UPDATE: Syfy has ordered one additional episode of Eureka to allow the producers to write a series finale.
The little town with big secrets is about to lock its gates for good. Syfy has announced that the show’s fifth season, currently filming in Vancouver to air in 2012, will be the last for Eureka.
It’s something of a surprise, considering the show has continued to deliver decent ratings numbers — just over 2 million viewers (Live + Same Day) in the four episodes that have aired since the start of Season 4.5 last month. But shows do get more expensive to produce the older they get, and the ratings are down from last summer’s average of 2.37 million.
Deadline reported last week that the network was considering a shortened, 6-episode sixth season, to give the writers sufficient time to wrap up any dangling story threads. Season Five will consist of 13 episodes, and will finish filming in just two weeks. But this week Syfy gave the execution order, dropping the idea of the wrap-up … though they do insist that the series will have “a satisfying end.”
The network issued the following statement:
After painstaking consideration, we have had to make the difficult business decision to not order a season six of Eureka. But Eureka is not over yet. There is a new holiday episode this December and 12 stellar episodes set to debut next year, marking its fifth season and six memorable years on Syfy. The 2012 episodes are some of the best we’ve seen, and will bring this great series to a satisfying end. We are very grateful to Bruce Miller and Jaime Paglia, their team of incredible writers, and an amazing cast and crew who have consistently delivered a series we continue to be very proud of. We thank the fans for their support of this show and know they will enjoy its final season in 2012.
As the opening hour for Syfy’s Monday night block of originals the veteran show is rating lower than its lead-outs, Warehouse 13 (2.27 million) and Alphas (2.18 million). But it’s usually considered a good thing that a night of programming builds in the ratings, rather than losing viewers from hour-to-hour.
All three series have been tracking far and away higher than any of Syfy’s fall and winter shows, which face stiffer competition from other networks. Syfy cancelled Caprica in October, with the show turning in fewer than 800,000 live viewers on Tuesday nights. Stargate Universe followed in December, after averaging just north of 1 million. But Being Human and Sanctuary were renewed after just under 1.5 million.
The network’s lowest-rated original, scripted drama for the summer season is actually Haven, which has averaged 1.89 million viewers on Friday nights. During the non-summer months, the post-wrestling timeslot has actually made for bigger numbers. (WWE Smackdown is Syfy’s highest rated program, with between 2.5 and 3 million viewers every week.)
Five seasons on Syfy Channel seems to be about the max, the tipping point at which production costs outweigh the benefits of good ratings. The cable channel has never kept a scripted drama in production longer than this, with Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis getting five years each on the network, and Battlestar Galactica and Farscape both finishing at four.
Enjoy those new episodes of Eureka while you still can! The series airs Mondays at 8/7c on Syfy.
Somehow I saw this coming with the whole space plot that is going around, but I am still very sad to see it being canceled. Other than Being Human this was the only other show on syfy that has kept me coming back. Sometimes it seems like syfy is only in it for the wrestling fans.
I imagine fairly soon Syfy will just cancel themselves.
Before people start blaming SyFy again, check out Amy Berg’s, the exec of Eureka’s, twitter @bergopolis – from her very mouth: “We are the network’s golden child in every way, except profit margins. Fact is, #Eureka is an expensive show to make. And we could not maintain the quality of our show with the cuts it would take to make us profitable for Syfy’s new parent company. Our creative execs at Syfy fought hard to keep us. Trust me, they LOVE us. We just couldn’t make the numbers work.” So yeah, SyFy DID want to keep it, SyFy DID fight… Read more »
I saw elsewhere that Amy Berg who is one of the writers tweeted:
I have a lot to say, yet nothing to say. Strange
Everyone is asking why. It’s simple, really.
We are the network’s golden child in every way, except profit margins. Fact is, #Eureka is an expensive show to make.
And we could not maintain the quality of our show with the cuts it would take to make us profitable for Syfy’s new parent company.
Our creative execs at Syfy fought hard to keep us. Trust me, they LOVE us. We just couldn’t make the numbers work.”
Sorry, katikatnik, didn’t see your post up yet when I submitted mine!
Make room for more wrasslin!
@Sylvia: LOL, great minds think alike ;) Better twice than never :P
Yayyy more wrestling!!! And seriously what did you think “Amy Berg” was going to say? There were no bridges burnt here.
Syfy will have a hard time justifying its existence soon enough. Especially if blood and chrome tanks. Whoever is running that network better start looking for a another job.
It is somewhat telling it was specified that it was “Syfy’s new parent company” that was the issue…
Apparently Cabletown (30 Rock reference) is starting to really push it’s influence.
@Duneknight the person running Syfy is the former runner of…and this makes NO SENSE…Lifetime. So if you see what shows are greenlit and has the backing of Syfy it’s shows that seem to be more aligned with what Lifetime was. No offense to women, but used to be that Syfy was geared towards men and now the network is getting femmed up which is hurting everyones favorite shows. Yes Eureka was one of their favs because it’s one of those that could appear on Lifetime, but it had it’s Scifi stuff that attracted everyone, but more and more you see… Read more »
never liked this show
I really wish you guys would either tell us you aren’t going to do the final podcast for Stargate Universe or at least tell us when to expect it.
Do you you realize it has been 71 days since your last podcast?
It is almost as bad as SciFy-whatever its called cancelling the show/franchise, but not as bad because of the upcoming re-watch/podcast series you guys eluded too in the last podcast.
I mean are you guys ok? If necessary I would be more then happy to donate if that is what is needed! Put up a paypal donation link.
NBC Universal owns Syfy, USA, etc. But didn’t Comcast recently buy out NBC Universal. I knew I hated Comcast from the moment I saw one of their cable provider commercials years ago, now I really hate Comcast.
when will the nightmare end another great show. syfy sucks and there is no excuse for it. jerks
Syfy is a joke.
I wonder if Syfy are able to cancel themselves. I’d like to see that happen.
I am only still watching Syfy at all for Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Sanctuary, the rest is not worth getting invested in. I’ll bet you all that we lose Warehouse 13 and Sanctuary in 2013. At that point I will stop watching Syfy until they start airing a new Stargate series. Haven looks horrible (I gave it one episode), Being Human is a bad copy of UK, Alphas looks horrible (I gave it 10 minutes)
@Billz if they cancel Sanctuary it will get rid of the few of us Stargate fans that still watch the network at all, and when they get rid of Warehouse 13, I’m done with them. Odds are, if they keep cancelling shows we like (and having bad PR of actors finding out on twitter from fans) they will inadvertently cancel themselves.
I would love to see Craig Engler justifying Eureka’s cancellation to fans the same way he tried to justify it to Stargate’s fans. You know, we CONSTANTLY get told RATINGS RATINGS RATINGS! But when we tune in and give them RATINGS (it was performing fairly solidly) THEY STILL CANCEL IT! We can’t win in television anymore. We just can’t. And its telling that this comes RIGHT after FOX tells Fringe fans that for the show to keep going, they just need to keep bringing in similar viewer numbers. What Fringe is getting on FOX would probably be about a 1.5-1.8… Read more »
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I’m so sick of this!!!!
SyFy is seriously digging its own grave.
I wonder if there’s a chance that somebody else, maybe even a network like Starz or HBO would pick it up? Unlike SGU, Eureka not only got great reviews but it brought in the numbers too. 2.1 million viewers for a cable network scripted series is nothing to snuff at, especially when its consistent over 5 years (yeah, not quite as good as it used to do but still not bad).
@Browncoat1984 for me the problem with a premium cable channel picking it up is that it would significantly drop how many viewers it gets, because most people don’t have those channels, some do, most don’t.
But if it picks it up and is sucessful, I’d much rather that happen than it not happen at all. I mean, there’s always DVD releases for those of us who don’t subscribe, and I’d rather have that than no new episodes at all, even if there is a longer wait. I don’t have Starz, but I’m happy that Torchwood is on there and continuing, because the alternative would be no Torchwood at all. I mean, if that were a possibility for SGU, wouldn’t you want that for SGU and for it to be successful that way and get a… Read more »
@Browncoat1984 I would feel tortured to not pirate episodes if they were on a premium channel, I’d be glad for any of the other 400(ish) channels I get (not premium cable) to pick it up though.
24 hour wresting! Only on Syfy, Imagine Greater.
Why do I always misspell wrestling?
This is getting ridiculous, with SGU they at least had the excuse of the falling ratings. Now they kill off their highest rated show? (Not counting SmackDown, wich as a wrestling fan myself I don’t think belongs on SyFy. It’s not like they need to be there.
How bout this for a new movie? SyFy-Extinction
arsshaw, though your post is off-topic for this thread, let me assure you that if I knew when the “Gauntlet” podcast was going to be published I’d tell you. I’d rather not give a specific timetable than guess something and inevitably be wrong again.
We have every intent of resuming regular recording before the summer is out.
wraithkelso:
24 hour wresting! Only on Syfy, Imagine Greater.
made me laugh irl! :D
@Darren do you know why it is taking so long?
Congratulations SyFy. You have done what I never thought was possible. You have found a way to make me stop watching your network. This was the final show I watched, and now I’m done with you. So throw on 10 or 15 more “reality” shows. The network now has no soul to it.
The reason they couldnt get the numbers, is because not many people watch the Syfy channel anymore except for the smackdown auidence. I use to watch Syfy a bunch because of stargate, but since they got rid of it, there was no reason for me to tune into their channel. Their channel is boring now
I am sorry to see this show end, but I’m not surprised. I hope Haven and Warehouse 13 can hang in a little longer, though I’m not sure they can milk their premises much further. Never have been able to get into Alphas. Except for the reruns of Stargate and Star Trek and the occasional cheesy but guilty pleasure creature feature, Syfy has been losing me. Let’s hope someone who can think outside the box can bring something exciting back to this channel.
WOW!!! Nice one SYFY, i guess 2011 turned out to be the year they (syfy)killed well sci-fi. WH13/Sanctuary are next on the coping block for sure… i like how the exsecs are ok putting money behind those ORIGINAL (true lol) “movies”(crap) (except Tin Man, Alice, Etc….)… i have no doubt that comcast (new owners of nbc (owner of syfy)) had a lot to do with this. this better be a fitting end to what they created its one thing to cancel a show you created but when you dont give them time to end them (like most deserve (universe)). I’m… Read more »
Allow for some humor:
Could switching to Geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? Does Syfy cancel all of the good shows while still in their prime?
Wow…
Just… wow.
(That even left *me* wordless.)
“Sci-Fi Show Hunters– Adventures From the Programming Board” (Newest SyFy show, perchance?)
@Wraithkelso:
You owe me a new laptop for the beer I spewed on my keyboard…
This network is circling the drain can’t wait till its dead!
I knew things were in trouble when the network changed from Sci-Fi to SyFy and programming changed to wrestling and more ghost hunting type reality shows (which are very cheap to produce). Watch for them to change their name to the “Meh Network” soon…
I used to watch Ghost Hunters but its been so boring the past few years, and ever since that botched Halloween special that SyFy just turned into an advert for their other shows, I just don’t trust them anymore.
Another one bites the dust! Hardly a surprise.Maybe now those who were buying ratings and financial explanations will see there are other issues at hand here. And it was obvious if you looked just a little bit harder ever since Caprica was canceled,not to mention after new slot was announced.
Now there’s just Warehouse 13 whichis not even a sci-fi show and Sanctuary and even that’ll be over in a year..I would bet my house on it.
I used to be mad at SyFy Channel,now I just feel sorry for them.
If they really wanted SGU..they would’ve left it in the Summer.And financial angle insults our intelligence. That is all about budgeting..if a show costs more,you don’t have to make every single episode as expensive..very easily solvable,especially if the ratings are over 2 mill.
Deadline reported last week that the network was considering a shortened, 6-episode sixth season, to give the writers sufficient time to wrap up any dangling story threads.
….Ahem, hint hint.
Eureka was the last show I’d expect them to do this to, really, I thought they were save because they’re one of Syfy’s golden eggs. I don’t see anyway how they could have handled this any worse, I really don’t. This worries for the other shows on the channel, especially Sanctuary. Not because it’s in any more danger than the other shows, but because it’s my fave show, and I worry about it. And with good reason. What Syfy has done has proved that no show can be safe, Eureka is the perfect example because it’s the 2nd highest rated… Read more »
SyFy is interested in one thing; Profits. This is clearly demonstrated in their decision to air more cheap reality crap, filled in by mostly low budget poo that looks like it was written by an illiterate child. The few watchable shows are fading away and I think it is just a matter of time before SyFy fades away as well, leaving us with nothing more than a nasty aftertaste and the fond memories of their schizophrenic programming decisions. SyFy is just Corporate Network types trying to keep their jobs before Comcast pulls the plug and they have to go back… Read more »
wraithkelso: I do know why, but I’ve avoided giving any reasons because I don’t think it’s right to risk publicly embarrassing anyone. GW runs by volunteers sacrificing their free time, so when something skids to a halt, we just have to take our hits and move on.
Latest report, as of 5 minutes ago in my inbox, is that the podcast should be ready in the next 24-36 hours. Again, I can’t promise it’ll be here until it’s actually here. :)
@FakeNetworkExec The reality is that all of the networks and businesses for that matter are interested in one thing..profit.They’re not running a charity organisation. But the problem with SyFy is that it’s doing an appalling job at it.With their fencing mentality of turning the profit overnight,without any viable longterm strategy whatsoever.Never willing to stick to anything,stay true to their word,or show respect to the viewers.That is gonna be their undoing in the end.Otherwise,I agree with you. Anyway,I’m not sure exactly what it is..whether their new masters have been given a directive to suck the capital out and turn the lights… Read more »
@Darren, I hope it is out soon, I’ve been dying to hear your opinions on the episode lol (this is the only reason I asked).
Also, if a friend and I wanted to do some episode commentaries (for episodes you don’t do) would you promote them as mine (and my friends) contributions to the Stargate Rewatch?
@Darren As you yourself said,you’re doing this for free,on your own free time.All of you involved with GW project and that deserves respect.
It also means you shouldn’t have to explain yourelf to anyone for anything..at least till they start paying you for the content they get for free now!!Most people here are all right,but some should really be ashamed of themselves!