Week 4 ratings fall to season low

New episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are airing every Friday this summer on SCI FI Channel in the U.S. — but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the ratings. After a slow start to the season last month, the series fell to their lowest ratings of the summer on August 4.

SG-1 led off the night with “Insiders” at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. The show earned a 1.3 average household rating, down two-tenths of a point from the previous week.

The tenth season premiered with a 1.4 rating on July 14, and offered a glimmer of hope with a jump to 1.6 the second week.

Atlantis gained slightly on its lead-in, with “Sateda” earning a 1.4 rating. This is down one-tenth of a point from the previous week. The series opened with a 1.5 last month.

The late-night reruns fared little better, earning ratings of 0.8 and 0.5, respectively — also down from the previous week.

As Nem might say, What fate Stargate? Theories abound as to why the two shows have lost some 25 percent of their audience since the March season finales, and whether lack of advertising, SCI FI Channel’s scheduling choices, competition from other networks (USA’s Monk continues to perform well in its new time slot, now opposite Stargate SG-1), or simple viewer dissatisfaction is to blame.

But clearly, though there are a myriad of factors involved in a show’s ratings performance and in any decision to cancel or to renew, all television series finally live and die by the Nielsen ratings.

Fans of the show must get the word out that new episodes are currently airing every Friday night, and also improve the TiVo-delayed ratings by watching the show’s first live broadcast.

The adventure continues this Friday with the world premiers of “Uninvited” and “Progeny”, starting at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific on SCI FI!