Stargate Universe... a dead show?

I just finished watching this weeks episode of SG-U, and I have two words. Holy Crap!  I mean, WTF. The show is young. It was cancelled before it's prime. And blammo... in it's death throws what do we see? Groundbreaking TV.  My BSG posts are in the rafters waiting to be flushed out and published where you will see the extent of my entertainment critique ability. But here? What a loss.  The show is over and in a few weeks forgotten.  No, SGU did not have the light hearted comedic taste of SG-1. It was not as good as Atlantis and paled in comparison to Battlestar Galactica. But for the love of god did it have to? It was good enough! Certainly better than Caprica which got much more promotion, budget and corporate love. Way better than Sanctuary, Haven and Eureka. Why has this show been cut? It did not beat out weekly WCW raw broadcasts? Ghosthunters got more viewers on Wednesdays? Fact or Faked got a 1/10th more viewer ship? Ugh. Whatever the reason. Sci-fi cut a great show with nothing but growth potential, while keeping garbage that belongs on TNT and Spike.

Ick.

22 comments:

An Enemy said...

SyFy is just a terrible channel. The execs have no idea what to do with it. Apparently, the answer they have is cancel all original programming and fill slots of reruns, low budget monster movies, and reality television.

Greg said...

I know, I found out about the cancellation shortly after the 2nd season break. It had some stinker episodes but also a few great ones. I think it just needed some time to figure out it's own voice. Ugh, don't even mention Sanctuary and Caprica.

Unknown said...

here, here! What a waste... But using logic and reasoning at Syfy is like getting doing the same with GW, just stop or you'll rip a tear in the fabric of reality. Sad to see a show with so much potential gone.

Duke

Tenzing said...

Farscape

Feuermann said...

Television in Spain is worst ¬¬

Doc Railgun said...

I hate to say it... but I hope so. It didn't feel like Stargate to me. I guess I'm old and crotchety, but once the show started branching out into other galaxies (like Atlantis) and we found that the uber-big-bad villains of the SG movie and series are really just local thugs and not really scary at all compared to the REAL threats out there... well, it just wasn't the same.

John Stiening said...

Stargate what?......back to watching episodes of American Pickers and Storage Wars.

Jawaballs said...

I hear you Doc, it was not Stargate. But coming from my point of view, that was OK. I actually did not ever watch an episode of SG1 or Atlantis until after Universe started. I know, shame on me. Some heavy Netflix sessions fixed that! I love netflix. But comparisons to SG1 aside, Universe stands on it's own. Atlantis was the campy fun spin off from SG1. I don't think they needed another. A gritty and dark side to the Stargate universe was just what the series needed.

BdaGamer said...

I for one tried to get into SGU but couldn't, until the second season. There was no initial grasp and drive to their condition. In someways it reminded me of Quantum Leap, but without a true direction. Too many empty characters, too many plot gaps. (it even had a Captain Janway type character and we all know how a certain ST was ruined by her)
Whilst the show has finally picked up in the second season, I fell slightly ripped off. Not many shows take so long to get good. Most 1st seasons immediately grab you and keep you interested. It feels like they were making up the season as the show aired and by the 2nd have finally found their book. For a show to succeed it needs a driven story.
I may come across bitter, as I have found allot of the new sci-fi shows/books/games/movies to be horrible. *crossed fingers for GoT*

Jawaballs said...

Bdagamer you are spot on. The first season was weak as a whole. But they have made up for it with some of the best television I have watched lately. What is GoT? I have high hopes for the BSG prequel series.... :)

Tordeck said...

Hey now, there shall be no badmouthing of Haven. Its one of the few SciFi (yes I refuse to use the new call sign) shows I can actually get my wife to sit and watch with me. LOL

Jawaballs said...

Ok, I agree on Haven. I did sit down and watch most of the episodes and did not dislike them. But They are not better than SGU!

Relic_5 said...

Personally, I think the only way any of us who love Sci Fi will EVER see quality programming is to take control of the station, financially, (although some of the actions that the Syfy channel have taken have made me want to take a more physical approach) and air what we would want to see.
Then of course as we all have different tastes in programming, we'd have to keep tabs on the channels web page to see what people wanted to see, what we did that they liked, etc...
A channel for nerds, run by nerds.
*sigh* With so much nerd crack out there for us to focus on, this is a wonderful pipe dream, yes?

Melon Head said...

After fire fly and my all time fave farscape got canceled I haven't watched any sci fi original programing. So even though I am not a fargate..er, stargate fan, I do sympathize with having a good series canceled before it's time. The fact is this should not surprise anyone, they have been doing this for a long time. Watch some walking dead AMC, or being human(not the American version), dr who, both on BBC. Still some good sci fi on tv, just not on the sci fi chanel

Psybilliah said...

When in doubt, just watch Battlestar Galactica again (except for the last episode)

Unknown said...

the show would never have been canceled if it had that good old sg1 humor. i gotta admit. great episodes past two weeks. if they didn't wait til the end of season 2 to bring out the big guns they'd prob wouldn't have had any problems

Kediedia said...

@Jawaballs--I also had never watched any Stargate episodes prior to SGU. Because of it I've been sitting down every night the last month or so going through the SG-1 episodes on netflix. These last 2 episodes have been epic. I wonder if fan a fan campaign could bring it back or if the Stargate franchise is offically dead.

BdaGamer said...

*Jawaballs - GoT is Game of Thrones...It was not a SciFi show so do not wish to derail the conversation.

Jawaballs said...

Ked, those fan campaigns never work. They might get a slight reprieve, like with Jericho, but that was more a publicity stunt than any thing. They said they were bringing back the show, but they brought it back for a shortened season, with a third of the cast, a quarter of the budget and minute fraction of the writing. It was a short term filler for a gap they had in their scheduling. I would hate to see that happen.

Joyous_Oblivion said...

As a thought, I wonder who really watches TV anymore? I know almost every single tv show I watch are downloaded and watched in seasons at year's end.

I think this trend is especially so with the Sci-fi crowd, who, by their nature are more likely to be adept with technology.

I hate commercials, and as such watch only sports on TV nowadays, keeping my cable box only to make the wife happy.

ServvsUmbrarum said...

Bah, Jawa why do you have to be the bearer of bad news...I didn't know this and it was (just as everyone is saying) just starting to get good!

Kevinmcd28 said...

Im 4 1/2 seaons thru atlantis on netflix and watched almost all of SG1, didnt get into universe that much but it definatly had a different feel.....ghosthunters got lame and the only other good show on syfy (wtf name change) is destination truth

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