Ratings II

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
They lacked the humor, and then added it back in too late.

People want to know why shows like Sanctuary, W13, and Eureka are doing better. They all have comic relief even when the episode before was dark. They also don't take themselves too serious all the time, and it is just good fun. Heck, even as dark as BSG was there were plenty eps that were just very entertaining and you were rooting for the good guys to prevail.

Oh and Thanks for the Green! :)

You make a great point. The best science fiction also has good humor sprinkled around a bit. You cant do all bleak and dreary with no humor and expect people to subject themselves to that every week. SGU cried and whined and argued its way through season 1 without much to laugh about. Season 2 had a bit from Brody and Volker and Eli, but just not enough. Plus the lighting.

I once wondered what the show would have been like with the cast of Atlantis or SG-1 on that ship as their regular characters?

Maybe a break is due, abstinent makes the heart grow fonder, either that or ptb will wait till all the showrunners wonder off or find new projects. Brad and his team have stated they were tired of writing SG and wanted to do Universe, give it some time then syfy can bring in a fresh new team.

There will be a break, for sure. But will it be long enough to get rid of Brad? I grant that Brad brought us some great Stargate, but he no longer seems interested in the good Stargate. He is out there pushing Universe, not Atlantis or SG-1. So, he must go...
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
People want to know why shows like Sanctuary, W13, and Eureka are doing better. They all have comic relief even when the episode before was dark. They also don't take themselves too serious all the time, and it is just good fun. Heck, even as dark as BSG was there were plenty eps that were just very entertaining and you were rooting for the good guys to prevail.

Oh and Thanks for the Green! :)

They are also fundamentally better written. You can have flawed characters (all of the shows you listed do) but they also have to rise above their flaws so that people root for them. Even BSG had its characters rise above their flaws (like how Tigh finally did beat the bottle and become an excellent officer). SGU characters on the other hand were defined by their flaws and did not rise above them. Thus they were also unlikeable, which wrecks episodes putting them in peril because the audience is not emotionally invested in them surviving.
 

Gatefan1976

Well Known GateFan
I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as this ? Do you?

Well I was never into "trek fandom" per se, but it took until recently before I even gave it a second chance. Seeing a Klingon on Earth in the very first ep really threw it for me back then and to this day I can't consider ENT "canon" trek. Perhaps other members here who were part of trek fandom then could answer that question better?

Here's an except from Memory Alpha:
Enterprise was set in the 22nd century, at a time before the Federation and while United Earth was just becoming a player in interstellar politics.
One distinction from all previous Star Trek series, which used stardates to establish chronology via Captain's Log entries, was that Enterprise used Earth calendar references (days, months and years).
Like its predecessor, Star Trek: Voyager, Enterprise aired on UPN, rather than in first-run syndication like TNG or DS9. Initially, the ratings for Enterprise were as strong as those for Voyager, but the new series steadily lost viewers, and was finally canceled after its fourth season.
Numerous factors contributed to the demise of Enterprise. Due to its setting, the show was perhaps doomed from the start to step on the toes of previous canon and fanon, provoking the ire of the core Star Trek fan base. Enterprise may also have taken a ratings hit because viewers that used then-new digital video recorders were not yet included in official counts.
 
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Graybrew1

Guest
I agree that there was issues, but the fight between the fans in SG is knock down drag out ugly. And seemingly never ending . :tealcanime23:
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Enterprise was doomed from the start with the Star Trek purists because, as a prequel in a VERY well defined canon, it had no room for original development without violating that canon. So its alienating the purists was inevitable (which is not a rap on purists just noting the corner they were backed into).

That said, I liked season one the best. Season three was a disaster, and season four was pretty much trying to patch the series into canon. Ironically had they set it in a parallel universe or simply not had it be "Trek" it likely would have fared better. And now of course (in a pretty clever piece of writing) ST 09 has basically done what had to be done - the original canon is preserved as a separate timeline and the movie is in a new timeline where they can develop things without harming canon.
 
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Graybrew1

Guest
Yes, Even though it is OT, I love the possibilities of ST 09. They can make a thousand more movies and shows in a totally different way. Then in the end have the temporal police come back and fix it all to the original canon. Something like that would have been great for SG too.

:joy:
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
SPOT! ON!

This was a theory to why SGU did not make it. It was running during a time of a bad economy and whatnot. People are hurting, they want to turn to TV to be entertained not become more depressed.

During the Great Depression movie ticket sales skyrocketed (they didn't have TV back then) because, being miserable, people sought escape from their troubles in fictional worlds. Technology may have changed but humans are still the same in their preferences and needs.

With people being displaced by a lousy economy and seeing devastation in other countries and simply being depressed it stands to reason that a good, escapist show would do well in the ratings. It's more than telling that SGU is dropping like a stone in such troubling times. ;)
 
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Graybrew1

Guest
Look at the amount of money people paid to go see Avatar. It had a happy ending. People want a happy ending. We have enough sad Sh#$ going on in RL. Hopefully , somebody can come up with a Space based SciFi show that is both well written and balanced enough to get the ratings it will need to pay for the expensive CGI that a good quality Space SciFi should have.
 

THX1138

GateFans Member
814,000 ROFL!!

that number is BELOW 3 out of 4 Caprica numbers when Syfy finally decided to yank it and burn off the remaining episodes in a later marathon. I wonder if Syfy is considering pulling it off air too??????

When the second half of Caprica's season returned it scored
889,000 840,000 718,000 840,000 then it was pulled off air.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
814,000 ROFL!!

that number is BELOW 3 out of 4 Caprica numbers when Syfy finally decided to yank it and burn off the remaining episodes in a later marathon. I wonder if Syfy is considering pulling it off air too??????

When the second half of Caprica's season returned it scored
889,000 840,000 718,000 840,000 then it was pulled off air.

LOLZ! I thought you had won the prediction at first, but it looks like Tripler beat you out :(. These numbers are AWFUL! Brad Wright and Cooper must be cringing. How did they NOT know?
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Funny you should mention Tigh

They are also fundamentally better written. You can have flawed characters (all of the shows you listed do) but they also have to rise above their flaws so that people root for them. Even BSG had its characters rise above their flaws (like how Tigh finally did beat the bottle and become an excellent officer). SGU characters on the other hand were defined by their flaws and did not rise above them. Thus they were also unlikeable, which wrecks episodes putting them in peril because the audience is not emotionally invested in them surviving.

Tigh's story was very close to the whole "Young on a drunk" thread they had going there for a while in season 2. It would have worked if the crew didnt suddenly find time to design and build a still when food was scarce and water was at a premium. Did they just say "HEY! Lets to the Tigh thing in SGU with Young!"? Well, they had to have liqour to get Young addicted to first, right? Once that is done, you can have him be drunk and continue with the ripoff of Tigh. :facepalm:
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Tigh's story was very close to the whole "Young on a drunk" thread they had going there for a while in season 2. It would have worked if the crew didnt suddenly find time to design and build a still when food was scarce and water was at a premium. Did they just say "HEY! Lets to the Tigh thing in SGU with Young!"? Well, they had to have liqour to get Young addicted to first, right? Once that is done, you can have him be drunk and continue with the ripoff of Tigh. :facepalm:

The difference is that Tigh even when in his fight with the bottle had redeeming qualities (he was always a good officer). Also he finally did beat the bottle and became a very good officer in the process. Young is just an inept and unlikeable character with nothing really recommending him.
 

johnsheppard

GateFans Noob
Stargate Universe (SYFY)​


- 0.814 million viewers
- 0.5/1 HH
- 0.4/1 A18-49
0.814


OH MY GOD!
Just read this Oh my....
Never the franchise has got so low rates.Sgu did.The lowest rates of all the farnchise.
Brad are you proud of all this mess all this failure.You killed a successful franchise.You lost your loyal fan base.Do you really think sgu deserves its movie when it will not be profitable at all?
Do you think it was the right choice or decision cancelling SGA for such failure?
 

McSheppard

GateFans Noob
Just read this Oh my....
Never the franchise has got so low rates.Sgu did.The lowest rates of all the farnchise.
Brad are you proud of all this mess all this failure.You killed a successful franchise.You lost your loyal fan base.Do you really think sgu deserves its movie when it will be profitable at all?
Do you think it was the right choice or decision cancelling SGA for such failure?
I do not think he does. This is a lesson in humility for Mr. Wright.
 
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