{"id":2775,"date":"2009-10-12T15:58:38","date_gmt":"2009-10-12T19:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wormholeriders.com\/blog\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2018-01-10T08:04:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T16:04:00","slug":"mgm-sgu-press-release-best-franchise-premiere-performance-in-four-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/2009\/10\/12\/mgm-sgu-press-release-best-franchise-premiere-performance-in-four-years\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM SGU Press Release: Best Franchise Premiere Performance in Four Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Hi Stargate Fans,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">We are pleased to announce the following from our contacts with MGM Studios Public Relations<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\"><strong>QUOTE: &#8220;MGM\u2019S \u201cSTARGATE UNIVERSE\u201d RATINGS BLAST OFF!&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">New Installment of Fan Franchise Favorite Scores Impressive Ratings in U.S., UK, Australia and Canada, While Attracting a Whole New Generation of Young Fans<a title=\"Visit MGM Stargate pages and see Michael Shanks aka Dr. Jackson discuss the Ancients!\" href=\"http:\/\/stargate.mgm.com\/view\/content\/1535\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2776\" title=\"Click here to visit the MGM-Lion and see Michael Shanls on MGM's Stargate pages!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wormholeriders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/MGM-Lion-560x384.jpg\" alt=\"Click here to visit the MGM-Lion and see Michael Shanls on MGM's Stargate pages!\" width=\"333\" height=\"251\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Best Franchise Premiere Performance in Four Years \u2013 U.S.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Biggest \u201cStargate\u201d Audience in Almost Five Years \u2013 UK<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Highest Rated Single Episode Ever \u2013 Canada<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">One of the Highest Rated Shows for the Week on Pay Television \u2013 Australia<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">LOS ANGELES, CA October 12, 2009 \u2013 Edgier in tone and sporting a versatile and high profile cast, MGM\u2019s hour-long, sci-fi series Stargate Universe (SGU) is on the fast track to becoming the most successful installment in Stargate franchise history. Reporting impressive debuts in the U.S., the UK, Canada and Australia, SGU is attracting a large number of younger viewers and proving that a new generation of fans is embracing the next era of Stargate.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">\u201cWith this success, SGU continues to be a very important franchise in the MGM family along with James Bond, Pink Panther, The Hobbit and Rocky,\u201d said Gary Marenzi, Co-President, MGM Worldwide Television. \u201cWe anticipate global success for the series as SGU continues its roll out around the world and we are thrilled that younger audiences worldwide are discovering and embracing our very addictive series.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2450\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wormholeriders.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=2450\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2450\" title=\"SGU-Logo-02\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wormholeriders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/SGU-Logo-02.jpg\" alt=\"SGU-Logo-02\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>&#8220;Many of our characters are younger, inexperienced and should not be on this mission,\u201d added Brad Wright, co-creator of SGU. \u201cThis opens the door to relationships and storylines that younger audiences want to see.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">SGU debuted in the U.S. on Syfy to the best franchise premiere performance in four years, drawing more than 2.3 million viewers. The series grabbed 2.35 million total viewers with 1.32 million Adults 25-54, and 1.12 million Adults 18-49 during its two-hour debut. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">In Canada, SGU premiered on SPACE with a record breaking audience of 565,000 making it SPACE\u2019s highest rated single episode ever. SGU was the #1 non-sports specialty program of the day for Adults 25-54 and A18-49. SPACE is the Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned and operated by CTVglobemedia. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Launching on Sky1 in the UK, SGU delivered 1,042,000 viewers for episode one and 961,000 for episode two, earning the series the biggest \u201cStargate\u201d audience in almost five years. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">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.) versus the previous programming of the last four weeks. SGU is well on its way of being one of the highest rated shows for the week on pay television in Australia. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">SGU represents the next frontier for the legions of Stargate fans. The series is decidedly smarter, edgier and more youthful in tone and takes the franchise into a dynamic new direction. The dramatic series is fueled with complex plot twists, suspenseful cliffhangers and an all-star cast that includes Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Trainspotting, 28 Weeks Later), Lou Diamond Phillips (Che, La Bamba) and Ming-Na (ER, Vanished). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Based on the 1994 feature film \u201cStargate,\u201d MGM\u2019s sci-fi franchise was born in 1997 when \u201cStargate SG-1\u201d (SG-1) made its television premiere on Showtime. After five seasons, the series moved to the Sci-Fi Channel where the award-winning drama ran until 2007. With 10 seasons and 214 episodes, SG-1 surpassed \u201cThe X-Files\u201d in 2007 as the longest-running North American science fiction series on television. The next chapter in the Stargate franchise, \u201cStargate Atlantis,\u201d premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel and The Movie Network in 2004. With five seasons and 100 episodes under its belt; the series ended its successful run in January 2009. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">About Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., through its operating subsidiaries, is actively engaged in the worldwide production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home video, interactive media, music and licensed merchandise. The company owns the world&#8217;s largest library of modern films, comprising around 4,100 titles. Operating units include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., United Artists Films Inc., MGM Television Entertainment Inc., MGM Networks Inc., MGM Domestic Networks LLC, MGM Distribution Co, MGM International Television Distribution Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC, MGM ON STAGE, MGM Music, MGM Worldwide Digital Media, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive. In addition, MGM has ownership interests in international TV channels reaching nearly 120 countries. MGM ownership is as follows: Providence Equity Partners (29%), TPG (21%), Sony Corporation of America (20%), Comcast (20%), DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (7%) and Quadrangle Group (3%). For more information, visit http:\/\/www.mgm.com\/ &#8220;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\"><a title=\"Click to visit and follow WormholeRiders News Agency on Twitter!\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/WormholeRiders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-27567\" src=\"http:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/chuck\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/WormholeRiders-New-Logo-150TS-Dark.png\" alt=\"Click to visit and follow WormholeRiders News Agency on Twitter!\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Thank you for reading my review and for visiting <a title=\"Click to visit and follow WormholeRiders News Agency on Twitter!\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/WormholeRiders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WormholeRiders News Agency<\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Please feel free to leave a comment here or if you prefer, click the social media icons below to share this news article. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit <a title=\"Click to visit and follow WormholeRiders News Agency on Twitter!\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/WormholeRiders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WHR on Twitter<\/a>, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\"><a title=\"Click to visit and follow WormholeRiders on Facebook!\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WormholeRiders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WHR on Facebook<\/a> or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and the WHR team look forward to will <a title=\"Click to visit and follow WHR on Twitter!\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/WormholeRiders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seeing You on The Other Side<\/a>&#8220;! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Thank you. <a title=\"Click to visit and follow WR_Systems (Kenn) on Twitter!\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/WR_Systems\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1473\" title=\"Click to visit and follow WR_Systems (Kenn) on Twitter!\" src=\"http:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/MovieM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Kenns-twitter-icon-150.jpg\" alt=\"Click to visit and follow WR_Systems (Kenn) on Twitter!\" width=\"194\" height=\"187\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Best Regards, <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Calibri'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Calibri';\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri';\">Kenn <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi Stargate Fans, We are pleased to announce the following from our contacts with MGM Studios Public Relations QUOTE: &#8220;MGM\u2019S \u201cSTARGATE UNIVERSE\u201d RATINGS BLAST OFF!&#8221; New Installment of Fan Franchise Favorite Scores Impressive Ratings in U.S., UK, Australia and Canada, While Attracting a Whole New Generation of Young Fans Best Franchise Premiere Performance in Four&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/2009\/10\/12\/mgm-sgu-press-release-best-franchise-premiere-performance-in-four-years\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;MGM SGU Press Release: Best Franchise Premiere Performance in Four Years&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,58,3,29],"tags":[20,21,108,9,10,1851],"class_list":["post-2775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mgm-studios-creators","category-press-releases","category-stargate","category-stargate-universe-network-studio-series","tag-mgm","tag-mgm-studios","tag-press-release","tag-sgu","tag-stargate-universe","tag-syfy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28555,"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions\/28555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wormholeriders.net\/stargate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}