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http://www.gateworld.net/news/2010/12/six-reasons-sgu-was-cancelled/
Six Reasons SGU Was Cancelled
OPINION: Syfy Channels programming strategy is largely to blame for Stargate Universes failure to reach a third season.
Ive been a long-time viewer of Syfy Channel. How long? Lets just say Ive been watching this network faithfully since before it existed. (Does anyone else remember the week-long placeholder of a starfield with the weird Were coming for you voiceovers before SCI FI launched?)
News came this week that Syfy has canceled Stargate Universe after two seasons. This comes on the heels of a 10-week experiment in moving the show from Fridays to Tuesdays. In this editorial Id like to explore six network programming factors that I think influenced the ultimate fate of the show. This includes a little history of Syfy Channel, and some insight into their changing programming strategies over the years.
Other lists of reasons might look very different focusing on the shows content and the decisions of the writers, for example, or comparing SGU to its predecessors, or to higher-rated shows on the network. (Observe that Syfys top dramas, Warehouse 13 and Eureka, are distinctly light-hearted.) But for the purposes of this editorial, Id like to look at reasons for the shows cancellation from a network scheduling P.O.V.
So here are six reasons why I think Stargate Universe had an uphill battle to fight regardless of its actual content or quality.
1) Year-Round Scheduling
Like many cable networks, Syfys overall programming strategy is to get maximum coverage throughout the year. But unlike the major broadcast networks, Syfy doesnt have enough space in its budget for original programming to cover three primetime hours per night, 12 months per year. And so it makes strategic choices about which months of the year, which nights of the week, and which hours of the primetime block (8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern/Pacific) to program with its originals.
When SG-1 first joined the network in 2002, there wasnt much going on outside of Friday nights. Shows like SG-1 and Farscape would air on Sci-Fi Friday several months out of the year, and then go into repeats. A few years back (when it was still SCI FI), the network decided to commit itself to year-round programming. The thought was that it would do better by spreading out the few shows it had so that something new was airing each month out of the year.
That was the end of the classic Sci-Fi Friday block that so many fans knew and loved (in 2005 and 2006 it was Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica back-to-back). The network also added more original shows (including plenty of reality programming) and branched out into nights of the week when it had never before aired originals. Since then, its new shows have either aired with just one companion, or all alone (next to reruns and older shows, as was the case for much of SGUs run).
How did this impact SGU? Stargate was always at its best in the ratings when it aired in the summertime, took a break while the big networks rolled out their fall shows, then came back in the winter. Since Season Four of Atlantis Syfy has aired Stargate against the major network programming (fall and spring seasons), rather than the old strategy of counter-programming. The result is both higher competition, and fewer new shows to help strengthen the primetime block on a single night. Syfy doesnt have enough shows to fill three hours every night, but rather than pair up its shows to make a must watch night of science fiction, it spreads them thin.
2) The Move to Tuesday
The big networks, of course, have not stayed the same over the years either. Counter-programming new episodes in the summer months no longer worked quite as well when ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX started airing new reality series and even the occasional drama during the summer. But Syfy continued to do great business in the summer, with Eureka and then Warehouse 13 setting new ratings records and on Tuesday nights, even.
It made sense, then, that the network would try to hold on to those Tuesday night viewers when the fall months rolled around, despite the higher competition from the big networks. This fall it finally had a strong show to give it a go, and a reason why it had to try expanding to another night of the week (more on that next). Stargate was moved to Tuesdays at 9 p.m. for Season Two up against ratings monsters Dancing With the Stars and NCIS: Los Angeles (which drew around 16 millions viewers each). Syfy was once again trying to expand its sphere of influence: it had never before aired original programming on Tuesday nights during the fall season.
Needless to say, the experiment was a failure. Both of its Tuesday fall shows both continuations of popular, classic science fiction franchises were canceled in 10 episodes or less.
3) Professional Wrestling
But why did Syfy move Stargate from its long-established Friday night time slot? From one point of view, it had no choice. In 2010 the network acquired rights to WWE SmackDown, which had long-established its own fan base on Friday nights. As much distaste as non-fans of wrestling have for WWE shows, they do get monster ratings in key demographics that advertisers love (more than double any of Syfys scripted dramas). So SmackDown is great for Syfys bottom line though execs have to stretch their creativity to justify why this show has any place on their network. (Part of this stretch has come in the form of the SCI FI to Syfy name change, as the network shifts from the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres to a more general branding around the concept of imagination.)
Not wanting to risk shaking up SmackDowns Friday night viewership, Syfy kept the 2-hour block on Fridays leaving room for only one other show in primetime that night. (And thats a night that has traditionally been the night of the week where viewers are most friendly to science fiction. See also: the FOX network.)
Originally Syfy was going to move Sanctuary to Tuesdays with SGU but before the premiere, programming executives decided to pair SGU with Caprica instead, and keep Sanctuary on Fridays following wrestling. (They needed a quick decision on whether to give Caprica another year, so they bumped it up on the schedule from January.) Its been great for Sanctuary, which seems almost certain to get a fourth season. In spite of the fact that more than 50 percent of the WWE audience doesnt stick around at 10 p.m., its still enough to make Sanctuary the networks top-rated original drama this fall.
Would the story have been different if Syfy had kept Stargate on Fridays and moved Sanctuary instead? Well simply never know, because the network is not about to mess with a good thing and change its Friday night line-up. Sanctuary has 20 episodes this season meaning that as long as Syfy is filling up two hours on Fridays with SmackDown, Stargate has no place else to go.
4) Time-Shifting and Online Viewing
Its become increasingly obvious over the last five years that fans of television dont watch television any more. What in the world does that mean?! Sci-fi fans tend to be younger and technologically savvy, and so among the earliest adopters of new technology. We got DVRs first and stopped watching our favorite shows live. We were the first users of Hulu and iTunes, and sci-fi fans were torrenting new episodes illegally before most people even knew such a thing existed.
Nielsen Media Research and the networks have tried to keep up with the times, revamping the TV ratings system to include some time-shifted, DVR viewing in separate ratings reports. Live + Same Day counts those who recorded the show and watched it by 3 a.m. that night. C3″ numbers count those who watch recorded commercials within three days of broadcast. And Live + 7 Days measure viewers who recorded the episode and watched it at any time the following week. (Stargate typically adds 40 to 50 percent to its Friday night viewer numbers here.)
But those in the Nielsen sample group who took longer to catch up, or who watched online instead (legally or illegally), currently dont get counted. And thats to say nothing of the millions in other countries who watch on their own networks (or online).
Is it fair for Syfy to cancel the show when execs know that they cant count all of its true viewers? Sure it is. Syfys bottom line is determined by how much it can charge advertisers for 30 seconds of air time during SGU. Can it make more money than it pays for the show? MGM owns Stargate and licenses it to Syfy so Syfy doesnt see a nickel from iTunes or Amazon or Hulu, or from DVDs or international distribution. As much as we talk about ratings on this site, we all need to remember that the renewal decision is not based on a shows viewership its based on how much money the network can make from the show. That means its based on Syfy Channels viewership, and heavily weighted toward those viewers most likely to not fast-forward through ads (Live + Same Day and C3″ ratings).
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 broadcasters profitability is still tied to the network being in control (i.e., making us watch commercials).
5) Mid-Season Breaks
While the show turned a major corner with ''Space,'' many viewers hadn't come back after the long break.
When your show is very episodic in nature, it doesnt matter all that much when the individual installments air and how much space is inserted in between them. Any on-going storyline that loosely stitches the episodes together isnt tough to catch up on. (E.g.: The Goauld are bad. We are fighting them. They are trying to take over the galaxy but not every week.) But when your show is dependent on an arc, on following the intricate lines and more subtle character relationships from week to week, a big break in the middle can be disastrous for holding on to that mythological creature who sets the ratings curve and makes or breaks a show: the casual viewer.
SGUs mid-season breaks are four months long slightly longer even than the 3-month break in between the seasons. Those two breaks have been disastrous. Many casual viewers appear to have given the new show its first 10-episode run to hook them, and didnt come back four months later for Space easily one of SGUs finest hours. More viewers were lost when the show not only took another long break between seasons, but changed nights.
ABC learned fairly early on from LOST that it couldnt split up an arc-based, mythology-heavy series. Such series simply demand more from viewers (and SGU is such a show). ABC found that it had to hold off on a fall premiere and start the show at mid-season, airing the whole thing in one run. FOX did the same with 24. (That also means that the network and studio only have one big marketing push to worry about.) SGU, in my opinion, certainly suffered from Syfy not having done the same with Stargate Universe.
6) Viewers Just Werent There
Everything Ive talked about up to this point might rightly be called mitigating factors. They help to paint a fuller and more realistic picture of the difficulties faced by shows like Stargate Universe. But finally, in spite of the networks programming strategies and the amount of marketing put into (or not put into) promoting a show, any television series must live or die by how many people are watching it. There are plenty of success stories on cable television this year. Most of the world isnt watching television online yet; and so if a show generates good word-of-mouth and compels its audience to return week after week, it will survive.
Rush's revelation of Destiny's mission reinvigorated SGU's story. From ''The Greater Good''
People might lose track of a show they have enjoyed, especially when the network moves it to a different night and takes a 4-month break in the middle of the season. But, generally, they will find the shows that they love. Stargate Universe resonated with a lot of people, and brought in a lot of new viewers who never had any interest in Stargate before. But it wasnt a mega-hit. Blame that on network scheduling, or on backlash from fans of the previous series, or on the failure of the ratings system to keep up with the way people watch television today. But these are things that can be overcome when a show is so good that it demands that people find it on the dial and tell all their friends.
SGU had 30 episodes to prove itself to casual viewers and build a strong audience, and it didnt. Ratings nearly always fall off from a series premiere; but Universes ratings continued to erode from start to finish. As much as the show had the deck stacked against it by Syfys programming strategies, like any series it had to live or die by how well it appealed to the casual viewer how well it turned casual viewers into true fans.
I have no conclusions other than that. Im not passing any judgment on the quality of the show (which was outstanding) or whether it should have been canceled. All I hope to do here is make some observations of those things that have led us here, particularly from the standpoint of the Syfy decision-makers. I liked the show and think it made big strides forward in the second half of the first season, and then again in the first half of the second. Many of the elements I found trying were starting to fall away especially when Destinys mission was revealed and characters once at odds began to work together.
The show is truly finding itself in its second season, and I have high hopes that the final 10 episodes this spring will bring us some of Stargates finest hours. I know a third season would have been even better, and Im sad to see it go.
Yet, imo, if it had been a much better show then more people would have watched no matter when it was on. But this is a great piece on the actual dynamics of SyFy and the future of science fiction programming.
wtf? Sanctuary is now SighFys highest rated scripted show?????
Six Reasons SGU Was Cancelled
OPINION: Syfy Channels programming strategy is largely to blame for Stargate Universes failure to reach a third season.
Ive been a long-time viewer of Syfy Channel. How long? Lets just say Ive been watching this network faithfully since before it existed. (Does anyone else remember the week-long placeholder of a starfield with the weird Were coming for you voiceovers before SCI FI launched?)
News came this week that Syfy has canceled Stargate Universe after two seasons. This comes on the heels of a 10-week experiment in moving the show from Fridays to Tuesdays. In this editorial Id like to explore six network programming factors that I think influenced the ultimate fate of the show. This includes a little history of Syfy Channel, and some insight into their changing programming strategies over the years.
Other lists of reasons might look very different focusing on the shows content and the decisions of the writers, for example, or comparing SGU to its predecessors, or to higher-rated shows on the network. (Observe that Syfys top dramas, Warehouse 13 and Eureka, are distinctly light-hearted.) But for the purposes of this editorial, Id like to look at reasons for the shows cancellation from a network scheduling P.O.V.
So here are six reasons why I think Stargate Universe had an uphill battle to fight regardless of its actual content or quality.
1) Year-Round Scheduling
Like many cable networks, Syfys overall programming strategy is to get maximum coverage throughout the year. But unlike the major broadcast networks, Syfy doesnt have enough space in its budget for original programming to cover three primetime hours per night, 12 months per year. And so it makes strategic choices about which months of the year, which nights of the week, and which hours of the primetime block (8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern/Pacific) to program with its originals.
When SG-1 first joined the network in 2002, there wasnt much going on outside of Friday nights. Shows like SG-1 and Farscape would air on Sci-Fi Friday several months out of the year, and then go into repeats. A few years back (when it was still SCI FI), the network decided to commit itself to year-round programming. The thought was that it would do better by spreading out the few shows it had so that something new was airing each month out of the year.
That was the end of the classic Sci-Fi Friday block that so many fans knew and loved (in 2005 and 2006 it was Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica back-to-back). The network also added more original shows (including plenty of reality programming) and branched out into nights of the week when it had never before aired originals. Since then, its new shows have either aired with just one companion, or all alone (next to reruns and older shows, as was the case for much of SGUs run).
How did this impact SGU? Stargate was always at its best in the ratings when it aired in the summertime, took a break while the big networks rolled out their fall shows, then came back in the winter. Since Season Four of Atlantis Syfy has aired Stargate against the major network programming (fall and spring seasons), rather than the old strategy of counter-programming. The result is both higher competition, and fewer new shows to help strengthen the primetime block on a single night. Syfy doesnt have enough shows to fill three hours every night, but rather than pair up its shows to make a must watch night of science fiction, it spreads them thin.
2) The Move to Tuesday
The big networks, of course, have not stayed the same over the years either. Counter-programming new episodes in the summer months no longer worked quite as well when ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX started airing new reality series and even the occasional drama during the summer. But Syfy continued to do great business in the summer, with Eureka and then Warehouse 13 setting new ratings records and on Tuesday nights, even.
It made sense, then, that the network would try to hold on to those Tuesday night viewers when the fall months rolled around, despite the higher competition from the big networks. This fall it finally had a strong show to give it a go, and a reason why it had to try expanding to another night of the week (more on that next). Stargate was moved to Tuesdays at 9 p.m. for Season Two up against ratings monsters Dancing With the Stars and NCIS: Los Angeles (which drew around 16 millions viewers each). Syfy was once again trying to expand its sphere of influence: it had never before aired original programming on Tuesday nights during the fall season.
Needless to say, the experiment was a failure. Both of its Tuesday fall shows both continuations of popular, classic science fiction franchises were canceled in 10 episodes or less.
3) Professional Wrestling
But why did Syfy move Stargate from its long-established Friday night time slot? From one point of view, it had no choice. In 2010 the network acquired rights to WWE SmackDown, which had long-established its own fan base on Friday nights. As much distaste as non-fans of wrestling have for WWE shows, they do get monster ratings in key demographics that advertisers love (more than double any of Syfys scripted dramas). So SmackDown is great for Syfys bottom line though execs have to stretch their creativity to justify why this show has any place on their network. (Part of this stretch has come in the form of the SCI FI to Syfy name change, as the network shifts from the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres to a more general branding around the concept of imagination.)
Not wanting to risk shaking up SmackDowns Friday night viewership, Syfy kept the 2-hour block on Fridays leaving room for only one other show in primetime that night. (And thats a night that has traditionally been the night of the week where viewers are most friendly to science fiction. See also: the FOX network.)
Originally Syfy was going to move Sanctuary to Tuesdays with SGU but before the premiere, programming executives decided to pair SGU with Caprica instead, and keep Sanctuary on Fridays following wrestling. (They needed a quick decision on whether to give Caprica another year, so they bumped it up on the schedule from January.) Its been great for Sanctuary, which seems almost certain to get a fourth season. In spite of the fact that more than 50 percent of the WWE audience doesnt stick around at 10 p.m., its still enough to make Sanctuary the networks top-rated original drama this fall.
Would the story have been different if Syfy had kept Stargate on Fridays and moved Sanctuary instead? Well simply never know, because the network is not about to mess with a good thing and change its Friday night line-up. Sanctuary has 20 episodes this season meaning that as long as Syfy is filling up two hours on Fridays with SmackDown, Stargate has no place else to go.
4) Time-Shifting and Online Viewing
Its become increasingly obvious over the last five years that fans of television dont watch television any more. What in the world does that mean?! Sci-fi fans tend to be younger and technologically savvy, and so among the earliest adopters of new technology. We got DVRs first and stopped watching our favorite shows live. We were the first users of Hulu and iTunes, and sci-fi fans were torrenting new episodes illegally before most people even knew such a thing existed.
Nielsen Media Research and the networks have tried to keep up with the times, revamping the TV ratings system to include some time-shifted, DVR viewing in separate ratings reports. Live + Same Day counts those who recorded the show and watched it by 3 a.m. that night. C3″ numbers count those who watch recorded commercials within three days of broadcast. And Live + 7 Days measure viewers who recorded the episode and watched it at any time the following week. (Stargate typically adds 40 to 50 percent to its Friday night viewer numbers here.)
But those in the Nielsen sample group who took longer to catch up, or who watched online instead (legally or illegally), currently dont get counted. And thats to say nothing of the millions in other countries who watch on their own networks (or online).
Is it fair for Syfy to cancel the show when execs know that they cant count all of its true viewers? Sure it is. Syfys bottom line is determined by how much it can charge advertisers for 30 seconds of air time during SGU. Can it make more money than it pays for the show? MGM owns Stargate and licenses it to Syfy so Syfy doesnt see a nickel from iTunes or Amazon or Hulu, or from DVDs or international distribution. As much as we talk about ratings on this site, we all need to remember that the renewal decision is not based on a shows viewership its based on how much money the network can make from the show. That means its based on Syfy Channels viewership, and heavily weighted toward those viewers most likely to not fast-forward through ads (Live + Same Day and C3″ ratings).
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 broadcasters profitability is still tied to the network being in control (i.e., making us watch commercials).
5) Mid-Season Breaks
While the show turned a major corner with ''Space,'' many viewers hadn't come back after the long break.
When your show is very episodic in nature, it doesnt matter all that much when the individual installments air and how much space is inserted in between them. Any on-going storyline that loosely stitches the episodes together isnt tough to catch up on. (E.g.: The Goauld are bad. We are fighting them. They are trying to take over the galaxy but not every week.) But when your show is dependent on an arc, on following the intricate lines and more subtle character relationships from week to week, a big break in the middle can be disastrous for holding on to that mythological creature who sets the ratings curve and makes or breaks a show: the casual viewer.
SGUs mid-season breaks are four months long slightly longer even than the 3-month break in between the seasons. Those two breaks have been disastrous. Many casual viewers appear to have given the new show its first 10-episode run to hook them, and didnt come back four months later for Space easily one of SGUs finest hours. More viewers were lost when the show not only took another long break between seasons, but changed nights.
ABC learned fairly early on from LOST that it couldnt split up an arc-based, mythology-heavy series. Such series simply demand more from viewers (and SGU is such a show). ABC found that it had to hold off on a fall premiere and start the show at mid-season, airing the whole thing in one run. FOX did the same with 24. (That also means that the network and studio only have one big marketing push to worry about.) SGU, in my opinion, certainly suffered from Syfy not having done the same with Stargate Universe.
6) Viewers Just Werent There
Everything Ive talked about up to this point might rightly be called mitigating factors. They help to paint a fuller and more realistic picture of the difficulties faced by shows like Stargate Universe. But finally, in spite of the networks programming strategies and the amount of marketing put into (or not put into) promoting a show, any television series must live or die by how many people are watching it. There are plenty of success stories on cable television this year. Most of the world isnt watching television online yet; and so if a show generates good word-of-mouth and compels its audience to return week after week, it will survive.
Rush's revelation of Destiny's mission reinvigorated SGU's story. From ''The Greater Good''
People might lose track of a show they have enjoyed, especially when the network moves it to a different night and takes a 4-month break in the middle of the season. But, generally, they will find the shows that they love. Stargate Universe resonated with a lot of people, and brought in a lot of new viewers who never had any interest in Stargate before. But it wasnt a mega-hit. Blame that on network scheduling, or on backlash from fans of the previous series, or on the failure of the ratings system to keep up with the way people watch television today. But these are things that can be overcome when a show is so good that it demands that people find it on the dial and tell all their friends.
SGU had 30 episodes to prove itself to casual viewers and build a strong audience, and it didnt. Ratings nearly always fall off from a series premiere; but Universes ratings continued to erode from start to finish. As much as the show had the deck stacked against it by Syfys programming strategies, like any series it had to live or die by how well it appealed to the casual viewer how well it turned casual viewers into true fans.
I have no conclusions other than that. Im not passing any judgment on the quality of the show (which was outstanding) or whether it should have been canceled. All I hope to do here is make some observations of those things that have led us here, particularly from the standpoint of the Syfy decision-makers. I liked the show and think it made big strides forward in the second half of the first season, and then again in the first half of the second. Many of the elements I found trying were starting to fall away especially when Destinys mission was revealed and characters once at odds began to work together.
The show is truly finding itself in its second season, and I have high hopes that the final 10 episodes this spring will bring us some of Stargates finest hours. I know a third season would have been even better, and Im sad to see it go.
Yet, imo, if it had been a much better show then more people would have watched no matter when it was on. But this is a great piece on the actual dynamics of SyFy and the future of science fiction programming.
wtf? Sanctuary is now SighFys highest rated scripted show?????
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