SF Universe » Sci-Fi Fridays

Sci-Fi Friday Continues to Struggle

brian — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:47:59 +0000

The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd, a famous target of genre fans for his opinionated takes, won’t gain a lot of applause for his latest piece either.

“In the case of “Terminator,” I’m calling it,” Hibberd writes. “Time of death: March 7, 9:20 a.m. Hibberd is waxing apocalyptic about the latest discouraging numbers for Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse.

Sarah Connor dropped 17 percent in the 18-49 demo to 3 million viewers, with Dollhouse dropping to 3.5 million. Many are of the belief that a large portion of both shows’ fanbases went to catch Friday night showings of Watchmen. That’s one of the other problems with putting these shows on Friday night. From here through August, we’re going to have 2-3 big sci-fi movie releases per month.

Unless FOX can convince advertisers to take the hefty DVR gains for these shows into account, Sci-Fi Fridays could be a short-lived experiment.

Post from: SF Universe

It’s About The Timeshift for Terminator

brian — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:57:56 +0000

In determining which TV shows people are tuning into, it’s now as much about how they watch as when they watch. While Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse are both pulling about 4 million viewers live, they are two of the shows benefiting the most from DVR technology.

According to a report published by TV Guide Live+7 DVR data, which takes into account recorded playback within the week after the show airs, shows a 36 percent jump in adult viewers for Terminator. Dollhouse picks up 30 percent. Rounding out the Top Five “timeshifted” shows are Privileged, 90210 and Scrubs. These are all shows that do well with the coveted young viewers.

This bears out what we at SFUniverse have been saying for awhile now: the young, tech-savvy demographic that watches genre shows doesn’t always do it live. That’s particularly the case when the show airs on Friday nights. Between people using DVR and viewing shows on the Net, the Nielsen ratings are even more “guesswork” than they were to begin with. Readers, how do you watch your favorite shows?

Post from: SF Universe

Sci-Fi Friday: Dollhouse Dips Slightly

brian — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:48:43 +0000

The good news is that Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles ratings picked up four percent this week from its Friday debut. The bad news is that its 3.84 million viewers still saw it trailing the likes of Wife Swap, Supernanny and Howie Do It.

Dollhouse, as expected, saw a bit of a dip. Joss Whedon’s latest offering dropped 10 percent to 4.22 million viewers. I really thought this ep picked up the pace and was an overall better offering than the pilot. Some of that may be chalked up to Eliza Dushku playing kick ass chick better than she plays vulnerable girl.

We saw more of the relationship between Echo and her handler and the “Rogue Active” scenario answered my question of “Why are the actives not just programmed to ninja all the time?”

I still weep for America that Howie Do It and Supernanny are doing better than our shows. We’re going to wake up one day and wonder where all the scripted dramas went, I promise you.

Post from: SF Universe