NEW YORK (AP) — Need proof
the television ratings system is dead, a victim of the TiVo, the ubiquitous
satellite dish and schizophrenic viewing habits? Take a look at what's
happening with "Battlestar Galactica."
If the traditional ratings
system is used to measure its success, well, the series is scraping bottom like
a viper throwing sparks on a hot landing.
Yet the show's
producers are moving forward with two post-"Galactica" projects
that would never have seen the light of a cathode tube had ratings been the
only factor in the decisions.
Jamie Bamber, the British
actor who plays Lee "Apollo" Adama in the
series, has a much better way to gauge ratings. Turns out, as the ratings
plummet, the show's popularity continues to skyrocket as it reaches the end of its
five-year run early in 2009.
"When the numbers were
high I would get stopped in the street maybe once a week," Bamber said.
"Now that the viewing figures are lower on the TV, everywhere I go someone
will come up to me and say what a huge fan they are. That just tells me that
people watch the show in a more modern way and that it has reached its sort of
critical mass."
"Galactica"
wrapped shooting in July and the final 10 episodes will begin airing in
January. But the franchise won't stop there.
Producers recently
announced end-of-the-summer production of a two-hour standalone
"Galactica" prequel that will air in 2009 after the series finale.
And they've also shot a pilot for a new series called "Caprica,"
which has yet to be picked up by the network but seems destined to air.
These things never used to
happen. There never would've been a "Rhoda" had "The Mary Tyler
Moore Show" tanked. "Fish" would've been fried had it not been
for the popularity of "Barney Miller."
"Galactica's"
numbers — to put it politely — have begun to stink. The latest Nielsen ratings
seem to indicate the show's viewers are as hard to find as the fleet's mythical
destination of Earth. The series averaged 2.8 million viewers an episode during
Season 1. During the most recent run of 10 episodes, the show averaged 2.2
million viewers, a slight dip overall but up from Seasons 2 and 3. The series
lost some of that steam by the midseason finale, falling to just 1.8 million
viewers.
Co-executive producer
Michael Angeli thinks the numbers are irrelevant, however. He believes most
"Galactica" fans have atypical viewing habits and take advantage of
new technology to watch the show whenever they want.
"I think we were one
of the first ones," Angeli said. "TiVo had just sort of taken off.
This was four or five seasons ago, and because we were on Friday nights most
people, most fans don't watch it (on first run). They TiVo it and watch it a
zillion times."
Others rent or buy the DVDs
after the season is over and watch in long marathons. To take advantage of this
group, producers will be releasing the two-hour movie on DVD shortly after it
appears on SciFi.
The movie is a prequel that
gives some insight into the machinations of the cylons before they unleashed
the nuclear holocaust that wiped out all but 50,000 human inhabitants of the 12
colonies. "Galactica" star Edward James Olmos will direct and Dean
Stockwell (Cylon No. 1), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) and Michael Trucco (Sam
Anders) — all "skinjobs," cylons who appear to be human — will
participate.
While the movie is a lock
to air, the fate of "Caprica" remains to be decided. The pilot has
been shot and screened, and there's a trailer up on YouTube. Angeli is helping
with early scripts in case the series is picked up and said the show is an
almost complete departure from "Galactica."
"In fact, I don't
think we ever go into space," he said.
"Caprica" takes
place 51 years before the events of "Galactica." It stars Esai
Morales and Eric Stoltz as the heads of rival families who clash over the
creation of artificial intelligence, which will eventually lead to the cylons.
Besides the robots and the
location, the only real connection between "Galactica" and
"Caprica" will be Joseph Adama, the character played by Morales.
While Joseph Adama — father and grandfather to the characters played by Olmos
and Bamber — never appears in "Galactica," his work as a lawyer
provides a moral compass in a significant storyline and his name is often
evoked.
Like "Galactica,"
which took on war, terrorism, torture, religion and questions of morality, the
storyline in "Caprica" will have many things to say about our
society.
"It's really about big
business, the machinations and the subterfuge that go on inside of it when you
have something that is groundbreaking and could change the nature of life and
the future," Angeli said. "In this case, they're developing
artificial intelligence."
Executive producer Ronald
D. Moore described the show to reporters at the Television Critics Association
meeting in Beverly Hills. While he was talking about the fictional colony
Caprica, he could just as easily have been talking about today's America.
"It's about a vibrant
society. It's really at the height of its power and the height of its decadence
at the same time," Moore said. "So it's really a thriving, vibrant
culture that's going to come apart as we watch, but it's sort of the roller
coaster. It's thrilling at the top when you see how far down you've got to go."
advertisement
advertisement
