About the cancellation...

[Teal'c_PI]

I've been wondering this for a while now, and I thought I'd get some other opinions. While I was reading some interviews about SGA's cancellation, I noticed a weird discrepancy. In his interview with Gateworld in August '08, Brad Wright says:

....we decided basically to pull the trigger on movies sooner rather than later, while Atlantis was still doing well.

Then, in the Q&A on Joe Mallozzi's blog in January '09, he says:

Folks, if Atlantis was performing brilliantly in the ratings, it would still be on the air.

I asked Joe Mallozzi why those two quotes differed so much, and he answered me in his December '09 blog post:

Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for you. When we received news of the cancellation, we were surprised to say the least. Granted, one could argue that the ratings for the show had slipped since its second season, but there was no denying the numbers had actually improved in season five. From a creative standpoint, we still had stories to tell and the writers’ room was confident we would be back. But what did we know.

While I'm glad that he took the time to answer me, his reply unfortunately didn't really answer my question. I still don't really understand why Brad first said that they wanted to end SGA while it was doing well, and then said that it wouldn't have ended had it been doing well!

So, does anyone have any idea what the real reason for the cancellation is? Did Brad explain the cancellation differently because he can't reveal the real reason? Or does it seem like there's another reason? Thanks in advance for your opinions

[Replicator Todd]

I think someone up there just was tired of SGA and wanted something new(SGU). So it was axed. At least thats what I think....the ratings were doing pretty well I thought.

[Beka]

Brad Wright and Robert Cooper got bored of SGA. They left the series after season 3. They wanted to do something else. So they pitched the idea of SGU to MGM/Syfy.

I personally think that Syfy just wasn't interested to have two Stargate series at once on the air again. I think they thought they would attract Stargate fans already with SGU to the channel, so there wasn't any need for SGA anymore. I think SGA would have gotten a 6th season, if Wright and Cooper wouldn't have pitched SGU to MGM/Syfy, because then there wouldn't have been an alternative Stargate series, MGM/Syfy could have chosen from.

And TPTB gave all kind of reasons in interviews for SGA's cancellation, which contradict each other, so I have stopped trusting their words in regards to SGA's cancellation.

[Saquist]

This is simple.
It was a money decision. Atlantis took alot of money to create.
They thought they get the same ratings in a cheaper show with the added bonus of recreating an BSG style series.

They've been trying to reproduce BSG twice now. SGU and Caprica. Both are failing.

[The Flyattractor]

I think it was a bit of that and that SGA wasn't doing anything that hadn't already been done 2 or 3 times already in SG1.
And done better.

[Teal'c_PI]

Brad Wright and Robert Cooper got bored of SGA. They left the series after season 3. They wanted to do something else. So they pitched the idea of SGU to MGM/Syfy.

I personally think that Syfy just wasn't interested to have two Stargate series at once on the air again. I think they thought they would attract Stargate fans already with SGU to the channel, so there wasn't any need for SGA anymore. I think SGA would have gotten a 6th season, if Wright and Cooper wouldn't have pitched SGU to MGM/Syfy, because then there wouldn't have been an alternative Stargate series, MGM/Syfy could have chosen from.

And TPTB gave all kind of reasons in interviews for SGA's cancellation, which contradict each other, so I have stopped trusting their words in regards to SGA's cancellation.

You're probably right. I didn't read much about the cancellation after it happened, so I didn't know that there were more explanations of why SGA was canceled...it's probably just as simple as you think, and they didn't want to/couldn't admit it.

I think it was a bit of that and that SGA wasn't doing anything that hadn't already been done 2 or 3 times already in SG1.
And done better.

No argument there

[McgillionFan]

I too am not to sure why they canceled SGA and especially if the ratings was higher and the show was doing well.

If they canceled SGA for SGU...i will be very VERY annoyed.I am one who doesn't like SGU and yes i have tried to give it a chance but i really can't stand that show.Since SGU has come along it feels like SGA has been pushed a side and forgotten and that is very sad.SGA deserves better. It was a great spin off series and my fav SG series.

I don't know if we may find the truth about the show being canceled.I'm afraid i didn;t read to much about it either so i can't really say. But as i said it better not of been canceled to bring SGUseless on our screens.

LONG LIVE SGA YOU ARE MISSED.

[Derocalypse]

I too would love a definitive answer concerning SGA's cancellation. Every time I read various interviews with TPTB about Atlantis and why it was cancelled there is never a definitive answer. We will probably never know the real reason. Was it for SGU, I don't know and I hope that was not the case.

[zainea13]

I think it was a bit of that and that SGA wasn't doing anything that hadn't already been done 2 or 3 times already in SG1.
And done better.

Bingo. Even though there are probably other reasons. The fact that SGA was so similar to SG1 in style restricted its story telling ability. It got into a rut and it was going to take a lot to change that. And they couldn't change too much from the style. In order to tell completely new stories you need a medium (SGU) to tell those stories through. If they radically changed SGA's style people wouldn't have liked it. So they released a new story telling device SGU, which they wanted to do anyways. Just as a mini-series/movie instead of a series.

[maxbo]

I think if you want to know the truth about why SGA was canceled then you just have to read the early interviews because I think BW and RCC made it clear that they wanted to move away from SGA and on to SGU. That's not surprising because, according to Mallozzi, they hadn't been involved with the day-to-day running of SGA since Season 2. I think Mallozzi mentioned that he had showrunner duties for SGA about a year before it was made official, so BW and RCC hadn't been actively involved with SGA for years before the cancellation.

I also remember reading that SGA's cancellation was a "mutual" decision. I took that to mean that in addition to BW and RCC, that Syfy and MGM also supported SGA's cancellation. Back then everyone seemed to be confident that they had made the right decision. It was only after they realized that Stargate fandom wasn't as pliable as they believed we were that they started waffling. Suddenly BW's comments about SGA were all over the place, Syfy claimed that it didn't want SGA canceled and everyone else involved, or close enough to know the truth, started acting like they have no idea why SGA was canceled.

This situation reminds me of the killing of Carson because that's another decision that was somehow made without anyone taking responsibility for it. I suppose Carson just decided to kill himself and the poor TPTB just went along for the ride.

IMO, they should stop with the waffling and just own their decision because trying to hide from the truth is doing more harm than good. There's nothing wrong with admitting that they wanted to do something new. If they had just stuck with that reason and not resorted to belittling the Stargate fans who weren't looking forward to SGU then I believe that a lot of the current bitterness could have been avoided.

As for SGA, IMO, it was far from stale because there were so many storylines that the writers either never followed up on or didn't even bother to delve into in the first place. I believe they became stuck in a rut and became too complacent. Instead of writing the same old tired storylines, featuring their favorite characters, over and over, new writers should have been brought in to freshen up the writing pool because it's sad to see fanfic writers out write the professionals.

SGA was my favorite show, but it wasn't in good hands at the end and that's a shame.

[KEK]

Joe and Paul took over in season 4, and after 3 seasons of falling ratings they improved quality drastically and the number began to climb again. I'd say it was in good hands at the end.

[magictrick]

You will never get a definitive answer regarding this topic. The rough summary from everything we've read is something like this.

Some of of the producers wanted to create a new type of Stargate show. Brad and Robert were the ones who were working on this idea. When they pitched the show and SyFy liked it, they got the go ahead. SGA had declining ratings anyway (apparently in season 5 they went up, surprisingly, but it wasn't enough) so it got axed.

[Derocalypse]

The ratings excuse for SGA never made any sense at all.

[Briangate78]

The ratings excuse for SGA never made any sense at all.

It was not ratings. We will never know the truth, because quite frankly.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM

[Atlantis4Life]

I think if you want to know the truth about why SGA was canceled then you just have to read the early interviews because I think BW and RCC made it clear that they wanted to move away from SGA and on to SGU. That's not surprising because, according to Mallozzi, they hadn't been involved with the day-to-day running of SGA since Season 2. I think Mallozzi mentioned that he had showrunner duties for SGA about a year before it was made official, so BW and RCC hadn't been actively involved with SGA for years before the cancellation.

I also remember reading that SGA's cancellation was a "mutual" decision. I took that to mean that in addition to BW and RCC, that Syfy and MGM also supported SGA's cancellation. Back then everyone seemed to be confident that they had made the right decision. It was only after they realized that Stargate fandom wasn't as pliable as they believed we were that they started waffling. Suddenly BW's comments about SGA were all over the place, Syfy claimed that it didn't want SGA canceled and everyone else involved, or close enough to know the truth, started acting like they have no idea why SGA was canceled.

This situation reminds me of the killing of Carson because that's another decision that was somehow made without anyone taking responsibility for it. I suppose Carson just decided to kill himself and the poor TPTB just went along for the ride.

IMO, they should stop with the waffling and just own their decision because trying to hide from the truth is doing more harm than good. There's nothing wrong with admitting that they wanted to do something new. If they had just stuck with that reason and not resorted to belittling the Stargate fans who weren't looking forward to SGU then I believe that a lot of the current bitterness could have been avoided.

As for SGA, IMO, it was far from stale because there were so many storylines that the writers either never followed up on or didn't even bother to delve into in the first place. I believe they became stuck in a rut and became too complacent. Instead of writing the same old tired storylines, featuring their favorite characters, over and over, new writers should have been brought in to freshen up the writing pool because it's sad to see fanfic writers out write the professionals.

SGA was my favorite show, but it wasn't in good hands at the end and that's a shame.

Greened!