The first ratings numbers are in for “The Greater Good,” the game-changing seventh episode of Stargate Universe‘s new second season. The episode gave SGU a slight boost in viewership, with an estimated 1.074 million viewers tuning in to learn about the true nature of Destiny‘s mission, according to a reliable GateWorld Forum source.
That’s an improvement of 11 percent over last week, when the show faced the midterm election coverage in the U.S. and the ratings powerhouse Dancing With the Stars.
This week Dancing drew 16.96 million viewers to ABC, ahead of NCIS: Los Angeles‘ 15.62 million on CBS. 6.75 million people tuned in for NBC’s 2-hour The Biggest Loser from 8 to 10 p.m. And FOX picked up 5.77 million and 2.83 million for its sitcoms Raising Hope and Running Wilde (respectively) in the 9 p.m. hour.
On Friday last week, Sanctuary — Syfy’s only other original scripted drama currently airing — brought in 1.257 million viewers. That’s down 15 percent from the previous week.
Sanctuary also appears to be drawing strongly from the under-18 demographic that tunes in for WWE Smackdown: it’s household rating this week (0.8 HH) was double its rating in the all-important 18 to 49 demographic (0.4 HH).
SGU‘s ratings were a 0.7 HH and 0.4 HH in the demo this week. (Note that this is not on the same scale as Syfy’s coverage ratings, which we have reported for SG-1 and Atlantis in the past.)
Next week we’re heading into the final three episodes of SGU‘s fall season! Grab your popcorn and don’t miss the manhunt in “Malice,” written and directed by Robert C. Cooper and filmed on location in New Mexico. The episode airs next Tuesday at 9 p.m. (8 Central) on Syfy Channel.
Well, it’s less than I hoped for, but much more that I expected. Also it’s proof that last weeks down was due of elections, not people avoiding SGU in masse.
So now task is to hold this number and increase it for next three episodes. If it is done, then I think there are chances to get S3. Let’s cross fingers and pray.
p.s. btw, avoiding all spoilers, Rush anger in next week’s episode is something to see – Carlyle at his best. We will have two superior actors playing true revenge game. Must see.
Ah, but we’re playing stats again. The numbers were so low that a small increase yields a high percentage. Barely edging over a million there’s no election to blame and this was preceded by some guerilla marketing, a major convention, and “please watch my show” pleading as well. This isn’t a big spike for what was hailed as the “discover the bridge and mission” episode these past few weeks. Unless someone wants to blame the ratings on the superior conjunction of Saturn last night, a cable outage in Indianapolis, or Obama’s Indonesia trip I think this show is in dire… Read more »
It’s an uphill battle. On other sites I visit I hear a lot of negative comments towards SGU. I think the first season made a bad first impression with a lot of folks and it’s really hard to break that once it’s out there. I think season 2 is a big improvement but I can’t see this show really pulling in much better numbers. Hopefully we’ll get enough for a 3rd season.
Mentat: registering just under 1.1 is not a “barerly edging over a million” in my humble opinion.
The best thing they could do for the show at this point is to toss the damn communication stones out the airlock. I’m not saying that’ll save the show, but it sure would make it a lot less frustrating to watch.
And it sure ain’t 1.6 or even 2.6. Or the 1.6+ 1.6 that was to happen in some peoples minds.
Oh, I hope the numbers will rise for Sanctuary.
To Pecisk: what proof is elections ? usealy more people watch if there is something to watch , like this week episode was one of the best in this season and 2 last episodes got less ratings cause they were to boring to most of the people to just watch it this sgu was ment for younger oudiance but the outcome was to drama and to big brother like that is to boring for younger oudiance … they should make more episode like this was and less of the pointless drama fillers in sg1 and sga the filler episodes were… Read more »
¿@lopo30 Es inglesa su lengua materna, o son español? Sólo preguntar.
Darren, I’m not sure where you are getting your numbers from, but Sancturay’s ratings haven’t changed due to wrestling. If you look at this post, http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?77407-Sanctuary-Season-3-Ratings-Discussion-thread&p=11987939&viewfull=1#post11987939 you can see that season 2 and season 3’s 18-49 ratings are pretty consistent.
And if they kill off Ginn/Mandy for no good reason whatsoever, the ratings will be right back in the toilet again. (not to say, it aint already there)
Is it just me, or is the forum completely fecked?
Jenks: it appears so. Forums and site itself have been so many times down – it gives a funny feeling that someone tries to DoS it regularly or something :)
Darkthunder: What qualifies as “good reason”? Call me one noble and peaceful death in Stargate Universe. Right, there is no one. Life is harsh. Question is – is this good plot wise? It will hurt a lot for Rush and Eli, but it will also give them an edge which will drive them to do heoristic stuff. And btw, does old pals from SG-1 or SGA had private life? Right, none. Loved ones – all dead, all gone. It is just how SGU does things slowly makes so big emotional impact. Raitings wise – well, if next episode will be… Read more »
Allright, one exception, in SGA Rodney got lucky.
Well i Did some Numbers the First season of SGU had an average of 2.0995 Viewers for the first 6 eppy’s the Second Season is down to 1.249 thats nearly a 50% Loss do you Honestly think its going to get a second season. I mean really they tried and failed he had to beg and plead “Please watch my show” …. enough said
Eagalis: well, maybe numbers is down because – shocking – it is Tuesday and lot of people don’t watch show live because it is too much going on?
lol look at the ratings fall on the first season they lost 1 mil viewers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stargate_Universe_episodes look at em slide i don’t think the day move did anything but create a scapegoat
Eagalis, they *didnt* lost viewers, they all went DVR, because there are three major series going on Tuesdays.
@Pecisk: No they didn’t. The DVR numbers are still the same: approximately 500k. The same as during S1, there was no uptick. People who stopped watching didn’t time-shift, they just dropped the show. Or they watch it elsewhere/during a time period that’s not measured by Nielsen. None of that will help the show get renewed.
katikatnik: I know that they count only DVR numbers who view it same night, so later doesn’t count. But there is lot of indication that it is what exactly happens – lot of people watch it much later than same night.
Anyway, it will get renewed or not, I won’t argue because I’m enjoying SGU anyway – in my humble opinion there is no lost viewers. Just people record it and watch it much later. Which of course sucks for raitings.
How is SGU fairing elsewhere?, like Canada for example. There is more to this than just ratings in the USA, This is aired all over the world and future DVD/BD sales are also a factor.
Science Fiction has rarely been a massive ratings pull, even ST-TNG when it aired here in Australia started 7.30pm,then quickly moved to a 11pm and later timeslot.
Ratings are only part of the picture, not the be all and end all of SGU’s existence.
First off, let me say…I hope SGU gets at least one more season. I think if the show isnt kicking ass by then…then it’s probably a lost cause. But I am concerned. This newest ep was good and it showed some real potential but Joe (Exec Prod) has said some troubling things on his blog over the last few months. Things like, he doesn’t like the Ancients as a general concept, which he dismisses as not a problem since “there are plenty of writers on staff who like them” but when the guy in charge dislikes one of the core… Read more »
@Pecisk: “But there is lot of indication that it is what exactly happens – lot of people watch it much later than same night.” You are talking about the Live+7 ratings. And they are still the same. DVR: 500k viewers who watch the show in the next 7 days after the first airing. Still the same number as during S1. Lost viewers didn’t time-shift to a period measured by Nielsen. And Nielsen measures Live Raw, Live+SD (what we get the next days), C3 (what the advertisers are interested in) and Live+7 (how many people watched the show in 7 days… Read more »
@Pecisk: As it was posted by Briangate in GW’s forum: Live + SD Intervention – 0.9 HH Rating (1.2 Million viewers) Aftermath – 0.8 HH Rating (1.1 Million viewers) Awakening – 0.9 HH Rating (1.2 Million viewers) Pathogen – 0.8 HH rating (1.0 Million viewers) Cloverdale – 0.8 HH rating (1.0 Million viewers) Season to date: 0.9 HH rating (1.1 Million viewers) Live + 7 Intervention – 1.3 HH rating (1.7 Million viewers) Aftermath – 1.2 HH rating (1.6 Million viewers) Awakening – 1.3 HH rating (1.7 Million viewers) Pathogen – 1.1 HH rating (1.5 Million viewers) Season to date:… Read more »
@Imperious: The show’s doing pretty bad in foreign countries too. I can’t give you specific numbers off the top of my head now – you would have to dig deep in the ratings thread in GW’s forum – but both in Canada and in the UK, the show dropped approximately 50% between the premiere and the latest measured ep. So, you can say that the downward trend isn’t just US specific.
@lopo30:
It was a ‘new’ audience not a younger one. It isn’t too drama or *ANYTHING* like big brother. You’re going to complain about filler (which is a made up accusation) & then praise SGA? SGA was filled to the brim with Johnny Repeato filler cookie cutter episodes.
I haven’t seen the latest BARB figures for SGU ,but I’m wondering if having Sanctuary S3 on Watch and SGU on Sky One on Tuesday evenings as two genre shows airing new eps in direct scheduling competition might be a factor ?:) In our house we tend to watch SGU ,then go to Watch +1 to catch Sanctuary. Our data doesn’t get collected though,so viewing live just gives me and the family a scifi Tuesday. @ Jenks “Is it just me, or is the forum completely fecked?” Database errors,I’m afraid. Cause : unknown,but hopefully Darren and Greg can nix the… Read more »
@Imperious — SGU could be number one in the UK, iTunes and DVD sales and it wouldn’t make much of a difference. SyFy doesn’t see any money from any of that. SyFy depends on US ratings for revenue and that is what they base renewal decisions on. If the show does well elsewhere MGM could charge SyFy less. In part that is how Doll House got a second season but I doubt it will help SGU get a third. MGM is not in a position to give away broadcast rights. With ratings this low, SyFy needs to find something else… Read more »
SGU is Space’s highest rated show.
I would stop dancing around the point guys. People just don’t like SGU (and, one must say, I can’t blame them).
The producers have made it clear that they have no intention of changing the ‘new concept’ which they started with SGU, therefore, I think the franchise has come to an end.
I hold no grudge. They gave us 15 great seasons of SciFi with SG1 and SGA, and that’s a lot.
Ratings:
USA: ep 101 2.35 mil. -> ep 207 1.07 mil.
UK (overn.): ep 101 891k -> ep 205 188k
Germany: ep 101 2.32 mil. -> ep 120 1.16 mil.
I can’t find Space’s latest ratings, though.
I still say that Syfy can’t afford to cancel SGU this season because they have nothing to replace it with. Even if Blood & Chrome becomes a success, we’ll still have to wait ’til 2012 for the series to really start. Also, I should point out that the ratings for this episode is based on “Trial & Error”. Is it really that hard to realise that people aren’t psychic? As for “The Greater Good”, it seems even the haters like it. That’s gong to be refrected in the ratings for “Malice”, which is an off-world episode and might well continue… Read more »
The Greater Good in my opinion is one of the best episodes so far. I am looking forward to next week. I am sure there are others who feel the same way and the ratings will reflect that.
@ Jenks “SGU is Space’s highest rated show.” They haven’t made that claim since the premier episodes. In fact they haven’t said ANYTHING about the show since then. The cone of silence has descended on the show. I believe the current ratings there are nothing to talk about anymore.
Sorry, but the BBC is never going to pick up SGU. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t afford it – British television costs a fraction of US shows and the BBC are suffering funding cuts as it is. Nor, I suspect, could any of the other UK channels. If Syfy can’t get the numbers, the show is heading out the door. As for viewers in general, I watched the first 8 eps of S1 and really struggled to find *anything* worthwhile, so I gave up. I watched the last 3 eps of S1 and still didn’t think it was… Read more »
I know there is zero chance of the BBC picking up SGU. Now that I’ve seen the UK ratings, I’d say less then zero.
At least the ratings are going up. I’m hopeful SyFy will air all of season 2.
@Evilslayer: I thought the same of SGA, that they had nothing to replace it with, back then, when the VP of SyFy’s programming promised fans that they would keep SGA around no matter what, that was at Comic Con in 2008. A month later, the show was canceled on higher ratings than SGU has now. And SGU was put on fast-track. And have you seen SyFy’s slate of possible projects for next season? I don’t see why these shows couldn’t be finished for fall 2011. They can be picky. They could cancel SGU, replace it with non-space based show in… Read more »
Actually foreign ratings do count…to some degree. When Syfy made the mini-series of BSG it got ok but not great ratings in the US which meant it was touch and go on whether it would be commissioned as a series. It did however get fantastic ratings on SkyOne in the UK, who then invested heavily to ensure it got commissioned and this is why the UK got season 1 first. S1 was then a ratings success so I’m guessing Syfy changed the contracts/investments as the US got the premiere from then on. So yes, foreign ratings, with broadcasters that have… Read more »
I am not an SGU hater but like many others I have also abandoned Destiny. Initially I committed myself to watching all of Season 1. I was quite happy to watch it slowly evolve but by mid-season it was clear to me that it really was going nowhere. I found myself getting to the point where I was hoping it wouldn’t be as bad as I expected. Sadly only “Human” really stands out for me in the second half of S1. I see parallels with ST:Enterprise which lost so many viewers that by the time they did get it partly… Read more »
I was ready to see the end of this show right up until this past two weeks episodes. I can finally say I’m liking the show now, expecially this last episode. I was OK with the show not coming back next season before this, now I really hope it keeps going this same direction and stays on for another season to see if it can get some legs.
I’m happy for the ratings up! Season 2 is far better than season 1. Hope things will go a bit quicker on the Destiny from now that they have the bride. I really enjoy it, and I know it will renewed for a 3rd season. I also agree with the tv addict: “For those seeking science fiction entertainment, there is no finer sci-fi on television than STARGATE UNIVERSE.”
Please stay up ratings!
Woohoo! It’s back up from immaterial to marginally noticable! The ratings need to do a lot more than ‘stay up’. They’re still not up high enough to simply need to ‘stay up’. They need to keep going up. And they’re just not going to. I disagree about letting the franchise go, there’s still a lot of life left in it. This just wasn’t the way. Want to draw a younger audience? Ok. Want to appeal to a wider audience? Ok. But as with most things, there’s a right and wrong way to do it and they chose the latter. The… Read more »
@cobber123 Consider watching again. As others have said the SGU got better after you tuned out.
mythos I agree with your post completely. It’s fine to want to widen the audience but I guess cheap and negatively charged reality show style drama, in a scifi show, just doesn’t do the job.
Also, the idea of creating flawed characters that have such overt, even unrealistic bad qualities surely backfired, since no one can identify with these characters.
And when you don’t have characters you can relate to on an emotional level – you stop watching more often than not.
It is quite interesting that only place that you can meet SGU naysayers are raitings articles. Afaik you guys told show will get booted last session too. To be honest, I won’t pretend to know how it will end. I will just enjoy it. mythos: well, problem is that old stargaters dont enjoy it. Newcomers enjoy it a lot. And there is a problem. You just can’t let go of SG-1/SGA formula. Nevermind that SGA S5 was struggling with new ideas. Nevermind that only episode which I remember from it is…’Vegas’, which is very close to SGU style. SG team… Read more »
@Pecisk – You’re not seeing the bigger picture. There aren’t enough ‘newcomers’ to matter. Obviously SGU does have fans. I don’t think anyone is claiming otherwise. When things like “no one likes it” and the like are said, it’s not meant in the literal sense that absolutely no one likes it. It’s meant in the sense that 1 million viewers is far, far, far short of where it needs to be. And more people liked SG1 and SGA. SGA S5 averaged something like over half a million more viewers per episode. You may not have remembered it, but if you… Read more »
SGA was canceled for better ratings than that..
This show has mistake written all over it. I can’t imagine the usual series ratings decline on this show over five years. they simply can’t stay with this format.
Ok, so let me get this straight. The Destiny’s mission is to find where the universe began? The Big Bang?