If you’re wondering how some of your favorite Syfy Channel shows did last week in the ratings gamut, here’s a quick short list of the more notable shows. (I said notable. Not to be confused with fantastic, popular, etc..)
Show: Viewers in the millions
- Alice: 2.54
- Ghost Hunters: 2.44
- Ghost Hunters Academy: 1.64
- National Treasure movie: 1.4
- Stargate Universe: 1.34
Stargate Universe’s mid season finale probably had its best ever episode, but the showrunners have alienated the installed fan-base for the show and others aren’t quite catching on because they think it’s Stargate, when in fact, it’s another beast altogether!
Many call it a soap opera, declare their hate for it, then spend their time watching it so they can extol the nitpick flaws they’ve discovered in the show. I’m liking it, but apparently I must like soap operas. It can be slow, or you can sit dow and expect a nice quiet hour of entertainment that works hard at the character development.
It’s not much different than Lost with their character building flashbacks, but I think they need to start picking up some action if they’re going to pick up the ratings.
I think they’ve lost the Stargate fan-base, but I think they can pick it up with new viewers who can appreciate the show for what it is rather than what they want it to be.
For the record, I hated the first few episodes of Stargate Universe just because I came in expecting the light, jovial approach that Stargate has come to represent. But I stuck with it, changed my perceptions a little and I’m now reaping a decent hour of entertainment… for me.
We all be different beasts in what entertains us. For some, it’s full time explosive action, some it’s a mix and others, it’s all about the characters and what they bring to the table when they show up in a scene.
To each his own.
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Ratings source: TV By The Numbers, opinion: My Brain … the right half… I think.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Full disclosure. You know from previous comments that I am not an impartial observer.
It seems to me that the same people that ruined “Battlestar Galactica” because a soap opera set in space was to hard core science fiction. They wanted to appeal to a larger audience. Those same people canceled “Stargate Atlantis” in order to replace it with “Stargate Universe” a soap opera in set in space.
(An aside)
When I first met the man that would become my son-in-law and learned that he was an accomplished musician. I asked him a stupid question. “What kind of music do you like?”
He replied without batting an eye. “Good Music”
Indeed, his music library contains every genre from classical to hard rock.” He has played with groups that do country and others that do British invasion and their own songs which cannot be classified.
My point is that it doesn’t matter what the genre is or where the story takes place people will watch if it is “Good Drama”.
The network should stop interfering by forcing story lines on the producers and writers and firing certain young actresses (sorry couldn’t help myself). They claim that it is done to appeal to a larger audience?
Let the producers and writers produce “Good Drama” and the viewers will follow.
From his latest twitters a certain network exec is all over the set of “Caprica”. God help them.
I think I would have liked BSG or even Stargate Universe if these networks didn’t use a known name to sell a series. BSG and Stargate should have just been stand alone series that had no ties to the former shows. They should have been promoted as new and original shows. TOS BSB and New BSG had some storyline similarities, but BSG could have been it’s own things. Frankly new BSG is more like Space: Above and Beyond than it is TOS BSG. The same goes with Stargate Universe.
It’s like the movie I Robot. Don’t know if it’s true or not, but I read somewhere that I Robot (the Will Smith movie) was called something else and actually it’s own film, but it was decided to call it I Robot as a way to sell the film. If that is true, stuff like that pisses me.
Amanda… there are whole marketing divisions within each studio that work out what’s the best name for anything. Television shows, movies… I don’t think they ever come out with the title / name they were originally set up with.
Think about it… it’s a business that has to look at how to best distribute their product and generate business for themselves. With that said, yes, it bites.