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Duneknight
Duneknight
13 years ago

Syfy, you certainly took the risk from the start so I can’t fault you for that. But you could’ve promoted SGU a bit better.

The Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor
13 years ago

Let the bashing begin! Who will be first to proclaim SyFy is rubbish and awful?

Yxelione
Yxelione
13 years ago

I think the best way to show fans how you love Stargate would be ordering a movie or two. Less past tense, more future tense.

“the biggest drop in viewers came before the hiatus, not after”
As far as I can remember, there was a pointless one week break before the final episode before hiatus, that’s the reason there was a drop in viewers!!!

Darren
Admin
13 years ago

Hi Everyone: Please remember the comment rules, including especially treating others (including a network rep) with respect. Please state your opinions with tact and respect, and not raw insults.

Sylvia
Sylvia
13 years ago

Thank you Craig for trying to clear the air. I hope people will consider your point of view as a business.

mistergroenevingers
mistergroenevingers
13 years ago

Good letter.

Wraithkelso
wraithkelso
13 years ago

@Syfy Craig Engler, Are you going to fix the scheduling for Sanctuary season 4 since it has less viewers on Monday nights now then it did on Friday nights a couple weeks ago? Or will you let this move be it’s death sentence as well??? And, did you think to account for what the ratings of its HUGE competitors were getting at the same time? Putting Stargate Universe up against such long running hits like NCIS and Dancing with the Stars wasn’t very smart. I watch both NCIS and SGU, how am I to choose which to watch live? The… Read more »

Stryse
Stryse
13 years ago

Rating ratings ratings… For my part I’ve only been watching Stargate on a weekly basis for about ten years now… Never once has MY viewership been counted in any of the metrics. I don’t have a Nelson box, and my cable provider doesn’t capture my DVR viewing habits to report in either. Add to that the dozen or so people (at our peak) that would gather each week to watch it. They weren’t getting counted either, because they viewed it in my home. The fact is, what killed SGU is nothing that you dismissed (rightly so), but that the rating… Read more »

lakawak
lakawak
3 years ago
Reply to  Stryse

Oh geez…not this. Yes…because a show you liked had low ratings, it means the system is flawed! Yet even though there is nothing stopping a company from coming along and providing a better system, EVERY TV network still uses Neilsen’s ratings.As do advertisers when deciding how much to pay for commercial time on TV shows. Why is that? Because unlike you, they have actual DATA. And their data has shown that when they advertise a product on a show with higher ratings, they see a bigger boost in sales than when they advertise on a show with lower ratings. The… Read more »

Stryse
Stryse
13 years ago

Plus, it wouldn’t have killed SyFy to throw a bone and order up a mini-season of a handful of episodes to let the story get wrapped up somehow.

AsFarAsLarry
AsFarAsLarry
13 years ago

Well, I won’t bash SyFy specifically, but to say they’re just like everything else that has an American hand in it (yes, I’m American; yes, I’m eyeing New Zealand and Canada for expatriation). 1. Chaz buys Ferari. 2. Chaz needs gas for Ferari. 3. Chaz lobbies to lower his taxes to afford the gas (and buy a few more Feraris). 4. Chaz needs gas for 3 Feraris, so Chaz moves manufacturing out of America and fires all the workers (we don’t really make anything anymore, we just have bunch of weird service industries like Health Care and the prison system,… Read more »

lakawak
lakawak
3 years ago
Reply to  AsFarAsLarry

Hate to tell you, but the number 1 goal of literally EVERY business that has ever existed…in every country that has ever existed…has been to maximize profits. NOT to please a few outliers. No TV network ANYWHERE is going to lose millions of dollars just to make you happy.

Sylvia
Sylvia
13 years ago

Hopefully, someday, Syfy will find a way to help produce and air the SGA and SG1 movies that were originally promised by MGM. That would at least be something.

Cube
Cube
13 years ago

The reason I stopped watching was because the show changed way to much and did not seem like stargate anymore. I liked battlestar galatica reboot but I don’t need a stargate series like it. and unlike star trek deep space 9 that had a darker tone but still seemed like star trek, stargate universe really did not. Also Hitting everybody upside the head witht he huge change on the first day with all the changes to stargate that the show made was not a smart move all it did was piss me and other off and I did not care… Read more »

1HateSyfyN0W
1HateSyfyN0W
13 years ago

You cancel an amazing SCI-FI show on SYFY but you make these stupid cooking and wrestling shows. Be a SCI-FI channel. Cancel those shows. Goodness you don’t even have any good science fiction shows on right now. And you cancel your last true one. Way to go. You lost a viewer.

3531767
3531767
13 years ago

Stryse couldnt have put it any better. I dont have a nielsen box or even a dvr so i , my wife and my teenage daughter wouldnt be included in any count.

lakawak
lakawak
3 years ago
Reply to  3531767

And again…just becuase you like a show that no one else does doesn’t mean the field of statistics is wrong.

Graham.Billing
Graham.Billing
13 years ago

I’ve been a fan since the original movie. What a shame to see this brilliant show ended. But we see it all the time. Honestly, StarGate fans have themselves to blame. I’d never heard so much whinging in the first season because it did not fit into the typical hygienic Stargate mould. The creators of the show did a fantastic job of making this the characters more personal and realistic. We’re over superhero’s and happy families and this was a welcome and needed change to the franchise. Seriously you need at least a season to flesh out the characters and… Read more »

Cube
Cube
13 years ago

OH and the stargate movies.

Make them one of your Syfy original movies. I do get a Kick out of the crazy mutant crocodile movies and stuff like that you make for the insane concept of it all.

But god you could get a fricking stargate movie for that and it would be a million times better than any other “Syfy orginal movie” You have ever made.

asgarder
asgarder
13 years ago

SYFY PLEASE READ THIS !! So, I even understand why you cancelled SGU, because of 1 Milion Viewers compared to SGA’s 4 Milion Viewers. My question is: If SGA had 4 Milion Viewers why did you cancelled it? And aren’t 4 Milion almost garanteed views enought to bring back SGA, even if its just 1 ”Test Season” to see how it performs or to make the SGA movie? I think there are some thing you are right, but another thing you are very wrong! Why do you think so many people stopped watching Stargate? Well, SGU’s Season 1 sucked, all… Read more »

Craig MacD.
Craig MacD.
13 years ago

I have to disagree about the amount of promotion by Syfy. I watch(ed) SGU on the Space channel here in Canada and their show Innerspace had a Stargate: Universe special in which fans got to watch an episode of SGU and meet the cast in Toronto. The actors (even the supporting cast) came out on stage and did interviews. They even dedicated an episode to the end of SGU and the Stargate franchise following the airing of “Gauntlet”. I know a lot of SGU fans on Twitter, both here in Canada and in the U.S. and it seems that Syfy… Read more »

blackhawlk
blackhawlk
13 years ago

Thank you Craig. I’ve never once believed that Syfy did anything but support SGU and the franchise over the years. You did everyone to try and save a failing show but it’s not the channels fault that the show just didn’t appeal to enough viewers.

Hopefully Stargate will return at some time in the future with a new creative team, who can bring fresh ideas to the Franchise and recapture what made it so popular.

Briangate78
Briangate78
13 years ago

I just wanted to say as a supporter of Syfy, and a Global Moderator for Syfy.com, I am proud of this network. They gave is 12 Seasons of Stargate that I have enjoyed. I think Craig is being very supportive by replying to all these fans attacks. I think some people need to understand that this is a business, and SGU was not making money for the network.

Thank you Darren and Craig for letting this happen, always a pleasure reading your articles.

Best,

Briangate78
Squall28

ZJW88
ZJW88
13 years ago

Hey First i’d like to thank him for taking the time out to respond to a majority of the criticisms leveled at the network. Now certainly i’m still upset with SGU’s canceling but he’s not wrong that the ratings have been rather unfortunate. And it’s true, there are many more Stargate fans than will ever be counted in Nielson’s data but that’s just the way it is unfortunately. As for the move to Tuesdays i feel it was a mistake. It’s true they’ve had success there but that was in the summer. And hey, Stargate was originally a summer series.… Read more »

lakawak
lakawak
3 years ago
Reply to  ZJW88

Show ANY evience that the nubmer are unrepresentative of hte true numbers. Sure..there MAY be more Stargate viewers than they report. But there may be fewer. If there is, say, 1 Neilsen family for every 50,000 families, who is to say that the number of people that DO have Nielsen boxes aren’t MORE likely to have watched the show? again..the concept of STATISTICS is not really a hard concept to understnad. It is taught in high school, for crying out loud. And you liking a show that most did not does not change the fact that you can get a… Read more »

Stryse
Stryse
13 years ago

Unfortunately I think the next thing we see for Stargate will be a rebooting. Maybe they’ll pursue the original trilogy idea and then adapt that for television.

Stryse
Stryse
13 years ago

My fellow SciFi fans… do not become complacent with the ‘way things are’ in terms of the rating system. YOU are the consumer, and the power to change things begins and ends with you.

Cheshil
Cheshil
13 years ago

First, I do think it’s great (and gutsy) that you came out here to respond – it shows a lot more than I’m used to seeing from Syfy.

I do disagree that Syfy supported the show as much as possible. A miniseries order, or support for the show (or movies) despite less-than-great ratings shows support above and beyond any other network – ordering seasons because the ratings are good is just business sense, not really support.

Otherwise, I think Stryse hits the nail on the head. Perhaps the Syfy could’ve developed other ways to count the numbers.

lakawak
lakawak
3 years ago
Reply to  Cheshil

NO business is going to lose money by continued to order more of a product that isn’t selling. That is not called support. It is called bad business.

puddlejumper_1
puddlejumper_1
13 years ago

I fully agree with you. Well said

Engler Thankyou for one thing. Comming out and addressing fans. But, with no hate. I doubt you’ll get much higher ratings on your newer shows than what you had with Stargate. Stargate is an iconic scifi show, a show and story that has gone on for 16 years, and you let it end without an ending. Sure you may have made a buisness descision, but that decision has hurt your franchise IMO, and also hurt 3/4 of your viewers. I use to like your network, or the network called SciFi

stargatefan1958
stargatefan1958
13 years ago

i think one more season of SGU to finnish it out would of been nice it was a great show. but so was SG1 and SGA. they were good clean shows. good stories, and then you put on reality shows thats not scifi then wrestling not scifi either. I want to go to other worlds by way of tv you folks at syfy dont get it do you? well FRAK when syfy loses alot of people they might listen then. because i guess sanctuary is next then warehouse 13 and then eureka, see ya all

uagoalieguy
uagoalieguy
13 years ago

One question I would have liked to have been answered was whether Stargate had a future on Syfy, meaning that if MGM wanted to fund another Stargate TV Show or Movie, would SyFy get behind it.

ZJW88
ZJW88
13 years ago

I mean i supposed i could boycott the system, except that i don’t have a nielson box – and if i did have 1 and decided to boycott it i wouldn’t be beneficial to the series i was watching… I mean i know what you’re saying – but i don’t see a good way of changing the system. The Live and 7 Day tracking is an improvement. Is it still fool proof, certainly not, but it’s moving in the right direction. And really nielson isn’t designed to track a show’s popularity. Yes there are countless fans who download episodes (legally… Read more »

Piernik
Piernik
13 years ago

You can’t compare SGA and SGU ratings because SGA was running from july to september and from january to march while SGU had to compete with major broadcast networks (september-november and march-may).

bum783
bum783
13 years ago

One more point. When SyFy canceled Farscape, the show ended with a cliffhanger. SyFy aired a 5 hour miniseries and than a 2 hour conclusion to give the show a proper ending. The miniseries aired 19 months after the show was canceled. I wonder if there is a possibility of this happening with Universe? An 8 hour miniseries 1 or 2 years down the road could give the series a proper ending and re-ignite interest in the Stargate franchise opening the door for a new series, just like Star Trek and Battlestar Gallactica.

johnmknight
johnmknight
13 years ago

Craig, Thank you for your time and response to the fans. After reading through your letter, I was struck by what I didn’t hear. I did hear, the ratings but I didn’t hear what SyFy did in response to those ratings. I believe it would do the fan base a great deal of good if you could explain, in as much detail that makes sense, what SyFy did to respond to the ratings, other than just move the show’s air day/time around. I’m fairly sure other marketing levers were pulled, such as promotion or even creative changes? Explaining and educating… Read more »

carmencatalina
carmencatalina
13 years ago

If Syfy would like to see how to bow out of running a show with some class, perhaps they should look at the Innerspace special that Space ran at the end of the final episode of SGU.

Lovely, and classy.

And what did Syfy run at the end of the final episode?

Nothing.

Terrack
Terrack
13 years ago

The problem I’m having is this , to me it seems that you had already all but written the show off just a few episodes into season 2. However, you where contracually obligated to continue to episode 40,, so why in gods name were the producers not informed of a cancellation untill AFTER pricipal photography was completed?? You expect we the fans to trust you and invest in the stories and characters you present to us, but your not worthy of that trust. It’s my opinion that if you bring a story to us, YOU have an obligation to complete… Read more »

samcamfan
samcamfan
13 years ago

Instead of outrightly cancelling it as they’ve done and basically wiping their hands because SGU was “unsuccessful”, they should set up a 4-6 part mini series to FINISH the story. If they did that, I would have no problem with them not wanting to do anything more with SGU. But until they conclude it? The only people I’m going to blame are SyFy and MGM. I also love how he said they don’t cancel shows to fit in a new one. BULL! The most recent ‘axing’ of shows all over the place to make room for new series tells a… Read more »

3531767
3531767
13 years ago

Stargatefan1958 – if they would have produced a season 3 the viewers would have come back as season 2 was much improved over season 1. I didnt like season 1 all that much but i stuck with it and loved the direction season 2 went. Syfy made too many changes and gave up too fast before it had a chance to settle in. Also putting it on in the spring/summer probably would have been best but thanks to syfy we will never know. Now that the Nielsen ratings for sancuary that im not included in are plummenting im sure it… Read more »

ZJW88
ZJW88
13 years ago

PS: the Farscape miniseries was 4 hours (2 2 hour episodes) and nothing more than that.

Also while i’d love 4 more episodes of SGU would that really be enough to wrap up the whole story?

Robby
Robby
13 years ago

There’s certainly some good spin in there, but that’s all it is…spin. Trying to use the argument that Tuesday was a good time slot? In the summer absolutely…but this point has been covered to death, so I’ll let that one go. The death of the Stargate franchise really traces back to one thing in my mind, and that’s when Sci-Fi moved BSG away from their Friday night lineup (also Tuesdays, if I’m not mistaken). After that, the ratings started plummeting for SG-1, SGA and BSG, and none of them ever really recovered. They apparently wanted to spread the wealth, and… Read more »

ZJW88
ZJW88
13 years ago

And actually their ratings for their original movies tend to be higher than that of SGU unfortunately. I can’t speak for an average, but every few weeks it seems i’m reading a press release claiming their most recent creature feature averaged in the range of 2-2.5 million viewers.

bringbackatlantisfools
bringbackatlantisfools
13 years ago

We are still waiting on the sg-1 and atlantis movies where are they. both movies were promised before SGU and we are still waiting for them and now its SGU you gone poof just like that there were alot more people watching in the 2nd half of season 2. Just give it a chance it was getting good. I bet after all this hype the ratings will be there on a mini series syfy lies and bull.

joeclubkid
joeclubkid
13 years ago

We will never agree on everything. But I do know that Stargate Universe deserves a proper ending. Let “Stargate” go out with some dignity. Stargate has made SyFy lots of money. We deserve a movie or two.

Browncoat1984
Browncoat1984
13 years ago

Almost every other comment I see here is “I don’t have a nielson box” how many people watched the show that don’t have one? We’ll never know. Okay, Craig, there’s some flaws with SyFy’s (and your’s) logic here: Your first flaw is in your comment in regards to the success Warehouse 13 and Eureka had on Mondays and Tuesdays. First off, those shows aired in the summer, NOT the fall. Try airing those shows in the fall and chances are you’ll get lower ratings. Yes, I know, the finales did well when they aired against tough competition, but those were… Read more »

hedcase1
hedcase1
13 years ago

@Syfy Craig Engler Thank you for taking the time and address a lot of the questions, comments, and criticisms that have been posted recently. Your post addressed nearly every topic, except for two key components. The first one that I believe you overlooked was brought and explained quite well by @Stryse in an earlier post. While I certainly understand that your business models and successes depend on ratings and the bottom line, the way that line is measured is sorely out of date. I can’t really add more to that as @Stryse’s post was quite concise about it. The second… Read more »

Rivyn
Rivyn
13 years ago

Sounds like a bunch of excuses and that they’re just trying to dance around the fact that they dont want to explain why they would put wrestling on a SCIENCE FICTION CHANNEL!!

the_iowa_hawkeye
the_iowa_hawkeye
13 years ago

First, as a Stargate fan I have to be honest that what killed SGU was its first season. Had the first season been written better it would still be on the air. But the episodes in the first season were just plain bad. Really bad. They got better as the season went along and season two was just flat-out awesome. But it was too little too late. As for the Syfy response: it was big of them to do that, they certainly didn’t have to. However, I would lend more credibility to their creative acumen if they did not produce… Read more »

samcarter45
samcarter45
13 years ago

I have read alot of comments about SGU’s cancellation over the last few weeks and registered here so I could comment on this letter. My husband and I are fans of the Stargate franchise, and we are very disappointed in its cancellation. We have determined that we only watch 1/5 of the channels offered on our satellite, and we have decided, as of next month, to cancel our satellite and go to viewing the shows that we like over an Internet connection. We are tired of paying an overwhelming amount of money and there not being anything we like to… Read more »

Aranthus
Aranthus
13 years ago

Let’s be honest. Stargate Voyager didn’t do as well as Stargate Deep Space Nine (don’t pretend I’m the only one who’s ever thought this), or Stargate, the original series because it wasn’t as good as either of those shows. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve watched every episode of all of them. SGU had a different (from the other Stargates anyway) story to tell. It wasn’t about heroes in the sense that that the predecessor shows were. It was about ordinary people stuck in a bad situation. It was darker; way darker. I believe that was its undoing. It lacked the… Read more »

cleveret
cleveret
13 years ago

@Craig Engler First, thank you for your time and energy. We all know that you did not need to respond to us, the fans. I agree with most folks here in that Syfy has supported Stargate through the years. It’s been great. However, I know that if it wasn’t for my DVR I would have never know, in any cases, when SGU or SGA was coming back. There was never a time or a place announced. Most of the other networks say when the series will return. When you put a show on a “break” and then not announce when… Read more »

ueber
ueber
13 years ago

I appreciate the time you’ve taken to explain the rationele behind cancellation. I have been a Stargate fan since the movie. I loved SG1, passed on most of Atlantis, and was happy to come back to SGU. I genuinely appreciated the new flavor of Stargate we have had with the most recent series. My wife even watched it with me, which really says a lot for a SciFi show. That said, I believe the community has some legetimate concerns regarding the demise of the show, particularily in relation to scheduling. I was very interested to learn that SyFy had a… Read more »

ace_love
ace_love
13 years ago

I don’t care, I’ll say it over and over again, SG:U should of been given until the end of Season 2 before a continuation decision was made, I think it’s unfair that other shows got that pleasure.. SyFy knew exactly what they were getting into with this show, as they say they knew for years that it was coming.. It should of been planned more detail But no, they axed mid season 2 without even knowing what was going to happen Now the backlash has started, SyFy will without a doubt regret this.. Fox made this mistake with Family Guy,… Read more »

rsanchez1
rsanchez1
13 years ago

It’s nice to get a response, but really, I don’t care unless he tell us SGU is coming back. The only reasons I watch Syfy are SGU and SG-1/SGA reruns. I’ll keep watching the reruns, but everything else on Syfy is just not good for me. The pattern I saw was that they kept moving SGU to nights where shows that are completely different from SGU were successful. SGU just didn’t draw the same type of audience as Warehouse 13 or Being Human. Plus, when Syfy was messing with airing day, the very popular network shows aired at the same… Read more »