An open letter to Stargate fans from Syfy

Dwaegon

An Open Letter to Stargate Fans From Syfy

There’s been a lot written about Stargate Universe and Syfy in the weeks leading up to SGU‘s recent finale, and a lot of questions and concerns directed at Syfy about how we handled the series. I wanted to take some time to address the issues that have come up and thought GateWorld, which has been a huge supporter of the entire Stargate franchise, would be a good place to do it. So thanks to them for giving me the space here, and thanks to you for taking the time to read this.

When MGM decided to bring Stargate Atlantis to an end after five seasons, they did so knowing they’d transition to a new show in the franchise, Stargate Universe. SGU was a bold new take on Stargate that Brad Wright and Robert Cooper had had in mind for a long time, and one that we’d discussed with them off and on. It first came to us as a pitch many years ago.

Because Stargate SG-1 and had performed so well for us in the past, we felt confident about SGU and committed to a two-season deal for it, as long as the show met certain milestones along the way. Two-season deals are rare in the TV world because they tie up a huge amount of investment (both time and money), but our great track record with MGM and Stargate made this seem like as much of a sure thing as you’ll get in the TV business. That means before any footage was shot or any actors were hired, we knew there’d be 40 episodes.

The show quickly moved forward and officially launched on October 2, 2009. The debut was watched by a good if not spectacular 2,779,000 viewers. To give that some perspective, Stargate Atlantis debuted with over 4 million viewers, so SGU was more than 25% below that. On the plus side, SGU actually grew in week 2 to just about 3 million viewers before falling into the 2.6 million range where it seemed like it was going to settle. That’s a fairly typical pattern for a new series, and at this point the show was doing okay.

In week six viewers dropped to 2.3 million, or 20% off the season high. It’s not unusual for a show to fluctuate a bit, so as long as it bounced back this wouldn’t be too much of a concern. There was indeed a bit of a recovery the next week, but that was followed by another small drop. Then viewership took a further dip to 1,961,000, or 33% down from the season high. Obviously there was concern at this point, but we were headed into the hiatus and shows often see a bump after a break (contrary to popular belief).

Coming back from hiatus the show in fact grew modestly to 2,088,000 viewers and then added more viewers the next week, hitting 2,153,000. It looked like we were regaining momentum. Unfortunately things stalled there and for the next two months SGU hovered between 2,116,000 and a low of 1,708,000 viewers, below where we could sustain it. So despite the brief post-hiatus bump, after two episodes it settled in at a lower number and we ended up averaging 1,982,000 viewers for season 1.5.

With untenably low numbers and no sign of growth on Fridays where it had now lost 1/3 of its initial audience, we decided to move SGU for its second season. We’d had tremendous success on Tuesday’s with our breakout hit Warehouse 13, so we paired SGU with Caprica and moved them to Tuesdays, hoping to introduce both shows to a new audience. As you probably know by now the downward trend continued and ultimately we weren’t able to continue either series.

We moved the final 10 episodes of SGU to Monday nights where we’d just had success with a new show called Being Human, but the ratings remained flat. SGU did finish out its run with a nice spike for the finale, which is something else you also typically see with TV shows (it’s called the “terminal spike” in ratings parlance).




What you see above is simply Syfy and MGM trying to make a great new Stargate series, seeing some initial success, then when it began to struggle, seeing attempts to find a way to keep it going. You’ve probably read numerous rumors to the contrary. I’ll look at the most prevalent:

The erratic scheduling killed SGU:
We started the show on Fridays where we’ve had the most success and where it initially did well, and we left it there until it started struggling. When it was clear the show had fallen to unsustainable levels and would not survive on Fridays, only then did we move it to the night where our highest rated show of all time had recently aired.

The hiatus killed SGU:
As you can see from the ratings above, the biggest drop in viewers came before the hiatus, not after. In fact, SGU actually grew around 10% after the hiatus between season 1.0 and 1.5 in its first two episodes back.

If you’d left it on Friday nights, it would have done well:
When left on Friday nights SGU lost 1/3 of its audience and dropped to consistently unsustainable ratings levels. The only hope of keeping it was to move it to another night where new viewers could find it.

You canceled SGU because you hate science fiction:
If we didn’t like science fiction we simply wouldn’t have made SGU. It’s because we like science fiction that we tried it. Even though SGU was ultimately unsuccessful, we don’t regret trying it. Science fiction shows are the backbone and lifeblood of our network, and we have many in development. Later this year we’ll be debuting Alphas, the Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome pilot is being worked on as you read this, the movie Red Faction starring Stargate Universe‘s Brian Jacob Smith will air next month, 5 of our original dramas will return with new seasons or new episodes this year, and we’re working on many more behind the scenes.

You never supported SGU:
There is literally no one other than MGM who supported it more than we did. We were the only network who gave the show a try and the only ones who committed to making and airing 40 episodes before a script had been written. We invested tens of millions of dollars and thousands of hours of work over many years making and supporting the show.

You canceled SGU in order to make wrestling:
We would have happily kept making SGU regardless of anything else on our schedule if the ratings were sustainable. We don’t discontinue successful shows to make room for other shows … no network does because no network has a full roster of successful series. SGU was judged solely on its own ratings.

You don’t like Stargate:
We love Stargate. Combined we’ve made 12 seasons of 3 separate series and helped support two SG-1 films. It’s been an amazing ride and we’re incredibly proud of the cast and crew of all the shows, and thankful to all the viewers who watched.

Note: The ratings I used above are Live +7 numbers, or the total number of viewers who watched the show live and during the following 7 days via DVR. Although advertisers buy based on just the 18-49 segment of these numbers and thus the 18-49 ratings would be much smaller, I’m using L7 numbers here for convenience as they represent the total audience. The % drops and lows of the 18-49 numbers would be even more significant (i.e. worse) than what the L7s show, but not so much that it’s worth doing all the math for.

Link to original article

Hard to argue with this really, but I'm still damn angry!

Myrddin

It was still far more watchable than 95% of the dribble that is currently deemed 'sustainable'.

Mario007

The only bone to pick I have with this is that it kinda dispute that the move on tuesday night killed the show. Its very obvious that it did since from the start of season two (which is when SGU was put on tuesday) they only pulled around 1.1 mil live viewers whereas they ended with around 1.5 mil live viewers with season one finale. The show never really recovered from that.
Also the recent outcry regarding SGU was also caused by Sanctuary which, too, got moved from friday night and suddenly it slumped to 0.7 mil live viewers from 1.3 mil live viewers. This is actually even worse than SGU and Sanctuary is pretty lucky that they had a deal for a new season secured prior to Syfy's scheduling move

somuj

We can all point fingers and blame network executives and the move to tuesday night but the real reason it got cancelled and we all know it is the ridiculous storylines. Mostly in season one involving the stones and the character interaction on Earth. Absolute tripe they were and had no business in a scifi show. Thats why the viewer numbers plummeted

Blazer

somuj wrote: »

We call all point fingers and blame network executives and the move to tuesday night but the real reason it got cancelled and we all know it is the ridiculous storylines. Mostly in season one involving the stones and the character interaction on Earth. Absolute tripe they were and had no business in a scifi show. Thats why the viewer numbers plummeted

Agreed..i was enjoying it upthe episode 8 (the one where the time travel is going on) and this episode ended on a "to be continued".
EP9 came out and no sign of that previous episode..at that point I gave up in disgust...no matter that it continued in ep10....

Also nice to see how a channel tries to support a show....we never see that..we just assume they slash it the minute ratings drop...

RolandIRL

Episode 8 ("Time") didn't end on a "To be continued". it just ended with Scott sending back the Kino back in time. you were definitely able to figure out that they'd solve the illness from that. they didn't need to spend another episode explaining that.

I don't believe what they said about the mid season break. yes, there may have been a rise in ratings for the first two episodes, but it's still too long to have such a gap between shows. a few people i know have just stopped watching shows that had a break, because they just lost interest in them.

Richard Dower

Why did SGU get cancelled?....no one watched!, simples.

don ramo

Richard Dower wrote: »

Why did SGU get cancelled?....no one watched!, simples.

i think you know more than anyone that that simply isnt true, its like the storyboard on one of the other thread around here says, theres 25,000 neilson rating boxes tracking viewing figures for the entire US, which is then extrapolated for the population of the US, theres over 300,000,000 people living in the US, do the math

Myrddin

Richard Dower wrote: »

Why did SGU get cancelled?....no one watched!, simples.

I watched it.

Antar Bolaeisk

An interesting response from Mallozzi on his blog.

Mallollollollollollozzi wrote:

Mailbag:

BoltBait writes: “Any comment on this? http://www.gateworld.net/news/2011/05/an-open-letter-to-stargate-fans-%20%20from-syfy/“

Answer: Back in the last few years of Stargate, I took to giving the network notes on their notes. Essentially, I would go through the notes, address the concerns I could, then specifically respond to ones I couldn’t do or felt I shouldn’t do. As I read this article, I felt like responding in similar fashion. A lot of good points are raised. On the other hand, a lot of baffling points are made as well. For starters, I don’t think an official explanation on the part of SyFy is necessary. While I can empathize with fans who object to the abruptness of the cancellation after ten years on the network, one has to understand that television is a business. If SyFy has alternate scripted programming that performs better on Mondays or Tuesdays in the fall, then it’s understandable why they would choose those shows over a third season of SGU. That said, certain statements in the article had me scratching my head…

“When MGM decided to bring Stargate Atlantis to an end after five seasons…”

Hmmmm. Not to belabor the point (because I have discussed this in past entries) but, at the time, when we asked the studio whether or not there was any interest on their part in producing a sixth season of Atlantis, I was told that, while the increased budget made a season six less attractive for them, there were other reasons to do it (ie. as a lead-in to the new series). I wasn’t privy to the final decision-making process so it’s possible that the studio had an 11th hour change of heart – but I’m not sure why they would have.

“Because Stargate SG-1 and had performed so well for us in the past, we felt confident about SGU and committed to a two-season deal for it, as long as the show met certain milestones along the way. Two-season deals are rare in the TV world because they tie up a huge amount of investment (both time and money), but our great track record with MGM and Stargate made this seem like as much of a sure thing as you’ll get in the TV business. That means before any footage was shot or any actors were hired, we knew there’d be 40 episodes.”

Craig rightly points out that the second year pick-up was contingent on the show’s first season meeting “certain milestones”. Which makes the last sentence: “That means before any footage was shot or any actors were hired, we knew there’d be 40 episodes.” somewhat debatable – unless he’s suggesting that the network was insanely optimistic at the time. If the first season had not met the milestones set forth in the original deal, there would have been no guarantee of a second season pick-up.

“The show quickly moved forward and officially launched on October 2, 2009. The debut was watched by a good if not spectacular 2,779,000 viewers. To give that some perspective, Stargate Atlantis debuted with over 4 million viewers, so SGU was more than 25% below that.”

File this one under baffling. Comparing the SGA premiere to the SGU premiere overlooks is grossly unfair. First – Atlantis premiered during the summer while Universe – originally slated for a fall premiere – premiered in the much more competitive fall. Second the time between the two premiere has seen a significant increase in DVR usage and internet downloads, and a simultaneous erosion in live viewership. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don’t think so. Simply put, back when Atlantis aired, fewer viewers were recording or downloading television and many more were watching television live.

“With untenably low numbers and no sign of growth on Fridays where it had now lost 1/3 of its initial audience, we decided to move SGU for its second season. We’d had tremendous success on Tuesday’s with our breakout hit Warehouse 13, so we paired SGU with Caprica and moved them to Tuesdays, hoping to introduce both shows to a new audience.”

Sigh. Okay, look – while I understood (and supported) the move to Tuesday night and the pairing with Caprica, I nevertheless take exception to the assertion that the network had enjoyed “tremendous success on Tuesday’s with [their] breakout hit Warehouse 13″. While Warehouse 13 certainly aired on Tuesdays, it did so in the summer (where, I’d like to reiterate, SGU was originally scheduled to air).

“We moved the final 10 episodes of SGU to Monday nights where we’d just had success with a new show called Being Human, but the ratings remained flat.”

Okay but, realistically, the series had already been canceled so I’m not sure how much reasonable audience growth could be expected at that point.

Like I said – television is a business and decisions are driven by the bottom line. All the same, we were on the network for ten years. When my last relationship ended after 10+ years, we enjoyed a nice post break-up wrap-up dinner. Just saying.

Personally I think it's a shame that SyFy couldn't have run it for a third year or that no-one else decided to pick it up but, like he said, it's a business and if it's not going to make them money they don't want to know.

AnCapaillMor

I think alot of SGU's and other scifi shows problems are the majority of their target audience didn't watch it on TV and they can't compensate with product placement like "chuck". found it hard going at times, some dud episodes but i liked it. Much better than the last seasons of sg1 and maybe the last sga season.

Overheal

I was about to point it out myself but Malozzi beat me to it. They talk about Tuesdays and Fridays but not about Falls, Springs and Summers. Atlantis' first 3 seasons launched summer, the 4th launch in Fall (ratings were on par with SGU) and Season 5 went back to a Summer release. Every season of SG-1 premiered in Summer.

Im sure Richard will be kind enough to find the detailed numbers between season 3 4 and 5 of Atlantis. Im wagering a theory that season 4 facepunched the series.

noodler

Sad but true regarding the numbers.

Thought season 2 was much stronger than the first - shame.