Nix | October 4, 2009
145 comments

SyFy Boasts About Stargate Universe Ratings, Dollhouse Beatdown

Sounds like SyFy is pretty happy with Friday’s two-hour premiere of their latest new show, Stargate: Universe. Besides trumpeting the “best franchise premiere performance in four years”, the channel’s press release also took time out to get a rib kick into Joss Whedon’s poorly performing Dollhouse on network (i.e. free) TV.

SYFY CONTINUES RATINGS ROLL AS STARGATE UNIVERSE POSTS BEST STARGATE FRANCHISE PREMIERE PERFORMANCE IN FOUR YEARS

SGU Outdelivers FOX’s Dollhouse at 9PM

New York, NY – October 3, 2009 – Following record ratings for Warehouse 13, Eureka, Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth during its most-watched third quarter ever, Syfy’s viewership surge since the July 7 brand evolution continued on Friday, October 2, when Stargate Universe premiered to the best franchise premiere performance in four years, drawing more than 2.3 million viewers – and besting FOX’s Dollhouse at 9PM (ET/PT).

Stargate Universe, which stars Robert Carlyle, Lou Diamond Phillips and Ming-Na, grabbed 2.35 million total viewers along with a 1.7 HH rating, 1.32 million Adults 25-54, and 1.12 million Adults 18-49 during its two-hour debut episode from 9-11PM (ET/PT).

Stargate Universe Premiere Highlights

o This is the best performance for a Stargate franchise season premiere on Syfy since season 2 of Stargate Atlantis on 7/15/05.

o Among Adults 18-49, the 1.12 million viewers is the best performance for a Friday series premiere since Battlestar Galactica debuted on 1/14/05.

o Stargate Universe’s 2.3 million total viewers surpassed the 2.1 million total viewers that watched Dollhouse on FOX at 9 PM (ET/PT).

Edgier and younger in tone, SGU takes the franchise in a dynamic new direction, appealing to longtime Stargate fans and first-time viewers alike. The two-part premiere of Universe was directed by Andy Mikita (Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1) and lensed by Rohn Schmidt (The Shield, The Mist). The series also stars Alaina Huffman, Louis Ferreira, Elyse Levesque, David Blue, Jamil Walker Smith and Brian J. Smith.

SGU follows a band of soldiers, scientists and civilians, who must fend for themselves as they are forced through a Stargate when their hidden base comes under attack. The desperate survivors emerge aboard an ancient ship, which is locked on an unknown course and unable to return to Earth. Faced with meeting the most basic needs of food, water and air, the group must unlock the secrets of the ship’s Stargate to survive. The danger, adventure and hope they find on board the Destiny will reveal the heroes and villains among them.

Robert Cooper and Brad Wright, of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, serve as executive producers and writers. Stargate Universe is distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution.

I’d say they’re pretty happy with the show’s premiere.

Stargate: Universe TV Series Cast Promo Images


Category: Dollhouse TV Series, Sci-Fi TV News, Stargate: Universe TV Series |
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  • asd

    This show is worse than the soap operas my grandma watches. Coming from a guy who watched all SG1 And SGA episodes that should tell you a lot.

    • Sonny

      I agree, SGU sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • PioM

    Yes, this show is realy boring. I have also watched all: SG1 and Atlantis and I don't like this Stargate release. I wish to watch SG:Atlantis (Stargate: Extinction) movie instead. They should cancel Universe series and continue Atlantis or do some more actionfull series in Stargate world.

  • Bob

    I loved SG1 and Atlantis, have watched all 4 episodes of Universe, it horrable, I will not be watching and further!

    • Sonny

      I stop watching SGU after the 3rd episodes!!! They need to bring back either SG1 and SGA!!

  • Nick

    This show is so horrible. I had been watching it till now hoping that it will get better .. but can't take it anymore. Cancel this show already.

    • Sonny

      I agree 100%!!!

  • max222

    Hi,
    I'm righting to you to share my disappointment along with the other SG funs over SGU, I don't know what you guys are hiding for the future episodes, but so far it's a damn big disaster… a big none sens of events that kill the real spirit of stargate !! where's the hummer of O'neil or Shepperd? where is the feeling that you're living an adventure, not a season long funeral? where's the real new ideas and imaginative thinking? why are you trying to kill the name of this great show ???
    The last 6 episodes are just a wast of efforts and money! if you just watched the first season of star trek voyager carefully you could of better copied the ideas ! 6 episodes of darkness, hate, conspiracy meaningless problems and none sense (the girl f**king with a stranger, two days after her fathers death !!?? it's not sex that keeps people hoked to there TVs).
    May be you don't care, but I really decided to stop watching it ! I rather keep a wonderful memory of my favorite show of all times than see it dying in an awful way!
    cheers

  • Ryan

    This show is great. Enough with the crying about how Stargate is dying a horrible death, and deal with the fact that after 15 seasons of the same damn thing over and over (“Hey, look, it's a civilization that explains the myth of _____.” “Well all be darned! Let's go free/kill them!”) it's time for a change. This show is nothing like the previous entries in the series, and I thank god for that. It's like someone finally woke up the the fact that the Stargate universe (no pun intended) was trying to kill people most of the time, and put a group into a situation that is less than perfect. I will be watching this show for as long as it runs, and cry lots when it finally ends.
    Hopefully 6 or 8 seasons from now.

    • Vesper

      Thank you Ryan!

      finally someone who get the show and doesn’t give it crap just coz it’s different. This show is what i have been w8ing for and i think it’s great that they drive the franchise in a new and fresh direction.

      • jazmin

        SG-U worst show i ever seen!!

        on IMDB down 41% in popularity this week, why??? mmmmm let me see mmm ah yes it suck´s!!!

        only 6 episodes and they threw away years of work!!!

        i´m dissapointed!!!

        where is SG-1???

        i don´t like the new BSG-U!!!

        • homer

          I’ve got the same feelings…
          Its worst of Stargate TV Shows I have ever seen.

    • Seth Xzen

      so your trying to be little these fans saying how could this soap opera on a ship be a ‘time for a change’

    • areyoucrazy

      Why is it great?

    • areyoucrazy

      Ryan, you are a moron.

    • Sonny

      Hey dude I’m sure you probably watch all the day time soaps too!!! F–k SGU!!!

  • Scott

    I have been watching Stargate since 1997 and seen the lot of it and love it. This show is taking Stargate to a whole new level. I personally love it and think that because it is a group of people that are no where near equipped for the situation they have found themselves in allows for more character development than ever before.

    Change is good!

  • Wolf

    I watched every episode of SG1 and Atlantis and buying the DVD’s, I honestly say after watching SG-U, I just want them to cancel the series ASAP, It’s sooo boring, on top of it I have never in either of the first 2 series wanted to see characters die as much as I do in SGU. I honestly sit there hoping that lieutenant grab a** and his GF get sucked out an air lock or something to give the show at least one good episode, or have the girl he was doing in episode one turn around and say she’s knocked up to make the other one throw a fit so something can happen, but honestly that is not what watching SCI-FI should be about at all.

    If a good show like Fire Fly can get pulled, we can only hope a bad show like SGU gets pulled just as fast, allowing the SG Name do avoid to much disgrace from this.

  • Stargatefan

    It’s a whole lot different from the past two series, and it’s all the better for it. I’ve seen the first six episodes now, and I love it, as I’ve loved everything from the first movie through SG-1 and Atlantis.

  • the real dk

    now all you stupid people need to pull your heads out of you orifice and wake up to the fact that even though atlantis is home, sg1 are now ancient and the series MUST go on we have a new oportunity to see what the ancients really had in plan for the universe, and all those of you who say bla bla bla voyager this and boring that really do not know anything because you are narrow minded suck holes who dont understand the pure genius that is the destiny!! you make me sad for the human race!! (unless you see SGU for what it really is)

    • M. Brian

      Ha Ha Ha. Pure genius of SGU??? You’re attacking other peoples opinions and trying to claim this show is fantastic means you are connected to this show in some way,(I’m thinking you play Chloe on the show but I’m probably wrong ?) and trying desperately to defend it. This is a badly written show full of plot holes which is a sign of very lazy writing and an expectation that fans are too dumb to notice it. Well I suppose they are right about many of the fans that don’t notice all the errors, like the ones who only watch for the soft porn and melodrama and not for substance. Really there are better shows on TV for those as well, then SGU. Some episodes of Sg1 were cheesy in the first couple seasons, SGA wasn’t great in the last two seasons at all. I don’t want them back but that doesn’t mean this show is good!

      How about all the holes in the plot. Stargates out on planets hundreds of thousands of years before Atlantis was in the Pegasus Galaxy where they used DHD’s to power the gate and dial up a destination and on SGU they use a tiny remote. Are we to believe the Atlantians got dumber over hundreds of thousands of years before ascending 10,000 years ago.

      Or that only two space suits were usable because the other ones degraded over time. Oh Yeah, space suits built by the ancients meant to withstand the worst atmospheric conditions humans could encounter, degraded while in storage and not being used and yet the beautiful bed coverings and pillows exposed to the atmosphere in the ship over hundreds of thousands of years are in pristine condition. But how else would you have the sex scenes believable on a pile of scraps and dust. To believe this you have to believe the bed coverings were made tougher than the space suits. But maybe the Atlantians anticipated all the humping the humans would do when they got on board and designed them to last??

      So far there has been no purpose explained for the ship or what the ancients had in mind for the universe. It has just been going and going and going and going. Yet we are told that systems were activated “For the first time” when the gate was dialed and the humans came on board. WHAT???? How and why did it shut down if it had traveled that far, would it have not just sought out a sun and recharged and kept going? Or maybe it was just tired and needed a rest?

      Some how the humans were able to out think the ancients who originally built the blue stone communications device and build the technology into a tiny box with a light under it, when the ancients had a very elaborate and heavy device to make it function on SG1. Wow, aren’t humans smart, in only a few years doing what the ancients couldn’t figure out in hundreds of thousands of years.

      Oh by the way the space suits were the same ones used by the offshoot Asgard race on SGA in the last season, with just a different helmet. Strange since the Asgard had technology far more advanced than the ancients, ie their drive systems and teleporting, and now their suits were no better than several hundred thousand year old Atlantian technology when they launched this ship.

      I wish they would make up their mind, so far I have heard the ship has been going 100,000 years, then several hundred thousand years , then a million years

      The real dk, don’t insult other viewers who have an opinion just because you can’t see all the flaws in the show. I know it takes intelligence to pick them up, but Sci-Fi is supposed to inspire and stimulate a person to imagine the future, and THINK of what it would be like out there!! The key word here is THINK, try it some time instead of just mouthing off about others opinions!

      It is also obvious that Stargatefan is not being truthful at saying they watched all the SG1 and Atlantis and loved them and now loves SGU. I suspect another cast member here or a relative trying to defend the show. SGU is not Science Fiction just because it is in a space ship. It is a soap opera about frustrated, angry and some horny people who can’t think with their (top) heads long enough to pull together and help each other out of a tight situation. All they can do is fight and whine, accuse each other, threaten to kill each other, and back stab. It does not possess the ideals of futuristic science fiction, no represent what humans actually act like in a crisis situation, where people go out of their way to provide for each other and protect each other as they know everyone will be needed if they are to survive. That’s reality! Not the survivor series types of shows with everyone turning against each other. That’s not reality and history has proven that over and over, and this show isn’t Sci-Fi!

      It deserves all the negative response it has been given because the writers, who are the two creators and producers, Brad and Robert, didn’t think the fans deserved an intelligent series and would just swallow what they put out there.

      • D.H.

        Wow someone seems to have their nerd panties in a bunch. Even though all the loop holes that you think you’ve found can’t be excused I still think its a good show. Your ten paragraph reaction of your own opinion is not different from DK’s, trying to attack the views of people who do like the show.

        The ship probably didn’t search for a star to recharge cause it could probably sense that there were no living thing on board. So there is no need to replenish its power if it does have to provide life support.

        The ship obviously uses some sort of DHD if you look at the console they use to dial out in the latest episode “Earth”.

        For the suit you might have to take into account of how metal and fabrics react to decaying in certain atmospheres. The textiles are probably not dust cause its not like they built the ship to provide no humidity. THEN water in the air COULD effect the suit, universal solvent.

        And now the sex. Gender and Technology is a study through every SF fic or movie. Go read “Decoding Gender in Science Fiction” by Brian Atterbery. Does techology reinforce the traditional definition of male and female or does it diverge? The happy libidos just illustrate that the authors possibly don’t like the idea of bisexuality and homosexuality.

        Outer Space soap opera aka Space Opera IS a sub-genre of Science Fiction. Your just upset because you prefer a more tradition SF, empirical, show. But its shown that the more mushy shows bring in a bigger rating. Soooo…. welp… V on abc is pretty good too. :: laughs ::

        • M. Brian

          DH
          Your explanations are not plausible, which demonstrates the level of intelligent viewing portrayed. Plus your insulting remarks about a particular individual demonstrate your character!
          If the ship didn’t search for a star because there was no one on board, it would have stopped a few hundred thousand years ago and not traveled several billion light years.

          The DHD on the ship is fine! The fact that they can dial up other gates from the planet using just the remote is where it is implausible, also that they have no DHD’s on the planets! So what good are all these gates on thousands of worlds if they only work in conjunction with a ship close by, if that is how they are getting their power, but that isn’t how stargates work, and the premise is illogical! Or didn’t you watch the episode where they did this?

          Ha Ha!! Your knowledge of how material breaks down is truly laughable, but then this is exactly the kind of viewer the show is aiming at, dumbed down and horny!! Do you really think the ancients would have used raw iron in their space suits? Even our own ancient Egyptians realized that if they used, gold and silver and it would never break down. Modern synthetic alloys will never break down either including most high quality plastics, the ones in an ancient space suit would have never broken down, so your explanation is ridiculous. Also humidity in an atmosphere will degrade fabrics a thousand times faster than alloys, dry air is what preserves them but they still break down, I guess you didn’t know that.

          Oh Why do I bother! It’s like trying to teach a three year old, Physics! or in this case, how to tie their shoes!

          Your term Space opera does not apply to this show, simply because you found the word opera attached. Star wars was termed a Space Opera, this is 90210 horny frustrated angry teenager angst opera, nothing like what is termed a Space Opera. This is a SOAP opera. But I never expected you to know the difference!

          A “Happy libido” has nothing to do with plausible reaction in crisis situations. You obviously love the so called reality shows that pit people against each other, this is not reality in a crisis situation, it is not even fantasy, it is an unrealistic attempt to create drama and it doesn’t work.

          The bigger rating eh! Right a continual decline week after week from 2.447 million to 1.626 million viewers.
          We will see how good the ratings get if they keep this up.

          I know I should have never replied to someone at your level of development, you will now start calling names and make more personal attacks, but offer no plausible arguments other than elementary school insults on individuals.
          Now you got me doing it. I understand not all shows can be made for an audience that thinks with their brain so in that respect, yes SGU is a fair offering to some fans out there.

          Happy viewing DH, it seems to be right up your alley! But over 800,000 Sci-Fi fans have already decided it isn’t to their liking and the number is growing!

          • D.H.

            Wow still have your panties in a bunch. First off thanks for attacking me. My comment about your panties just stated the obvious, that your obviously upset and taking it out on others. I was only trying to refute your over angry opinion of the show.

            I never said that I was adept on physics it was just a possible answer but thanks for the lesson. And like my other comments I never stated them as facts. I’m sure, since your so intelligent, that I used the words could and possibly, theories.

            If you like seeing the pessimistic and angry outlook then please continue to do so.

            Not going to bother with rebutting, call it cause you think, I’m a moron, too dumb to answer whatever, but your just rude and angry. Similar to Dr. Kavanagh from SGA. Not going to waste time talking cause its obviously not going to change your view. Maybe its cause I’m apparently three years old.

            And thanks I’ll enjoy it. Happy viewing to you too M. Brain.

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