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March 29, 2014: The Houseguests! T.V. Graphs! How’d the Stargates fare?

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1Check out our houseguest, the love of my buddy Tio’s life, the lovely Petunia.  She’s here for a sleepover and has come armed with her own pink bed, pink blanket, and snacks.  According to Tio, she’s a snuggler, so tonight will be interesting.  Four dogs on the bed.  Just like old times!

But Petunia wasn’t the only houseguest we entertained.  Earlier today, our friends Jeff and Barb dropped by for pecan pie, ice cream, drinks and, of course, dogs…

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Lulu and Barb hit it off.
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Jeff and the Yamazaki 18 year old whisky also really hit it off.
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Family shot!

And, for no other reason than the fact that I’m already posting dog pictures, here’s a photo I snapped of Bubba last night sporting his samurai helmet…

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Samurai pug!

I received an email today from our old friend, Trevor in Toronto, who alerted me to GraphTV, a site that charts a show’s performance based on viewer response over time.

Stargate: SG-1…

Screen Shot 2014-03-29 at 6.52.31 PM

Stargate: Atlantis…

Screen Shot 2014-03-29 at 6.54.30 PMAs Trevor pointed out, a lot “of shows fluctuate quite a lot, either up or down, but the what is clear from the graphs is SG-1 and Atlantis are some of the most consistent series ever made.”

As for Stargate: Universe, the breakdown is also telling…

Screen Shot 2014-03-29 at 6.57.17 PMAnd, again, Trevor says it best: “and it’s painful to see the SGU graph, because clearly that show was awesome and gaining momentum…”

Check out how your favorite shows fared here: http://io9.com/these-graphs-show-precisely-when-your-favorite-tv-show-1554419978

Or do your own research here: http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/

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30 responses

  1. Ponytail Avatar
    Ponytail

    Awwwe. Petunia looks like she would fit right in.

    Hey JeffW, did you fix anything for Joe while you were at his house? What is Joe’s address so I can “drop in” too? 😉 Or, did he pick you up from a public area, blindfold you, and drive you to his house? I can make pecan pie too!! 😀

    Reply
  2. Alexis Avatar
    Alexis

    Cute family shot. Petunia is adorable.

    Glad Jeff and Barb were able to catch up with you guys. 😀

    Reply
  3. Alexis Avatar
    Alexis

    LOL at Ponytail.

    Reply
  4. Bailey Avatar
    Bailey

    Interesting about the graphs. They get the data points from IMDb users. Not sure how representative that is of the average viewer because most likely the people interested enough to go to the site in the first place were fans of a show. So I’d think the #s tell you what dedicated fans of a show think about the progression of their beloved series. Although I suppose a few trolls could get in there and mess things up if they wanted. Stargate, a much beloved franchise, still missed by many.

    Reply
  5. Sparrow_hawk Avatar
    Sparrow_hawk

    @JeffW Hi Jeff! Hi Barb! I hope you are having fun.

    Oh, and Hi Joe!

    Reply
  6. DebbieW Avatar
    DebbieW

    Love the samurai helmet! And of course all the dogs are adorable. Did you not take Jeff and Barb out to dinner? You’ll post pictures of that dinner if it happens, right? 😀

    Reply
  7. archersangel Avatar
    archersangel

    that graph thing is interesting, but kind of misleading IMHO. it’s based on how people rate the episodes, right? that has little or nothing to do with how popular the show was at the time. lots of people either missed it at the time & jumped onto the bandwagon years after the show ended, then went to rate.

    Reply
  8. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    You’d better count your silverware, Joey…

    😉

    das

    Reply
  9. JeffW Avatar
    JeffW

    @Ponytail:

    No fixing or baking on my part and Joe bought the pie locally, but it was a pretty good example. I’m finding that some ingredients, like dark Karo syrup, don’t seem to be available here so I’m not sure how I would improvise my recipe anyway.

    As for the address, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention (too busy talking). And yes, I know that is a pretty lame excuse coming from a GPS engineer! 😀

    @Alexis:

    We’re glad we got to spend the time with them too!

    @Sparrow_hawk:

    Hi right back! Joe and Akemi are amazing hosts; we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves today. And the dogs are adorable too! Today was a lot of fun, but Barb is generally having more fun than I am. It’s a working trip for me; the busiest that I’ve ever had in Vancouver and I’m back to the grind on Monday.

    @DebbieW:

    It was a brunch, but I don’t remember any picture taking; we must be getting soft in our old age! 😉

    Reply
  10. JeffW Avatar
    JeffW

    @Das:

    You’d better count your silverware, Joey…

    Actually, it was the Yamazaki that was in danger! 😉

    Reply
  11. lauramultidimensionalocean Avatar
    lauramultidimensionalocean

    so cute to see you guys with the houseguests and the “children”‘ :). thank you for that Joe and Akemi 🙂
    Thanks to Trevor for the info. Nice to notice that people like SGU so much. I loved them all, but SGU was particularly endaring and I liked the darkness about it, and the stress of it all. It really paralleled my own life at the time of the 1st viewings on SKY in Europe.
    I still secretly hold the hope that Eli will manage to save himself and the Destiny and reanimate all the crew ! i know… foolish out of me, right?
    Anyway, I think Akemi’s comments say it all about SGU ! She should get a producer job at MGM !!
    Hey April is 2 days away! Fingers crossed for the new projects ! Would love to have new good stuff on tv shortly! not at all excited by what is out there at the mo…
    hugs and happy Sunday 🙂

    Reply
  12. lauramultidimensionalocean Avatar
    lauramultidimensionalocean

    ps: just checked out your kitchen decoration… is it Christmas over in Canada or something ? xo

    Reply
  13. arcticgoddess Avatar
    arcticgoddess

    I love the Stargate graphs. They mirror the way I felt about Universe and Atlantis. As for SG-1, I loved it from the start and loved it until it ended. I’ve heard from a reliable source that, sadly, MGM plans to keep the Stargate franchise on the shelf for another 3 to 4 years because of the negative behaviour of the fans toward Universe. The fans actions left such a bitter taste, they do not want to revisit the series too soon.

    Reply
  14. arcticgoddess Avatar
    arcticgoddess

    Oh, by the way, Joe, regarding your family photo, is that a Christmas wreath in the background? Don’t tell me – you still also have your Christmas tree up in the corner somewhere, don’t you?

    Reply
  15. whoviantrish Avatar
    whoviantrish

    Awwww.. puppehs! So adorable.

    If you think sleeping with four dogs is a lot I wonder what you’d think of Ziggy. He’s got a talent for making his 105lbs seem like 200. Add Foxy to that and my bed is beyond crowded! 😀 Annabelle refuses to get on the bed.

    Ok my reaction to the graphs? “Ooooo pretty!”

    Very cool that Jeff and Barb were able to visit. 🙂

    ~~Trish

    Reply
  16. Tam Dixon Avatar
    Tam Dixon

    Wow! Waves to JeffW & Barb!!!! Glad ya’ll had a great time (is ya’ll on your “Do not use list”?).

    Love Petunia’s name. That is one of the best pug names of all times! I hope the pups didn’t get jealous when you snuggled Petunia.

    Reply
  17. gforce Avatar
    gforce

    Hey, Jeff & Barb!! Great to see you again, and clearly having a grand time.

    I almost missed Lulu in that family shot photo – it’s almost like she’s trying to blend in with the furniture. Not embarrassed, surely!

    Those charts are really quite telling. SG1 and SGA were probably the two most consistent shows listed there, and as you say SGU was consistently getting more approval – at least among those who watched it, and these charts appear to be measuring viewer approval and not actual ratings, sadly. It never ceases to amaze and disturb me the huge numbers of people that gobble up stuff like “Duck Dynasty” and “Honey Boo Boo”, versus high quality scripted stuff. Feh.

    Reply
  18. Maggiemayday Avatar
    Maggiemayday

    Awwww, puppy party. Made my day.

    Reply
  19. Randomness Avatar
    Randomness

    Personally I hate how neglected ship in space shows are on network/cable Tv at the moment.

    Number currently: 0
    Number of Cop shows: Endless, ∞

    Reply
  20. Mike from Canada Avatar
    Mike from Canada

    Speaking of shows we like, my new favourite animation series is: Rick and Morty, a new cartoon on Adult Swim.
    http://video.adultswim.com/rick-and-morty/

    Wikipedia says:
    “Rick is a mentally-unbalanced but scientifically-gifted old man who has recently reconnected with his family. He spends most of his time involving his young grandson Morty in dangerous, outlandish adventures throughout space and alternate universes. Compounded with Morty’s already unstable family life, these events cause Morty much distress at home and school.”

    Voices include Chris Parnell (Cyrill from Archer), Justin Roiland (Earl of Lemongrab from Adventure time), Spencer Grammer (Greek), Sarah Chalke (Scrubs).

    The episodes are fast paced, clever, jam packed full of excitement and inappropriateness. The downside is Rick’s constant belching (less each episode, but never goes away), the characters pupils which look like splats, and annoys the heck out of me. The episodes are on Adult Swim, so the only way I could watch old episodes was Adult Swim via Hulu.

    I agree with Archersangel, the ratings are self reporting at a single website (IMDB) and are likely biased. After all, most people don’t watch shows they hate then go out of their way to rate them. On the other hand, it means the show is more likely to be rated withing the genre of shows you like to watch.

    I’d like to see similar graphs done except with viewer numbers.

    Reply
  21. Line Noise Avatar
    Line Noise

    And here I was thinking Lulu was just interested in boys! 🙂

    Interesting to see that Window Of Opportunity is the highest rated episode from the entire franchise. Well done, Joe!

    I’m disappointed that you can only graph IMDB ratings, though. I’m not sure if they’re an accurate representation of a show’s popularity. It’s a good indicator of what fans thought of individual episodes but not how many people actually watched it. I’d love to be able to graph Nielsen ratings.

    Good point about SGU’s improving quality, though. It was definitely cancelled before it reached its full potential.

    Reply
  22. fsmn36 Avatar
    fsmn36

    I saw those graphs the other day! I thought the Stargate shows’ performance was quite good. However, I think they mislabeled them. These graphs show how they are rated on IMDB (which, I’m trying to decide if I like it any better than Nielson ratings and I don’t think I do given IMDB ratings can be added to at any time?) per episode. “Jumping ship” is related to writing, not necessarily ratings. For example, many people discussed The X-Files “jumping ship” once David Duchovny stepped down from his permanent role, while others liked Robert and Annabeth as much or even more, so I’m not sure ratings went down. Based on those graphs we’d say Breaking Bad never jumped ship…so why include it (if it is graphs telling us when shows jumped ship)? The only one that seems to reflect actual “jumping of ship” as related to ratings and the writing itself is Heroes, but anyone in TV knows how much that show suffered in the writer’s strike.

    Reply
  23. Trevor Avatar
    Trevor

    The graphs are representations of how a show’s viewers feel about the various episodes, it doesn’t have anything to do with ratings. If you look up most shows, viewer’s opinion of the quality of the episodes fluctuates dramatically, and shows where a lot of series jumped the shark for people (or found their footing). While it seems Stargate viewers gave consistently high ratings of every episode of every season of every show.

    Reply
  24. Ponytail Avatar
    Ponytail

    @ JeffW –

    I wasn’t paying attention…

    You weren’t paying attention?! Oh pleeeeease!! Shoot!

    Reply
  25. PBMom Avatar
    PBMom

    Looks like you’ve recovered well JeffW!

    Just found out the other day Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is not getting renewed for those still playing the Lawren game.

    Reply
  26. archersangel Avatar
    archersangel

    to fsmn36;

    i thought the term was “jump(ing) the shark” to indicate when a show has gone downhill.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_the_shark

    Reply
  27. JeffW Avatar
    JeffW

    PBMom:

    My recovery is better than my surgeon expected (or maybe he was trying to lower my expectations). I can do just about everything without knee pain now; the only things I am prohibited from are running/jogging (treadmill or otherwise), leg/knee extension exercises with weights (leg presses are allowed), and for the moment, racquetball, but I may get an all clear on that this summer.

    Today Barb and I went over to Steveston where Once Upon A Time’s Storybrook scenes are shot; Barb is a big fan of OUAT and Robert Carlyle. Then we went on to Stanley Park and hiked around in the rain a bit (the knee did fine). It was good to stretch the legs and get some good walking in, and Stanley Park is beautiful. And finally we stopped in at Soirette’s to warm ourselves up with some tea and macarons. Tonight is an Izakaya place (think Japanese Tapas).

    Tomorrow is a full day of meetings with four different customers for me while Barb is meeting up with a Canadian friend and touring Vancouver, and then we fly back to Chicago Tuesday afternoon.

    @Joe:

    Here’s a recipe for those boardwalk fries I mentioned:

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/maryland-boardwalk-fries-recipe.html

    The only difference is in my version we use brown paper lunch bags to shake the Old Bay and fries together (about 2 Tbsp of Old Bay and 1 Tsp of salt). This ensures much better distribution without having overwhelming amounts of Old Bay in one spot.

    Reply
  28. Deirdre Avatar
    Deirdre

    The graphs ARE pretty; knowing how easily statistics, sties that rely on feedback from fans and ‘reliable sources’ are manipulated I will stick with that. I do believe that if fans had THAT much influence with studio executives, Firefly would be back on the air and we’d all have a blue ray copy of that promised Atlantis movie with bonus feature of ‘Pugs in space’.

    Reply
  29. ensredshirt Avatar
    ensredshirt

    I am sorry ArcticGoddess but MGM would be making Stargate if they thought it would make them money. SGU was lets be honest, a ratings failure. Why? We can only speculate, but my money is on it being a complete and total departure from the two series that proceeded it. SGU was too much BSG not enough SG-1 or SGA. It Alienated SG fans, and having the Stargate name alienated it from people who would have have watched if it wasn’t an SG series. It didn’t help that some very valid criticisms of the show were completely rebuffed by the people in charge. I love SG and gave SGU every chance in the world, but the final nail in its coffin for me was Seizure. Don’t get me wrong, it had some high points, but for every high point, we had multiple awful developments with unnecessary character deaths, and some pretty paint by numbers writing (Sorry Joe). (The Eli story line was personally the worst gut wrenching stereotypical smart nerd guy relationship writing I have ever watched.) Personally I love all the actors of the series I have met. They are the nicest group of people who genuinely love the fans, and the treatment they have received by some fans was uncalled for. But that couldn’t make up for the fundamental changes to the franchise and it’s characters that disenfranchised those fans to begin with. If MGM is keeping the franchise on the shelf its unfair to blame fans alone.

    Reply
  30. Lala Hawkins Avatar
    Lala Hawkins

    It was sad to see any of our beloved series come to an end:'(. I know that there has been talk of starting over with movies but I agree with the idea of a new tv series based on the original shows. Perhaps it could even include the furlings.
    Long live the gate. 🙂

    Reply

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