From the Editor: With the end of Stargate Universe on Syfy this week, fans of the show are understandably upset. Why was the show cancelled? Did the move from Friday nights do it more harm than good? Today we welcome a guest post from Craig Engler, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Syfy Digital. Our thanks to Craig for taking the time to respond to some of the concerns coming from Stargate fans, and to explain the network’s decision-making process.
An Open Letter to Stargate Fans From Syfy
There’s been a lot written about Stargate Universe and Syfy in the weeks leading up to SGU‘s recent finale, and a lot of questions and concerns directed at Syfy about how we handled the series. I wanted to take some time to address the issues that have come up and thought GateWorld, which has been a huge supporter of the entire Stargate franchise, would be a good place to do it. So thanks to them for giving me the space here, and thanks to you for taking the time to read this.
When MGM and Syfy mutually decided to bring Stargate Atlantis to an end after five seasons, they did so knowing they’d transition to a new show in the franchise, Stargate Universe. SGU was a bold new take on Stargate that Brad Wright and Robert Cooper had had in mind for a long time, and one that we’d discussed with them off and on. It first came to us as a pitch many years ago.
Because Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis had performed so well for us in the past, we felt confident about SGU and committed to a two-season deal for it, as long as the show met certain milestones along the way. Two-season deals are rare in the TV world because they tie up a huge amount of investment (both time and money), but our great track record with MGM and Stargate made this seem like as much of a sure thing as you’ll get in the TV business. That means before any footage was shot or any actors were hired, we knew there’d be 40 episodes.
The show quickly moved forward and officially launched on October 2, 2009. The debut was watched by a good if not spectacular 2,779,000 viewers. To give that some perspective, Stargate Atlantis debuted with over 4 million viewers, so SGU was more than 25% below that. On the plus side, SGU actually grew in week 2 to just about 3 million viewers before falling into the 2.6 million range where it seemed like it was going to settle. That’s a fairly typical pattern for a new series, and at this point the show was doing okay.
In week six viewers dropped to 2.3 million, or 20% off the season high. It’s not unusual for a show to fluctuate a bit, so as long as it bounced back this wouldn’t be too much of a concern. There was indeed a bit of a recovery the next week, but that was followed by another small drop. Then viewership took a further dip to 1,961,000, or 33% down from the season high. Obviously there was concern at this point, but we were headed into the hiatus and shows often see a bump after a break (contrary to popular belief).
Coming back from hiatus the show in fact grew modestly to 2,088,000 viewers and then added more viewers the next week, hitting 2,153,000. It looked like we were regaining momentum. Unfortunately things stalled there and for the next two months SGU hovered between 2,116,000 and a low of 1,708,000 viewers, below where we could sustain it. So despite the brief post-hiatus bump, after two episodes it settled in at a lower number and we ended up averaging 1,982,000 viewers for season 1.5.
With untenably low numbers and no sign of growth on Fridays where it had now lost 1/3 of its initial audience, we decided to move SGU for its second season. We’d had tremendous success on Tuesday’s with our breakout hit Warehouse 13, so we paired SGU with Caprica and moved them to Tuesdays, hoping to introduce both shows to a new audience. As you probably know by now the downward trend continued and ultimately we weren’t able to continue either series.
We moved the final 10 episodes of SGU to Monday nights where we’d just had success with a new show called Being Human, but the ratings remained flat. SGU did finish out its run with a nice spike for the finale, which is something else you also typically see with TV shows (it’s called the “terminal spike” in ratings parlance).
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What you see above is simply Syfy and MGM trying to make a great new Stargate series, seeing some initial success, then when it began to struggle, seeing attempts to find a way to keep it going. You’ve probably read numerous rumors to the contrary. I’ll look at the most prevalent:
The erratic scheduling killed SGU:
We started the show on Fridays where we’ve had the most success and where it initially did well, and we left it there until it started struggling. When it was clear the show had fallen to unsustainable levels and would not survive on Fridays, only then did we move it to the night where our highest rated show of all time had recently aired.
The hiatus killed SGU:
As you can see from the ratings above, the biggest drop in viewers came before the hiatus, not after. In fact, SGU actually grew around 10% after the hiatus between season 1.0 and 1.5 in its first two episodes back.
If you’d left it on Friday nights, it would have done well:
When left on Friday nights SGU lost 1/3 of its audience and dropped to consistently unsustainable ratings levels. The only hope of keeping it was to move it to another night where new viewers could find it.
You canceled SGU because you hate science fiction:
If we didn’t like science fiction we simply wouldn’t have made SGU. It’s because we like science fiction that we tried it. Even though SGU was ultimately unsuccessful, we don’t regret trying it. Science fiction shows are the backbone and lifeblood of our network, and we have many in development. Later this year we’ll be debuting Alphas, the Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome pilot is being worked on as you read this, the movie Red Faction starring Stargate Universe‘s Brian Jacob Smith will air next month, 5 of our original dramas will return with new seasons or new episodes this year, and we’re working on many more behind the scenes.
You never supported SGU:
There is literally no one other than MGM who supported it more than we did. We were the only network who gave the show a try and the only ones who committed to making and airing 40 episodes before a script had been written. We invested tens of millions of dollars and thousands of hours of work over many years making and supporting the show.
You canceled SGU in order to make wrestling:
We would have happily kept making SGU regardless of anything else on our schedule if the ratings were sustainable. We don’t discontinue successful shows to make room for other shows … no network does because no network has a full roster of successful series. SGU was judged solely on its own ratings.
You don’t like Stargate:
We love Stargate. Combined we’ve made 12 seasons of 3 separate series and helped support two SG-1 films. It’s been an amazing ride and we’re incredibly proud of the cast and crew of all the shows, and thankful to all the viewers who watched.
Note: The ratings I used above are Live +7 numbers, or the total number of viewers who watched the show live and during the following 7 days via DVR. Although advertisers buy based on just the 18-49 segment of these numbers and thus the 18-49 ratings would be much smaller, I’m using L7 numbers here for convenience as they represent the total audience. The % drops and lows of the 18-49 numbers would be even more significant (i.e. worse) than what the L7s show, but not so much that it’s worth doing all the math for.
Syfy, you certainly took the risk from the start so I can’t fault you for that. But you could’ve promoted SGU a bit better.
Let the bashing begin! Who will be first to proclaim SyFy is rubbish and awful?
I think the best way to show fans how you love Stargate would be ordering a movie or two. Less past tense, more future tense.
“the biggest drop in viewers came before the hiatus, not after”
As far as I can remember, there was a pointless one week break before the final episode before hiatus, that’s the reason there was a drop in viewers!!!
Hi Everyone: Please remember the comment rules, including especially treating others (including a network rep) with respect. Please state your opinions with tact and respect, and not raw insults.
Thank you Craig for trying to clear the air. I hope people will consider your point of view as a business.
Good letter.
@Syfy Craig Engler, Are you going to fix the scheduling for Sanctuary season 4 since it has less viewers on Monday nights now then it did on Friday nights a couple weeks ago? Or will you let this move be it’s death sentence as well??? And, did you think to account for what the ratings of its HUGE competitors were getting at the same time? Putting Stargate Universe up against such long running hits like NCIS and Dancing with the Stars wasn’t very smart. I watch both NCIS and SGU, how am I to choose which to watch live? The… Read more »
Rating ratings ratings… For my part I’ve only been watching Stargate on a weekly basis for about ten years now… Never once has MY viewership been counted in any of the metrics. I don’t have a Nelson box, and my cable provider doesn’t capture my DVR viewing habits to report in either. Add to that the dozen or so people (at our peak) that would gather each week to watch it. They weren’t getting counted either, because they viewed it in my home. The fact is, what killed SGU is nothing that you dismissed (rightly so), but that the rating… Read more »
Oh geez…not this. Yes…because a show you liked had low ratings, it means the system is flawed! Yet even though there is nothing stopping a company from coming along and providing a better system, EVERY TV network still uses Neilsen’s ratings.As do advertisers when deciding how much to pay for commercial time on TV shows. Why is that? Because unlike you, they have actual DATA. And their data has shown that when they advertise a product on a show with higher ratings, they see a bigger boost in sales than when they advertise on a show with lower ratings. The… Read more »
Plus, it wouldn’t have killed SyFy to throw a bone and order up a mini-season of a handful of episodes to let the story get wrapped up somehow.
Well, I won’t bash SyFy specifically, but to say they’re just like everything else that has an American hand in it (yes, I’m American; yes, I’m eyeing New Zealand and Canada for expatriation). 1. Chaz buys Ferari. 2. Chaz needs gas for Ferari. 3. Chaz lobbies to lower his taxes to afford the gas (and buy a few more Feraris). 4. Chaz needs gas for 3 Feraris, so Chaz moves manufacturing out of America and fires all the workers (we don’t really make anything anymore, we just have bunch of weird service industries like Health Care and the prison system,… Read more »
Hate to tell you, but the number 1 goal of literally EVERY business that has ever existed…in every country that has ever existed…has been to maximize profits. NOT to please a few outliers. No TV network ANYWHERE is going to lose millions of dollars just to make you happy.
Hopefully, someday, Syfy will find a way to help produce and air the SGA and SG1 movies that were originally promised by MGM. That would at least be something.
The reason I stopped watching was because the show changed way to much and did not seem like stargate anymore. I liked battlestar galatica reboot but I don’t need a stargate series like it. and unlike star trek deep space 9 that had a darker tone but still seemed like star trek, stargate universe really did not. Also Hitting everybody upside the head witht he huge change on the first day with all the changes to stargate that the show made was not a smart move all it did was piss me and other off and I did not care… Read more »
You cancel an amazing SCI-FI show on SYFY but you make these stupid cooking and wrestling shows. Be a SCI-FI channel. Cancel those shows. Goodness you don’t even have any good science fiction shows on right now. And you cancel your last true one. Way to go. You lost a viewer.
Stryse couldnt have put it any better. I dont have a nielsen box or even a dvr so i , my wife and my teenage daughter wouldnt be included in any count.
And again…just becuase you like a show that no one else does doesn’t mean the field of statistics is wrong.
I’ve been a fan since the original movie. What a shame to see this brilliant show ended. But we see it all the time. Honestly, StarGate fans have themselves to blame. I’d never heard so much whinging in the first season because it did not fit into the typical hygienic Stargate mould. The creators of the show did a fantastic job of making this the characters more personal and realistic. We’re over superhero’s and happy families and this was a welcome and needed change to the franchise. Seriously you need at least a season to flesh out the characters and… Read more »
OH and the stargate movies.
Make them one of your Syfy original movies. I do get a Kick out of the crazy mutant crocodile movies and stuff like that you make for the insane concept of it all.
But god you could get a fricking stargate movie for that and it would be a million times better than any other “Syfy orginal movie” You have ever made.
SYFY PLEASE READ THIS !! So, I even understand why you cancelled SGU, because of 1 Milion Viewers compared to SGA’s 4 Milion Viewers. My question is: If SGA had 4 Milion Viewers why did you cancelled it? And aren’t 4 Milion almost garanteed views enought to bring back SGA, even if its just 1 ”Test Season” to see how it performs or to make the SGA movie? I think there are some thing you are right, but another thing you are very wrong! Why do you think so many people stopped watching Stargate? Well, SGU’s Season 1 sucked, all… Read more »
I have to disagree about the amount of promotion by Syfy. I watch(ed) SGU on the Space channel here in Canada and their show Innerspace had a Stargate: Universe special in which fans got to watch an episode of SGU and meet the cast in Toronto. The actors (even the supporting cast) came out on stage and did interviews. They even dedicated an episode to the end of SGU and the Stargate franchise following the airing of “Gauntlet”. I know a lot of SGU fans on Twitter, both here in Canada and in the U.S. and it seems that Syfy… Read more »
Thank you Craig. I’ve never once believed that Syfy did anything but support SGU and the franchise over the years. You did everyone to try and save a failing show but it’s not the channels fault that the show just didn’t appeal to enough viewers.
Hopefully Stargate will return at some time in the future with a new creative team, who can bring fresh ideas to the Franchise and recapture what made it so popular.
I just wanted to say as a supporter of Syfy, and a Global Moderator for Syfy.com, I am proud of this network. They gave is 12 Seasons of Stargate that I have enjoyed. I think Craig is being very supportive by replying to all these fans attacks. I think some people need to understand that this is a business, and SGU was not making money for the network.
Thank you Darren and Craig for letting this happen, always a pleasure reading your articles.
Best,
Briangate78
Squall28
Hey First i’d like to thank him for taking the time out to respond to a majority of the criticisms leveled at the network. Now certainly i’m still upset with SGU’s canceling but he’s not wrong that the ratings have been rather unfortunate. And it’s true, there are many more Stargate fans than will ever be counted in Nielson’s data but that’s just the way it is unfortunately. As for the move to Tuesdays i feel it was a mistake. It’s true they’ve had success there but that was in the summer. And hey, Stargate was originally a summer series.… Read more »
Show ANY evience that the nubmer are unrepresentative of hte true numbers. Sure..there MAY be more Stargate viewers than they report. But there may be fewer. If there is, say, 1 Neilsen family for every 50,000 families, who is to say that the number of people that DO have Nielsen boxes aren’t MORE likely to have watched the show? again..the concept of STATISTICS is not really a hard concept to understnad. It is taught in high school, for crying out loud. And you liking a show that most did not does not change the fact that you can get a… Read more »
Unfortunately I think the next thing we see for Stargate will be a rebooting. Maybe they’ll pursue the original trilogy idea and then adapt that for television.
My fellow SciFi fans… do not become complacent with the ‘way things are’ in terms of the rating system. YOU are the consumer, and the power to change things begins and ends with you.
First, I do think it’s great (and gutsy) that you came out here to respond – it shows a lot more than I’m used to seeing from Syfy.
I do disagree that Syfy supported the show as much as possible. A miniseries order, or support for the show (or movies) despite less-than-great ratings shows support above and beyond any other network – ordering seasons because the ratings are good is just business sense, not really support.
Otherwise, I think Stryse hits the nail on the head. Perhaps the Syfy could’ve developed other ways to count the numbers.
NO business is going to lose money by continued to order more of a product that isn’t selling. That is not called support. It is called bad business.
@Stryse I fully agree with you. Well said
@Craig Engler Thankyou for one thing. Comming out and addressing fans. But, with no hate. I doubt you’ll get much higher ratings on your newer shows than what you had with Stargate. Stargate is an iconic scifi show, a show and story that has gone on for 16 years, and you let it end without an ending. Sure you may have made a buisness descision, but that decision has hurt your franchise IMO, and also hurt 3/4 of your viewers. I use to like your network, or the network called SciFi
i think one more season of SGU to finnish it out would of been nice it was a great show. but so was SG1 and SGA. they were good clean shows. good stories, and then you put on reality shows thats not scifi then wrestling not scifi either. I want to go to other worlds by way of tv you folks at syfy dont get it do you? well FRAK when syfy loses alot of people they might listen then. because i guess sanctuary is next then warehouse 13 and then eureka, see ya all
One question I would have liked to have been answered was whether Stargate had a future on Syfy, meaning that if MGM wanted to fund another Stargate TV Show or Movie, would SyFy get behind it.
I mean i supposed i could boycott the system, except that i don’t have a nielson box – and if i did have 1 and decided to boycott it i wouldn’t be beneficial to the series i was watching… I mean i know what you’re saying – but i don’t see a good way of changing the system. The Live and 7 Day tracking is an improvement. Is it still fool proof, certainly not, but it’s moving in the right direction. And really nielson isn’t designed to track a show’s popularity. Yes there are countless fans who download episodes (legally… Read more »
You can’t compare SGA and SGU ratings because SGA was running from july to september and from january to march while SGU had to compete with major broadcast networks (september-november and march-may).
One more point. When SyFy canceled Farscape, the show ended with a cliffhanger. SyFy aired a 5 hour miniseries and than a 2 hour conclusion to give the show a proper ending. The miniseries aired 19 months after the show was canceled. I wonder if there is a possibility of this happening with Universe? An 8 hour miniseries 1 or 2 years down the road could give the series a proper ending and re-ignite interest in the Stargate franchise opening the door for a new series, just like Star Trek and Battlestar Gallactica.
Craig, Thank you for your time and response to the fans. After reading through your letter, I was struck by what I didn’t hear. I did hear, the ratings but I didn’t hear what SyFy did in response to those ratings. I believe it would do the fan base a great deal of good if you could explain, in as much detail that makes sense, what SyFy did to respond to the ratings, other than just move the show’s air day/time around. I’m fairly sure other marketing levers were pulled, such as promotion or even creative changes? Explaining and educating… Read more »
If Syfy would like to see how to bow out of running a show with some class, perhaps they should look at the Innerspace special that Space ran at the end of the final episode of SGU.
Lovely, and classy.
And what did Syfy run at the end of the final episode?
Nothing.
The problem I’m having is this , to me it seems that you had already all but written the show off just a few episodes into season 2. However, you where contracually obligated to continue to episode 40,, so why in gods name were the producers not informed of a cancellation untill AFTER pricipal photography was completed?? You expect we the fans to trust you and invest in the stories and characters you present to us, but your not worthy of that trust. It’s my opinion that if you bring a story to us, YOU have an obligation to complete… Read more »
Instead of outrightly cancelling it as they’ve done and basically wiping their hands because SGU was “unsuccessful”, they should set up a 4-6 part mini series to FINISH the story. If they did that, I would have no problem with them not wanting to do anything more with SGU. But until they conclude it? The only people I’m going to blame are SyFy and MGM. I also love how he said they don’t cancel shows to fit in a new one. BULL! The most recent ‘axing’ of shows all over the place to make room for new series tells a… Read more »
Stargatefan1958 – if they would have produced a season 3 the viewers would have come back as season 2 was much improved over season 1. I didnt like season 1 all that much but i stuck with it and loved the direction season 2 went. Syfy made too many changes and gave up too fast before it had a chance to settle in. Also putting it on in the spring/summer probably would have been best but thanks to syfy we will never know. Now that the Nielsen ratings for sancuary that im not included in are plummenting im sure it… Read more »
PS: the Farscape miniseries was 4 hours (2 2 hour episodes) and nothing more than that.
Also while i’d love 4 more episodes of SGU would that really be enough to wrap up the whole story?
There’s certainly some good spin in there, but that’s all it is…spin. Trying to use the argument that Tuesday was a good time slot? In the summer absolutely…but this point has been covered to death, so I’ll let that one go. The death of the Stargate franchise really traces back to one thing in my mind, and that’s when Sci-Fi moved BSG away from their Friday night lineup (also Tuesdays, if I’m not mistaken). After that, the ratings started plummeting for SG-1, SGA and BSG, and none of them ever really recovered. They apparently wanted to spread the wealth, and… Read more »
And actually their ratings for their original movies tend to be higher than that of SGU unfortunately. I can’t speak for an average, but every few weeks it seems i’m reading a press release claiming their most recent creature feature averaged in the range of 2-2.5 million viewers.
We are still waiting on the sg-1 and atlantis movies where are they. both movies were promised before SGU and we are still waiting for them and now its SGU you gone poof just like that there were alot more people watching in the 2nd half of season 2. Just give it a chance it was getting good. I bet after all this hype the ratings will be there on a mini series syfy lies and bull.
We will never agree on everything. But I do know that Stargate Universe deserves a proper ending. Let “Stargate” go out with some dignity. Stargate has made SyFy lots of money. We deserve a movie or two.
Almost every other comment I see here is “I don’t have a nielson box” how many people watched the show that don’t have one? We’ll never know. Okay, Craig, there’s some flaws with SyFy’s (and your’s) logic here: Your first flaw is in your comment in regards to the success Warehouse 13 and Eureka had on Mondays and Tuesdays. First off, those shows aired in the summer, NOT the fall. Try airing those shows in the fall and chances are you’ll get lower ratings. Yes, I know, the finales did well when they aired against tough competition, but those were… Read more »
@Syfy Craig Engler Thank you for taking the time and address a lot of the questions, comments, and criticisms that have been posted recently. Your post addressed nearly every topic, except for two key components. The first one that I believe you overlooked was brought and explained quite well by @Stryse in an earlier post. While I certainly understand that your business models and successes depend on ratings and the bottom line, the way that line is measured is sorely out of date. I can’t really add more to that as @Stryse’s post was quite concise about it. The second… Read more »
Sounds like a bunch of excuses and that they’re just trying to dance around the fact that they dont want to explain why they would put wrestling on a SCIENCE FICTION CHANNEL!!
First, as a Stargate fan I have to be honest that what killed SGU was its first season. Had the first season been written better it would still be on the air. But the episodes in the first season were just plain bad. Really bad. They got better as the season went along and season two was just flat-out awesome. But it was too little too late. As for the Syfy response: it was big of them to do that, they certainly didn’t have to. However, I would lend more credibility to their creative acumen if they did not produce… Read more »
I have read alot of comments about SGU’s cancellation over the last few weeks and registered here so I could comment on this letter. My husband and I are fans of the Stargate franchise, and we are very disappointed in its cancellation. We have determined that we only watch 1/5 of the channels offered on our satellite, and we have decided, as of next month, to cancel our satellite and go to viewing the shows that we like over an Internet connection. We are tired of paying an overwhelming amount of money and there not being anything we like to… Read more »
Let’s be honest. Stargate Voyager didn’t do as well as Stargate Deep Space Nine (don’t pretend I’m the only one who’s ever thought this), or Stargate, the original series because it wasn’t as good as either of those shows. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve watched every episode of all of them. SGU had a different (from the other Stargates anyway) story to tell. It wasn’t about heroes in the sense that that the predecessor shows were. It was about ordinary people stuck in a bad situation. It was darker; way darker. I believe that was its undoing. It lacked the… Read more »
@Craig Engler First, thank you for your time and energy. We all know that you did not need to respond to us, the fans. I agree with most folks here in that Syfy has supported Stargate through the years. It’s been great. However, I know that if it wasn’t for my DVR I would have never know, in any cases, when SGU or SGA was coming back. There was never a time or a place announced. Most of the other networks say when the series will return. When you put a show on a “break” and then not announce when… Read more »
I appreciate the time you’ve taken to explain the rationele behind cancellation. I have been a Stargate fan since the movie. I loved SG1, passed on most of Atlantis, and was happy to come back to SGU. I genuinely appreciated the new flavor of Stargate we have had with the most recent series. My wife even watched it with me, which really says a lot for a SciFi show. That said, I believe the community has some legetimate concerns regarding the demise of the show, particularily in relation to scheduling. I was very interested to learn that SyFy had a… Read more »
I don’t care, I’ll say it over and over again, SG:U should of been given until the end of Season 2 before a continuation decision was made, I think it’s unfair that other shows got that pleasure.. SyFy knew exactly what they were getting into with this show, as they say they knew for years that it was coming.. It should of been planned more detail But no, they axed mid season 2 without even knowing what was going to happen Now the backlash has started, SyFy will without a doubt regret this.. Fox made this mistake with Family Guy,… Read more »
It’s nice to get a response, but really, I don’t care unless he tell us SGU is coming back. The only reasons I watch Syfy are SGU and SG-1/SGA reruns. I’ll keep watching the reruns, but everything else on Syfy is just not good for me. The pattern I saw was that they kept moving SGU to nights where shows that are completely different from SGU were successful. SGU just didn’t draw the same type of audience as Warehouse 13 or Being Human. Plus, when Syfy was messing with airing day, the very popular network shows aired at the same… Read more »