Categories: Ratings

‘Justice’ ratings a series low for SGU

Stargate Universe took its final bow for 2009 to its lowest numbers of the fall season, according to TVByTheNumbers.com.  Why?  Some very big competition.

An estimated 1.340 million viewers tuned in for “Justice” on Friday night, down from 1.891 (29 percent) for the previous episode two weeks earlier.  (No episode aired the week between “Life” and “Justice,” due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.)

So … what’s up with that?

“Justice” faced some particularly stiff competition in the 9 p.m. time slot on December 4, with the USA Network airing the series finale of its highly rated, acclaimed, and Emmy Award-winning detective dramedy Monk.  After eight seasons, Tony Shalhoub’s series went off the air with its most-watched episode ever:  9.4 million viewers.

That’s a story worth talking about for all fans of cable television shows.  Monk‘s finale not only beat the series’ highest-rated episode by more than 2 million viewers — it set a new record as basic cable’s most-watched original drama episode ever.

The season’s previous low was about 1.626 million viewers, for “Earth.”  The first half of SGU’s freshman season has averaged 1.989 million viewers on Friday nights (1.949 if  the 2-hour premiere is calculated as a single telecast), adding significantly to that as viewers catch up with DVR recordings over the following week.  (Those “Live + 7 Days” ratings numbers — of particular interest for “Justice,” assuming many viewers chose Monk and recorded Stargate — are not yet available.)

New episodes of SGU return to Syfy in April!  In the meantime, peek ahead at what’s to come in GateWorld’s Season One episode guide … and stay tuned to GateWorld for additional coverage and analysis of what we’ve seen so far in the weeks to come.

Darren

Darren created GateWorld in 1999 and is the site's managing editor. He lives in the Seattle area with his wife and three spin-off Stargate fans.

View Comments

  • Hey Darren,

    It is about 1.922 Million viewers. Air part 1 and 2 are considered one Telecast. Still, 1.9 Million is a good number for SyFy. Justice was my one of my favorite eps of the series to date and I cannot wait for the 2nd half, which I think will be even better.

  • @ScoobyDoo: It was actually 1.933 million, 1.922 of which are bored viewers the remaining 110,000 people regularly enjoy the show from the comfort of their padded cells in in Mental Institutes across the US!

  • If you truly believed it was that bad. You'd stop watching, and you'd stop posting. The mob is fickle and its opinion does not matter to me. It does matter to advertisers, but that has nothing to do with quality. Don't fall into the appeal to the majority fallacy. If a blurry video of a ham sandwich had good ratings, they'd shell out everything to advertise on it.

    @sledgehammer I wasn't bored in the least and everyone I know (in person) liked the old Stargate, and loves SGU, especially the latest episode. On a more logical note, why doesn't SyFy learn the lesson staring them in the face? Put the show on a different night. Remember, this show doesn't have to be in the top of the ratings to stay on, it just has to be high enough.

  • Whatever ones opinion about LIFE was, I thought JUSTICE was an absolutely excellent episode for any of the Stargate series.I'll bet ratings go way up when SGU returns.

  • I think part of it might have been that some people thought Life was the mid-season finale because there was no episode Thanksgiving weekend. At least that is why I missed it when it first aired. I did eventually see Justice though, and I thought it was good. So far, I think the whole series has been good. I thought it kind of had a slow start at first with the first couple of episodes, but after giving it a chance, it's grown on me quite a bit. I hope the show lasts for a while.

  • Like I said, Oops, I forgot to watch! You people just don't listen. Shakey cam makes us sick.

    Guess what? 'Justice' didn't have a year of personal appearances, press kits and promo to build it up like 'Air' did.

    So the 10 ep loss is 50% or so? Why? Because the show Jumped the Shark Day One. And did I read Chloe's a lawyer now? Remember Woolsey's credentials in a similar episode plot?

    I just bought SGA S4 on DVD. That should keep me away from SGU until it dies.

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