The Sci Fi Channel has renewed Stargate Atlantis for another 20-episode season, according to an announcement by Variety.com!
According to what he said in his personal blog, executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi was expecting word on the cable network’s decision by the end of this week, following the evaluation of the show’s Season Four performance in the ratings. This year’s ratings have become even more complicated with the addition of the “C3” numbers that reflect the watching of commercials on digital recording devices played up to three days after the initial airing. (The Sci Fi Channel usually publishes the “Live + Same Day” ratings because those numbers come out “overnight”, but the C3 ratings are just as important to them and their advertising investors, taking into account that more people are recording their favorite shows for later viewing.)
From the Variety.com announcement:
” ‘Atlantis’ truly came out from under the shadow of its sister series this year and proved that it’s a hit in its own right,” said Sci Fi’s Mark Stern, exec veep of original programming. The show’s predecessor, “Stargate SG-1,” ran for 10 seasons on Sci Fi before completing its run last year.
In its Friday 10 p.m. timeslot, “Atlantis” has chalked up a season-to-date average of 1.8 million total viewers, easily outperforming Sci Fi’s primetime average of about 1.3 million total viewers.
Congratulations to all of those involved with the production of Stargate Atlantis. Solutions will keep track of next season’s development just as we did for Season Four. In the meantime, enjoy Season Four (new episodes on Sci Fi on Fridays at 10pm Eastern) knowing that there will be more to come and that the upcoming cliffhanger won’t be keeping you hanging for too long!