Syfy eagerly announced the news in a subtle press release with a header stating "SGU Outdelivers FOX's Dollhouse at 9PM":

Following record ratings for Warehouse 13, Eureka, Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth during its most-watched third quarter ever, Syfy's viewership surge since the July 7 brand evolution continued on Friday, October 2, when Stargate Universe premiered to the best franchise premiere performance in four years, drawing more than 2.3 million viewers – and besting FOX's Dollhouse at 9PM (ET/PT).

Stargate Universe, which stars Robert Carlyle, Lou Diamond Phillips and Ming-Na, grabbed 2.35 million total viewers along with a 1.7 HH rating, 1.32 million Adults 25-54, and 1.12 million Adults 18-49 during its two-hour debut episode from 9-11PM (ET/PT).

Dollhouse, meanwhile, dipped to a series low of 2.1 million viewers, the second-least watched network show in its timeslot (Only a rerun of America's Next Top Model got fewer, on the CW; to put things in somewhat dire perspective, a rerun of ABC's new show The Forgotten almost doubled Dollhouse's viewership with 3.97 million). Given that shows almost always drop in audience size from premieres - Syfy's Warehouse 13 aside - it'll be interesting to see whether the cable SGU can maintain its slim lead over the broadcast network Dollhouse in weeks to come.

Syfy continues ratings roll: Stargate Universe averages 2.35 million in premiere [TV By The Numbers]

It's also not clear whether Warehouse can beat Eureka's third-season average of 3 million viewers per week. Meanwhile, how will Eureka do in its new doghouse slot of Friday nights? And why aren't both these shows airing on Tuesday? [THR]

This Friday's rise (0.15 million viewers) may have been small, especially in comparison with the previous week's 0.5 million, but the week-on-week gain is notable not only for its rarity, but also the fact that this second gain came on a night when everyone expected the audience to drop, thanks to CBS' NCAA Basketball coverage (Dollhouse's ratings dropped this week, slightly, most likely through a combination of the basketball and running opposite BSG's finale). If this rise continues, even so slowly, the combination of this with the DVR additional viewership for the show gives weight to the argument that Fox should keep the show around for a third season... but maybe on a different night. Wednesdays look good, right?

Categorized | Broadcast, Featured, Friday, Nielsen Overnight TV Show Ratings

Updated Friday Ratings: Dollhouse foundation holds up against NCAAs [TV By The Numbers]

While Terminator stayed relatively stable - essentially staying at the same ratings as last week, although this is a good thing only insofar that they didn't fall any further; last week's ratings were worryingly low, and this week CBS was airing re-runs as opposed to new programming - Dollhouse's second episode dropped 15%. While this is, according to the Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog, "an almost-typical second-episode slip," it comes on top of a relatively unimpressive premiere, and was, again, up against re-runs on CBS.

It's too early to claim Dollhouse as an early fatality, although these numbers don't suggest that it'll be sticking around too much, but barring a Terminator: Salvation bump (or an unusually protective Fox), you may want to start preparing for an end to The Sarah Connor Chronicles sooner rather than later.

Second 'Dollhouse' declines; 'Terminator' steady [THR Live Feed]

According to the Reporter:

Seven episodes into its fourth season, the show is up 4% among adults 18 to 49 (averaging 1.4 million viewers) compared to the show's "Season 3.5" 2007 run. When you factor only episodes that have full-seven days of DVR use available, the show is up 18%. Total viewers (2.1 million) are up even more. Also: Last season the show aired on Sunday nights, a night with higher audience levels. Why this is interesting: "Battlestar" been on a downward ratings trend the past few years.  Serialized shows, as many have pointed out, do not usually gain in the ratings.

Alternatively, maybe more and more people are tuning in after hearing Gaeta sing and thinking that the show will go from morally ambiguous drama to American Idol replacement. Sure, he's no David Cook, but who is?

Battlestar Galactica Ratings Take Off [Hollywood Reporter]

I have to admit Stanley the square-jawed farmer, his girlfriend Mimi the brassy accountant, and his deaf sister Bonnie were probably my least favorite characters on the show. I often felt tempted to fast-forward whenever one of their heart-warming scenes of stoic tenderness and oatmealy love-saving-the-day-hood came on the screen. Seriously, Jericho has two different scores, especially in season two: tense and jaggedy action music for every other scene, and then suddenly a huge Englebert Humperdicnk thing whenever Mimi, Stanley and Bonnie are having a tender moment.

So how shocking was it that Bonnie was the one who just took out a whole squad of Ravenwood goons with her shotgun? Holy crap. In case you were one of the evil bastards who didn't watch, here's what happened: Mimi had discovered evidence that someone (almost certainly Goetz, the thug in charge of the town) had embezzled $10,000 and cooked the ledgers to cover it up. Mimi had her own private ledger which proved that the money had disappeared, so Goetz and his goons came out to her farm to seize it, and probably deal with her.

This was about the 500th scene of Goetz and the Ravenwoodies being psychotic fascists over the past couple of episodes, including seizing a vaccine for the deadly Hudson River Virus, shutting down independent businesses, trying to control the town's economy totally and arresting Dale the tousle-headed smuggler. Awww Dale. He looked kind of cute in handcuffs. Anyway. I figured the whole Goetz-must-be-dealt-with thing would be part of the show's finale. (And it still may be. We don't know if Goetz survived the shootout.)

Can I just get back to Bonnie the heartwarming kid sister suddenly turning into Rambo? I want to watch that clip over and over.

In other news, Major Beck is a patsy. I know, according to all the hints the show's producers have dropped, at some point Beck will figure out quite how much everyone has been playing him, and will have some kind of Abu Ghraib-esque response. But for now? Total patsy. Practically a teddy bear. Heather plays him, Jake plays him, and most of all, Hawkins plays him. My favorite moment is when Beck makes a big speech about how he's not a total sucker... and then Hawkins suckers him. Hawkins practically has Jedi mind powers! Oh, and the secret informant who keeps feeding plot info to Hawkins? I really hope there's a twist coming there, because it seems way too convenient. Of course, I know they only have three more episodes to wrap this up. But still.

Oh, and meanwhile... some bad news. After a nice ratings surge last week, Jericho didn't have such a great time last night. The title of this report pretty much says it all: "Jericho is toast." Sorry. Let's hope the producers do manage to find a cable network to pick it up.

The same fast-paced political focus that made us excited annoyed Marc Vera with Entertainment Weekly, who missed all the soap-opera stuff we were glad to be rid of:

The show I loved has changed, and not for the better. Character development vanished, the pacing was off, and there seemed to be no passion or caring in the Kansas town.

One interesting tidbit from today's Jericho coverage: If the show's second season had been a full 22 episodes, we would have gotten to see the seat of government in Cheyenne — and life in New York, which survived the attacks thanks to Hawkins' intervention. Now we'll just have to be happy with one truncated second season, and nothing after that. [Hollywood Reporter]

Those stories suggested that the new Terminator film will feature a character who is the Ben Hur to John Connor's Jesus. Whoever he plays, Bale could lend some desperately needed gravitas to yet another stop-Skynet movie. Image by Dara Kushner/Goff Photos. [CHUD]

• Maggie Q may play Silver Fox, Wolverine's CIA operative girlfriend, in the new Wolverine movie. The Irish-Vietnamese actress has appeared in a lot of Asian films, plus Mission Impossible III and Live Free Or Die Hard. [IESB]
• NBC's Journeyman could be canceled if the ratings for its next couple of episodes don't soar. NBC might not even bother to air all of the episodes that have been filmed. Part of the problem? NBC isn't interested in ratings from viewers who tape the show on their digital recorders, or watch the show online. NBC may have sabotaged the show by advertising widely that you can watch episodes online, and then refusing to count those viewers. [Zap2It, Via Slice of SciFi]
• You won't be seeing Teeth any time soon, in spite of the cool trailer that came out last week. The acclaimed vagina dentata movie has been pushed back to late 2008 by a skittish distributor. [Bloody Disgusting]

• Heroes is starting to woo back its lost viewers. If it finishes strong (with a tacked-on season ending) then it could gain from a long hiatus. We could forget how boring this season was, and be ready for the show to reinvent itself.
  
  • Doctor Who is set to air new episodes in England this spring, plus a Christmas episode next month. If the Sci Fi Channel is smart, it'll negotiate to air those new episodes as soon as possible, during the American TV drought. Also, a whole season of spin-off show Sarah Jane Adventures has aired in the U.K. but not the U.S. yet.