Letting it go

[morrismike]

What I think annoys me the most about this is one simple truth. The 'Entertainment' industry is not about entrainment, it is about making money. All the shows that people watch, from Stargate Universe to Big Brother are just vessels to make money via commercials.

In all fairness we know (from the last 4 episodes) TPTW are fully capable of making a good show. For whatever reason they CHOSE to do season 1 "their way" instead of "the right way" and now we have no show. Syfy isn't a welfare program for TPB wanting to tread new ground.

[Lithaborn]

Ask any Doctor Who or star Trek fan over the age of 35 what it's like to lose a beloved franchise. There's always hope. Stay interested, keep the fanfic going, get novels published, create your own netcast episodes. PROVE the universe stays alive even while it's off the air.

17 years is a long time to run a series then abandon it while the fanbase grows stronger. Hang in there.

[Daveed]

I somehow still can't let it go. I don't know why... it's just this feeling that we can do something about it. I see that Save SGU page growing every day by almost 1000 people and keep thinking 'someone has to notice this at MGM'. Of course I know exactly it's all about the money and MGM had financial problems lately, but still. I want this to go on at least for that one TV movie. I wish SyFy would actually listen and do this just for the fans and not for the money...

[Shadow_7]

Given the context, what does that have to do with what I said? This isn't the public we're talking about, nor would they stand to gain even if it were.

TPTB, if only for the sake of their own careers (after stargate) have to walk that fine line. Unless they're bitter enough to get out of the industry entirely and get into some other industry. Or rich enough to not care, but if your bottom line is tied directly to stargates's bottom line, talking it down is not an option. Even telling the truth in a lot of cases is not an option. While TPTB might not intentionally lie, they do have goals that may differ from those who write the checks. And they tend to make their goals public knowledge to further the likelihood of said goals coming to fruition. Just like everyone who says that they're going to lose weight, even those who have none to lose. Good intentions and all that road pavement stuff.

In the end does it matter. Shows over. At least they left it with the possibility of it coming back plot wise. Although I still don't see 1 million-ish viewers as a failure. One million is impressive, if you were to make a more direct and adjusted assessment of the numbers. As kids move back in with parents (housing bust) and two cables boxes become one. And other things that are our modern reality. Probably more of a bad timing thing, than bad numbers IMO. It's not like SGU never had any viewers.

[KEK]

TPTB, if only for the sake of their own careers (after stargate) have to walk that fine line. Unless they're bitter enough to get out of the industry entirely and get into some other industry. Or rich enough to not care, but if your bottom line is tied directly to stargates's bottom line, talking it down is not an option. Even telling the truth in a lot of cases is not an option. While TPTB might not intentionally lie, they do have goals that may differ from those who write the checks. And they tend to make their goals public knowledge to further the likelihood of said goals coming to fruition. Just like everyone who says that they're going to lose weight, even those who have none to lose. Good intentions and all that road pavement stuff.

Mate, in context what you're saying makes no sense. Go back and have a look at what we were actually talking about.

[SupremeLegate]

It's only a problem if you happen to be the minority that is not entertained by what the masses like. In essence, the entertainment industry is democracy in the simplest form. The majority get what they want, and the minority get completely screwed. Sucks when the majority are either too dumb or too tired from work to care about a complex show. Most simply want to turn their brains off. Damn shame.

True enough, guess I will just wait for the series premiere of 'Ow, my balls.'

[Keeper]

Yes, it was entirely the cast and crew's fault. The network shouldn't share any of the responsibility for jerking the show around in timeslots and dropping 5 month breaks between episode sets while failing to promote the return dates.

I guess Sanctuary lost viewers on its return because the last episode of the previous run just sucked that bad, huh?

the network didn't lose 1 million viewers in the first half of the first season. the show did that alone. the network kept S1 on fridays - and the show still went down.

MGM have aired 10 stargate seasons with SciFi/SyFy i believe, and 5 with showtime, all with the mid-season breaks. and i for one never had any difficulty knowing when the show was coming back on air, so the information was out there whether you saw it or not. MGM aren't airing their first stargate show, and they're not dealing with SyFy for the first time ever - if the mid-season breaks were going to be a problem, it's their job to sort that out with SyFy. and frankly, with S1 going down on fridays, only someone trying to kill the show would have left it in the slot.

the show failed to retain viewer interest. through both contiguous episodes, and entire seasons. i don't blame the cast, in fact i respect the work they did. there are characters i dislike, but i do recognise they are different from their actors.

i do feel that a break from the rest of the franchise was a bad creative decision since viewers weren't considered, however i respect how it was made and felt to be right at the time. on the other hand, i do, strongly feel that S1 numbers should have been ringing alarm bells for MGM, and they should have looked at how to bring viewers back. that choice, in its entirety, falls on MGM/TPTB.

[garhkal]

I just had my cable TV shut off. I'm done with TV for good, there is nothing left for me now that SGU is over. In the meantime, I have tons of DVD's (all of Stargate and Star Trek for one), and my TV is also used for game consoles. I don't think I'll miss it. Either way, I have no intention of watching the Sci*ahem* Wrestling Channel again.

I'd defintely cut off Syfy if i could.. but i watch too much L&O, CSI to cut it out completely.

Plus my mother watches a lot of animal planet, animal cops, cops, etc for me to turn it off.

"...And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years."

Whats that quote from?

Ask any Doctor Who or star Trek fan over the age of 35 what it's like to lose a beloved franchise. There's always hope. Stay interested, keep the fanfic going, get novels published, create your own netcast episodes. PROVE the universe stays alive even while it's off the air.

Few of my age people who WERE Dr who fans are now who fans.. And most (i'd say at least 65%) of those people i knew who were trek fans are NO longer cause of that reboot..

[UAGoalieGuy]

I just wish we could hear something from MGM on their intentions for the franchise. I doubt anyone would even address Stargate and it's future from MGM, but it would be nice to know what the future may hold.

[KEK]

I just wish we could hear something from MGM on their intentions for the franchise. I doubt anyone would even address Stargate and it's future from MGM, but it would be nice to know what the future may hold.

I think Darren or David said something about trying to get in touch with Charles Cohen, dunno if anything is happening with that.

[UAGoalieGuy]

I think Darren or David said something about trying to get in touch with Charles Cohen, dunno if anything is happening with that.

I posted a thread on the main Stargate Discussion board, but is there a centralized "Save the Stargate Frachise" campaign and thread on here?

[missmobius]

I know that when they cancel Sanctuary I'll cancel the Space channel. I hate the other shows that are on there now. I'll go back to getting my SciFi fix from books.

You know what is really funny is that it's called "Space" implying that the shows will be about space travel, instead what's on there now has nothing to do with space???

If they bring back another form of Stargate or any other show with cosmic adventures then I'll watch again.

[KEK]

Space can only really buy the rights to what's out there, I don't think they really make their own genre shows. Don't they still air Dr Who though?