Second half of the season?

[Alexandria7]

I think the fact they have removed the whole "returns this spring" bit from the website is a sign. They are either preparing to release the exact date SGU returns, or they are considering burning off the episodes in a marathon. I honestly don't know what they may or may not do. The fact it's taken this long to say when it returns is nothing out of the ordinary imo. People shouldn't be concerned as it seems that this is generally the way that they operate. Also, it could be a sign that they are discussing the option of moving SGU to a better day. I agree with the statements that it's unlikely to start too late. I still think it'll return either in March or April.

Of course there is one way of finding out...go bug the Syfy guy on twitter until he spills the beans.

LMAO

You're right, they will air it out on Skiffy. They did it for Flash Gordan, they recently did it for Caprica... they have already purchased the rights, they will exercise them and air the show. When, well, that's any ones guess.

LOL yeah...I know, I'm just bad.

[hercthx]

i see no need to move it to a better day, it's not like it is in syfy's interest to bolster up ratings for a show it is not going to renew. the way syfy has been running these days you would think they would just try to burn it off as fast as possible to make room for the boxing and mixed martial arts that they have announced. it is so hard to guesse what they are going to do next now.

[Alexandria7]

i see no need to move it to a better day, it's not like it is in syfy's interest to bolster up ratings for a show it is not going to renew. the way syfy has been running these days you would think they would just try to burn it off as fast as possible to make room for the boxing and mixed martial arts that they have announced. it is so hard to guesse what they are going to do next now.

I know that you fans are bitter over the cancellation, but it's a business. Why would they try to improve the ratings? Um, because they might want to try to make as much money from it as they can. While the episodes are bought and paid for, they are likely thinking about the best way to get the most money from the show, as they have been thinking all along. Mind you, I don't think they are going to see a big boost in ratings, but they may not want it to simply flop with no one watching either. They need to try to make back some of their money. Just because they cannot afford to renew the show, doesn't mean that they won't try to make money from the remaining episodes.

[carmencatalina]

I know that you fans

"You fans"?

I thought we were all fans here. Maybe not all fans of the same show(s), but at least all fans.

I agree, Syfy will figure out something that gives them the best bang for the bucks they've already spent. Whether it is a regular Tuesday night slot for 10 weeks, a marathon, or some other configuration, I don't know, because I don't know all the stuff they are considering.

But given they don't have anything new for Tuesdays (yet), my guess is that we will see a run of Tuesday showings, pretty soon after the Season 2.0 marathon for the 1st half of the season in February.

Again, just a guess.

[Alexandria7]

"You fans"?

I thought we were all fans here. Maybe not all fans of the same show(s), but at least all fans.

(I do want to point out I agree with what you're saying about when the show will return. I'm just sick and tired of reading posts where some fans have taken to believing that Syfy is the devil incarnate, that they obviously hate SGU because they canceled it, and they want it to fail. Syfy isn't the big evildoer. It's unfortunate the SGU was canceled, because the projected profit from the show simply wasn't high enough to warrant spending many millions of dollars on a third season. However, that type of thing happens all of the time. Just take a look at the renew/cancel index on the tvbythenumbers site - they are predicting several shows that will bite the big one.

Contrary to popular belief, Syfy isn't out to screw SGU and it's fans. They are out to make a profit. I firmly believe they will try to earn as much profit from the show that they can. Why else would they have picked the show up to begin with? They picked it up in hopes it would succeed, to say they spent several millions on a show they wanted to fail sounds a bit brain dead if you ask me. I don't see them not caring anymore because the show's been canceled. They still need to try to make a profit from the final shows.

[hercthx]

yeah i seemed to have ticked alex off somehow sorry bout that. look alex not sure why the nastyness, but i never spoke anything about bitterness in that post and i also spoke to syfy making a buissness decision, infact the whole rebranding, and format change is just that buissness. they found that sports and unscripted fair makes more financial sense, could it have been handled better yeah of course, but i dont run the network, its not my call how they do things. there are loads of shows on loads of tv stations, they dont want someone like me tuning in. fair enough it's their buissness, they have shareholder to make happy. if i was being bitter i would be over at the syfy forums making a fuss, but i do not becaus i am not. if i dont agree to how a show or a network is doing things i just walk over to where i can enjoy myself with likeminded people. although that pink demon of sparkly rage still creeps me out just a bit lol.

[mpa]

I pay very little (okay, none at all) attention to news about TV. My whole family was startled tonight, upon searching to see when it would return, to discover that SG-U was canceled back in December. A pleasant side-effect is my discovery of this site. No offense meant, but much as I anticipate enjoying being here, I'd rather have a season 3 and be blissfully unaware of the existence of GW, lol.

Anyhow, It seems to me that that syfy (pronounced "It's iffy" in our household since the day the brand change was announced) might want to stretch out the delivery of the second half rather than "burn it off" in a marathon or over a week. They own it, they know that there is a group of people who want it, and when it is gone those people have much less reason pay attention to anything the network does.

I imagine that it will take longer than expected to air the rest of season 2 and that each episode might be sandwiched between either:

1) Things that they want to promote, hoping Stargate fans might be co-opted into fans of something else, or

2) Things that are complete dogs that they hope the loyal, yet too small for them to give it time, SG audience will buttress momentarily due to channel-changing inertia.

In any event, I'm not holding my breath for a quick return or delivery of the second half of the season.

[carmencatalina]

Contrary to popular belief, Syfy isn't out to screw SGU and it's fans.

I totally agree with this - they actually don't care about fans at all (of any shows) - they are trying to make a living, and that means selling advertising (and to a certain extent, making sure that they are part of the cable package that people pick).

If I'm pissed with Syfy, it is in the general way of being unhappy with a company that used to make a product I liked, but now has moved on to make something totally unnecessary for my continued existence. I truly believe that Syfy is moving out of the science fiction business, not totally, not all at once, but little-by-little and step-by-step. They are just following the money - and I'm not the type of customer they want (I'm rare, for one thing! They want customers that come in large batches, naturally.)

Anyway, a lot of things are cyclical, so it may be that the day will come when there is more new science fiction programming on the air than there is now (and I'm not counting fantasy, like Sanctuary and Being Human, which are cool and fine, but don't feed my love for science fiction), but it may not be Syfy that airs it.

[Alexandria7]

yeah i seemed to have ticked alex off somehow sorry bout that. look alex not sure why the nastyness, but i never spoke anything about bitterness in that post and i also spoke to syfy making a buissness decision, infact the whole rebranding, and format change is just that buissness. they found that sports and unscripted fair makes more financial sense, could it have been handled better yeah of course, but i dont run the network, its not my call how they do things. there are loads of shows on loads of tv stations, they dont want someone like me tuning in. fair enough it's their buissness, they have shareholder to make happy. if i was being bitter i would be over at the syfy forums making a fuss, but i do not becaus i am not. if i dont agree to how a show or a network is doing things i just walk over to where i can enjoy myself with likeminded people. although that pink demon of sparkly rage still creeps me out just a bit lol.

Fair enough, for the record, I'm not ticked off at you.

I totally agree with this - they actually don't care about fans at all (of any shows) - they are trying to make a living, and that means selling advertising (and to a certain extent, making sure that they are part of the cable package that people pick).

If I'm pissed with Syfy, it is in the general way of being unhappy with a company that used to make a product I liked, but now has moved on to make something totally unnecessary for my continued existence. I truly believe that Syfy is moving out of the science fiction business, not totally, not all at once, but little-by-little and step-by-step. They are just following the money - and I'm not the type of customer they want (I'm rare, for one thing! They want customers that come in large batches, naturally.)

Anyway, a lot of things are cyclical, so it may be that the day will come when there is more new science fiction programming on the air than there is now (and I'm not counting fantasy, like Sanctuary and Being Human, which are cool and fine, but don't feed my love for science fiction), but it may not be Syfy that airs it.

I just wanted to say that while I can relate to your frustration over the show getting canceled, I disagree with the comment that Syfy doesn't care about the fans. I really do think they care, or they wouldn't have bothered to make an announcement at all. Who cares about rumors on the net? They care about fans or they wouldn't have a twitter to connect with them more. I just think that when you're running a business, sometimes you have to make decisions, decisions that can upset some people. It's like if my SIL takes my niece to see the animals. Of course she's going to want to take home a puppy. They aren't able to care for a puppy in their home right now. This decision will upset my 4yr old niece, even though it's in the best interest of them all in the long run. At the time all she knows and understands is that she wants the puppy so badly and doesn't think she could live without it and that her mum must hate her for not getting it.

The same is true for SGU. It's in the best interest of Syfy to cancel a show that they cannot afford. I read a quote from BJS that said the show would cost some 50 million I believe for a third season. It's definitely not a decision to make lightly. I believe Syfy does have the interest of the fans at heart, but in the end, they cannot afford to give the fans everything they want. However, when the fans present them with the money required to make a show, like Farscape Peacekeeper Wars then they give their full attention to the project.

If SGU fans would be able to find a way to finance a mini series or third series, then Syfy would listen. They care, they just cannot make everyone happy with their decisions.

[hercthx]

yeah that would be cool but however i dont think they accept funds that way, was there not a show where a bunch of fans sent in money and it was promptly returned?

[Alexandria7]

yeah that would be cool but however i dont think they accept funds that way, was there not a show where a bunch of fans sent in money and it was promptly returned?

I don't think there's any chance of raising enough money via fans. The peacekeeper wars came about because the fans found people in the business to finance the mini series and they got them in contact with the creators. Basically they came out and said these people are willing to finance a show for 20 million, are you willing to write it for us? You'd have to get with the fans behind it to see exactly how they managed to pull that off as I am not in the know there.

[Homer 120]

From the Syfy forums from Briangate/Squall:

The show is returning early April

Confirmed?

[hercthx]

I don't think there's any chance of raising enough money via fans. The peacekeeper wars came about because the fans found people in the business to finance the mini series and they got them in contact with the creators. Basically they came out and said these people are willing to finance a show for 20 million, are you willing to write it for us? You'd have to get with the fans behind it to see exactly how they managed to pull that off as I am not in the know there.

wow really thats amazing that they did that.

[KEK]

From the Syfy forums from Briangate/Squall:

Confirmed?

He's probably guessing.

[Deevil]

I just wanted to say that while I can relate to your frustration over the show getting canceled, I disagree with the comment that Syfy doesn't care about the fans. I really do think they care, or they wouldn't have bothered to make an announcement at all. Who cares about rumors on the net? They care about fans or they wouldn't have a twitter to connect with them more.

I disagree, they don't care about the fans, that is such a niche market in their entire and perspective viewing audience. What they are doing is keeping in touch with their market, and social networking also helps increase their market. It's free marketing, nothing more or less. As for confirming the rumour, it was good business sense. It has nothing to do with caring and everything to do with rumors being no good for business...

I read a quote from BJS that said the show would cost some 50 million I believe for a third season.

Honestly, I wouldn't take this comment as a fact. Given that they hadn't even been renewed, thus not given a budget, he would have no idea at the cost.

If SGU fans would be able to find a way to finance a mini series or third series, then Syfy would listen.

No, MGM has to listen first and they are not going to take money from fans. Neither will Skiffy.

As for fans finding the funding for the Peacekeeper Wars, they didn't. Their attempts in saving the show caught the interest of investors from Europe, but I am doubtful that they saw an exceptional return on their funding so I wouldn't expect these same backers, or those who are in the same sort of circles to do the same again.