Stargate Universe headed into the cancellation void with a bit of a bang last night, scoring the show’s highest ratings since “Visitation,” the ninth episode of the season, aired last November.
As fans around the world bid goodbye to the third series and the Stargate franchise (at least on television), an estimated 1.134 million viewers (Live + Same Day) tuned in to the final episode of SGU. “Gauntlet” marked a 14 percent improvement over last week’s episode, and scored a 0.5 rating in the Adults 18 to 49 demographic.
We’ll have a wrap-up report on the big picture for the show’s ratings later this week.
The finale wasn’t any help as a lead-in to Sanctuary, unfortunately. The show followed SGU at 10 p.m. on Monday with just 756,000 viewers estimated for the episode “Wingman” (0.2 demo rating). This is a 10 percent drop from last week’s episode. Since the show moved to Mondays last month, it has lost more viewers every week — now at 47 percent down from the last episode to air on a Friday.
On the big networks, Dancing With the Stars dominated with 20.7 million viewers over two hours on ABC (8-10 p.m.). CBS’s sitcom pairing of a repeat of Two and a Half Men and a new Mike & Molly earned 6.5 million and 7.6 million, respectively. FOX’s The Chicago Code earned 5.7 million, and NBC picked up a little over 5 million with Law & Order: Los Angeles.
On Friday last week, WWE Smackdown turned in another 2.793 million viewer night. More significant is that 10 p.m. time slot, formerly occupied by Sanctuary. In its second week on Friday night, new reality series Urban Legends (narrated by Atlantis‘s David Hewlett) earned 1.090 million viewers — down 16 percent from its Friday night debut the previous week.
Stargate may be over (for now), but for the sake of reader interest and keeping tabs on how that scheduling strategy is working for Syfy Channel, we’ll continue to offer abbreviated ratings reports once a week here at GateWorld. New episodes of Sanctuary continue Mondays at 10/9c. In July the network will bring back its three summer scripted series — Warehouse 13, Eureka, and Haven — and also premiere Alphas, a new show we’re looking forward to checking out.
I would really like to see those continued ratings reports for any shows that replace SGU on the schedule (it be nice to see the same for Caprica) to have an expanding record of how it is the nights in question that are killing shows and not their quality.
This is proof that the audience is there and that Nielsenn is just not telling the whole story. At this point I’m so fraking sick of Nielsenn ratings that I really would rather not see reports anymore because every time I click on it its lower and lower ratings . SyFy should just have stuck to airing its scripted dramas in the summer. That’s all there is to it. Air your lighthearted dramas at the beginning like Eureka and Warehouse 13 and your more serious dramas like Stargate in the end July/August. You’ll get higher ratings because people won’t have… Read more »
Funnily enough it was an amazing end… to an amazing show. I wished it had continued for another three seasons but so happy the way it ended.
Ironically it had the best ending compared to the other two shows in the franchise.
Sorry to see it end.
Sad numbers
[…] update posted Tuesday evening at Gateworld: Highest since November. SGU: Gauntlet (aired Mon 9 May […]
I hope that Sanctuary won’t be next on Syfy’s chopping block…
:(
This whole situation has reminded me of how I used to think.I’m sure I’m not alone in this either. It became obvious to me many,many years ago that most people are perfectly happy to sit in front of their TV & watch absolute garbage.It was a constant source of irritation to me to see well written,well produced & innovative shows continually cancelled never to be seen again.Meanwhile the endless supply of soap operas,reality dross,celebrity gossip tripe & minority sports continued without pause. If only,I thought…if only there were a channel specifically dedicated to the sort of stuff I enjoy watching,this… Read more »
That was a fine conclusion to SGU. I think it could easily be wrapped up with a single actor, David Blue could reprise his role wondering the ship.. perhaps actually interacting with Destiny in a way that it could not with the rest of the crew.. we know it has a personality of its own, and its very old. I like happy endings, so I’d like to think either the statis chamber can save him, but perhaps not revive him without additional repairs. And maybe in the meantime he does find the cure for ALS in the database.. he said… Read more »
Well I have to say that SyFy really crewed the pooch. SGU is the best show on TV, and I am even speaking about any of the BIG network crap. I am glad to see that Sanctuary is dieing as SGU did when they moved it. BUT the one thing I did notice while watching the finale, was it said SEASON FINALE not SERIES FINALE so I am beginning to wonder if SyFy might pull at 3rd season out of the Magic hat for us. Only time will tell.
Good bye to another great SiFi show. Loved SGU and all of the other Stargate series. The last 3 episodes of SGU were watched on Zune through my XBOX. SyFy is a dead channel to me and not worth the extra money spent to keep cable. So Good bye SyFy Good bye cable and hello Internet TV. Hope to see SGU movies out soon and maybe I’ll be able to buy them from ZUNE or even on DVD.
@Browncoat1984 Sorry man,but what viewers? 1,134 mill viewers is not even close to enough for a show like SGU to stay on air.It had that kind of numbers,between 900 thousand and 1,1-1,15 mill the entire time sice the end of season one.It had to have had around 2 mil.to stay on the air.And had SGU stayed on Friday it would have had that sort of numbers by now. I don’t watch Castle and all that,but I simply cannot watch live tv on Monday,or Tuesday for that matter and I know many other ppl with the same problem.Even if I have… Read more »
I am sad to see SGU end, as I was really enjoying the series and have watched since the beginning. I don’t understand how these network guys make decisions on what shows stay and which ones get cancelled, but I think they were really on a role as the last few episodes of SGU were the best ever. Everytime I really enjoy a series they pull the plug – like Star Trek Enterprise, Lost, Gilligan’s Island, etc. It seems like the best series always get cut to make room for a bunch of crap like Dancing with the Stars or… Read more »
Did anyone else notice that the “Now Watching” overlay during the finale stated “season finale” not “series finale”? Hmmm… Something to think about.
I noticed that too during the show – “season finale” which made me say hmmmm…..
please put sanctuary back on friday nights
First of all, Browncoat; SyFy belongs to NBC Universal. They have a minimum audience level to meet, or the show gets cancelled. It’s simple numbers., and 1.14 million is nearly three million below their “happy” threshold. Even SG-1 would be cancelled by NBC (hang on, it was!). Also, all those direct viewing websites and the like were demanded by fans, not the networks. All television is based on the advertising space you can sell, so any method of viewing which cuts out advertising reduces their profits. The summer shows like Eureka get much smaller audiences than the fall shows, but… Read more »
Its just frustrating. I make the effort to watch my favorites like SGU and Fringe live because they struggle in ratings yet I feel my efforts are in vain because even when I do support my favorites they get canceled (okay, Fringe was renewed, thanks FOX!!!! I never thought I’d support FOX over Sci-Fi when it comes to sci-fi but for once I am very happy with them, and they even have two more SF shows starting next season that look like they might be more interesting than anything SyFy has starting up). I generally just DVR most every show… Read more »
Here’s a bold suggestion. Make a new stargate series! It could be called Stargate: Legends, or Stargate: Legacies, or anything really. And the point of the show would be to finish all the stories. It would finish SGU, Atlantis, and post SG1. Each week I could jump from a story in the Pegasus galaxy then to the Milky Way and then again to Destiny. I feel this way many old fans would come back and new fans could be attracted depending on how it is presented. As a franchise there is still a lot of story to be told and… Read more »
@Browncoat1984, your live watching efforts really are in vein because unless you have a Nielsen box hooked up to your TV, whether or not you watch it live is moot because Nielsen technically decides if you’ve watched or not.
Television is dying. People don’t want to watch TV, because they can watch whatever they want in the Internet. Without commercials, but most important – without schedule. That’s all. The more far we go, the more average TV viewer intelligence will drop, because smart people will leave.
I couldnt even bare watching Sanctuary this time round, I watched The Event then SGU, put Sanctuary on and felt way too depressed..
I don’t even want shows with fillers, full stories within 40 mins.. I want big ass stories that take weeks to unfold! (with the exception of Fringe)
SG:U has changed the way I watch my shows, I’ve grew up, I want in-depth storylines, SG:U delivered on the biggest scale (even though I didn’t like the first 10-12 eps)
I still can’t get ever thats its finished
@Snipe, I would love to think You could be right. Epilogue was so good I was having dreams all night about SGU (got in my head big time). That episode reminded me of TNG’s “The Inner Light”, left a similar impression. SGU is enormously better than “V” or “The Event” and deserves to be properly finished. I really hope there are some serious questions being asked at the management of SyFy about how they could stuff so many shows up, all to save stupid Wrestling which could easily be on a Sat or Sunday night. It’s as though someone has… Read more »
Well, SGU’s series finale couldn’t beat Being Human’s season finale. In the same slot, with the same competition. So, there obviously are shows on SyFy that can do well with full competition on Monday. Don’t get me wrong, I am sad that the SG franchise is dead, but honestly, in this case it’s pretty much on the heads of the writers who took too long to develop the story in S1 which cost them half the viewership within 10 episodes. If S1 was as good as S2 was – from what I heard – I think we would be telling… Read more »
I have to ask – and forgive me if this seems nieve… But what exactly would it take to get this show back on air. What could we do (those that want it back) as a collective to try and turn this around – not necessarially with SyFy channel (their decisions on a number of shows over the last 3 years have been questionable at best!)… Facebook group, letters to the network (SyFy) all being well and good – but surely there is something else? Something more impacting?? At rather ‘we’ not sit on our laurels reminicing of the show… Read more »
katikatnik: I would like to point out that SGU is serialised sci-fi drama and Being Human is fantasy “vampires are cool now” weekly show. This is huge difference. Also Stargate established viewership were watching it on fridays. On mondays about third of them DVRed it. Also BH received heavy advertising while SGU in second season got close to null. New time (changed three times!), heavy competition (in fall it’s very heavy). Sorry, but they are not comparable.
@Pecisk: SGU started in a cushioned slot with a big budget, a promotion equal to a Hollywood blockbuster and with an in-built audience. And the biggest drop happened between 101 and 110. Being Human is pretty serialized too and it had to find its place in winter on a busy night and as a heavily female skewing show going against DWTS, THE female driven reality show out there. And yet, many more people bothered to show up for its season finale than for the SGU S1 finale on Friday or its series finale in BH’s time slot. It just proves… Read more »
Why have we not heard from the man who was behind all of SGU? Did he just give up or is doing things behind the screens?
I love it when people who dont watch the show feel qualified to comment, ermm, you aren’t! move along now, you’re ‘arguments’ are always the same tired ****, it got boring after the first 10 episodes, give it up already!
I think comparing to SG1 and SGA the intro in SGU is not that good. Face it … how many times you watched the SGA or SG1 episode intro
well The least episode ends… in fact…it does not seem to end anything…It leaves a tail to season 3???
Has anyone been watching the last several episodes of sanctuary. Thye have not been very good at all and way to hookie. lets get rid of the girfriend story lines and get back to seeing more action and why has Helen Magnus not been on it much right now. Putting it on Mondays is going to kill sanctuary just like they killed SGU!!! :>{
Is better to forget SGU, this is a sad finally for amazing franchise.
Arkronis | May 11 @ 5:18 am
Find a multi billionaire that loves stargate and willing to fund a 3rd series or buy the Franchise of MGM and produce a 3rd season.
SGU will be back in 3 years after everyone wakes up from their long pod sleepover with a skeletonzized Eli sitting in the Captains chair on the bridge.
If they ever restarted SGU would have them send 90% of the current cast home to Earth and bring a few members from SG-1 and a few from Atlantis on board to lighten things up. It might draw back some of the original fans of those 2 shows. Its not going to happen, but its nice to think that in a parallel universe it did.
I’m amazed at the misinformation that abounds. The lackluster ratings in no way proves that the audience is there. The fact is, we don’t know if the Nielsen Ratings helps or hurts the shows. No one knows a million people who watch and if they could measure everyone who watches, just as with any other show, the number could turn out to be smaller. NBC Universal did not acquire Sci-Fi 2 years ago and change it’s name to Syfy in the process. Sci-Fi came under NBC Universal when Vivendi Universal sold a majority stake to GE in 2003. In 2004… Read more »
its not syfy’s fault really. its no one’s fault. every show is a gamble and SGU wasnt appealing to the majority. maybe its because of prejudice against a “light” franchise that was trying to take itself too seriously or the stories/characters just didnt grab viewers. i think one of the main problems was how mundane it was in the first 10 episodes. Who knows, ive been trying to figure it out ever since season 1 but i cant put my finger on why it couldnt pull viewers. So i dont blame syfy, i wont be cheering them but it would… Read more »
@mythos
You’re contradicting yourself mate. First you preach about Nielsen ratings and how it doesn’t matter if you watch the show live when you don’t have the box. Then later on you tell people who watch online or download are a problem. There’s no problem there because they don’t have the Nielsen box.
@mistergroenevingers – It wasn’t a contradiction. Nielsen doesn’t control worldwide ratings. And people who are downloading for free also aren’t buying the shows on dvd/blu-ray.
@mythos
Just because I download the show doesn’t mean I won’t buy the DVDs. Am I supposed to wait for a year until the discs are in the shop so I can finally watch the show? I want to see a new episode as soon as I can because I’m a fan. And I have online friends who are fans and I like to discuss the latest episodes with those friends.
Perhaps it’s time to move to a new ratings measurement system. Torrent downloads get a big viewership, including to foreign countries (I’m in the UK for example so can’t watch SGU unless I download it). Start making official torrents, with commercials mixed in, and sell the advertising space. All you’d need to ensure a pretty good “market share” versus pirate torrents would be a nice fast seed server & by making it clear that watching the ads helps to support the show, you’d get a decent chunk of viewers there too.
Ok, where is the combined “save the Stargate franchise campaign”? I think this should be at a franchise level. And I still don’t get why one of MGM’s biggest franchises (next to James Bond) gets shut down like this, when there is such a large worldwide fanbase. Or am I wrong and it’s just a few loud individuals? I wouldn’t mind seeing some stats on hits for this site, and if a campaign is mounted to see what sort of numbers would support it.
And yep, I’m still angry at the franchise shut-down!
I dont like to watch Sanctuary on mondays I have stuff to do Friday is part of the weekend I have nothing to do the next day it is a better time to watch TV.
Also I have missed so many episodes I cant get back into it.
And syfy gave me almost no warning it had move to monday anyway.
like to say no more stargate stinks. I have been a fan since the original movie. Although i expected more from sgu out of the gate, no pun intended, it turned out to be a decent show. Being a fan of the franchise, i gave it a chance and by the finale, i feel cheated. It is what it is. One day the franchise will start again. The amount of fans it has will ensure that. Maybe sgu or sga or maybe sg1 will get some closure…maybe. Sgu could be finished off in one more season…sure…but it never will. My… Read more »
@mistergroenevingers – Most who download don’t buy the dvd’s. I’m sure some do, but not enough to matter. Compare any of the Stargate discs sales to their download stats..the number of conversions are pretty small. The point I was making is that torrent downloads don’t matter because they don’t pay the bills. So if millions are downloading it for free and only thousands are later buying it…see the problem?
I believe the budget for a movie is 6-8 million. If say a third party to syfi e.g. gateworld, was to open an account to accept donations for say each seperate show like sg-1, atlantis and sgu, and show the audience of how much money is being accumulated with each donation, then in theory the fans should be able to keep this franchise alive. The kicker being that with the fans being the major donors, the money made from dvd or online episode sales could be used to fund a second and a third movie etc etc. Seems logical, and… Read more »
What an awesome show on every level. Just watched Season/Series finale, I think that the episode will leave fans thinking for years. I guess I’ll have to finish the story line in my dreams. The production value is gonna be great. Well okay maybe not that great but still better than most fan films. Have to agree with many fans on this site, SGU is definitely THE best show on TV …or at least WAS the best show on tv. Come on MGM give the fans just one movie to finish it off properly. I know you want to. Will… Read more »
@ krannok
You are wrong on one count. SciFi wasn’t sold to NBC Universal 2 years ago. SciFi has been a part of NBC Universal since 2003, when Universal Studios’ parent company Vivendi merged with NBC’s parent company General Electric. SciFi has been a part of NBC Universal ever since. That’s 8 years, NOT 2. This is a documented fact.
@ Mythos
That’s not technically true. You CANNOT possibly back up the statement, “Most who download don’t buy the DVD’s,” because it is a flat out false statement. On the contrary, the reverse is true. Most who download DO, in fact, buy the DVD’s.
@etirvan – If you were right, Stargate would be making billions of dollars every year. I CAN back up my statement by the fact that it doesn’t. It does phenomenally well in downloads but the dvd sales are flat. Again, compare the download statistics to the dvd sales. The numbers speak for themselves.
Good Riddance! they got rid of the worst show in the stargate franchise It was a bomb, boring, poorly written, slow. On top of that it is great payback for the way they cancelled Atlantis. This show was so bad it threatened the franchise itself. Nothing but a bomb from the first episode to the… last Good riddance. The management cancelled a popular show on the way up and replaced it with universe, they should be sacked the same way they sacked the cast of Atlantis