(4) Time-Shifting and Online Viewing
It’s become increasingly obvious over the last five years that fans of television don’t watch television any more. What in the world does that mean?! Sci-fi fans tend to be younger and technologically savvy, and so among the earliest adopters of new technology. We got DVRs first and stopped watching our favorite shows live. We were the first users of Hulu and iTunes, and sci-fi fans were torrenting new episodes illegally before most people even knew such a thing existed.
Destiny brought its crew -- and viewers -- to stunning new vistas. From ''Light''
Nielsen Media Research and the networks have tried to keep up with the times, revamping the TV ratings system to include some time-shifted, DVR viewing in separate ratings reports. “Live + Same Day” counts those who recorded the show and watched it by 3 a.m. that night. “C3” numbers count those who watch recorded commercials within three days of broadcast. And “Live + 7 Days” measure viewers who recorded the episode and watched it at any time the following week. (Stargate typically adds 40 to 50 percent to its Friday night viewer numbers here.)
But those in the Nielsen sample group who took longer to catch up, or who watched online instead (legally or illegally), currently don’t get counted. And that’s to say nothing of the millions in other countries who watch on their own networks (or online).
Is it fair for Syfy to cancel the show when execs know that they can’t count all of its true viewers? Sure it is. Syfy’s bottom line is determined by how much it can charge advertisers for 30 seconds of air time during SGU. Can it make more money than it pays for the show? MGM owns Stargate and licenses it to Syfy — so Syfy doesn’t see a nickel from iTunes or Amazon or Hulu, or from DVDs or international distribution. As much as we talk about ratings on this site, we all need to remember that the renewal decision is not based on a show’s viewership — it’s based on how much money the network can make from the show. That means it’s based on Syfy Channel’s viewership, and heavily weighted toward those viewers most likely to not fast-forward through ads (“Live + Same Day” and “C3” ratings).
Simply put: DVR time-shifting and online availability are directly opposed to the current system of ad-supported television. New technologies are great for putting the viewer in control; but the broadcaster’s profitability is still tied to the network being in control (i.e., making us watch commercials).
(5) Mid-Season Breaks
While the show turned a major corner with ''Space,'' many viewers hadn't come back after the long break.
When your show is very episodic in nature, it doesn’t matter all that much when the individual installments air and how much space is inserted in between them. Any on-going storyline that loosely stitches the episodes together isn’t tough to catch up on. (E.g.: The Goa’uld are bad. We are fighting them. They are trying to take over the galaxy … but not every week.) But when your show is dependent on an arc, on following the intricate lines and more subtle character relationships from week to week, a big break in the middle can be disastrous for holding on to that mythological creature who sets the ratings curve and makes or breaks a show: the casual viewer.
SGU‘s mid-season breaks are four months long — slightly longer even than the 3-month break in between the seasons. Those two breaks have been disastrous. Many casual viewers appear to have given the new show its first 10-episode run to hook them, and didn’t come back four months later for “Space” — easily one of SGU‘s finest hours. More viewers were lost when the show not only took another long break between seasons, but changed nights.
ABC learned fairly early on from LOST that it couldn’t split up an arc-based, mythology-heavy series. Such series simply demand more from viewers (and SGU is such a show). ABC found that it had to hold off on a fall premiere and start the show at mid-season, airing the whole thing in one run. FOX did the same with 24. (That also means that the network and studio only have one big marketing push to worry about.) SGU, in my opinion, certainly suffered from Syfy not having done the same with Stargate Universe.
(6) … Viewers Just Weren’t There
Everything I’ve talked about up to this point might rightly be called “mitigating factors.” They help to paint a fuller and more realistic picture of the difficulties faced by shows like Stargate Universe. But finally, in spite of the network’s programming strategies and the amount of marketing put into (or not put into) promoting a show, any television series must live or die by how many people are watching it. There are plenty of success stories on cable television this year. Most of the world isn’t watching television online yet; and so if a show generates good word-of-mouth and compels its audience to return week after week, it will survive.
Rush's revelation of Destiny's mission reinvigorated SGU's story. From ''The Greater Good''
People might lose track of a show they have enjoyed, especially when the network moves it to a different night and takes a 4-month break in the middle of the season. But, generally, they will find the shows that they love. Stargate Universe resonated with a lot of people, and brought in a lot of new viewers who never had any interest in Stargate before. But it wasn’t a mega-hit. Blame that on network scheduling, or on backlash from fans of the previous series, or on the failure of the ratings system to keep up with the way people watch television today. But these are things that can be overcome when a show is so good that it demands that people find it on the dial and tell all their friends.
SGU had 30 episodes to prove itself to casual viewers and build a strong audience, and it didn’t. Ratings nearly always fall off from a series premiere; but Universe‘s ratings continued to erode from start to finish. As much as the show had the deck stacked against it by Syfy’s programming strategies, like any series it had to live or die by how well it appealed to the casual viewer — how well it turned casual viewers into true fans.
I have no conclusions other than that. I’m not passing any judgment on the quality of the show (which was outstanding) or whether it should have been canceled. All I hope to do here is make some observations of those things that have led us here, particularly from the standpoint of the Syfy decision-makers. I liked the show and think it made big strides forward in the second half of the first season, and then again in the first half of the second. Many of the elements I found trying were starting to fall away — especially when Destiny‘s mission was revealed and characters once at odds began to work together.
The show is truly finding itself in its second season, and I have high hopes that the final 10 episodes this spring will bring us some of Stargate‘s finest hours. I know a third season would have been even better, and I’m sad to see it go.
I think the wrestling was probably a critical factor and a lot of potential hits were lost for the sake of a completely different audience. I’m not American but from what I’ve read/heard SyFy is its- and it’s audience’s- own worst enemy.
(What’s the point of having wrestling on THAT channel anyway? A fake “sport” doesn’t exactly scream science-fiction.)
Sorry Darren. All just excuses for a show that wasnt the show we all fell in love with. No RDA, no heroes, no chemistry. As the old saying goes, you dance with what brung ya. They took a gamble and lost.
Stargate Atlantis didn’t have RDA but still managed to survive and thrive. As for character chemistry, there was plenty on SGU although it took time to develop (ditto on SGA and SG1). TV shows often have weak first seasons, until they work-out the bugs
P.S. Stargate Universe was similar to the original Star Trek and first season of SG1 (lots of exploration of new planets). If the formula worked for the original, then it should have worked for SGU
Really good article Darren, nice to have it spelled out a bit, as I’m not too familiar with how the networks work in the States. I agree with ya about SGU, it was a great show in it’s own right with a strong cast and I’m so sorry that, for whatever reasons, it’s not getting the opportunity to go on.
If you think about it, wrestling *IS* science fiction. It’s fake, so therefore it’s fiction… that’s easy. But in faking it, they use things like physics, which is a science. So science + fiction = science fiction.
It’s still stupid that they think it belongs on the channel, mind you.
When they kill Sanctuary, I’m gone for good.
I can’t believe ‘some fans’ are rejoicing themselves over this. You didn’t want SGU ? So you’ll get nothing guys. There is no new Stargate to come. It’s not SGU going away so something else takes its place. Stargate is over. Thanks a lot for your support. I am not angry, just terribly disappointed. I care a lot fort the cast and crew. Those folks did an amazing job, they couldn’t have done better. They did not deserve to lose their job over a scheduling and marketing mistake. Last but not least, I am terribly thankful to the cast and… Read more »
The characters in the show were extremely difficult to like and identify with, let alone look up to. That does make viewers lose interest.
I think its time to give the syfy channel the boot, SGU should do direct to Itunes or digital media distribution and skip the middle man. It’s how Sanctuary got started and it would definitely make MGM some desperately needed money.
Sanctuary started with a pilot episode. That’s not unusual in the world of TV. The only unusual aspect was the choice of putting the pilot on the web (instead of selling to a network). But had the pilot failed to attract an audience, then Sanctuary would have stopped there. The early days of internet streaming was not enough to fund a weekly show. (And certainly not enough to keep the expensive Stargate Universe alive.)
Although these things may have contributed to the downfall of SGU, I do not believe they are the reason for low viewership. Lets face it SG:U was not SG:1 or Atlantis. It was a completely different show that just happened to have “Stargate” in the name. It didn’t have any of the campy sense of humor of the other two, it didn’t have any real villain, and so on. This doesn’t mean that it was a bad show. But, what I’m getting at is a lot of the people who loved the SG universe were completely let down, including myself.… Read more »
Stargate Universe was similar to the original Star Trek (lots of exploration of new planets). If the formula worked for the original Trek then it should have worked for SGU
The characters of Star Trek were likable. I found myself rooting for the SGU crew to die a horrible death.
For me, it’s the opposite, I recently discovered and loved SGU, and then was disappointed with the earlier films and series, which are very different.
I think you got Bingo!
I’m sorry for all the fans of SGU that the show didn’t make it, but I do think that if it had been a Stargate show that appealed to more of the previous show’s fans, it would have survived. It didn’t. I hope the franchise will carry on in some form, though. The concept is still amazing.
In hindsight it would have been wise for MGM to give Atlantis another season or two to run concurrently with SGU. IF SGA fans still had their show they might have been more patient with letting SGU grow. I personally thought Atlantis was in a creative dead end but that’s nothing that a change in the writing approach couldn’t have fixed. SGU got it right in terms of creativity writing and production but the bad blood was already there.
I actually agree with skiznot about running the shows concurrently …but that still would not have endeared sgu to me…just some others might have given it a chance with sga as a lead-in.
@fadetoone If you think about it, wrestling *IS* science fiction. It’s fake, so therefore it’s fiction… that’s easy. But in faking it, they use things like physics, which is a science. So science + fiction = science fiction. Where did you get that load of nonsense from mate, if that was the case then every show ever made would be science fiction there’s physics in everyday life and most shows are fiction. And the name change from SCI-FI to SYFY does not give them the rite to say that it warrants putting wrestling on the channel where’s the imagination in… Read more »
I loved SG1 and SGA but only made it 3 episodes into season one and had seen enough. They walked away from what made the first two shows successful. SGU was a poor attempt and a BSG crossover. Until I read that it was canceled I had forgotten all about it.
My love for science fiction began while in high school watching the original Star Trek with my boyfriend. While not yet “love” I did like it. The love affair began in earnest shortly after I got married in 1969. Loving everything Trek, I gradually branched out to other things sci-fi. I never really thought anything would top my all time favorite of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; that is until I received a gift of the 1st season of SG-1 on DVD. SG-1 was just beginning the second half of its 5th and final season on Showtime. I was immediately… Read more »
What a shame. SGU is so good. I probably would say at this point it’s my second favorite SG show after SG-1. If any of the haters think this is a justification, remember that some of the best shows of all time were cancelled too soon: Firefly, Arrested Development, Twin Peaks, the list goes on. I wonder if MGM would be allowed to take the show to another channel or if it had the same deal that SG-1 did where it could only air on Sci Fi.
I’ll personally blame SyFy for this. I too endured the wait for Sci-Fi’s launch; I’ve lived with the channel like so many, enduring it’s MANY up’s and down’s. And yeah I understand the business aspects – I don’t understand a lot of the television business, but I fully understand and respect the bottom-line. What is regrettable in my view, is SyFy’s apparent unwillingness to move with the times, and help move the advertising and television industry with them. To me programming like Smackdown is a joke.Yeah it is a target demographic behemoth – I get it, but instead of finding… Read more »
I thought I was the only one that remembered that week long placeholder :)
While I agree with the points made in the article, I think the fact that SGU was Stargate in name only was a major factor in its demise. If you took the actual Stargate out of the show you would never know it was part of the franchise. It was a if someone added that element to an already written, poorly I may add, show.
I found it just took too long to get going. The first half of S1 was tedious. They took too long to develop characters into people we cared about. I gave up and came back at the end of S1. But it still took the first half of S2 before we finally found out what Destiny’s mission was, what Rush had been working on for all that time.
I’m finally beginning to think that it’s not that bad, but if we’d seen this last season, I think that viewers might have stuck with it.
Is it not possible for other networks possibly from another country to fund SGU ?
Ultimately, I think the downfall of SGU was season 1. Not that there were not any other factors but at the core of the issue was season 1 whether you liked it or not. Season 1 had some terrible episodes, mixed with at least 2 or 3 great ones and a lot that were pure mediocrity to a large enough number of viewers, apparently. That being said I thought the cast did a great job with the material they had and the show was shot well for what it was supposed to be. But the story itself was not very… Read more »
You can come up with as many reasons as you wish apart from the content and quality, but I’m fairly sure that those were the elements, or rather the lack of in certain people’s opinions that killed Stargate Universe.
And season one was dreadful.
Star trek survived Voyager and Nemesis, Stargate can survive SGU. SyFi didn’t kill SGU the writers did. The writers are the ones that thumbed their nose at the fans. The writers didn’t listen when the fans told them they hated the whiney characters. They are the ones that damaged the brand by trying to copy other shows instead of being true to the franchise. SyFi has its issues; Ghoast Hunters is a big one, but they didn’t do this.
Did some of you who bash his article even read it fully? He states that the final reason was purely it did not convert casual to true fans and didn’t hold on to viewers. He’s not making s**t up or sugar coating it. Get off being the all-knowing person and just act like a reasonable people. I cant go back and watch shows of SG1 & SGA or even SGU. Why? Cause once I’ve seen it, I’m not able to enjoy it. It’s boring. I much rather have new content, then repeats or dead air. I don’t blame other fans.… Read more »
If you don’t watch live with commercials and also have a Nielsen box, you watching really doesn’t matter. I personally believe the show failed due to the incredibly noting-happened first half of the first season. When you have a show which is arc based as this one is you need to hook people from the start, the exiting part should be in season two. The point in the story we are right now should be 3/4 of the first season rather than already midway season 2. Or just the way the show was announced, the same week as SGA’s cancelation… Read more »
As a person who does not watch SGU on Syfy but rather on sights like Hulu etc, I agree and further more think that the Broadcasting reasons for the show played a huge factor. (It’s why it was moved in the first place) I see cable TV as a waste of money and if i can watch the same shows a day later Add free on some sites then hell yes i will watch it. With that said, if me getting cable for $50 a month would have saved this show then I would have down it hands down. I… Read more »
I remember when Sci-Fi Channel was a great channel. Before Bonnie Hammer led the ranks. I was there every Friday for Stargate, Farscape, and Invisible Man. Then POOF, here comes Hammer. No more Farscape, no more Invisible Man. Letting the whole network get ratings from Stargate SG1, then they got Atlantis, and then they started with the campy crap Saturday movies, wrestling, and reality shows.
Let SyFy/Sci-Fi die, it’s the M-TV of the genre now.
Personally I think Smackdown is probably the single biggest reason. I love wrestling. I’ve been watching wrestling since before I can remember. But I also love sci-fi. I didn’t understand at first, and I still kind of don’t, how wrestling relates to science fiction and why it’s going to be on the syfy channel. I don’t understand why they just don’t air it on the USA network with Raw. But anyway, when they moved SGU to Tuesday nights I became a little fearful because it was such an odd and drastic change from Friday nights where Stargate has always been.… Read more »
SGU did not have the ratings to warrant a 2nd season (it lost ratings ever episode and ended with a 0.5 rating, no other show in 2009 ended with that bad of a rating and not renewed), you should be thanking SciFi not blaming it. It got crushed on Friday so it was moved to Tuesday where it also got crashed. People seemed to find Σ & W13 on Tuesday with no issues after a long layoff for their Xmas shows. At some point you have to stop blaming others and just face the fact SGU was not liked by… Read more »
@mindwarped Yes the ratings were in steady decline, but they eventually leveled off. It’s not what SyFy and their source of funding wanted, but I want to see SyFy go old-school cowboy and defy convention. Television on the whole is stagnant – it isn’t just SyFy, but I do blame them. I cannot fault the crew of SG:U for wanting to take a chance and stretch creatively. As I said earlier SG:U clearly wasn’t perfect, but it was unique and it was change. Perhaps that’s the big fault – too many are unwilling to be patient and accept that some… Read more »
Darren, since MGM owns the Stargate franchise, isn’t it possible that it could lease it to another network that might be interested in picking up the show?
[…] GateWorld » Six Reasons SGU Was Cancelled LikeBe the first to like this post. […]
@yesman1701: You didn’t dance with the one that brought you. I did.
Thanks Darren for an excellent article, well thought out and written. If Tuesday night is that Important to SyFy, then why not have put Wrestling on that timeslot instead of SGU?. The people that watch that would tune in whatever night it is on, it definitely makes more sense to throw your big guns at the competition instead of something that cannot compete with it, and there was no way SGU was going to survive against “Dancing with the stars” and “NCIS”. Stupid management decisions always kills good shows, Firefly being one of the best examples ever, brilliant show with… Read more »
I get so tired of this wrestling argument. NBC and the WWE have a special relationship. NBC owns Syfy. That is that.
I blame SyFy’s absolutely horrid marketing department for making yet another poor decision.
More so, I blame people’s lack of patience and ignorance. Society is too easily fed information. Thanks for waiting people! S.2 brought us what we were looking for, but you couldn’t stick around!
I think the TV audience in general now days has no patience, and wants too much, too soon, SGU would easily have survived 5 seasons in the 90’s. DS9 and Voyager would have had no chance whatsoever in today’s TV market, 7 seasons of 26 episodes to finish the story arc, and a massive amount of slow paced, filler episodes. Star Trek TNG barely had any continuing story at all. just Q and Borg story arcs being spread out across 7 seasons. Babylon 5 would not have survived season 1, which was extremely slow, and had terrible special effects. All… Read more »
@yesman1701: What are You talking about, RDA was in a few episodes of SGU, but even He had practically bowed out of SG1 during season 8, then only returned intermittently.
I have mixed feelings. SGU’s second season has been considerably better than the first, but still fell short of what I would expect for the franchise. It was too dark and lacked focus for my taste. There were some great actors and writers with horid direction in my opinion. I am saddened to see the franchise come to an end. I think that a shift in direction and focus would have greatly improved the show. I also feel that SyFy tried very hard to make the show fail by their incompetence. The day they changed their name to “SyFy” was… Read more »
dtguitar | December 17 @ 9:19 pm It could happen by SYFY were bastard when it came to SG1 an blocked any moved from the network. I think MGM should use SGU an the Stargate franchise to explore new ways to sell there content directly to the audience, it the way industry moving an in the UK several productions firms are already moving ahead with developing there own distribution channels on new platforms such as Google TV or Youview, basically they are apps that live on these platforms but act channels. The British Film council an Kudos Productions are both… Read more »
I look at it like this now… Should I ultimately decide to get rid of TV I don’t have to spend anything for new episodes. It’s one less thing to watch on TV. I can also cut my cable bill in half to local channels and limited basic (dropping SyFy) even though I may miss the Science Channel. SyFy just sucks and it’s a bad network. I am tired of having to see and deal with their shoddy programming and their stupid decisions (Tuesday nights, morons). I personally doubt there’s going to be another Stargate series for a while with… Read more »
Hey SGU cast Im really sorry to hear of your cancellation you will truly be missed in AUSTRALIA we love you from downunder……. Common MGM get off your ARSE and find some other Network to run with…
THANKYOU for 2 Fantastic years…. Sad day for me
@Bevarne
I live in Australia and we do not love SGU here. It lasted 2 episodes on channel 10 and was quickly pulled off the air!! It will return early next year on channel 11 after nearly a year absence. But i highly doubt it will make much of an impression since it disappeared only after 2 episodes.
In Australia we love SGA and SG1!
I don’t think so Darren. SGU was the coach that turned into a pumpkin at mid night. You can blame all you want but I have to say SGU was bringing down SyFi and Stargate all on it’s own. It took too much money and far too much time to justify. It just wasn’t a good product.. Elections the Mid Season 4 Month Break Networks Block Busters Not having the right lead into’s SGU was dying in it’s Friday spot and died in it’s Tuesday spot. Sanctuary is alive..surviving as you already said even though half the audience leaves. That’s… Read more »
Wow, up until reading through to your point 6, I was a bit worried about the balance of this article but in the end, I have to agree. There have been some less than stellar decisions on the network’s part, but still, a really *gripping* (it’s not really about good or bad, just about how many people it draws in regardless of quality) show will sink or swim on it’s own merits.
Someone print and frame paragraph 2 and 3 of point 6 and send them to anyone hopping onto the blame game wagon.
well i think syfy is a bunch of crap for doing that th SGU and what does wrestling have to do with syfy any way. I am very upset with syfy and i will wait for all my other shows i watch to go to video syfy you suck
I am extremely disappointed that one of my most favorite shows is canceled and disappearing. SGU and all the Stargate shows are 10 times better than Caprica or Sanctuary and 100 times better than WEE smacks! The SyFy execs are idiots, first for moving the best shows from Friday Nights (yay SciFi Fridays!) to any other night, and second, for putting any stupid wrestling shows on a “used-to-be” great TV channel. SyFy has dropped all the greatest shows that they used to have. Not much is left that I’m interested in. Unless they come up with some really great new… Read more »
Yeah, Sanctuary sucks… Syfy sucks. No more Sci fi on TV. SGU fans should try the farscape approach to get a way to finish off the series. It’s the only way to go.
REASON 7 I know that they called it ‘slow’ but I disagree, I think ‘mature’ is better. The fans were too (for lack of a better word) dumb to get it. They would have been happier watching seasons of Wormhole Extreme. SG1 and SGA were very cheesy in a sense. SGU was a good solid drama. One that I believe would have done great on a real prime time network. If they had tried to obtain a new fan base. Lost was a huge success and this could have run right along with that. If it was given a real… Read more »
NBC owns SGU, right?
Run it on NBC, if they start soon, they can run it for the next 15 weeks, then air season 2.5. It will cost them nothing. At that point, they will know if theres any new fans or not. I think the real problem was that they tried something new with the old fans.