Well, the second episodes of both shows aired on Friday and, sometime Monday, we'll receive the all-important ratings for Avalon II and Intruder. Now, much has been made of last week's ratings - some chose to give the 2.0 and 2.1 a positive spin while others chose to spin it in a more negative light. As fans of the show, you're probably wondering: Should these be considered good numbers? Should they be considered bad numbers? Is Stargate SG-1 done?
Should these be considered good numbers? Actually, they should be considered great numbers. When we first moved to SciFi, we were gunning for a 1.7 average. We surpassed our expectations. And when season 7 started airing, we never imagined the show would crack the daunting 2.0 mark. It did and, come season 8, it was doing so regularly. As we head into season 9, it looks like that trend will continue.
That said, I'll admit to being somewhat disappointed with those numbers. After all, it would have been nice to beat last year's SG-1 premiere. But let's be realistic. While it would be great to continually outperform ourselves and continue to climb the ratings ladder, the facts is we're in our 9th season. Its almost unheard of for a show to actually gain viewers as consistently as SG-1 has done over the years.
This show has continued to buck the odds and succeed, much to the chagrin of many. We've never had the benefit of a big marketing machine exhorting viewers to checks us out. We built our audience from word of mouth, from our loyal legion of fans who set aside an hour or two every Friday night to tune us in. We've never been the darling of the critics. In fact, quite the opposite. Time and again we've been unfavorably compared to other shows - and yet, time and again, I find myself walking into my office in January to prepare for yet another season. We're all but ignored by the Canadian television industry who consider us "not Canadian enough" and thus, not worthy of their time - this despite the fact that the show's writers, producers, directors, crew, and most of the actors are Canadian. So while those other Canadian shows win awards, we have to settle for yet another successful season of two million+ viewers an episode.
So, is Stargate SG-1 done? Not by a longshot.
Oh, and to those of you wondering - the kick-off to Ice Cream Friday was a success. On tap: Caramel Caramilk, Nutella-Brownie-Ferre Rocher, and, the surprise winner, Dark Chocolate Coffee Coffee Crisp. I'm already preparing for this week and am considering Amaretto Amaretti, Devon Cream and Zero Bar Chunks, and Chestnut Cream. I also made the Bananas Foster, but my wife lay claim to it and it didn't leave the house.
Almost finished the Half-Blood Prince (my wife is in the next room, reading it as I write this). Not my favorite of the series. Still working my way through season 1 of Babylon 5 and Sports Night.
Finally - I always make it a point to check out what the fans have to say, especially after the shows air on Friday night. Among the many posts about the two episodes was one fan's head up, informing me that my name had been misspelled in the Atlantis credits. Sigh. I guess I have to go in tomorrow and let the gang at post know that I HAVE NOT, in fact, changed the spelling of my last name between episodes 1 and 2 of Atlantis.
Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi has been on the SG-1 writing
staff since Season Four. Along with writing partner Paul Mullie, Joe has
written such fan favorite episodes as "Window of Opportunity," "Summit,"
and "Lockdown." Joe lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. 
Speaking of the credits...what do you make of the shortened openings to SG-1 and Atlantis? Personally, I flip them the finger - I loved the themes and the sequences at the beginning, they were a kind of 'best-of' for the special FX that really encapsulated what the shows are about.
The lack of respect was obvious in the comments by the TV guide writer (Matt Rousch?) in the Scifi Friday primer. He was least effusive when talking about SG-1 than either of the other two shows. I dare say neither of them would be on today if not for the success of SG-1. A couple of the "Big 4" networks (in the US) are again trying scifi on Friday night, which has been proven a bad strategy against SG-1 (see the fate of "Enterprise").
As for comments about the opening credits. If the extra ad time leads to continued investment in the shows, as Joe said they had seen this season, I'm all for it. Great stories, executed well, are what I like. It is a tradeoff I personally can live with.
while not a fan of the shortened credit sequences I understand the financial decision behind it and I look forward to seeing what the S9 sequence would have looked like, when i get my season 9 dvd's.
Now if only we could get rid of that terrible "Ra Face" sequence.
If you haven't already tried it, Butterfinger candy bars are wonderful in ice cream. I freeze them, shatter them, then add to a sweet cream base (or coffee for a real kick). The texture is crunchy at first, but it melts quickly in your mouth. Might be worth a try some week.
Thanks for sharing your views on the ratings of SG1 for the premier. I can't understand why anyone would think those were bad numbers. And I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to season 10 :)
I'm about 1/2 way through the Harry Potter book and I'm still not sure if I like it or not. I told my husband that I'm going to wait to see how it ends before I decide, one way or another.
P.S. It may just be me but it looks like your post has all these funky characters in it.
I think that the shortened credits at the beginning has given us an extra 5 minutes of commercials. Also, I'm wondering why Battlestar Galactica gets to keep their opening sequence.
I'm 1/2 way through HP & the 1/2 BP and I find it very dark and sad so far. Lots of foreshadowing. I hope I don't cry like I did with Goblet of Fire.
Thanks for your take on the ratings Joe. Will there be any advertising of SG1 or SGA on other networks? I've seen BSG ads on NBC and USA channels.
The BSG opening credits are shorter than the US Season 1 credits. Ron Moore mentions it in his episode 1 podcast. The BSG credits are not as ridiculously short or inappropriate as the ones for the SGs, but BSG credits were snipped a bit.
The Devon Cream sounds lovely! Cheers,
Talking about podcast... Do you think there will be more for Stargate this year (after SciFi released the Siege commentary last season) ? Podcast are great, especially now we can find them on iTunes. It's a shame SciFi is offering them for BattleStar Galactica only cause I think Stargate commentaries would be more fun to listen to.
As for the ratings, please please do not dispair about ratings. Looking forward to season 10 myself, if only for the cake ! What I've seen of season 9 so far is fantastic and I can't wait for the future eps.
i must say... sports night is one of my favorite non scifi shows.. okay, it is my favorite.. followed shortly by sorkin's other show west wing...
sports and comedy... it's only natural...
ps... all rejoyce... hockey is back!!!
I am such a huge fan of the series, in New Zealand (Auckland city) it is very very popular, we've enjoyed both SG-1 and Atlantis, I cannot thank you all enough.
All you Stargate Bloggers are real fun to read, really ! But let's be honest for a minute shall we ? I bet you finally found a nice way to control the spoilers with all those blogs from the official crew. Nice move, I admit. Very clever.
Although I do have to say the new CBS show Intruders does look awefully good. There is another one on another network but I can't for the life of me remember the name nor network so not sure that's a good thing LOL
I see the SG-1 fans maybe TiVoing..who knows...I admit to watching the first few of The 4400 until I lost interest, but so far Intruders looks best and with Brent Spiner...it might do it????
Ooops my bad..the CBS show is called "Threshold"
Intruders must be the other one I was thinking of. LOL
Just wanted to chime in that I detest the shortened openings as well...
Your comments about the lack of respect reminds me of that classic kid's story The Little Engine That Could I'm saving my SG-1 & Atlantis tapes until my son is home so we can watch them together--also loved your comments about HP & HBP--not my favorite, either, but still much loved & I find myself in awe of JKR's talents every time I open one of her books!
I was just in Vancouver for the first time checking out some colleges (VFS and UBC in particular). I also had a chance to stop by Yuji's Japanese Tapas. Great food, so just wanted to say thanks for recommending it on your blog a while back!
Thanks for setting the record straight with the ratings. We do get good ratings for a little cable channel! Stargate gets better every year and I hope there are many more seasons to come!!
Now about that banannas foster Ice cream, I would have kept it too, LOL. Did you try chunky monkey yet? Bananna chunks, chocolate chunks in vanilla ice cream...to die for!!! It puts my tread mill to work! hehe