SGA - SyFy Portal: Third Season for Stargate Atlantis?

[PsychoPenguin]

I don't know about that, but I am curious about this past week.

And when it comes to ratings, that's usually what I am, curious but not concerned.

I have a hard time seeing Scifi cancelling any of these shows. I remember back when this channel was the "Friday the 13th" channel, showing reruns of that crappy syndicated horror show over and over. A decade later, and it's leaps and bounds better, but still, except for the occasional "Pterodactyl," I can't see where anything they have would perform better than what they show on Friday night.

[MartoufMarty]

From the article: "No word has been received on the fate of "Stargate: SG-1," but many industry insiders feel that the SciFi stalwart will see an unprecedented 10th season next summer".

Bah. Right now I really don't care if Stargate SG-1 gets a 10th season or not.

I love the show and all, but I find season 9 to be very slow. I think that not much has happened in this season yet to develop the Orii story.

Yes, we know the Orii are bad and they're trying to get people to worship them and it's working, but... what else?

Hopefully it'll start picking up in the last two episodes they have to air before the break and the latter half of the season...

[the dancer of spaz]

That's kinda how it's always been. In S8, we had eps like "Zero Hour" and "Icon," and in S7 we had eps like "Avenger 2.0" and "Enemy Mine." All of these eps were fine in their own right (one could argue), but they didn't really play into the arc. We didn't have any Stargate-y goodness until LAAATE in S7 and until "Reckoning" in S8. I guess that's just the pattern they like to follow.

:shrugs:

[Osiris]

We must not watch the same show. Season 9 has really impressed me so far. And that would be silly to start the fight and all early in the season. That would reproduce the whole goa'uld thing. Another goa'uld killed and another. Same missions etc.
The whole season is a build up for Crusade and Camelot.

[Piratejenna]

No offence to SyFy Portal, which is a responsible site, but the fact they are picking up rumors from Sci-fi insiders may not mean much. Truth is, employees in media organizations don't know much about the high-level decisions, and thrive on gossip and rumor just as much as the rest of us! It's not unknown, for example, for inexperienced actors to assume that the next season is a forgone conclusion because they've got a 6-year contract. They then start talking over lunch about 'next season' and before you know it, it's out on the Net that 'SGA has been renewed'!

I'd be surprised if a decision has already been made about SGA without there also being a decision on SG-1. Financial considerations are going to be part of the calculation, and the two shows are currently sharing some important costs in terms of studio, behind-the-scenes staff, sets etc. I would have thought that, at the very least, TPTB would wait until after the mid-season finale ratings are in before deciding anything. It's been a long time simce SGA had to perform in the ratings without the lead-in of SG-1, so I suspect TPTB will be looking closely at that. I'll also be very surprised if SG-1 isn't renewed - Sony pumped a heap of money in to relaunch it this season, and it would seem daft not to capitalize on that. Besides which, SG-1 is the only show out of the three which is a proven long-term performer, not just on Friday nights, but in reruns, syndication amd overseas. SGA is weak in reruns, and both SGA and BSG did badly in the UK. So although SG-1 may cost a lot, long-term returns may still make it worth it.

[prion]

No offence to SyFy Portal, which is a responsible site, but the fact they are picking up rumors from Sci-fi insiders may not mean much. Truth is, employees in media organizations don't know much about the high-level decisions, and thrive on gossip and rumor just as much as the rest of us! It's not unknown, for example, for inexperienced actors to assume that the next season is a forgone conclusion because they've got a 6-year contract. They then start talking over lunch about 'next season' and before you know it, it's out on the Net that 'SGA has been renewed'!

I'd be surprised if a decision has already been made about SGA without there also being a decision on SG-1. Financial considerations are going to be part of the calculation, and the two shows are currently sharing some important costs in terms of studio, behind-the-scenes staff, sets etc. I would have thought that, at the very least, TPTB would wait until after the mid-season finale ratings are in before deciding anything. It's been a long time simce SGA had to perform in the ratings without the lead-in of SG-1, so I suspect TPTB will be looking closely at that. I'll also be very surprised if SG-1 isn't renewed - Sony pumped a heap of money in to relaunch it this season, and it would seem daft not to capitalize on that. Besides which, SG-1 is the only show out of the three which is a proven long-term performer, not just on Friday nights, but in reruns, syndication amd overseas. SGA is weak in reruns, and both SGA and BSG did badly in the UK. So although SG-1 may cost a lot, long-term returns may still make it worth it.

Don't know the ratings/whatever in the UK. Badly?

However, many shows do release renewal news before a season is over if they feel they're going to renew the show. Other networks drag their feet, like CBS with CSI. I mean, will they NOT renew the top show on TV? Duh, it's a no-brainer, but they wait till mid-May to announce.

As for SciFi. if they don't renew at least two of 'SciFi Friday,' they're doomed.

[PsychoPenguin]

and both SGA and BSG did badly in the UK.

Where do you go to see these UK numbers? (Again, just curious...)

[MediaSavant]

No offence to SyFy Portal, which is a responsible site, but the fact they are picking up rumors from Sci-fi insiders may not mean much.

I have not found SyFy Portal to be terribly accurate. They once wrote something explaining the ratings system and there was wrong information used.

[Piratejenna]

Where do you go to see these UK numbers? (Again, just curious...)

The top 10s are on the BARB site at barb.co.uk (BARB being the UK equivalent of the Neilsens). You have to dig around a bit but what you're looking for is the Weekly Viewing Summary for Multi-Channel Top 10, SKY 1. There's no point trying to compare between channels for satellite and pay TV because they're mostly niche channels with tiny audiences, so the main criteria is just how well a show does relative to other shows on the same channel. The Stargate's + BSG all aired over the same period from October 2004 - March 2005. (I think the Stargates premiered mid-October with BSG series starting a bit later, after the Mini series had been repeated for several weeks).

[prion]

I have not found SyFy Portal to be terribly accurate. They once wrote something explaining the ratings system and there was wrong information used.

The only people I trust to interpret ratings are those that actually work in the business or who are press and deal with ratings all the time (and it's part of their job to understand them.). I've seen far too many fans over the years put their 'spin' on ratings to suit their own, er, not, beliefs, er, favorites?

[PsychoPenguin]

The top 10s are on the BARB site at barb.co.uk (BARB being the UK equivalent of the Neilsens). You have to dig around a bit but what you're looking for is the Weekly Viewing Summary for Multi-Channel Top 10, SKY 1. There's no point trying to compare between channels for satellite and pay TV because they're mostly niche channels with tiny audiences, so the main criteria is just how well a show does relative to other shows on the same channel. The Stargate's + BSG all aired over the same period from October 2004 - March 2005. (I think the Stargates premiered mid-October with BSG series starting a bit later, after the Mini series had been repeated for several weeks).

Wow, that's an interesting site...

How do you find out how the individual shows did though? All I can see through this is that SGA and BSG weren't in their top tens for those periods. Is there any way to check the individual showings? (And btw, wow, "The Simpsons" hit just about every timeslot in the top tens I saw from that period for that channel. That's amazing!)

[Piratejenna]

Wow, that's an interesting site...

How do you find out how the individual shows did though? All I can see through this is that SGA and BSG weren't in their top tens for those periods. Is there any way to check the individual showings? (And btw, wow, "The Simpsons" hit just about every timeslot in the top tens I saw from that period for that channel. That's amazing!)

Yep - SKY1 is now the Simpsons and sci-fi channel! (Which is a great improvement on what it used to be - the 24/7 Total Crap channel...). I'm afraid I don't know where to get ratings for shows outside the top 10. BARB makes them available to the TV companies and presumably advertisers, but they don't get published as far as I know. All we really know is that shows outside the top 10 fell below the 10th-rated figure.

[PsychoPenguin]

Yep - SKY1 is now the Simpsons and sci-fi channel! (Which is a great improvement on what it used to be - the 24/7 Total Crap channel...). I'm afraid I don't know where to get ratings for shows outside the top 10. BARB makes them available to the TV companies and presumably advertisers, but they don't get published as far as I know. All we really know is that shows outside the top 10 fell below the 10th-rated figure.

Ah, well I was wondering...

Anyway, the UK ratings really don't have anything to do with Scifi's decision to pick up one or more of these shows. The "Stargate" PTB are the only ones that benefit from foreign market money, and that's why the American ratings are so important to Scifi. I'm sure the foreign money has a lot to do with why the "Stargate" PTB were so willing to try shopping the show to another channel after Showtime let them go, but it wouldn't have any impact one way or another on Scifi's decision-making process.

"Farscape" was a good example of this. I remember back when I was watching that show, hearing American fans moan about how there were so many more UK viewers than American. (If I remember correctly, the figure was somewhere around 10 to 1, UK to American.) And that obviously had no impact on Skiffy's decision. As far as they were concerned, the show was just too expensive for what they were getting out of it.

Not that I think they won't bring SG1 back. Like I said, so long as the rest of their gross product is stuff like "Mansquito," the big three are pretty safe.

(Although it helps that it's Skiffy. I was reading an article in Entertainment Weekly yesterday, and I find it interesting that "Firefly" got cancelled when it averaged 4.4 million viewers, but that was far too low for a network like Fox. We should be thankful Skiffy's a cable channel, and thus has such low standards.)

[Broken Chevron]

Whether the information is correct or not It would be good to see a third season of SGA as for SG-1 i would have never have guessed it would make it to season 9 so if it does make it to season 10 then all the better as long as they have good story lines.