SYFY’S FRIDAY NIGHT SPRING SEASON OFF TO ROUSING START AS STARGATE UNIVERSE DRAWS 1.5 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS, UP 11% VERSUS SEASON ONE FINALE
MERLIN ENCHANTS 1.3 MILLION VIEWERS
New York, New York – April 5, 2010 – Kicking off the spring season, Syfy’s new Friday night one-two punch of Stargate Universe and Merlin delivered 1.5 million total viewers and 1.3 million total viewers, respectively, on Friday, April 2.
At 9PM (ET/PT), the SGU spring premiere was up 11% in total viewers versus the December 2009 fall season finale. The series also grabbed 936,000 Adults 25-54 (+11%) and 768,000 Adults 18-49 (+12%), while averaging a 1.2 HH rating (+9%).
Following at 10PM (ET/PT), the U.S. Television Premiere of Merlin’s second season bewitched 738,000 Adults 25-54 and 553,000 Adults18-49 along with 1.0 HH rating.
This Merlin performance was up vs. the April 2009 debut of Primeval — the previous UK scripted series to premiere on Syfy — by +52% in Adults 25-54, +45% in Adults 18-49, +25% in HH ratings and +18% in total viewers.
Online at syfy.com:
o Stargate Universe delivered 319K page views and 164K video streams the week of March 29th, the highest week since December 2009
o Merlin delivered 127K page views and 23K video streams the week of March 29th, its most trafficked week ever
Stargate Universe
Edgier and younger in tone, SGU takes the franchise in a dynamic new direction, appealing to longtime Stargate fans and first-time viewers alike. The series stars Robert Carlyle, Louis Ferreira, Brian J. Smith, Elyse Levesque, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, Jamil Walker Smith, Ming-Na and Lou Diamond Phillips.
Robert Cooper and Brad Wright, of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, serve as executive producers and writers. SGU is produced and distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., through its operating subsidiaries, is actively engaged in the worldwide production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home video, interactive media, music and licensed merchandise. The company owns the world’s largest library of modern films, comprising around 4,100 titles. Operating units include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., United Artists Films Inc., MGM Television Entertainment Inc., MGM Networks Inc., MGM Domestic Networks LLC, MGM Distribution Co, MGM International Television Distribution Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC, MGM ON STAGE, MGM Music, MGM Worldwide Digital Media, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive. In addition, MGM has ownership interests in international TV channels reaching nearly 120 countries. MGM ownership is as follows: Providence Equity Partners (29%), TPG (21%), Sony Corporation of America (20%), Comcast (20%), DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (7%) and Quadrangle Group (3%). For more information, visit http://www.mgm.com.
Merlin
An imaginative new twist on a timeless legend, Merlin is set in the mythical city of Camelot, before history began. It’s a fantastical realm of legendary beasts and mysterious peoples, and a dangerous world where magic has been banned by the ruthless tyrant, Uther Pendragon.
Merlin stars Colin Morgan as Merlin, Bradley James as Prince Arthur, Anthony Head as King Uther, Richard Wilson as Gaius, Katie McGrath as Morgana and Angel Coulby as Gwen. Merlin is executive produced by Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps for Shine Television.
FremantleMedia is one of the leading creators and producers of entertainment brands in the world. FremantleMedia is part of the RTL Group, Europe’s largest television and radio broadcast company, which is in turn 90 percent owned by Bertelsmann AG, one of the world’s major media and entertainment companies. FremantleMedia’s worldwide production arm is responsible for many of the world’s highest rated prime time entertainment, drama, serial drama and factual entertainment programmes. FremantleMedia Enterprises is the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, offering a one-stop-shop for all Licensing, Distribution and Home Entertainment around the world. The FremantleMedia Group (which includes talkbackTHAMES, UFA and Grundy amongst others) has operations in 22 countries, one of the most comprehensive global networks, creating over 14,000 hours of programming a year, rolling out more than 60 formats and managing over 300 individual titles. FremantleMedia has some of the world’s most sought after and long running formats in its catalogue, and globally, produces such programmes as: Idols (co-produced with 19 Productions in the US), The X Factor (co-produced with Syco in the UK), Got Talent (co-produced with Syco in the UK and the US), Neighbours, The Bill, Family Feud, The Price is Right, Farmer Wants A Wife and Hole In The Wall.
Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 96 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)
The long hiatus probably had a negative effect on the ratings for Space. Also, Space has been well recieved by most people, so I suspect that the ratings will go up for Divided.
Below season average? I can’t say I’m surprised.
I don’t live in the US so wont know the answer to this: how well advertised was SGU’s return? The hiatus was to long to be honest and some casual viewers may not of known it was back.
But like EvilSpaceAlien said ‘Space’ seems to of been really well received, probably more so than any other episode thus far so ‘Divided’ ratings should be a bit higher. Would like to thank Gateworld though for not trying to spin the ratings.
EvilSpaceAlien: I agree, people will probably watch Space online or the reruns on Syfy this week and tune in on Friday.
All TV watching was down this past Friday night. It was Good Friday, for one thing.
It was pretty well advertised here. Lots of trailers showing aliens, space battles, etc. From all the hype and build-up to this episode, I was expecting more.
I’m actually a bit surprised that the ratings were so low. It was a bit more what I think a lot of long-term Stargate fans were hoping for. I fear that between the initial shift which hasn’t been all well-received and the long hiatus, a lot of damage may have been done.
Since, as noted above, it was Easter weekend, evidently viewership was down across the board.
See how the Live +7 and next week’s episode does.
A few things to blame:
1) Long hiatus
2)It’s still on Friday, for some reason.
3)It was on “good” Friday.
All this time and SciFi/SyFy still hasn’t learned its lesson
Ditto to cynical1. I can think of two reasons for the lower ratings. First, the mid-season break was way too long. If I wasn’t as big of a fan of Stargate as I am, then I would have forgotten about it because there was way too much time in between halves of the season. Casual viewers could have just lost interest. Also, they premiered this during Good Friday when many people have church services in the evening. Premiering it during Easter weekend was not the best move. Both of these make me wonder what Sci-fi (oops, SyFy) was thinking. With… Read more »
SciFi/SyFy is a poorely run network. Half of the stuff they air isn’t even science fiction. They’ve lost their ingenuity and have gone away from many of things that made them a respectable network in the “good old days.” (with SG-1, Atlantis, and Galactica airing on one night. I remember those times fondly. :)
Maybe they should rethink the 4 month break, I still do not agree with it. Give us a solid season with a good story and some great end of season finales. Then we can not wait for it to come back to see what will happen next. The 4 month thing leaves us frustrated, barely getting us back into Stargate, the story then dropping it. Great for the channel surfers, but maybe they should be trying harder to hold onto the fanbase. Give us a season, 20+ weeks of SG adventures and then take a break, come up with new… Read more »
I was reading another article about this and the spin was something like: SGU up 11% in total viewership! Um, yea, but still the second lowest rated episode to date. The reasons given last time was the finale of Monk, this time it’s b/c of the Easter holiday. Honestly, if TPTB don’t stop making excuses and start looking at the reality of what the numbers are telling them, it’s not going to last. I’m not a fan of SGU at this point, but I don’t want to see it axed, I just want to see it get better (with a… Read more »
The Monk finale can not be used as an excuse this time so you are all putting the blame on the Easter Bunny.
Shame on you all for blaming Mr bunnykins for the poor results that this show is getting.
Sigh, with all the press and the massive buildup from the actors and such I was hoping we’d go back up to 2mil+. I think cmaln928 is right, perhaps we should stop blaming it on “extenuating circumstances” and just face up to the fact that maybe this new show just isn’t that popular after all :( I hope TPTB have BIG changes planned for S2.
I suspect that SyFy aired “Space” on the Easter weekend/Good Friday so that they could blame it if the numbers were disappointing. As “EvilSpaceAlien” said, “Space” was very well received. I suspect the numbers will turn up sharply for the next episode “Divided”.
@cmain928 You say that the fans are behaving like the characters in the show? Interesting.
@Pioneering
If TPTB did indeed air over the Easter break on purpose in case the numbers tanked do you suspect that they knew the numbers would be low and were looking for an easy cop out just in case?
‘Space’ reinvigorated my interest in the show. All but two of the first ten (Time and Justice) were total snooze-fests IMO but I’ll continue to watch because I love some space based sci-fi. I’ll take what I can get! I’m sure many of you remember how painful the first season of ST:TNG was yet it went on to do 7 seasons. SGU is off to a better start then that, don’t you think? I hope the ratings eventually include Hulu views. I’ve watched ‘Space’ twice and will likely see it again tonight with a friend. The 2nd viewing was in… Read more »
@cmain928 you are right! fans are behaving like the characters.. factions, in-fighting etc.
@Sylvia
I’m afraid that in-fighting is inevitable when something changes in a franchise. Som will like it and emrace change, while some will hate it. It would be nice if we could at least keep things civil.
Why can’t we all just get along!?
Oh, right. I forgot that we’re rabid fans with waaay too much spare time on our hands. ;) :P
I didn’t watch til Sunday night. Easter weekend + splitting the season by more than 4 months i just figured what’s one two more days? SyFu should have learned by now to not split seasons by that much. BTW the episode was AWESOME!
I really hate the scifi channel. THey really do not know how to run a network. Airing it on GOod Friday was a mistake and the long break was another one. I hate to say it but I have a feeling that another one of my favorite show (Terminator TSCC being the other one) won’t make it past it’s second season. Syfy is almost as bad as Fox now with how they treat their shows.
http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/627109582/p/4
Stargate Universe (9pm)
– 1.486 million viewers
– 1.0/2 HH
– 0.6/2 A18-49
Hm, considering that Spartacus on Starz had 1.13 mil. and 0.4 demo and it airs in 70 mil. less households – not mine words, TVbythenumbers.com’s – I would say that SGU kind of flopped. But then, SyFy shouldn’t have aired it on Easter weekend. They waited 4 months with new eps, they could have waited one more week.
Okay, I’m not a fan of SGU but there’s a lot of people here moaning about the mid-season break. When I write to the companies in the UK and ask them why this happens they (rightly so blame the deals with US studios). You can hate SyFy all you like but unless you all tell them your feelings they will do what they like. In passing the ratings are not just below average. If (at a conservative estimate) there are 40 million viewers available, that is an audience share of 3.75%. Let me put that in context, a programme that… Read more »
I know why I didn’t watch on friday night and I would guess other people had the same reason. I gave the show a chance the first half of the season and was not impressed. I ended up watching ‘Space’ yesterday on Hulu. It was somewhat better than the first half of the season. Still wasn’t impressed. I would say the rating were low because its not that good and because of the Easter holiday.
@ wnelson We tried that before the show was aired, we tried to speak our concerns here on Gateworld, and were told that we were too stupid to “get it”, and that this show would not be like the previous two shows with “rubber faced English speaking aliens”, yet the trailer clearly was meant to appeal to those fans who thought that rubber faced aliens, space battles and explosions were just fine. They failed, and there are reasons for it…but if we are too vocal or disparaging about that here, we get censored or moderated. Im surprised the ratings were… Read more »
I don’t seem to remember such a list of reasons offered up when the ratings are good. I’m not an advertiser so they mean little to me anyway. But perhaps the Easter Bunny won’t be so mean next week.
Whilst a little surprised, it probably reflects the fans who are holding back to see if the producers’ promises of a better back half come to fruition. I actually loved the episode. It reminded me of the calibre of production that came out of Stargate Atlantis. Well done guys. I am now appreciating the effort put into the character creation from the first half of Season 1.
On Good Friday/Easter weekend, add that to the expensive half season DVD/BR discs.
Nice going, See-Fee Channel – go back to Wrestling…
I watched it on Hulu. I was working late Friday night, so didn’t catch it when it aired. Sometime a while back I stopped DVR the show. This episode was much better then the last couple that I remember seeing.
@ cmain928
The characters of the show aren’t acting nearly as immature. So far the only immature character has got to be Col. Young. One could say that Rush isn’t much better, but he wants to get rid of Young because he lacks leadership skills.
I’m not surprised.
@Evilslayer – There has been no bashing so far on this thread which is great, but might I suggest that we don’t encourge it by calling fans “immature”, which in itself is bashing. Cheers. As an aside, I don’t think we should get too caught up on the ratings of a single episode. Let’s see how the trend for season 1.5 goes before we get too worried.
There was a mantra that was repeated throughout this site as well as other Stargate websites regarding critics of the new show: “If you don’t like the show, don’t watch it.” I guess they took your advice. When, oh WHEN will the producers of Stargate realize the formula for success is camaraderie??? We enjoyed the TEAM working together. We enjoyed the interactions of the TEAM. We enjoyed the smart alec banter WITHIN THE TEAM. We gasped at the occasional conflict in the TEAM and hoped it would get resolved. SGU is very anti-team. They need to do something that will… Read more »
I really dont get this thing about ‘anti ‘team’ sure its not as team based as the previous show, but i clearly see teams being formed, be it in the military vs civilian aspect. Greer, Scott and TJ are pretty much a team in my eyes, sure they dont go through the stargate every episode like the previous shows did all the time, but then again, this IS meant to be a DIFFERENT show. Also, I think this episode ROCKED! After watching it i found myself thinking has it really been 40 odd minutes already (i downloaded it due to… Read more »
Syfy isn’t as ‘stupid’ as some people think. The show was renewed for a second season. They’ve gotten a big earful as to how the show is being received. They came back on Good Friday knowing that the ratings would be down which gives them a chance to spike next week (or at least there’s a good chance of it). So they have an excuse for ‘Space’ and can say ‘see’ for ‘Divided’. The first season is already in the can (they already finished filming) and they can’t change what it is. So they’re going to do their best to… Read more »
I really liked this episode. Maybe it’s the really stupid 4 month gap in the middle of a season. They did the same thing with BSG and it just wasn’t as good in the 4th season. We re-watched all season 4 of BSG later on, straight through, and it was much much better that way. The gap just causes people to forget details or lose interest.
@ xxandder – the problem seems to be that a lost of people are obviously not feeling the same way.
These viewing figures are pretty dire no matter which way we try to look at it.
When my favorite show starts up again, it doesn’t matter if the easter bunny is in town, I’ll tune in to the show. What else is there to do on Good Friday. Have a good meal with family and tune in to good ol’ Stargate. I agree with other posters here than it seems that the show isn’t that popular. The numbers say it all. Brad Wright and the actors have been in hi gear promotting the show these past weeks, but the ratings still aren’t all that good despite promissing aliens, and action and all that good stuff. So… Read more »
It’s poor advertising. I didn’t see not one trailer for SGU.If it wasn’t for the fact that I am a long time fan from the biginning and come to this site I wouldn’t have even known it was on. I don’t think TPTB get it. there are a lot of people that love Stargate that don’t watch the SciFi network. O wait, it’s SyFy or something now. All that money just change the spelling. Way to go. Someone needs to be fired and fired now. SciFi had me on Eureka and BSG and Mr. Who and they have lost me… Read more »
These numbers are not the worse, but certainly not great either. I still think this had to do with people being turned off with the episode Life. There was no competition on Friday, and people go home early on a holiday weekend, so people were home.
Well i don’t know about the other fans here but actually this episode was one of my least favourite so far lol. But then i’m not a sci fan at all and it sounds like one of the few who really watches this show for the drama aspect. I never watched sci before at all, I thought that any show with star in the name was boring even though my husband always loved his star programs and tried to get me to watch! I’m more of an eastenders and waterloo road fan lol. Well anyway after he saw the first… Read more »
I rated this episode with 1 – absolutely disappointing.
I’m wondering why the management decided to cancel SGA in favor of this.
I won’t regret if SGU goes under.
@iratecaller666 – The reason the second season will air is money. Syfy really doesn’t have the type of money to completely pull a green-lit season of a show once it has started. They may put it in an even worse timeslot figuring that what fans did hang on may still watch it. @destiny’s child – Are you for real? This isn’t meant to be disrespectful, but your comment about the Twilight Saga and asking if it was available on VHS…I honestly can’t tell if you’re serious or not. Not meant as a dig, I just really can’t tell. @LORD MONK… Read more »
@jeanette178 – I’m glad you’re at least enjoying the show! However, I think for many of the fans who have problems with SGU, you have just identified many of our problems with it.. just in a very positive way, so thanks for that :) It probably is a good drama show for those who enjoy that genre, I just wish they didn’t do it with “Stargate” – Should have just been called “Destiny” or something as a spin off, sort of like how “Caprica” doesn’t have the BSG tag on it. Maybe that ties in to your point about how… Read more »
Most of the shows with mid season breaks have not done well; unless there was some hook to them like this being their last seasons. I wish they would do away with the mid season breaks. And writing the studio about ending it does no good. You only get back a pat-on-the-head reply and some comments about December being a time of the year for families to get together. So, I am watching to see what happens to Greer, Rush, Eli, Young, Daniel and Jack. Everyone else is simply a bathroom break for me. I went running from the room… Read more »
I was unimpressed with the first ten episodes of universe, I just thought it was too slow. Space on the other hand I thought was great and if more episodes like that air then I would definitely expect ratings to raise. It refreshed my faith in universe enough so to keep watching.
Honestly I think TPTB have really screwed themselves here. They p’ed off too many of their old fans to lure them back with aliens and space battles now, since they still wont address the main criticism about the characters. On the other hand you have new fans like jeanette178 who aren’t into scifi but like this new show because to them it IS like a soap opera. Now if they spend to much time pandering to the old fans to try and win them back with scifi elements that the new fans aren’t that interested in they’ll just start losing… Read more »
@mythos: in previous episodes, there was “hope” for “change”. After episode 10, I expected Rush to fix the ship and catch up with Destiny in episode 13. I didn’t expect him to end up in a water tank!!!