Opinion: Six Reasons SGU Was Cancelled

[Briangate78]

I have yet to read the article (page is down for me) but in skimming this thread, yeah, the move really killed SGU.

SGU was in trouble back in Season 1.5, this was a do or die move.

[Skydiver]

IMHO, the only other thing they could have done was counterprogrammed sanctuary and sgu.....10 san, 10 sgu, 10 san, 10 sgu, and keep that coveted friday night slot...and had they only made 12 caprica episodes, could have used that for the remaining 12 fridays and had year round solid friday night programming

For me, ignoring my issues with the show as a whole, the long hiatus between 110 and 111 gave me weeks to find something else to watch. then when it started in s2, i watch NCIS, even teh re-runs, on tuesday and the only time i turn off ncisla is when deadliest catch is on....DC is also - at times - the highest rated cable show on tuesday nights.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are juggernaught nights on tv. the networks all have strong shows on those nights.

on cable there are shows like Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, Ax Men, Swords, Ice Road Truckers, etc....and they all have niche viewers, and are heavily re-run, which i think is where a lot of the ratings come from...they get good enough ratings when they air first, and they also provide hours and hours of 'day long marathon' programming.

[LoneStar1836]

Read the article, and while those six things helped play into the low numbers SGU got in a minor way, imo, the show was mainly canceled because of the show...plain and simple. It wasn't something people wanted to watch.

I wanted to watch this show. Loved BSG. SGU in the vein of that show appealed to me IF the writers could pull it off. Found a number of things about S1 to be tedious even though it did get better in the second half of that season. I do think S2 is a step up from that, but it could still be better. I'm sad that it was canceled as I mostly enjoyed it and thought it was heading in the right direction, but obviously that doesn't matter. People just weren't drawn to the tone and pace of the show or the characters.

I'd love to blame it on the move to Tuesday night, but I just don't think that was the case as the numbers had already dipped when it was on Friday. I do think it might have been more beneficial to have run each season in one go like Lost and 24 did because of its highly serialized nature, but I doubt that would have done much to help. I wish they would have done Caprica that way. Not that it would have been renewed even if it could have held on to its numbers. I enjoyed Caprica, but it was axed after the first season because it wasn't something people wanted to watch. Too much of a departure from BSG, just like SGU was from SG-1 and SGA.

[Girlbot]

For me, ignoring my issues with the show as a whole, the long hiatus between 110 and 111 gave me weeks to find something else to watch. then when it started in s2, i watch NCIS, even teh re-runs, on tuesday and the only time i turn off ncisla is when deadliest catch is on....DC is also - at times - the highest rated cable show on tuesday nights.

I agree with Sky on this. The long hiatus made an opening for me to look for and find something else to watch, and continue to watch in that time slot since I got attached to it. . I think Sci Fi shot themselves in the foot with their scheduling and hiatus issues.

[Spimman]

Great article, I wish the points weren't true...but they are. I feel a little deflated after seeing it all so concisely stated.

[Joe]

no place all the blame on nbc makeing there networks suck so that comcast chould buy them NBC sucked in the 2010 olympics and I hope they lose the NHL nextyear.

[DeLaFe]

I think that a big part of the blame goes to the S1 writing. It was incredibly slow paced and too "artsy" for all but the die hard StarGate fan to continue following.

The problem is that the show has finally transformed into something watchable AND enjoyable. The last several episodes have been great SciFi and have had EXCELLENT writing. In many ways it is a whole different series. It can stand on it's own even with those viewers that opted out of watching S1.

I understand that these decisions are made in advance and it is often difficult to unring a bell, but SyFy should really find a way of giving SGU another shortened season as a trial. (It is a completely different show than S1 afterall!) Especially before all of the sets and props are sold off.

After investing so heavily in StarGate it would be stupid of SyFy not to give it a go. Non-science fiction fans are starting to watch (and enjoy). My wife watches SciFi stuff with me, but she has never really enjoyed it. But interestingly she was upset to learn that SGU was cancelled. "Now?!?! After it actually gets GOOD?!?!"

But I cant have high hopes from a group that changed their name from SciFi to SyFy...

Alfred

[mparsons1981]

It was a great article you wrote Darren, showing how much you care about the series, as well as your obvious knowledge of the facts.

In my opinion, regardless of any mistakes that the SyFy Network may or may not have made, ultimately a show is only successful if people actually watch it, and the reality is that viewing figures were terrible.

I felt that the quality of episodes in Season 2 was a huge improvement over Season 1, and indeed feel that things could have been different if the show started how it ended.

I continued to watch for the 2 years due to my love of all things stargate, and im happy that season 2 was so good. I stand by my opinions on the majority of season 1 as illustrated by my posts on those episodes.

Ultimately season 1 was just not very good with the odd exceptional episode, or moment in an episode, it was dull, depressing, unstargatelike, too much reliance on the stones, and just too many poor episodes, and as such people stopped watching.

Long term Stargate fans were alienated, some like myself stuck with it to see the rewards of season 2, but not enough, and those that liked it from day 1 were too few.

Ultimately then, SGU was cancelled due to lack of quality and lack of viewers, and a late turnaround in quality but not, importantly, in viewing figures was never going to save it.

We can talk Wrestling, tuesday nights, SyFy executives as much as we like, but we as Stargate fans have noone else to blame than the writer/producer/directors team for alienating so many fans, and doing nothing to bring in new viewers to what is a great franchise.

Such a shame, because season 2 was great, and will stand as one of the best seasons of stargate, up there with seasons 3,4,and 5 of SG1.

[hevland]

four letters killed SG:U, NCIS. who was the genius that moved it from fridays agaist the #1 drama on TV

[StargateWatcher]

It was a great article you wrote Darren, showing how much you care about the series, as well as your obvious knowledge of the facts.

In my opinion, regardless of any mistakes that the SyFy Network may or may not have made, ultimately a show is only successful if people actually watch it, and the reality is that viewing figures were terrible.


Ultimately season 1 was just not very good with the odd exceptional episode, or moment in an episode, it was dull, depressing, unstargatelike, too much reliance on the stones, and just too many poor episodes, and as such people stopped watching.

Long term Stargate fans were alienated, some like myself stuck with it to see the rewards of season 2, but not enough, and those that liked it from day 1 were too few.

Ultimately then, SGU was cancelled due to lack of quality and lack of viewers, and a late turnaround in quality but not, importantly, in viewing figures was never going to save it.

We can talk Wrestling, Tuesday nights, SyFy executives as much as we like, but we as Stargate fans have noone else to blame than the writer/producer/directors team for alienating so many fans, and doing nothing to bring in new viewers to what is a great franchise.

Such a shame, because season 2 was great, and will stand as one of the best seasons of stargate, up there with seasons 3,4,and 5 of SG1.

I applaud u for bringing up these pts, especially the one about lack of quality. I keep hearin people blame one show or another airing simultaneously completely or excessively or another for pulling away viewers who otherwise would have SGU, but we need to consider these other explanations more in combination to understand the fallout better.

[mparsons1981]

Thanks for that StargateWatcher. I'm surprised theres been so little debate on this thread. I just set http://www.gateworld.net/gallery/dis...854&fullsize=1, as my desktop wallpaper, makes me sad there no more SGU all the more.

Darren i would appreciate your reaction to my post if you have the time.

[Jim of WVa]

4) Time-Shifting and Online Viewing
...
Simply put: DVR time-shifting and online availability are directly opposed to the current system of ad-supported television. New technologies are great for putting the viewer in control; but the broadcaster’s profitability is still tied to the network being in control (i.e., making us watch commercials).

Stargate Atlantis was more heavily DVR time-shifted and more heavily downloaded. It was simply a more popular show.

[Kittros]

We can find good explications and complex reasoning for this show demise but the fault is all of the guys who bring it to set...the SF experience was transformed into a human condition experiment. Sore it has grate potential...but we are talking about SG bot a test....and if they waned a test could do it!...but not for two seasons and CUT....'it.

Remember that SG1 was in that same position at the beginning...but they thought about it from the first episodes!!!...tows guys with SGU mistaken SG fans with SGU fans...and go for 2 seasons to find out that.

Don't get me wrong, the show had an amazing potential...but...

[python490]

The article listed all valid reasons, but It came down to cost. Syfy just wanted productions that cost less. Look there has been no space opera/ space shows for awhile now. Look at all the networks and you see it is not only Syfy thinking this way. Overall Sci-fi shows don't have longevity or a large viewership. Except Fox,Abc,Nbc, or Cbs didn't call itself the Sci-fi channel and I think that is what makes people mad. There use to be a whole channel for our community and it was taken away for Wrestling and other programs(some have merit and many do not). Sci-fi shows from now on just may have less or no spaceships anymore.

[Brother Freyr]

Look there has been no space opera/ space shows for awhile now. Look at all the networks and you see it is not only Syfy thinking this way. Overall Sci-fi shows don't have longevity or a large viewership.

We may have to rely more heavily upon books for our science fiction fixes. Perhaps, in several years, television will again find a place for sci-fi. The outlook is bleak for the near future.