190 replies to this topic

[cutecouple]

First, if someone has a better name for this thread, it's always welcome.

Second, looking at my TiFaux schedule, it looks like this is getting pushed fairly hard, with multiple reruns of both the pilot and the first new episode nearly daily or every other day on Sci-Fi, plus a showing on USA Network. I guess they really want to build the audience up, since it doesn't have quite the name recognition of BSG.

[cjardine]

Prior to airing on any channel, 1.5 million people had already seen Caprica:

How do you market a new show that 1.5 million people will have sampled before it airs on TV?

That’s Syfy’s challenge with Caprica, the prequel series to the network’s hit space drama Battlestar Galactica. The two-hour pilot airs on Friday, Jan. 22. By then, Syfy says 1.5 million people will have seen at least part of it on Hulu, Syfy.com, DVD, FOD (free on demand) and Apple and Amazon downloads, or at film-festival screenings.

TVbythenumbers thinks this strategy will hurt the pilot's ratings but may boost the interest in the show in the longer term.

1.5 Million Have Already Seen Caprica, Is That A Good Thing For Ratings?

[theschnauzers]

My cable system includes SyFy on one of its On Demand channels, and they've had both hours of the aired version of the pilot available for several weeks.

[Nikki125]

Caprica Premiere Scores 1.6 Million Viewers:

Syfy Channel's Jan 22 premiere of its new drama series Caprica drew 1.6 million viewers, the network said Monday.

The premiere episode of the prequel to Syfy's hit space series Battletstar Galactica had already been viewed by nearly 2 million viewers on various distribution platforms including Hulu, Syfy.com, DVD sales, free on demand offerings, Apple and Amazon downloads and film-festival screenings prior to its Syfy debut.

[zelmia]

I think too many airings just allows people to see more of the flaws. I'm all for building an audience, but really, this has been out for ages now, even if I am personally only just seeing it for the first time. Enough. Just start playing the series, already.

[Rebooted Reboot]

Hopefully SyFy gives Caprica time to grow.

Edited by TWoP Roxy, Jan 30, 2010 @ 12:08 PM.
caps, punctuation

[TheGreaterFool]

Caprica’s episode on Friday night averaged a .5 rating with adults 18-49 and 1.411 million viewers. That compares with 1.6 million viewers and a 0.4 adults 18-49 rating for the pilot episode.

So says TV By the Numbers under the headline Caprica No Ratings Juggernaut. Says they're still waiting for DVR numbers to roll in.

[kieyra]

You know, once I realized how much I liked this show--which doesn't happen often--I suddenly had that sinking Firefly feeling in my stomach, and with great trepidation came to this thread. Sigh. How do these numbers compare with BSG? Or with other Syfy shows like the Stargates or Sanctuary?

[ShortTimer]

Why in the world aren't they showing a new episode next week? The series just started!

[theschnauzers]

SyFy has a tradition of airing marathons during three-day holiday weekends (next weekend is for President's Day on the Monday (the 15th) in the US.

[ShortTimer]

I guess President's Day doesn't strike me as a major holiday that would qualify for marathon status. Would SyFy worry about competing with the opening ceremonies of the Olympics (which are next Friday)?

Edited by ShortTimer, Feb 6, 2010 @ 1:58 AM.

[TheGreaterFool]

I lost track after the Comcast deal... are NBC and the SciFi (refuse to do SyFy) channel still related? If so, I'd imagine they'd want to avoid any competition at all. Not that it makes any sense... we're only talking 1.5 million people who, if stereotypes hold, could care less about sports not called Pyramid.

[EliseS]

I would assume it is because of the conflict with the Olympics. Even families that aren't sports nuts sometimes watch the opening ceremony for the elaborate shows. Probably the last thing they want is for the ratings to fall in the fourth week.

[Legender]

I wish I could get a handle on whether to watch this show...I'm thinking DVD right now. As much as I love BSG, I don't know why I have so much reticence towards this show. I don't even have SyFy at the moment so there isn't much choice. I would love to see some flat out praise though...the numbers don't give me quite the answers I'm looking for!

[theschnauzers]

Legender, I've noticed that NBCU has been repeating Caprica on Bravo, so you might want to check your cable system's listings or online.

And I'll point out that a lot of critics had to warm up to BSG as a series, the praise from critics came on after the first half-season had aired. As for me, I've been grading the pilot and the two episodes so far as "A+," but that's just MHO.

[Wrenchwind]

http://tvbythenumber..._source=twitter

I am loving Caprica, but at this rate it won't be around to love very long. :(

In its third week, Caprica dropped again, to 1.128 million viewers and a .4 adults 18-49 rating. It was out-rated by Discovery’s Swamp Loggers (which airs at 10p — Caprica airs at 9p) which averaged 1.49 million and a .7 rating with adults 18-49.

Dang it, I always spend too much time reading articles and fretting over how hopeless everything is in politics! Now I have to reading articles and fret over how hopeless everything is in escapist entertainment, as well!

BSG had the rare luxury of being a show where the creators got to end it when they felt the story was told, rather than when the network decided to kill it (or stretch it out too)-- but I think that we are in trouble this time around.

[rasparticle]

Ouch, I too, am loving this show, and hope that it does better, but I can understand why the ratings are sucking. I initially read the Caprica script when it was floating around on the Internet, and thought it was great. Then the stupid ending of Battlestar Galactica happened, and my excitement diminished tremendously when I realized that that this was going to lead to that. I wonder how many other people might have been turned off to Caprica by the underwhelming Battlestar Galactica finale.

Another factor too, is I wonder how much the OC sexy teen thing is turning off viewers. I'm bothered by it, even though I think it's actually been well written, but honestly I can't imagine the sexy teen thing is bringing in teen viewers to a sci-fi show on a Friday night, especially when it is a spin-off of a TV show that was from when they were (gasp) in middle school. Hopefully word of mouth will help it out. Caprica is good, people!! (Just imagine it has nothing to do with BSG.)

[Wrenchwind]

I kind of fell in love with Battlestar Galactica's ending-- what could be a more satisfying ending to seasons-long meta arc about humanizing the Cylons and blurring the lines between "us" and "them" than "humans" being as Colonial as they are Cylon-- but I guess a lot of people were rather less enthusiastic about it.

I dunno, I like Daybreak I guess. I watched the two episodes of it all in one sitting, which maybe made it hang together a little bit more.

Edited by TWoP Roxy, Feb 9, 2010 @ 11:51 AM.
please don't spoiler tag something that has already aired on television

[sienna smiles]

I wonder how many other people might have been turned off to Caprica by the underwhelming Battlestar Galactica finale.

Yes, me! I was psyched for Caprica until the BSG finale, but that stupid ass finale pretty much ruined the entire series for me. However, I was convinced by a friend to give Caprica a chance after the second epi, so I got caught up and I'm crazy hooked. I'm loving everything about it. These ratings are so depressing. Hopefully we at least get an entire first season out of it.

[TheGreaterFool]

In its third week, Caprica dropped again, to 1.128 million viewers and a .4 adults 18-49 rating.

I finally had some time to go digging. The season finale of the dreadful Stargate: Universe had 1.34 million viewers and a .5 rating with adults 18-49. That was down from 1.891 viewers and a .8 in 18-49 the week before. SGU premiered with 2.346 million viewers and a .9 rating in everyone's favorite demo.

Of course, I'm not sure what any of that means in the big picture... but it at least gives a bit of context for Caprica's numbers.

[kieyra]

I think the main 'big picture' context would be what kind of ratings BSG pulled in (and I have no idea).

I wonder if SyFy will ever just give up on this Friday night thing.

[SimplyS]

BSG did very respectably in the ratings for a cable show, and it pulled major critical acclaim. Decent ratings plus Frakkin' Peabody Award gives a show some staying power. Info on its ratings during its run is scattered, but I did find this for the Season 4.5 premier.

http://tvbythenumber...git-gains/11149

New York, NY – January 20, 2009 – The final episodes of the Emmy and Peabody-winning series Battlestar Galactica made their highly-anticipated debut on Friday, January 16 at 10pm. The season 4.5 premiere episode, “Sometimes a Great Notion,” earned a 1.6 Household rating, over 1.3 million Adults 18-49, over 1.4 million Adults 25-54 and more than 2.1 million total viewers.

Battlestar was the #1 cable program in the 10pm hour among Men 18-49 and Men 25-54, and SCI FI scored as the #3 cable entertainment network of the night among Adults 25-54 and #4 among Adults 18-49. Friday’s episode delivered double-digit increases versus the show’s highly-rated season 4.0 average – +23% in Household ratings and total viewers, +21% in Adults 18-49 and +15% in Adults 25-54.

I think the fact that Battlestar could frequently come out on or near the top in its slot versus other cable shows meant more than its overall numbers. Cable takes a little more into consideration when it comes to ratings than networks do, and shows are somewhat safer if they're not uber-expensive to produce and are doing well in the right demographic.

That said, I am concerned Caprica isn't retaining the viewers that tuned into BSG for the space battles and war stories and more "sci-fi" elements. BSG's appeal was just wider. I adored the Caprica pilot and I'm intrigued by where it's going but I'm kind of pessimistic. I think it'll get a full season simply because SyFy owes the BSG people some goodwill. Beyond that? I've got to admit I'm doubtful.

[TheGreaterFool]

A single season and cancellation might actually be a blessing. There's a lot of potential for re-tooling here, a la Enterprise -- desperate plot lines designed to appeal to a wider fan base.

SciFi Channel honchos asked for more standalone BSG episodes, resulting in drek like "Black Market." They could ask for more action here -- maybe forcing the Cylon War to come earlier. RDM could do it, too, either by retconning the timeline, as happened a few times, or just jumping ahead (like Lay Down Your Burdens). There's also the very real possibility of some other war erupting -- after all, there must be a reason the Caprican military wants a bunch of killing machines.

Not that a little wartime action is bad, but it would mean rushing through or utterly ignoring plot lines and character development. Enterprise pretty much proved what a mess that becomes, essentially killing a great franchise. Better to let it die early with dignity, I say -- unless JJ Abrams is available...

[TVspectator]

Hey here is an article about Caprica's ratings.

http://www.tvovermin...your-show/18749

Edited by TVspectator, Feb 17, 2010 @ 10:32 PM.

[Wrenchwind]

Apparently the DVR/timeshift/whatever numbers haven't been that bad, though:

http://www.airlockalpha.com/node/7148

[dirge]

I wonder how many other people might have been turned off to Caprica by the underwhelming Battlestar Galactica finale.

Response to The Plan wasn't great either. In fact, response was pretty damn negative.

(I actually thought The Plan was good, but it should have been aired immediately after "No Exit", instead of being release after the series finished. And I don't think it warranted a DVD release.)

Edited by dirge, Feb 23, 2010 @ 10:26 PM.

[TWoP Roxy]

Topic.

[TVspectator]

tvbythenumbers have some good (but sobering) news about Caprica's Know They Enemy ratings.

[theschnauzers]

Those numbers don't reflect the DVR plus seven numbers, which from what the SyFy honcos have recently commented significantly improved the numbers for the first post-pilot episode.

Upwards trend is good though, as, if anything, that shouldn't be affecting the time-shifting viewers. snd there's also the VOD and downloading viewers as well.

[dirge]

I'm curious about the iTunes sales as well. Caprica is the only show I've ever bought off iTunes, and a know a couple of other people who have said the same thing.