SGU Launch Scores 2.35 Million US Viewers

MGM's hour-long, Vancouver-lensed sci-fi TV series Stargate Universe (SGU) has reported impressive ratings debuts in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.SGU debuted in the US on Syfy to the best franchise premiere performance in four years, drawing 2.35 million viewers."With this success, SGU continues to be a very important franchise in the MGM family along with James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky," said Gary Marenzi, Co-President, MGM Worldwide Television."Many of our characters are younger, inexperienced and should not be on this mission," said Brad Wright, co-creator of SGU. "This opens the door to relationships and storylines that younger audiences want to see."In Canada, SGU premiered on SPACE with a record breaking audience of 565,000 making it SPACE's highest rated single episode ever.Launching on Sky1 in the UK, SGU delivered 1,042,000 viewers for episode one and 961,000 for episode two.In Australia, SGU was the best performing show on the Sci-Fi pay television platform, posting a 6.4% share. This performance represented an increase of 411% in the time slot (Fridays 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.)Based on the 1994 feature film Stargate, MGM's sci-fi franchise was born in 1997 when Stargate SG-1 (SG-1) made its TV debut on Showtime. After five seasons, the series moved to the Sci-Fi Channel, airing until 2007.With 10 seasons and 214 episodes, SG-1 surpassed The X-Files in 2007 as the longest-running North American science fiction series on television.The next spin-off in the Stargate franchise, Vancouver-lensed Stargate Atlantis, premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel and The Movie Network in 2004, ending a 100 episode run, January 2009.Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek a clip from Stargate Universe...