Stargate SG-1 canceled

[Destructionator XV]

Just saw this over on SDN:

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2006/08/i ... tlan.shtml

The future of Stargate is in question today, as SCI FI Channel has cancelled the long-running Stargate SG-1, Multichannel News reported today and a GateWorld source has confirmed. The news regrettably follows the airing of the show's milestone two-hundredth episode on Friday.
Stargate Atlantis, meanwhile, has been renewed for a fourth season, with the network hoping to see that the spin-off series can stand alone, according to a source.

SG-1 has struggled in the ratings all summer, with the record-breaking tenth season premiering with a 1.4 household rating -- down more than 20 percent from last season's average. After a brief climb to a 1.6 in its second week, the show fell to a 1.3 in week four.

Viewers and production personnel alike have blamed a number of factors for the show's dramatically lower ratings, from SCI FI and Sony's lack of promotion to the removal of anchor show Battlestar Galactica from the Friday night line-up, to new competition from such shows as USA's hit Monk.

Though also down significantly in the ratings this summer, Atlantis has consistently scored better than SG-1.

"Studio executives are working to identify an alternative outlet for Stargate SG-1," Multichannel News said, citing sources close to the production.

Stargate SG-1 premiered on Showtime in the United States in July, 1997, where it aired for five years before the pay cable network cancelled it. In 2002 MGM brokered a deal to continue production and move the show to SCI FI Channel, where it became the cable channel's biggest hit and aired ten times per week in reruns.

In addition to holding the record for the longest-running science fiction series ever produced in North America, the series is largely responsible for making SCI FI a Top 10 cable network. Though the writers intended to end the show several times, its larger, newfound audience on basic cable rejuvinated the series, extending its life far beyond the average science fiction series.

Series lead Richard Dean Anderson left the show in 2004, to be replaced by Ben Browder and Beau Bridges when the show relaunched in a new creative direction in Season Nine. Ratings remained strong, though no longer at their historic peak. The show's producers had even intended to rebrand the show Stargate Command, but SCI FI ultimately opted to stick with the established SG-1 name.

Ironically, this is the first year since Season Four that plans were already in place, both creatively and in signed actor contracts, for another year. The show has lived on year-to-year since moving to SCI FI, with the writers forced to write a possible series finale every year -- only to find the show renewed once again.

Following the September 22 mid-season finale, SCI FI Channel intends to air the final 10 episodes of Stargate SG-1 beginning in March, 2007, a source confirmed to GateWorld.

Disappointing. While the Ori story wasn't the best thing ever, the new characters were starting to grow on me.

[Mayabird]

The Stargate Command idea probably would have been better to go with, but even so I still liked SG-1 more than SGA. I could understand Atlantis getting cancelled, but why kill off the better show? I mean, aside from SciFi being full of idiots.

[Ra]

Very sad news... I never got to see this last season of SG-1 due to varying factors (changing to a job on the graveyard shift being among them), but I'm still sad to see it go.

[LadyTevar]

Cooper: SG-1 will go on

Monday - August 21, 2006 | by Darren Sumner


Don't count Stargate SG-1 out just yet. Though SCI FI Channel has cancelled the long-running series (story), the show's producers are hard at work looking for a new outlet for the story to continue, executive producer Robert C. Cooper told GateWorld exclusively.

"As far as the future I can't comment yet because nothing has been confirmed," Cooper said. "What we want to emphasize is that the franchise is not dying. SG-1 will go on in some way. We're just not ready to announce how."

A formal announcement from the studio and the network is expected later this week.

Cooper also emphasizes that, though emotions are running high among Stargate fans who have just learned the news, it is important to keep the show's ratings strong throughout the remainder of its run on SCI FI. "What's most important is that fans don't take out their frustration with SCI FI by not watching," he said. "In fact, what they need to do is watch both SG-1 and Atlantis LIVE and make sure the ratings stay strong.

"That helps prove to other outlets that might be interested in SG-1 that the show is still as strong as we think it is."

Could Stargate SG-1 find its way to yet another network in 2007? Or might the SG-1 team be headed for a TV movie, mini-series, direct-to-video feature ... or the big screen? Stay with GateWorld for the latest developments.

Stargate SG-1 Season Ten continues with all-new episodes this Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific on SCI FI, followed by Stargate Atlantis at 10 p.m.!

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