A Look at Battlestar Galactica's Ratings This Season While Lower, Still Doing Well Demographically August 8th 2005 08:42pm | Posted by: Jim Iaccino, HNR Associate Editor Return to Flight Deck Homepage Many critics have taken a liking to SCI FI's reimaging of the classic Battlestar Galactica. And this season has been a stellar one to date. The stories are much faster-paced, the virtual sex between Six and Baltar is completely absent (at least in the first four episodes which have aired so far), and a shocker-of-the-week ending has become the norm (e.g., the Cylons boarding the Galactica in the premiere to Cally's shooting Boomer in the most recent episode). With respect to household ratings (HHR), Battlestar clearly outstripped the competition its premiere night on SCI FI, earning the highest rating to date on a single episode: namely, a 2.6 HHR. However, in the last three weeks, it has hovered around the 2.0 mark. Episodes 202, 203 and 204 have generated respective HHRs of 2.0, 2.0 and 1.9. And while some have argued that Galactica has reached its all time low with 204 (see Gateworld), it is virtually tied with the Stargates . Furthermore, when one looks at these HHRs from the perspective of who is watching Galactica, the series is still maintaining its punch. For the past 4 Friday nights, SCI FI has been the #1 cable network among two key demographic age groups, 18-49 year olds and 25-54 year olds for the 8-11 EST programming block. As one NBC/SCI FI executive relayed to Ragnar Anchorage, "We are very happy with the ratings. Of course, all of us would like them to be higher, but at this point we consider what we are getting [to be] very successful." When asked about being the #1 cable network on Friday nights, the executive indicated, "This is a great goal to reach. You cannot be much better than number 1." So hopefully you have a better perspective on the rating numbers and how SCI FI interprets them. And the good news is Battlestar Galactica continues to hold its audience, with a Season 3 looking pretty good at this point in time. That should keep the fans happy as they watch their favorite sci-fi show on Friday evenings. Source: Ragnar Anchorage In: Detailed Battlestar Galactica News |Visit the HNR Forums

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