Stargate Ratings are choking!

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2007-05-04 09:55pm

Gateworld wrote:Atlantis ratings improve slightly
Tuesday - May 1, 2007 | by Darren Sumner

Stargate Atlantis gained a bit in the ratings its third week back, but Stargate SG-1 and Painkiller Jane stayed even with the season-low ratings of the previous week.

SG-1 started off the night of Friday, April 27 with "The Road Not Taken" at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. The episode improved by 1 percent, earning another 1.1 average household rating (Live + Same Day).

Stargate Atlantis regained some of its lost viewers at 9 p.m. "Irresponsible" earned a 1.3 rating, up 10 percent from the previous week.

SCI FI's new original series Painkiller Jane ended the night with a 1.0 rating, equal with the previous week.

Though SCI FI Channel viewers are using digital video recorders more and more, they are apparently not watching the late-night reruns. SG-1 and Atlantis's 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. airings earned 0.7 and 0.6 ratings, respectively.

The television industry has seen soft ratings numbers across the board, leading to speculation about how the increasing number of DVRs will impact the networks' ad rate negotiations this year. According to Nielsen Media Research (reported at MediaWeek, more than 5 percent of broadcast network viewers watch DVR-recorded programming within seven days. Among viewers age 18 to 49, the number jumps to more than 8 percent.

Brand new episodes continue this Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific with the highly anticipated SG-1 episode "The Shroud," featuring a guest appearance by Richard Dean Anderson ("Jack O'Neill"), and Atlantis's "Tao of Rodney."

This is horrible. It's doing just as well as PKJ!

Chris OFarrell · Post by **Chris OFarrell** » 2007-05-04 09:58pm

SciFi air it after 90% of its audience have torrented it from the UK and now they find the ratings have crashed.
Really I'm shocked. Shocked.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2007-05-04 10:13pm

Chris OFarrell wrote:SciFi air it after 90% of its audience have torrented it from the UK and now they find the ratings have crashed.
Really I'm shocked. Shocked.

Is this a "the end" trend? I don't remember this happening before.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-05-04 10:24pm

Well, since SG1 is going out anyway, I suppose it's not that bad of a consequence. Still a really stupid thing for Sci-Fi to hold out the US broadcast of the final block for so long given the circumstances.

At least Atlantis has already been approved for approved for another season before this snafu could take place...

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2007-05-04 11:00pm

Soontir C'boath wrote:
Chris OFarrell wrote:SciFi air it after 90% of its audience have torrented it from the UK and now they find the ratings have crashed.
Really I'm shocked. Shocked.
Is this a "the end" trend? I don't remember this happening before.

Quite probably. The show's over and unlikely to be picked up by anyone else, which means that the story is over so far as Sci-Fi is concerned. That really does remove a good deal of the reasons to worry about catching the show on TV.

It's probably also to a degree simple franchise fatigue. It's a ten year old show and it's already four seasons old spin-off. As I understand it, both shows were suffering a certain amount of slippage already. (I've also heard people deride the recasting as "Fargate" as well.) It's possible the semi-fan population just went "meh, it's over" and simply aren't worrying about a canceled show.

CaptJodan · Post by **CaptJodan** » 2007-05-05 12:28am

You'd think if SG-1 was affected by torrentites that Atlantis would be suffering from it as well. Regardless, I can't see their long break being of any help to either series, honestly. You either have the people torrenting, or those who watch it only half-heartedly and after such a long break simply forget it's back or don't care.

Though given the difference between the two shows, it seems most likely to be the "it's the end, who cares" syndrome. While SG-1 is getting old, I don't find Atlantis to be different enough to be something fresh or new (and they've redone SG-1 eps before) to shelter it from that SG-1 fatigue crossing over. It doesn't likely bode well for the direct to DVD movies, though.

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-05-05 08:12am

Frankly, Sci-Fi Channel are a bunch of morons when it comes to understanding the internet. Anyone who couldn't predict that airing it literally months after both shows have come and gone in the UK would affect ratings is a fool.

Instant Sunrise · Post by **Instant Sunrise** » 2007-05-05 02:53pm

I don't know what it's like for you guys on the East Coast. However, here in PST, SG-1 was aired at 8:00 instead of 9:00. Painkiller Jane in the 10 PM slot, bumping the gates down.

Honestly, having SG-1 start at 8 was a huge hit to the ratings. As well as waiting that long, with the episodes already aired in the UK.

Andrew_Fireborn · Post by **Andrew_Fireborn** » 2007-05-05 04:25pm

Well, sci-fi is well known for retarded choices, and inability to read their market... So, it's not surprising. Although it's interesting, since this is the first time I've heard it was aired in Europe well before we got it.

I mean, I know Doctor Who is aired well before over there... but if they're doing it with all their shows... May not have to wait till 08 to see the rest of BSG.

By the way, are they going to air Dr. Who on Sci-Fi anymore, or should I start looking for it on the BBC channel my cable gives me?

Stormbringer wrote:(I've also heard people deride the recasting as "Fargate" as well.)

I'll admit to worrying about that back when the two first showed up... (They're still linked to their Farscape character names in my mind.) But I wasn't too worried, since I knew the guy who played Criton could do smart ass at about the same level as RDA.

Meest · Post by **Meest** » 2007-05-05 05:54pm

Even if people are getting the torrents they can easily see the spoiler reviews on Gateworld and other fan sites. In this day and age it was stupid to think the majority would hold out. Not that SciFi cares they're relieving hefty salaries and seem to be on a straight to DVD movie binge.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-05-05 06:35pm

I blame the frequent breaks in airing new episodes.

xerex · Post by **xerex** » 2007-05-05 10:21pm

Andrew_Fireborn wrote:
Stormbringer wrote:(I've also heard people deride the recasting as "Fargate" as well.)
I'll admit to worrying about that back when the two first showed up... (They're still linked to their Farscape character names in my mind.) But I wasn't too worried, since I knew the guy who played Criton could do smart ass at about the same level as RDA.

I've only seen the preview for the next episode, but it looks frightenly like one of those Criton mindgame episodes farscape was infamous for.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2007-05-05 11:40pm

Vympel wrote:Frankly, Sci-Fi Channel are a bunch of morons when it comes to understanding the internet. Anyone who couldn't predict that airing it literally months after both shows have come and gone in the UK would affect ratings is a fool.

That's certainly going to have an affect but, correct me if I'm wrong, it do better in it's previous airings despite doing the same thing? Further more, didn't Doctor Who's run on Sci-fi at a time when the second season was airing do well?

I'm not denying that it will have an effect but it seems like downloading episodes isn't enough to account for it and that this a combination of factors. Certainly things like moving nBSG, the impending end, and simple boredom are likely to take their toll too.

Andrew_Fireborn wrote:I mean, I know Doctor Who is aired well before over there... but if they're doing it with all their shows... May not have to wait till 08 to see the rest of BSG.

By the way, are they going to air Dr. Who on Sci-Fi anymore, or should I start looking for it on the BBC channel my cable gives me?

There's a good chance they'll be picking up the new Season of Doctor Who; the runs of the first two seasons did good numbers ratings-wise. But both seasons ran well after the BBC (and CBC) made the original run. If I remember right it was about a half a year later. So I don't think they're in any hurry to get it on air and probably will not even be able to with out buying in (which they won't do).

There's been some speculation that they'll be getting Torchwood too. But with that being some what less sucessful, who knows?

Andrew_Fireborn wrote:
Stormbringer wrote:(I've also heard people deride the recasting as "Fargate" as well.)
I'll admit to worrying about that back when the two first showed up... (They're still linked to their Farscape character names in my mind.) But I wasn't too worried, since I knew the guy who played Criton could do smart ass at about the same level as RDA.

I never really watched the show more than ocassionally (though a friend of mine and one my college roommates were fans) so I can't really judge. But as I understand it a lot of people just didn't care for the recasting, the new stories, the new arc, and in general just got bored with it. A possible reason for the decline of both shows.

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2007-05-06 12:02pm

They have to realize that if they air the first half of the season over the summertime lull, then they must start airing the second half in the new year. 4 to 6 months is how long you wait between a season finale and a season premire, not how long you wait between the first and second halves of a season.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-05-06 02:09pm

I find it hard to believe that people downloading episodes before they've aired in the US would inflict a substantial impact on ratings. Hell, I would think that Nielson participants that liked the show enough to go download it via BitTorrent would be willing to fudge the reports so it looked like they watched the show anyway.