Is there life for Stargate SG-1 beyond Season 8?<\/p>\n
‘Stargate\u2019: Rise of a Fertile Franchise
\nSci Fi\u2019s Risk Pays Off With a Signature Show That\u2019s a Spawning Ground
\nBY MARY MCNAMARA — Multichannel News, 5\/3\/2004<\/b><\/p>\n
SG-1 inhabits Sci Fi\u2019s Friday 9 p.m. slot. The series recently concluded the latter half of its seventh season \u00ad its second on Sci Fi since leaving Showtime \u00ad with a 1.9 HH average, up almost 20% from the same period the year before.<\/p>\n
The season finale leaped to 2.1, just shy of the 2.2 record set in January, when the show delivered more viewers than any episode of any original series on Sci Fi Channel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then we gave the viewers a Monday night block,\u201d said [Sci Fi Channel President Bonnie] Hammer. \u201cWe figured this was a way to give the fans consistency. It was there in a reliable block where they could come to it at their leisure. \u201c<\/p>\n
This popular stack of reruns from Stargate seasons one through five is telecast every Monday night from 7 to 11 p.m. Even though these classics are now in their fourth round of continuous play, ratings continue to climb. The Stack has delivered for the network since its launch in 2002. As of the first quarter of 2004, Sci Fi\u2019s Monday numbers were up 114% over first-quarter 2002. <\/p>\n
In the first quarter of 2004, the block averaged a 1.5 rating \u00adits third consecutive quarterly uptick. The highest rated hour, the 8 p.m. telecast, averages a 1.6 rating. Sometimes single episodes score between a 1.7 and 1.9, rivaling the numbers achieved by the first-run Friday originals.<\/p>\n
In October 2003, Sci Fi introduced a Monday-Friday 6 p.m. telecast of reruns from the first through fifth season of Stargate. Ratings jumped 100% in the time slot, first-quarter 2004 versus a year ago. Stargate SG-1 alone now comprises 22% of the network\u2019s primetime (8-11 p.m.) schedule.<\/p>\n
SG-1\u2019s ratings momentum begs the obvious question: Is season eight, rumored to be the last, truly the end of the line?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t! I don\u2019t think it will be.\u201c [Stargate SG-1 Executive Producer Michael] Greenburg asserted, \u201cIf the demand is there, I think the show will be there. I think it can continue. Sci Fi\u2019s a fairly new network. We\u2019re the highest rated show they\u2019ve ever had. We\u2019ve broken their records. It just feels like it\u2019s too early to go away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Can Atlantis and SG-1 really co-exist in parallel universes? \u201cYes, absolutely. I don\u2019t know if Rick [SG-1 star and Executive Producer Richard Dean Anderson] would continue. But who knows? You never know until the offer\u2019s on the table. But I think the franchise now is becoming bigger than the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Hammer leaves the door ajar. \u201cNever say never. We love it, we embrace it\u2026it\u2019s such an amazing franchise. I couldn\u2019t honestly say to you: now it\u2019s season eight and it\u2019s over. It just might not be.\u201d<\/p>\n
SG-1 now costs about $1.7M an episode. As series age and costs escalate, contract negotiations inevitably get tougher.<\/p>\n
Asked if he can weather another negotiation season (insiders say an unusually robust game of brinksmanship played out last year between the supporting cast and the powers that be), Greenburg is the sanguine veteran who\u2019s been there, done that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of bravado and a lot of hemming and hawing and white knuckling,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for three decades. I just roll with the punches now. As long as there\u2019s a name on a parking spot that resembles mine I\u2019ll pull into it and show up for work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boys, boobs & biscuits
\nBy Jayne Dearsley — SFX 117, May 2004<\/b><\/p>\n
We know that Stargate is definitely getting an eighth season…could there be more?<\/p>\n
“I think there’s a possibility of a ninth season because of our ratings spike in America,” [Michael] Shanks ponders. “I’m not saying that’s a sure thing at all, I’m just saying business logic dictates that they say, ‘Um, maybe we don’t want this to go away!'”<\/p>\n
“It’s showbusiness, so you have a responsibility to the shareholders and all that,” [Christopher] Judge declares.<\/p>\n
Would they sign up for a ninth year? Both men are evasive; it’s far too early to know such things. “Creatively, if the scripts for season eight are the same quality and integrity as they have been this past year then I’ll be interested,” is all that Shanks will say. In that case, we [SFX] think there’s a good chance. The latter half of Stargate’s seventh season has been great: it’s as though the show has regained some lost energy reserve, and all the characters have had their moment to shine.<\/p>\n
Two Worlds Collide
\nBy Paul Spragg — Cult Times Special #29, May 2004<\/b><\/p>\n
As for the long in-development feature film…”I’ll just say that it seems to change with every year the show gets renewed,” sighs [Michael] Shanks. “As far as we know, if the film does happen, it’ll happen at the end of the series, when it actually does actually really end for good.”<\/p>\n
“And when’s that gonna be?” asks Christopher Judge.<\/p>\n
“I have no idea! Chris was saying that with the ratings that the show is getting on SCI FI Channel, which are better than they’ve ever been before, there’s renewed interest in another season, which’d be a ninth season. We haven’t even started the eighth, so I’m just going, ‘Naaaaagh!'”<\/p>\n
Is a long run a good thing, or will it stretch the premise beyond breaking point? “I don’t think we have been stretched because we’ve definitely had finite end-dates and itwas the reaction and the ratings to the shows that kept us on longer,” believes Judge. “As soon as the show’s shit, the ratings will reflect that, you know?”<\/p>\n
“Our show is for the most part about exploration,” adds Shanks. “We’re explorers unravelling different mysteries every week. It is a bit linear in the war aspect of it, but there’s a lot more to the show than just that one dimension. So long as we still have that, it doesn’t end. The exploration doesn’t end. I think that’s what the whole benefit of the magic hula hoop os, there’s a lot more to it than just one continuing arc.”<\/p>\n
It seems that no one is willing to completely rule out a ninth season. Watch this space…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is there life for Stargate SG-1 beyond Season 8? ‘Stargate\u2019: Rise of a Fertile Franchise Sci Fi\u2019s Risk Pays Off With a Signature Show That\u2019s a Spawning Ground BY MARY MCNAMARA — Multichannel News, 5\/3\/2004 SG-1 inhabits Sci Fi\u2019s Friday 9 p.m. slot. The series recently concluded the latter half of its seventh season \u00ad … Continue reading “SEASON 9 FOR STARGATE?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stargate-sg1-solutions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}