second week.

Atlantis gained slightly on its lead-in, with "Sateda" earning a 1.4 rating. This is down one-tenth of a point from the previous week. The series opened with a 1.5 last month.

The late-night reruns fared little better, earning ratings of 0.8 and 0.5, respectively -- also down from the previous week.

As Nem might say, What fate Stargate? Theories abound as to why the two shows have lost some 25 percent of their audience since the March season finales, and whether lack of advertising, SCI FI Channel's scheduling choices, competition from other networks (USA's Monk continues to perform well in its new time slot, now opposite Stargate SG-1), or simple viewer dissatisfaction is to blame.

But clearly, though there are a myriad of factors involved in a show's ratings performance and in any decision to cancel or to renew, all television series finally live and die by the Nielsen ratings.

Fans of the show must get the word out that new episodes are currently airing every Friday night, and also improve the TiVo-delayed ratings by watching the show's first live broadcast.

The adventure continues this Friday with the world premiers of "Uninvited" and "Progeny", starting at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific on SCI FI!

There's a good thread on the ratings here on Gateworld.net. It also discusses the whole Nielsen debate that I've pointed out and how none of the forum posters, long-term fans, have ever apparently taken part in the Nielsen rating system. It's a fairly decent read. Other thread ds on the forum attempt to discuss the whys, etc as well but it does seem like the future of the show is in jepordy unless those Nielsen people begin to watch more.

senordingdong

Anybody with a bit of sense should know not to pay attention to a stupid system like that. Constantly loe ratings are gotten even from shows that turn out to be fan favourites.

Nietzschean

i hope they are both cancelled tbh and scifi come out with an entirely new show, both have gone down the tubes, without RDA SG1 just hasn't been the same, Ben Browder has tried to be the exact same character more or less and it really just doesn't work. They should have left him out of it, let Amanda/carter run the team, the most interesting dialog/scene's really come from the interaction of daniel and vala, daniel and anciencts, and vala and people in general..... the rest is pretty woefull.

SGA was never particularly great, but these days its at least as good as sg1 if not better, though lots of useless characters in that too....

new show needed tbh....

BSG is by far the best SCIFI show these days

ixoy

senordingdong wrote:

Anybody with a bit of sense should know not to pay attention to a stupid system like that. Constantly loe ratings are gotten even from shows that turn out to be fan favourites.

Well advertisers then have no sense... The Nielsen ratings are used by the advertisers to judge who/how many people the ads for their product are viewed by. It's why they don't allow time-delayed recordings, because they figure people will fast forward through the ads and so only "live" viewings are noted.

SciFi use the advertisers revenue to fund the shows and thus we're dependent on them for our shows.

I wonder if there's some superior way to decide a show's fate - a wider range of sampling or incorporating DVD sales into decisions (although I do believe MGM takes a big slice of the DVD profits). Or maybe move towards a HBO model of subscription and less reliance on ads.

It was said somewhere that it'd only cost each fan of a show like "Stargate" or "Firefly" $1 each per episode to keep it on air if a subscription-type model was used (or even less). Interesting.

User45701

Nietzschean wrote:

i hope they are both cancelled tbh and scifi come out with an entirely new show, both have gone down the tubes, without RDA SG1 just hasn't been the same, Ben Browder has tried to be the exact same character more or less and it really just doesn't work. They should have left him out of it, let Amanda/carter run the team, the most interesting dialog/scene's really come from the interaction of daniel and vala, daniel and anciencts, and vala and people in general..... the rest is pretty woefull.

SGA was never particularly great, but these days its at least as good as sg1 if not better, though lots of useless characters in that too....

new show needed tbh....

BSG is by far the best SCIFI show these days

woe woe woe

Last nites sga was brillent and even tho i cant remember what sg1 was about i remember i enjoyed it

the only thing u said right was BSG it is amazing i agree but its different than star trek and stargate its a great show but sg1 sga tos tng ds9 voy and ent all had amazing episodes that riveled battlestars episodes the thing about bsg is that all the episodes are amzing. btw right now im watching ENT Anzatri prime a great episode

senordingdong

ixoy wrote:

Well advertisers then have no sense... The Nielsen ratings are used by the advertisers to judge who/how many people the ads for their product are viewed by. It's why they don't allow time-delayed recordings, because they figure people will fast forward through the ads and so only "live" viewings are noted.

SciFi use the advertisers revenue to fund the shows and thus we're dependent on them for our shows.

I wonder if there's some superior way to decide a show's fate - a wider range of sampling or incorporating DVD sales into decisions (although I do believe MGM takes a big slice of the DVD profits). Or maybe move towards a HBO model of subscription and less reliance on ads.

It was said somewhere that it'd only cost each fan of a show like "Stargate" or "Firefly" $1 each per episode to keep it on air if a subscription-type model was used (or even less). Interesting.

It's ridiculous.
MGM dropping Stargate would be silly.
In the unlikely event that it happened, I bet someone else would pick it up.

ixoy

senordingdong wrote:

It's ridiculous.
MGM dropping Stargate would be silly.
In the unlikely event that it happened, I bet someone else would pick it up.

Well SciFi picked it up when ShowTime dropped it so yes, there's a chance. MGM just own the copyright I believe so get to lap up profits without having to invest the money in the same way.

senordingdong

Hmmm...so that highlights the possibility that others won't pick it up because of MGM's money grubbing.

Nietzschean

User45701 wrote:

woe woe woe

Last nites sga was brillent and even tho i cant remember what sg1 was about i remember i enjoyed it

I'll concede SGA was good, one of the best episodes i've seen of sga, though the ending left quite a bit to be desired, far too much of a return to the status quo, "We need to use all 3 zpm's" lark was kinda wierd/stupid, a city that size should easily have been destroyed by one of them....

SG1 was meh to crap, mainly due to the character interaction of browder and the general...all seems very forced to try take the place of RDA. And he makes a reference to his special forces training, when he was an airforce pilot? all sorts of things make me really hate his character, the big deal made at his original introduction, when he was but one of several hundred people involved in battling anubus's fleets, why would he deserve his pick of posts? he wouldn't have had the training realistically to be let on an sg1 team. It did highlight though a seperation, if you cut those two off and let carter run the sgc the show would actually be quite good

the only thing u said right was BSG it is amazing i agree but its different than star trek and stargate its a great show but sg1 sga tos tng ds9 voy and ent all had amazing episodes that riveled battlestars episodes the thing about bsg is that all the episodes are amzing. btw right now im watching ENT Anzatri prime a great episode

SG1's number of decent episodes is running down to 1 per season, old SG1 were all entertaining to watch even if nothing happened. SGA has never been a superb scifi show, but since we hit mid s09 sg1 , sga has overtaken it for an entertaining watch. and ds9 blow's sg1 away, any ds9 series beats the current sg1 series easily.....

seanos

I think it's gotten to a stage where it's past cancellation, being put down would be accurate.
Season 8 was the last good season, after that it became yet another cash cow.
Storyline is beyond stupid (it (Ori) was a great idea, however execution of it was awful). Characters are completely out of role (Daniel being 'macho', Teal'c over-talkative, won't even go into the new characters, as they are poor imitations).
The amount of plot holes is also expanding at an alarming rate (granted there will always be a certain amount of holes to any si-fi plot, however the degree has worsened since S7/8).

I admit that I do still watch it, but it's by no means something I look forward to, gotten to a weekly 'must do' out of habit more than anything else. After watching 8 great seasons, hard to stop watching. I find it hard to believe there are people out there who started watching when it first came out that still think it's worthwhile.

By and large agree with Nietz; character development has gone, interaction is boring for the most part (and they've just gone to the good 'ole recipe, introduce sexual tension/humour to get people to watch).