For perhaps the first time in the seven years that the Stargate franchise has been on Syfy Channel, there are no episodes airing this week on the cable network — no SG-1, no Atlantis, and no Stargate Universe to help celebrate the holidays.
It’s not unusual for the network to temporarily suspend the weeknight (and late Friday) airings of SG-1 and Atlantis, particularly during holidays. What is surprising is Syfy’s apparent last-minute cancellation of the SGU marathon, which it has been advertising for Christmas Day.
The 10-hour marathon would have given viewers a chance to catch up or rewatch the entire first half of the new show’s debut season, from 8:30 a.m. (just after Santa has left) to 6:30 p.m. in the U.S.
Instead, Syfy’s schedule now indicates that the network will show a movie marathon instead, with a combination of Syfy originals and more mainstream genre films, including Serenity and Total Recall.
Viewers in the U.S. who are looking for a little Stargate fix after Christmas can check local listings for the syndication rerun of Atlantis‘s “Ghost In the Machine” this weekend.
If you’re still hoping to catch up (or rewatch) Universe, the entire series is available for sale, commercial free, on iTunes and Amazon.com
Stargate Atlantis and SG-1 are set to return to the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. time slots (respectively) on January 5. There are no SGU reruns on the books yet, with new episodes of the show expected to return to the airwaves in April.
UPDATE: Syfy’s Craig Engler posted the following on Twitter: “We moved the SGU marathon off Xmas day and are going to run it closer to the mdi-season return. Typical schedule stuff.”
Gah, don’t scare me like that! “Syfy cancels SGU” gave me a double-take and the heebie-jeebies!
Hahahahah, hahahahaha, Signs of what’s to come? I had come to a conclusion that being this mad over a TV show was not good for me. So I had to stop reading Gateworld news. But my Office Outlook program did a fast one on me, and snuck in this little Gem in. Really made my day. Adios Muchachos! Now it’s going to be a really Merry Christmas. Have a great Holiday Everyone, yes that includes you too Tanith :). Be safe, Please don’t drink and Drive. Be a designated driver if you can.
And here I was hoping that they actually HAD gotten their wits about them and cancelled this show. Now, that would’ve been a great Christmas present!
Thank God! Maybe now they’ll run a SGA Atlantis marathon or something else worth watching. I’m really sick of having Stargate:90210 shoved down my throat.
@solista: Why? Would you honestly rather have no new Stargate content on the TV meaning that everyone is unhappy as opposed to only a percentage being unsatisfied?
Rather bizarre that a great Christmas present for you is one that sees the end of Stargate with even less hope for redemption.
Sad for all SGU fans, hopefully they’ll do an Atlantis marathon instead… AND not having access to Syfy, don’t care that much (well, hopefully I’ll be nicer and in Christmas spirit in a few days). I’m really tired that it’s so difficult to get access to the episodes unless you’re in the US, UK or other major English speaking country. What about the rest of us – give us a huly thingy for us poor foreigners. Seems like our (terrestrial) tv companies doesn’t buy the scifi stuff. At least not that early on. Well, I might catch some scifi now… Read more »
Hello SYFY i was really looking forword to the marathon on friday. I am wondering what your IQs are? oh well. Great Job SYFY NOT
Hehehhehehehehhhehehe HAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHA!
I am so glad we don’t have SyFy here. Now I don’t have to worry about not seeing SGU during the holidays. Which I will be able to watch anytime I want anyway coz I have them all on my comp. Heheeehheheheheheh.
SyFy you suck! But you make me laugh.
Hahahaahahahaaaahahahhahahah heheheheheheheeh.
SYFY probably wanted people to actually watch what they were broadcasting, smart business move.
“hopefully they’ll do an Atlantis marathon instead”
“Syfy’s schedule now indicates that the network will show a movie marathon instead”
What’s with all the spiteful people who don’t want SGU fans to be able to enjoy their show? Some of you need real professional help. It’s not normal to have such hatred in your hearts for your fellow fans.
yey!! no sgu marathon thats the greatest news i have heard all this time. yey!!! SYFY you made my day. thank you!
That’s a shame- hopefully, Space won’t follow suit. I’m looking forward to it.
SyFy must want to air shows that get better ratings. Will they air reruns of Universe before April or not bother?
Sorry they aren’t having the SGU marathon, I was looking forward to it.
Well, the main reason why networks cancel repeats are ratings (I’m not saying it’s the only reason but the main). I don’t know what ratings SGU’s repeats have but obviously, they are not satisfactory otherwise they wouldn’t have canceled their plans so closely to the airing date.
Are the adds on the marathon from the clients that when the series was first aired? If not, do they have to find news clients, or they put random adds? I thought maybe they canceled the marathon because they didn’t have financial support of it?
-btw- I said client because I don’t know what word to use, I hope you understand what I mean.
And I didn’t think I was going to get a Christmas present from SyFy this year. Thanks SyFy. Now that Comcast is going to own you maybe they will hire people who know what sci-fi really is.
Total Recall > SGU
even though this doesn’t affect australia.
good picture choice tho.
TJ is one good looking lady!
i still can’t believe that syfy cancelled Atlantis for this show.
To repel the negativity of: ‘SyFy decided not to air the marathon because SGU sucks’.
They mostly likely realised that a marathon of any TV series on Christmas day would be a little pointless since people tend to be be busy with friends, family and loved ones enjoying the day.
Sitting watching episodes of a show wouldn’t cross your mind. But you may be more likely to sit and watch a movie that adds to the feel of Christmas.
SGU is doomed for failure unless you like to see the woman pictured above cry about everything in the Universe. Have Carter inhabit her body and get something done besides teenage angst and longing stares that would bore a soap opera fanboy.
Smart move, they don’t want to scare away all their viewers..
‘Total Recall’ – a true classic.
Merry and safe Christmas to all!
I know that after ten hours of TV commercials, Chloe, and someone perpetually shaking and zooming a camera I’d revisit my Christmas dinner.
All you SGU haters just give it up. Atlantis & SG1 are both long gone, never to return. There are a lot of us who actually like SGU, so go watch your old DVD box sets and let us enjoy our new show. I have all the episodes on itunes, so I’ll have my own marathon. SGU rocks!
I have to say the majority of you people here getting excited and saying SGU getting canceled would be a great Christmas gift are complete jackasses, it actually disgusts me. I literally registered just to type this. Not enjoying a show is one thing. But getting all excited over it being canceled is another. You realize that if this show had been canceled how many people it would have REALLY affected? It would put tons of people out of work, just before the Holidays. And here we have a bunch of jerks getting all excited. Crewmen, Cameramen, construction workers, lighting… Read more »
I guess I could be grouped as one of the “haters” because I really, really don’t like SGU. But I don’t like the title “hater” because I love the Stargate ‘universe’ (NOT the show, ha). There’s immature comments on both sides of the fence, but in the end we all the same thing: an awesome Stargate show! That there is such a large number of Stargate fans having the same exact problems with SGU, I think it’s a good thing to be vocal if there’s any hope of getting SGU back on course to be a REAL Stargate/Sci-Fi show, instead… Read more »
Have said this before but what the hell will say it again: Theres a difference between constructive criticism that can be used to make improvements & insults. Most comments by the ‘naysayers’ have been the latter.
I think some people still do not relise they can change the channel…or just turn the TV off the world wont end!
This probably related to that the first half of SGU will be out on DVD very soon. Maybe MGM pulled some strings to get SyFy to pull the marathon?
Syfy comment on Twitter, the marathon will run closer to the time the remainder of SGu’s first season airs
Hardly surprising. I found it odd that they were going to do a marathon on Christmas day of a new show and admittedly one with only a nitch audience.
1. Traditionally networks air movies that either tie to the holiday in question or are sure to nab a few viewers. SGU isnt going to do either. Not to mention its christmas, people will not be so inclined to watch anything other than feel good christmas movies and lets be honest, who the hell would watch SGU after unwrapping their gifts?
Most tv channels do indeed broadcast holiday related content. But I’d actually rather watch something unrelated to the holiday if I were to watch something at all. The same old christmas crap tv is getting really really tiresome. SGU would have been more welcome than that. But as I said before, I don’t have access to SyFy and I don’t need it either coz I have all the eps.
Kosh said, “That there is such a large number of Stargate fans having the same exact problems with SGU, I think it’s a good thing to be vocal if there’s any hope of getting SGU back on course to be a REAL Stargate/Sci-Fi show.” Well, SGU is on course and is a fine show in its own right. Thankfully it’s NOT a clone of SG1/Atlantis and has opened a new chapter of the Stargate saga. SGU is real Stargate. SGU is a lot better than I thought it would be. It took 5 or 6 episodes to establish things and… Read more »
Indeed SGU is a good show in it’s own right, but just because it bears the Stargate name does not make it a Stargate show (Not in spirit that is) Stargate is science fiction Stargate is mythology Stargate is adventure Yes SG-1/SGA had it’s faults, EVERY show does, but SG-1/SGA had were common in that they both had the sci-fi/myth/adventure thing going for it. Now I don’t mind that SGU changed that up a bit – I understand their need to ‘evolve’ in order to capture a bigger audience, but they haven’t done so successfully (At least not yet, here’s… Read more »
Hyper3 set up these criteria for a show to be “a Stargate Show”: “Indeed SGU is a good show in it’s own right, but just because it bears the Stargate name does not make it a Stargate show (Not in spirit that is) Stargate is science fiction Stargate is mythology Stargate is adventure” Exhibit A: science fiction – Hmmm, traveling through far away galaxies on an ancient Star ship. Maybe that qualifies… Stargate is mythology – Said star ship was built by “the Ancients,” our own predecessors in the Milky Way galaxy who started the whole mythology. Who knows who… Read more »
SuFy has to pay for the reruns, too. Reconsidering the cost and promotional value, maybe they decided to save the marathon when the show returns in April; build excitement for the 2nd half of 1st season.
Syfy (or when it was Sci-Fi) has cancelled marathons in the past like a “Firefly” marathon it had scheduled in primetime.
@ictus75
It’s funny that you mention Wormhole Extreme since SGU sort of resembles that a little. They’ve got the “younger, edgier” people and as it is I see Scott “tappin’ that ass” all over the place.
To get back to the topic – why doesn’t someone ask Mallozzi about it on his blog? It certainly is unfortunate for the show’s fans, especially after dangling the proverbial carrot in front of them and then yanking it away.
BTW Space has Star Wars racked up all day long. No comment. LOL
“Have said this before but what the hell will say it again: Theres a difference between constructive criticism that can be used to make improvements & insults. Most comments by the ‘naysayers’ have been the latter.” -Tanith That’s an observation I’ve made in several of these article comment threads too. I realize criticisms can help make a show better, but the majority of the negative comments I have seen in these comment threads are just whining. I don’t know what they think they are accomplishing. No more SGU means no more money to pay the rent on the sets which… Read more »
@FormulaJRay 100% agreed.
Have also noticed that once we reach this conclusion that what there doing is pointless those particular ‘naysayers’ go quiet until the next SGU article comes along which allows them to start the process of cheap insults again.
@FormulaJRay “No more SGU means no more money to pay the rent on the sets which means no more movies or shows.” I don’t think this particular statement has merit. It is very well possible that a show costs more money than it brings in. Also there have been shows that did good yet still got cancelled. Besides that, I don’t think anyone with an objective view could seriously consider SGU to be one of MGM’s major money-makers when compared to the bulk of their catalogue. Another thing. I really don’t think the people that make SGU will be following… Read more »
Makes perfect sense to me – why would anyone want to watch 10 hours straight of darkness, depression, anger and whiny annoying people especially on Christmas? The myth that suicides at Christmastime go up has apparently been disproven, but I’m sure an SGU marathon could nudge those percentages way up…
“I really don’t think the people that make SGU will be following all the comments here on Gateworld let alone taking them into consideration while they’re making the show. It’s too time consuming and besides that I don’t think they care.”
Then what’s the point of people complaining on every SGU article when at the end of the day its meaningless. Or is it just to get the kicks out of annoying SGU fans?
@Scott Watson
People just want to voice their opinions, especially if they’re not happy. It might be meaningless in the sense of reaching the creators of the show but it eases peoples minds to bitch around a little.
I can imagine that it can be tedious to have to read those comments if you’re an SGU “liker”. I started out a “hater” but now find myself somewhere in between. I can therefore live with both the positive and the negative comments.
I come here to voice my opinion on a show that was meant to be so much better than previous shows (but has failed to deliver in every way) As long as the ptb try and masquerade SGU as Stargate I will keep coming back to refute that notion. And I don’t think the criticism is meaningless either. The tpb are definitely taking notice and if they want SGU to get a 3rd season I think they will be taking on board the criticism to date. I completely disagree that SGU is “real Stargate”, unless real stargate is all about… Read more »
Thank God, it really is a terrible show. An embarassment to the Stargate Franchise.
@Scott Watson, SGU is such an insult to stargate that it is simply impossible to keep the disappointment inside. I for one hardly ever participate in internet discussions but I couldn’t keep this bottled up anymore. This is why I post here, not out of hope that the producers will read this and actually listen. Mind you the network (as opposed to the producers) is surely browsing the media (including the web) to get a feel for how the shows they air are being accepted. And the network eventually calls the shots, e.g. canceling the xmas marathon – SGU is… Read more »
It cracks me up to hear so many people whine about the unjustness of the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis. Mainly because I’ve been watching Farscape, and I see what a masterpiece that show was (and not just for science fiction, but real character drama). The Stargate franchise has been nothing more than distraction for years now. SGU has tons of problems, but it’s nowhere near as bad as seasons 4 and 5 (but especially 4) of Atlantis.
This is only my opinion.