Joe Flanigan guest stars in the August 4 episode of Warehouse 13.
It’s stood for more than five years, but the ratings record set by the series premiere of Stargate Atlantis has fallen.
Syfy Channel’s hit new procedural series Warehouse 13 has been setting new records almost on a weekly basis, as good watercooler buzz continues to increase the Tuesday show’s viewership. When the DVR-delayed “Live + 7 Days” numbers are accounted for, the show’s sixth episode earned a 3.2 household rating and drew 4.4 million viewers. That makes it the most watched regular series telecast in Syfy’s 17-year history.
Atlantis premiered on July 16, 2004, with “Rising” earning a 3.2 rating and an estimated 4.2 million viewers. It was a monster rating for the cable network at the time … and still today. Syfy says that Warehouse‘s sixth episode was #1 cable program on August 11 in prime time among total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demographic.
The previous week’s episode guest starred Atlantis‘s Joe Flanigan (“John Sheppard”), and actually also beat “Rising” in total viewers (though the Nielsen ratings number was a 3.0).
The new show is up significantly from the 3.5 million (2.5 rating) who watched the series premiere.
Warehouse 13 follows two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government.
The series co-stars Saul Rubinek, who played the earnest reporter Emmett Bregman in the landmark Stargate SG-1 episode “Heroes.” It has already been renewed for a second season.
Warehouse 13 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. E/P on Syfy.
I just bust a gut laughing. Wonder what demographic this group is? 1 to 12 yr old. Good for everyone who enjoys it but I still think they stole the idea from “Friday the 13th, The Series” and it was better. Do an article on Eureka. Eureka is a show that has so much possibility if they would just bump up the intelligence a little.
If this is the type of show(light,fluffy and humorous) that brings in the big numbers for Syfy these days, I wonder how SGU will fare?
Atlantis was riding the coat tails of SG-1. If it werent for the popularity of SG-1 Atlantis would have had dismal ratings for its first episode.
Wearhouse 13 on the other hand has no coat tails to ride on and beat Atlantis by two tenths of a million. I think its safe to say which show is made up of the better stuff.
Just watch as that number is beaten down when the SGU PREMIERE blows that record out of the water!
I haven’t watched Warehouse 13 in a few weeks, but last time I saw it, the characters were weak and somewhat poorly written. The show had potential, just from its premise, but it didn’t really have a great hook to the stories. Sorry, wganubis, but I don’t think that ratings are a great basis for “which show is made up of better stuff.”
Uh Darren you can’t beat someone’s record when it is in a different category ;)
The 3.2 Atlantis scored was for live, so what was Warehouse 13’s live numbers??
Funny, I started watching Warehouse 13 out of exercise anticipating Joe Flaningan’s appearance and at first the show caught me but in my opinion it deteriorates with every new episode, becoming more and more boring, and I actually stopped caring as soon as I got my share of JF in ep.5. IMO, they could do much more exciting adventures with such an idea. Then again it’s probably because the characters are so schematic and with comical flavor – hard to take them seriously, therefore to care for them, and that’s an indispensable hook for me in a show. I also… Read more »
@RoX: While of course DVRs existed in 2004, they weren’t prolific enough that Nielsen measured delayed viewing.
The comparison is a bit apples-to-oranges (or maybe Granny Smith apples to Golden Delicious), but based on the officially reported ratings it is a fair comparison.
The only fair comparison is Live to Live figures, anything else will gain you a fail in statistical analysis.
I agree with RoX. You can’t beat someone’s record when you gather the numbers using a completely different analysis that’s predestined to have bigger numbers from the get-go. “Live+7” will be ALWAYS bigger than “Live”. Every idiot knows that.
What has Warehouse 13’s ratings got to do with Atlantis. I really don’t see the relevance of this article. They are totally different shows though it is interesting that a light hearted show is doing so well, but yet the ptb wanted to get away from this kind of formula for Stargate. I guess there is still a big audience out there who enjoy action adventure. Shame that the ptb just didnt put a bit more effort into Atlantis and it could have been drawing similar ratings.
questions, questions… So who’s really to blame for SG Atlantis’ demise? Network honchos, or Stargate franchise “pundits”? On one hand, let’s make a show moody and dark, for 20 something, on the other hand a show like Warehouse 13 (which BTW I do Like) is breaking records, not dark, not moody, meant for general audiences (Heck, I can even watch it with my kids without cause for consternation :)
Warehouse 13 is JUNK IMHO when it comes to science fiction shows. It is a rippoff of the Friday The 13th series. This just goes to show that sickfi is intent only to stuff it’s own pockets by pushing mindless drivel instead of spending the money on quality shows like Atlantis – Farscape – Firefly, etc. These are truely innovative shows that expand the possibilities of what can/could be in the realm of science fiction and at the same time having the best actors in the business only adds to thier value. It’s the difference in reading Ray Bradbury and… Read more »
*Rolls eyes*
I can’t believe some of you are actually bitter about WH13 beating SGA’s ratings.
The DVR ratings for SGA back then would have been minimal, hence why Nielsen didn’t bother to record them until a couple of years ago when more people started to get DVRs and use them enough to make a significant impact on ratings. They had to make an adjustment for that so in the end it evens out. So a statistical fail? Hardly. It would be unfair to NOT account for them in this case. IMO anyway.
Who posted anything about being bitter. Why the need to tell us about Warehouse 13’s ratings. What relevance is that to Atlantis. Why the need to compare Atlantis figures to a show that aired 5 years after it. They are totally different shows.
Um this article is not correct. First off the SGA numbers back 5 years ago, were Live numbers. These numbers are after Live+7, which is like comparing apples to bananas.
@Darren – It is not a fair comparison.
@Zulchi – I love W13 and glad it’s doing very well. SGU will only dream about these numbers.
One final thought, if DVD numbers were so important and used to compare past seasons apples to apples, we would be in a 6th season of Atlantis, case closed.
In regards to ratings comparisons: Nielsen did not begin including DVR’s in their system until 2006. That was when they instituted the three ratings definitions between “Live”, “Live + Same Day”, “Live + 7 days”. In 2004, there were DVR’s, but they were a small percentage in terms of penetration of the population. Ratings in 2004 DID include VCR recording. Anything that was RECORDED by a VCR was part of the rating that was reported. Thus, if you recorded Atlantis and watched it later, you counted. Even if you recorded it and never watched it, you counted. (which was probably… Read more »
May I add that before people start talking about “fair comparisons” they should find out a little bit about the nuts and bolts of the Nielsen ratings system. Darren–your article was fine and valid.
Heck, I love Warehouse13 I am so glad it’s performing well. I am simply impressed by the numbers and hope it continues. It is good that Live+7 is becoming more recongnized. SGA for their last season had a nice lift as well with their last season. Tuesday’s ep was just another ep that showed the series getting better and better for my taste. Kudos to the cast and crew. W13 is here to stay. :)
How many more households have syfy now as compared to 5 years ago?? I have been watching sg1 from showtime days and atlantis since premiere, i hope universe doesn’t take on the battlestar look.
To Bowtie,
I think it went from like 89 Million to like 95 Million. Wait for MediaSavant to reply, MS knows better than I do.
I also agree that people need to count all the numbers because DVR viewers even if they are not commercial viewers are still total viewers. I think W13 is going to be around a long time. :)
So now 3 shows have hit the 4 Million mark. That is Eureka, SGA, and Warehouse13. Atlantis should be proud to be in that category. :)
“How many more households have syfy now as compared to 5 years ago??” In 2004, 83.4 million homes received SciFi. Now, 96.0 million homes do. The rating itself is called a “coverage area rating”. That means it represents a percentage of the homes that can receive SyFy. Today, If 960,000 homes watch a show on the network, it gets a 1.0 rating. In 2004, it took only 834,000 home to equal a 1.0 rating. So, you have to have more homes watching today to get a 3.2 rating than you did in 2004. The absolute number of viewers is not… Read more »
It seems to me that some people would like for other shows to fail just to make their favorite shows look better. Also, I don’t understand these arguments about SyFy trying to make money. Duh, its a business. They are not in the business of losing money by putting out shows that, while they are creative/innovative/interesting/groundbreaking, LOSE money. Firefly’s ratings were not good enough to get advertisers to put out the money, so it was dropped. I have no problem with those shows, Firefly was great, SGA is one of my favorite shows, and I haven’t seen enough of Farscape… Read more »
I actually like Warehouse 13 and Eureka, they both remind me of what was fun about SG-1. Jack was always there to make sure it never took itself ‘too’ seriously:
“Now, we came in peace, and we expect to leave in one. Piece.”
As for SGU, maybe we’ll see Ron Moore there like when he was the first one to speak )on the best CSI episode ever) after they showed a sneak peak for a ‘re-imagined’ classic sci-fi show at a convention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I876imp3R1Q
Every scifi show, without space ships or space exploring I’am totaly not interresed in. probaly a large part of earth audience are. Might be why so much outer Space faring shows are canceld. The audience is to specific so to small and uninterresting for commercial bussnes model, to make show for. If SGU doesn’t make it. Might be that green lighting other show like Firefly farscape startrek stargate would be difficult. I hate shows like Eureka xfiles etc. Sanctuary Also Dr.Who So for me SGU is the only thing new that is coming aimed at my kind of audience I… Read more »
WillKatt, I agree with you. My interest in Defying Gravity was lost also. The more sex the makers of show feel it needs for it to “sell”, the less respect I have for it. This show went into overdrive. I care for substance in what I watch on television, not pornography. It was no surprise when I read that the show was nil in ratings.
ironic considering I thought warehouse 13 was in the same “mcdonalds sci-fi” realm as Atlantis :D
WOW. What a hit…I confess I only watched warehouse because JOE was there and I am sorry, but the show is too slowly for me. I loved to see Joe again, but I just can’t stand warehouse. I don’t like the main actors neither, so if Joe will not be there anymore I believe I will not watch anymore. Besides the point why to compare Warehouse 13’s ratings with with Atlantis. I really don’t see the relevance of this article. Maybe because Joe was there? Well, warehouse should thank sga fans to give a chance…GO JOE! We miss you man.… Read more »