Stargate’s live ratings drop below 1 million

The fourth episode of Stargate Universe‘s second season made for the franchise’s first trip south of the 1 million mark for live viewing.  “Pathogen” drew an estimated 974,000 viewers yesterday, according to sources at PIFeedback.com.  This is a drop of over 20 percent from the previous week’s season high.

Caprica didn’t fare any better, following up at 10 p.m. with 718,000 viewers.  Like SGU, it’s a series-low for the Battlestar Galactica spin-off.

On the big networks, ratings champs NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) and Dancing With the Stars (ABC) owned the night once again in the 9 p.m. time slot, with 16 million and 15.5 million viewers, respectively.

Adding to the competition this month are the Major League Baseball postseason games on FOX and TBS. Stargate and Caprica faced off against Game 4 of the ALCS (Yankees vs. Rangers), which grabbed 9.846 million viewers.

The good news for Stargate is that most of the U.S. viewers are still there, but are catching up on DVR or online later in the week.  Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi reports on his blog that the new DVR numbers (Live + 7 Days) for the season premiere, “Intervention,” show a 78 percent jump from the live, 9 p.m. viewing number and around 40 percent from the “Live + Same Day” (which is what we report here).

That means that around 1.65 million people are still watching SGU on Syfy Channel — just not on Tuesdays.

Meanwhile, Syfy’s Sanctuary proved last week that there is still science fiction (and ratings) to be had on Friday nights.  The season premiere drew 1.787 million viewers (1.3 household rating) on October 15, 17 percent higher than last season’s average.  That episode followed Syfy’s new 2-hour block of WWE Smackdown (2.876 million viewers).

Tune in next Tuesday at 9 p.m. (8 Central) for another brand new episode of Stargate Universe, “Cloverdale!” And keep your browser locked on GateWorld throughout the week as we roll out our full coverage of “Pathogen,” including a summary and plot analysis, a complete episode transcript, HD screen captures, updates to The Stargate Omnipedia, and next Monday’s podcast.