"Stargate has never found a large audience" article

[prion]

Farscape was first pitched to Fox and wasn't selected. They picked "Space:Above and Beyond" instead and that only lasted one season.

Farscape eventually landed on SciFi and lasted four seasons plus a mini-series. In a way, it's good it never got picked by Fox.

Yes.
Fox = kiss of death.

[StarzSkyMoon]

Farscape was first pitched to Fox and wasn't selected. They picked "Space:Above and Beyond" instead and that only lasted one season.

Farscape eventually landed on SciFi and lasted four seasons plus a mini-series. In a way, it's good it never got picked by Fox.

Yes, many superb shows have been cancelled by fox (firefly, family guy, arrested development...). Adding that to the fact they didnt pick up farscape, is a clear sign of some of the terrible decisions that company has made.

Though im glad scifi picked up farscape instead, because undoubtedly on fox the show would only run long enough for John to enter the wormhole and then production would have been scrapped.

Lizbeth

[the dancer of spaz]

I tend to disagree. SciFi Channel basically showed, to be blunt, crap, until they latched onto Stargate SG1. They had repeats of old shows, repeats of movies, etc. It was Stargate making Friday night successful that gave them a place to put BSG. Stargate has been running for nearly a decade, on Showtime, then Scifi, and now syndicated all over the place.

Would studios have been willing to put money into BSG if Stargate wasn't so plentiful and doing so well for SciFi?

Absolutely. Sci Fi (at one point) solely depended on the Stargate franchise, just as the Stargate franchise depended on Sci Fi... If SG-1 had not been so popular, the network would ONLY have their dime-a-dozen movies to choose from each week. Now, they actually have a respectable line-up, built up from scratch by a series that had a pre-existing fanbase. Talk about having the work done for you.

[the dancer of spaz]

Stargate lasted this long because the venues it ran on didn't demand the size of audience that the major networks do. Showtime is in less than 20% of U.S. homes, for instance. Syndications doesn't demand a huge audience to keep a show on air.

It's also about timing, though. Stargate was thriving on Showtime before Premium Cable channels went into super-hype mode, and started developing their own, nitty-gritty-down-and-dirty television series. It started on HBO and exploded from there. In fact, SG-1 left Showtime JUST as that kinda stuff was getting really, really popular among critics. If Stargate had stayed any longer, they wouldn't have stood a chance against the series Showtime produces now.

Had Stargate tried to make it on, say, ABC, NBC, or CBS, it probably wouldn't have gotten past season one.

Totally true. The X-Files, The Buffy/Angel Saga and Charmed are about the only ones who survived on the top networks. But, again, it's timing. Sci Fi came to bat at just the right time, and Showtime ditched SG-1 at just the right time. Any earlier or later, and the flow of the series would have been drastically different.

The two entities (in the beginning) were extremely symbiotic. Farscape did well and earned Sci Fi rave reviews, but Sci Fi opted out of continuing that series. Still, I have to wonder WHY Sci Fi didn't develop a line-up with Farscape AND SG-1. It boggles the mind really. Theoretically, wouldn't it have put them in the perfect position to acquire Firefly when Fox ditched it? They could've run with that AND had room to spare for Atlantis and BSG...

Theoretically, of course.


ON EDIT: FOX has never had much patience with fledgling shows (yet it allows something as preposterous as "Malcolm in the Middle" or, worse, "Stacked" to stay on the air). To me, that's always been a sign of a failing network - not letting the quality of a series iron itself out over time, because it can't afford anymore weak links. Look at NBC these days... Their ratings legacy is no more - while CBS has allowed Bruckheimer to take them completely away from their Old Fogey viewership.

[MediaSavant]

Farscape did well and earned Sci Fi rave reviews, but Sci Fi opted out of continuing that series. Still, I have to wonder WHY Sci Fi didn't develop a line-up with Farscape AND SG-1.

It boggles the mind really. Theoretically, wouldn't it have put them in the perfect position to acquire Firefly when Fox ditched it? They could've run with that AND had room to spare for Atlantis and BSG...

The whole Farscape cancellation thing was complicated and involved many entities trying to agree on price and other things. It's not worth getting into and produces a lot of debate among fans over the actual sequence of events and whose fault it was.

But, Firefly was offered to SciFi for continuation. They didn't want it.

This is based on what Joss Whedon said at a Comicon.

[RussTC3]

The audience figures for the Stargates, as of late, are in the 2.2-2.5M range.

Of course it hasn't found a large audience.

[the dancer of spaz]

The whole Farscape cancellation thing was complicated and involved many entities trying to agree on price and other things. It's not worth getting into and produces a lot of debate among fans over the actual sequence of events and whose fault it was.

Well... oddly enough, it's worth getting into for me, because I want to know ALL sides of the story. It doesn't have to be here, but I think it's very worth getting into - especially if someone wasn't aware of the issues when they were happening.

But, Firefly was offered to SciFi for continuation. They didn't want it.

This is based on what Joss Whedon said at a Comicon.

I believe Whedon. And, personally, though I've never been a fan of Firefly, it seems like they missed out on a pretty good opportunity.

Sci Fi's kinda lame sometimes...

[the fifth man]

Sci Fi's kinda lame sometimes...

Boy it that the understatement of this century. Just take a look at their Saturday night movies, for god's sake. Sci-Fi Friday is pretty much the only good thing that channel has going for it.

[MediaSavant]

Just take a look at their Saturday night movies, for god's sake. Sci-Fi Friday is pretty much the only good thing that channel has going for it.

Ahh, but they are pretty honest about what the intent of their Saturday night movies are. They are intended to be what they are--low budget, B and C-movies which don't cost them a lot of money to produce, yet garner decent ratings and big profits for them because they re-sell them overseas.

They have never claimed to produce them for "quality" reasons.

[FoolishPleasure]

The audience figures for the Stargates, as of late, are in the 2.2-2.5M range.

Of course it hasn't found a large audience.

Funny story to share - my son plays baseball (he was 12 then) and last year we had a Monday night game that went on, and on, and on. Finally one dad yelled to the umpire between innings, "Hey, start calling OUTS. .we're missing Stargate Monday!" The umpire replied, "Oh my, I forgot about that!", then the parents started talking about their fav Stargate episodes. .I swear, EVERYONE had seen the show and had their fav characters and episodes. I really think this show is recognized more than TPTB realize.

As for poor "Firefly" - Skiffy missed a chance at a gold mine with that one. *shakes head in disbelief*

[the dancer of spaz]

Funny story to share - my son plays baseball (he was 12 then) and last year we had a Monday night game that went on, and on, and on. Finally one dad yelled to the umpire between innings, "Hey, start calling OUTS. .we're missing Stargate Monday!" The umpire replied, "Oh my, I forgot about that!", then the parents started talking about their fav Stargate episodes. .I swear, EVERYONE had seen the show and had their fav characters and episodes. I really think this show is recognized more than TPTB realize.

How funny is that? I'd be hard-pressed to find TWO people in my community who watch the show. That must've been kinda surreal!

As for poor "Firefly" - Skiffy missed a chance at a gold mine with that one. *shakes head in disbelief*

Honestly. Again, I'm not a fan of the series or anything, but that was an obvious opportunity - and it came BEFORE they were in the works for the BSG series, right? Or was it at about the same time?

[Shipperahoy]

Well I'm no ratings expert but BSG doesn't seem to be pulling in much more of an audience than Stargate. Their numbers are consistenly only .1 or .2 ahead of Stargate. I wonder if those numbers would change if they had BSG in the 8:00 p.m. time slot, which really isn't that great a slot. I LOVE BSG myself and want it to do well and continue on for MANY seasons but it still irks me when Stargate seems to get absolutely no respect from media outlets.

[Qasim]

it still irks me when Stargate seems to get absolutely no respect from media outlets.

Stargate isnt dark and sexed up enough for them

[the dancer of spaz]

Well I'm no ratings expert but BSG doesn't seem to be pulling in much more of an audience than Stargate. Their numbers are consistenly only .1 or .2 ahead of Stargate. I wonder if those numbers would change if they had BSG in the 8:00 p.m. time slot, which really isn't that great a slot. I LOVE BSG myself and want it to do well and continue on for MANY seasons but it still irks me when Stargate seems to get absolutely no respect from media outlets.

I've heard from many people that the show is very good. However, I respectfully challenge BSG to make it to a consistent 9-year span with minimal deconstruction of its cast, crew and direction. Stargate's pretty jacked up now, but it took them 9 years to get there - and it's logically to be expected.

But I don't give these uber-hyped shows much more than 4 or 5 years before they start to lose steam from their audience, critics and producers - and, sorry to say, that includes BSG. Like someone said, there's only so far a series can go, and they can only push the envelope so much before it starts to look ridiculous. That's why I, too, get irked when bigshot media outlets refuse to give the Stargate franchise its due.

Whatever. It takes all kinds.

[StarzSkyMoon]

Well I'm no ratings expert but BSG doesn't seem to be pulling in much more of an audience than Stargate. Their numbers are consistenly only .1 or .2 ahead of Stargate. I wonder if those numbers would change if they had BSG in the 8:00 p.m. time slot, which really isn't that great a slot. I LOVE BSG myself and want it to do well and continue on for MANY seasons but it still irks me when Stargate seems to get absolutely no respect from media outlets.

I think one of the differences between the shows is that BSG is watched a bit more by the mainstream audience. I see it mentioned alot on channels such as VH1, and i know many of my "scifi-hating" friends watch it too.

Since BSG is more character/relationship based rather than a huge "alien" premise it is able to make a break into the media, since relationships is something any human being can relate too.

Lizbeth