Ratings II
- Thread starter Mr. A
- Start date
Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
So what can we say about these ratings? "Meh"?
Ahh, yeah, not much else to say about them really.
G
Graybrew1
Guest
So far, it's a sad "End" to a great franchise. 
Terran77
Captain Tightpants
Yeah... meh... under 1.0 kinda expected.
LOL, I remember when it was a big deal when an SGU episode dropped below a million viewers, but now its a big deal if they go OVER a million.
. Hopefully it will go out with at least 1 million viewers. Unfortunately, it will always hold the record for the 5 lowest rated episodes of any Stargate live-action show aired...ever.
YoshiKart64
Well Known GateFan
Actually I think it shows Sanctuary was getting a boost from wrestling. If you look at the show that replaced it on Fridays, it is now getting what Sanctuary used to get.
As much as I'd like to think it will go up, I'm more inclined to say it will say the same when SGU goes.
It's still odd it went below SGU though - all numbers before that suggested it was more popular.
THX1138
GateFans Member
Actually I think RealmOfX debunked that Smackdown theory over at GW.
What is odd about the 9pm show pulling marginally better numbers than the 10pm show? Isn't the 9pm show supposed to pull better numbers because of it's slot?
YoshiKart64
Well Known GateFan
The show they put after wrestling had a gain of around 211% over its Monday airing. Sanctuary meanwhile lost a load of viewers when moving to Monday. There's a lot of logic there is saying it could be down to the wrestling.
Moreover it suggests viewers of Syfy won't follow shows away from Friday which is concerning. If they can't put sci-fi anywhere apart from Friday in the fall then that doesn't bode well for us fans.
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
Yes but "Eureka" played on Friday nights and it has been moved around a bit. "WH13", which I don't think ever played on Friday nights, is doing well also as a week night run. Both shows have moved at times but their fans followed them just fine. (I might be wrong about "WH13" moving nights but still, had it happened, it would have been a weeknight and not a Friday night.)
Terran77
Captain Tightpants
Sanctuary seems to be a very niche-within-a-niche type of show, at least to me. You have to like fantasy/monster-oriented shows, but you also have to enjoy serial-style storylines. I think once you gather in an audience for it, you'll tend to keep them whether they have a Friday slot or they're moved. Dropping or gaining a 0.2 can make or break a show if numbers aren't great to begin with, but I think there are a lot of other variables beyond just the time/day slot that would account for such a relatively small change.
Warehouse 13 is more straight fantasy/mysticism with a lighthearted edge. Its appeal is in the characters and the "sexy dork" quality of the male leads (which is why it has a big female audience draw IMO), with less emphasis on the gadgetry than in standard sci-fi.
Eureka, as quirky as it is with geeky scientists and pseudoscience, is also more oriented toward gadget-fantasy and lighthearted fun than standard sci-fi. Like Warehouse 13, its appeal is in the warmth and attractiveness of the characters, and the light drama between them.
Stargate Universe, after two years... I'm still not sure what it wants to be. Its parent series were both classic serialized sci-fi, and it does pull in people for the stargate and the spaceship. But it has no heroes, no one for a "geek" to identify with other than the "everyman" (which is Eli), and his character type isn't the kind that most sci-fi guys want to identify with. Sci-fi women can't be drawn in by any strong/positive female characters either. So we're left with a surface-level fantasy/drama show that is almost entirely conflict driven. Honestly, I think it confuses viewers and people stay to watch it because they're either nostalgic for SG-1 or SGA and hoping that it evolves into that, -or- it's managed to draw in people who liked the dark-n-gritty of reimagined BSG and they're hoping that it evolves into that. When people say they "like" it, I think they're really saying they hope it evolves into what they really like... and that's why the ratings are so flip-floppy.
Warehouse 13 is more straight fantasy/mysticism with a lighthearted edge. Its appeal is in the characters and the "sexy dork" quality of the male leads (which is why it has a big female audience draw IMO), with less emphasis on the gadgetry than in standard sci-fi.
Eureka, as quirky as it is with geeky scientists and pseudoscience, is also more oriented toward gadget-fantasy and lighthearted fun than standard sci-fi. Like Warehouse 13, its appeal is in the warmth and attractiveness of the characters, and the light drama between them.
Stargate Universe, after two years... I'm still not sure what it wants to be. Its parent series were both classic serialized sci-fi, and it does pull in people for the stargate and the spaceship. But it has no heroes, no one for a "geek" to identify with other than the "everyman" (which is Eli), and his character type isn't the kind that most sci-fi guys want to identify with. Sci-fi women can't be drawn in by any strong/positive female characters either. So we're left with a surface-level fantasy/drama show that is almost entirely conflict driven. Honestly, I think it confuses viewers and people stay to watch it because they're either nostalgic for SG-1 or SGA and hoping that it evolves into that, -or- it's managed to draw in people who liked the dark-n-gritty of reimagined BSG and they're hoping that it evolves into that. When people say they "like" it, I think they're really saying they hope it evolves into what they really like... and that's why the ratings are so flip-floppy.
YoshiKart64
Well Known GateFan
Both are summer shows though aren't they?
I wonder if SGU would have got a boost on a Friday as well? Irrelevant really since it wouldn't have been enough but still, it makes you wonder just how important Friday is.
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Graybrew1
Guest
It is just my opinion, But I like WH13 alot, And him being a sexy-dork, has nothing to do with it. I do enjoy his sense of humor though.
Terran77
Captain Tightpants
How would you describe his sense of humor?It is just my opinion, But I like WH13 alot, And him being a sexy-dork, has nothing to do with it. I do enjoy his sense of humor though.
And many women, btw, rate "humor" very high as a trait for sexual attraction.
Heh!
G
Graybrew1
Guest
How would you describe his sense of humor?
And many women, btw, rate "humor" very high as a trait for sexual attraction.
Heh!
No denying that, funny is definitley that.
He is just too much like a pain in the butt little brother type. Maybe because of the G rating aspect on the show. When the actor played the love interest on Bones, there was no chemistry either. And that is what is missing for him in WH13 as well. But that is just IMHO.
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
As much as I dislike SGU I still have to be objective enough to consider that the night a show airs also affects its ratings. I don't think this is the main criteria in success or failure for a show good enough to get an initial audience, but it could have some impact of course.
What I don't get is why Sanctuary is getting lower numbers than SGU on Monday nights. My opinion is that the two episodes of Sanctuary they ran on Monday night so far haven't been that good, others here disagree and believe it's the result of the move in nights. I think it's probably a combination of both. Might be interesting to see how Sanctuary would fare on a Tuesday night at this point.
Terran77
Captain Tightpants
I think they appeal to somewhat different audiences, although probably with a little overlap.
To be honest, I really don't watch Sanctuary regularly, even though I:
a) love Amanda Tapping
and
b) could, because it's pretty convenient
It's just not my cup of tea with the monster-aberration angle, although I think it's written well, has a lot of humor, and good direction. So I usually end up flipping the channel. Now a lot of general SyFy viewers love the whole monster-abberation thing going on, as evidenced by the popularity of the SyFy one-off B-movie monster "epics"... but Sanctuary is smarter, and serialized, so it may not pull in people who prefer more "one-shot" episodes that don't have to be followed from week to week (even if they DO follow it week to week).
Now as for SGU... honestly I'm not sure why I'm watching it anymore. It probably has way more to do with what I hope it could evovle into (like I mentioned above) than any real appeal I can think of, although it's clearly too late for any evolution at this point. But I still watch it, even though I find it pretty disappointing in terms of entertainment value.
Tropicana
Council Member
I certainly look forward to the week after SGU is finished, to see what effect it has on Sanctuary.
I believe SGU may have bored some of Sanctuary's viewers to death and thus, they turned the channel to something else and didn't bother to turn back, IMO. But we will see the figures 2 weeks' time to see how Sanctuary performs without SGU's (bad) "aura".
Mr. A
Super Moderator +
I think predicting next week's ratings for SGU will be a real challenge.
In my opinion "Blockade" was a good episode to casual fans and the previews for "Gauntlet" also seem interesting. Of course the hardcore fanbase of perhaps around 800,000 viewers will watch anyway. The question is how many casual viewers are aware that it's the series finale, that the episode will end in an unresolved cliffhanger and would that knowledge draw them towards watching or away from it anyway???
In my opinion "Blockade" was a good episode to casual fans and the previews for "Gauntlet" also seem interesting. Of course the hardcore fanbase of perhaps around 800,000 viewers will watch anyway. The question is how many casual viewers are aware that it's the series finale, that the episode will end in an unresolved cliffhanger and would that knowledge draw them towards watching or away from it anyway???