Do you think there will be a season 5 of Stargate Atlantis?

[Briangate78]

It's very hard to say at this point. I think the show is good enough to deserve a Season 5, but it's all about ratings. SciFi gets its money from advertisers. Ratings determine ad pricing and desirability. That's also why only US ratings are considered and iPod downloads and DVD sales are ignored. It's cost/benefit. If the show doesn't have a good enough margin (cost to produce versus advertising dollars) it's a goner.

If it's promoted well and draws casual viewers, it should do fine and be renewed. If not....

New viewers are not going to be affected by the cast changes. They won't know the difference. The hard part will be getting new viewers to understand what's going on since they don't have SG-1 and 3 seasons of background.

Well the cost of production cut down more than half since SG-1 ended. We will have SG-1 fans watching SGA, BSG is ending after season 4 so the network will hopefully turn to Stargate to keep a major show airing. We had the long hiatus between the first and second half of last season that lost viewers who viewed the show by other methods, some illegally.

Also Atlantis was really not advertised too much. There were a lot more SG-1 ads than SGA ones. SGA still managed to pull in decent ratings even with the lack of advertisment.

It's funny, they must of advertised BSG like 100x more. LOL! Yet it fell below in ratings compared to both gates.

So here is to a 5th year of SGA! Cheers!

[Blev08]

Well the cost of production cut down more than half since SG-1 ended. We will have SG-1 fans watching SGA, BSG is ending after season 4 so the network will hopefully turn to Stargate to keep a major show airing. We had the long hiatus between the first and second half of last season that lost viewers who viewed the show by other methods, some illegally.

Also Atlantis was really not advertised too much. There were a lot more SG-1 ads than SGA ones. SGA still managed to pull in decent ratings even with the lack of advertisment.

It's funny, they must of advertised BSG like 100x more. LOL! Yet it fell below in ratings compared to both gates.

So here is to a 5th year of SGA! Cheers!

Well if you think about SG-1 was ending, so it made more sense to advertise it more, plus with SGA on right after SG1, in my opinion it really didn't need that much advertisement. It will be interesting to see how the show stands on its own this year though and how they approach advertising if at all.

[Briangate78]

Well if you think about SG-1 was ending, so it made more sense to advertise it more, plus with SGA on right after SG1, in my opinion it really didn't need that much advertisement. It will be interesting to see how the show stands on its own this year though and how they approach advertising if at all.

Well Joe M thinks it will do well on it's own. I think so also. SG-1 fans will have their withdrawel and will tune into SGA. They may even like what they see!

[Ruffles]

Well the cost of production cut down more than half since SG-1 ended. We will have SG-1 fans watching SGA, BSG is ending after season 4 so the network will hopefully turn to Stargate to keep a major show airing. We had the long hiatus between the first and second half of last season that lost viewers who viewed the show by other methods, some illegally.

Also Atlantis was really not advertised too much. There were a lot more SG-1 ads than SGA ones. SGA still managed to pull in decent ratings even with the lack of advertisment.

It's funny, they must of advertised BSG like 100x more. LOL! Yet it fell below in ratings compared to both gates.

So here is to a 5th year of SGA! Cheers!

SG-1 production costs shouldn't have any affect on Atlantis. It has its own production costs that have to be covered by the commercials shown during its hour. SG-1's advertising was there to cover its costs.

Promotion is not the answer to everything (as evidenced by BSG and some other shows), but it gets the initial viewers there. That's when quality takes over. Well-written scripts and interesting storylines are necessary to keep the viewers. But if they don't show up to start with or they wander away during a 7 month hiatus, that's lack of promotion (and common sense).

I don't think that illegal viewership had that much of an effect on the show (personal opinion here). Only fairly hard-core fans would bother finding illegal downloads. And they would still watch when it returned. It's the casual viewer they lost. The "Hey, what's on Friday night? Oh, that Atlantis show. I like that." kind of viewer. When it went away and seemingly never returned, they moved on. I've heard some people actually go out and do stuff on Friday nights.

[pisces27]

I think that SGA can stand on it's own. Fingers crossed for S5!

[Briangate78]

SG-1 production costs shouldn't have any affect on Atlantis. It has its own production costs that have to be covered by the commercials shown during its hour. SG-1's advertising was there to cover its costs.

Promotion is not the answer to everything (as evidenced by BSG and some other shows), but it gets the initial viewers there. That's when quality takes over. Well-written scripts and interesting storylines are necessary to keep the viewers. But if they don't show up to start with or they wander away during a 7 month hiatus, that's lack of promotion (and common sense).

I don't think that illegal viewership had that much of an effect on the show (personal opinion here). Only fairly hard-core fans would bother finding illegal downloads. And they would still watch when it returned. It's the casual viewer they lost. The "Hey, what's on Friday night? Oh, that Atlantis show. I like that." kind of viewer. When it went away and seemingly never returned, they moved on. I've heard some people actually go out and do stuff on Friday nights.

I believe it does, because the producers were running two shows at the same time and it was more costly for them, hence MGM, hence the network. They are basically the same entity(Franchise) so I would think they influenced eachother. Now scifi will only have to pay for one show that will get the same ratings hopefully in the same time slot.

I think I caught 3 or 4 eps of the first airing. Thank goodness for Tivo! Plus with the box office, it is a major competitor for TV on a friday.

[any_gopher]

I really, really, really hope for a season 5 (and beyond!). Stargate must live!!!

[Laura the Asgard]

Yes - I belive they will have a season 5 - as others have said - the production costs are down and they can focus all their writing and time to one show. They have some good writers and producers but it's hard to manage two shows at once on a cheap budget and tight timeframes.

Plus - Atlantis is a good show. The characters are likeable (most) and even though some of the story lines could be perceived as not very good sometimes and their decisions to kill off people are ill advised- the actors that survive make it fun to watch and I'm looking forward to season 4. If season 4 holds in the ratings, then we will have a season 5.

The key is - if you have a TIVO or other DVR - click on the "watch live TV"- even if you aren't home! All that info is provided for the ratings so every little bit helps!!

Personally - I'm a little sad tonight. It's been a long week at work and I don't have either SG-1 or Atlantis to look forward to!

[Mitchell82]

I really really hope that their will be. My only concern is that it will most likely depend on the ratings from season 3. I truly don't think that it will be cancelled.

[Briangate78]

I really really hope that their will be. My only concern is that it will most likely depend on the ratings from season 3. I truly don't think that it will be cancelled.

2 million viewers cannot be wrong!

[scifi_lemon]

I really really hope that their will be. My only concern is that it will most likely depend on the ratings from season 3. I truly don't think that it will be cancelled.

That's my concern as well. But I heard that since S4 airs in early fall, that some of the early eps will count in SciFi's desicions as well.

[Briangate78]

That's my concern as well. But I heard that since S4 airs in early fall, that some of the early eps will count in SciFi's desicions as well.

Everyone and their Grandma needs to watch "Adrift" on Sept 28th!

[scifi_lemon]

Everyone and their Grandma needs to watch "Adrift" on Sept 28th!

Ditto!

[i_adore_atlantis]

Until now, I was pretty sure Sci Fi would renew Atlantis for a 5th season. Right now, I'm not so sure. I've read Robert Cooper interview to see if he talked about Atlantis. No luck, but something got my attention. He talked about how the decline in the ratings for the Monday reruns was the main reason for SG-1's cancellation, and not the ratings for the new episodes.

I have no idea what the ratings for the reruns were, but I've seen many fans talking about how Sci Fi ran some Atlantis marathons and removed them because they did really bad ratings-wise.

I didn't know these reruns were even more important than the new episodes.

If what Robert Cooper says about SG-1 applies to Atlantis as well, a season 5 doesn't look very promising

[scifi_lemon]

Until now, I was pretty sure Sci Fi would renew Atlantis for a 5th season. Right now, I'm not so sure. I've read Robert Cooper interview to see if he talked about Atlantis. No luck, but something got my attention. He talked about how the decline in the ratings for the Monday reruns was the main reason for SG-1's cancellation, and not the ratings for the new episodes.

I have no idea what the ratings for the reruns were, but I've seen many fans talking about how Sci Fi ran some Atlantis marathons and removed them because they did really bad ratings-wise.

I didn't know these reruns were even more important than the new episodes.

If what Robert Cooper says about SG-1 applies to Atlantis as well, a season 5 doesn't look very promising

Well, if SciFi wants to get more viewers for reruns, they should air more eps than the first 5 or 6 of S1