Male/female viewer ratio of SGU

[Overmind One]

Its because the show is SEXIST, just like the women were saying in the beginning.

There are some interesting information from Briangate/Squall about the male/female viewer ratio of SGU. I think that so few women are interested in SGU, has an influence on the ratings.

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The show is SEXIST, just like Maureen Ryan said in her initial review of Stargate Universe. Why would a self-respecting confident woman watch this show? Even soap operas have stronger women characters. And from what I have read from the awesome women on THIS site , there isnt much for them to look at in terms of eye candy either. Chloe isnt exactly a paragon of decency on this show. She plays on Eli, sleeps with Scott, plots with Rush, but the fish aliens give her an STD?! Perhaps she went through the entire crew of the fish-ship and half the Icarus staff before ending up on Destiny?

 

[podbaydoors]

Mo Ryan nailed it

I was going to answer LucyLee over on GW where she posted the same question, but I think I shall opine over here where I'm far less likely to be flamed.

As Overmind One pointed out, I'm sure we've all read the Maureen Ryan reviews of SGU, a major scifi fan and an SG-1 fan and of course the target of one of BW's more egregiously paranoid and embarrassing rants. Here's a quote from her second article regarding SGU:

Ah, now we've gotten to the much-discussed issue of whether "SGU" is sexist. In my opinion, it is. The other day, Mallozzi wrote a "rant" about fans who had been making what he considered offensive remarks about the actors and/or characters. One of the sentences from that piece hit home for me: "Sometimes, you can be offensive without even meaning to." Yep.

I don't think "Stargate Universe" set out to be sexist, though given the track record of past "Stargate" shows, my hopes in that arena weren't terribly high. And I have to preface these comments by saying that many of the male characters are a disappointment to me as well.

But the female characters are even bigger disappointments than the men, given that the women have been consistently shoved to the sidelines since the show debuted. They generally get far less to do (Ming-Na's character in particular is underused). Overall, they've been less important to the stories and have had less prominence.

The female characters, if we see them at all, are largely defined by their relationships or interactions with the male characters. Or they're defined by their anatomy.

Let me briefly mention the infamous hallway scene featuring Lt. James. I almost turned off the TV and stopped watching the show for good when that came along. If the scene was meant to be a comment on Eli's voyeurism, well, we already knew he had voyeuristic tendencies. So that scene was completely gratuitous. And there's a fine line between depicting a character's actions or attitudes and endorsing them. Given the amount of time that the scene focused intently on the character's body, the Lt. James scene crossed that line.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/11/stargate-universe-syfy-.html

Also, I would add that I simply don't find the male cast attractive, either physically or in regard to their personalities. If the guys can have reasonably tasty eye candy, why can't we? I do admit that we are spoiled by the yummy goodness of the men of Stargate series past, but how hard is it to find a hottie who can act? Or an actor who's hot?

At any rate, it's obvious that this show seriously needed some females in charge. They are so clueless regarding what women want, even smart, technologically-savvy female geeks are still female. I mean, do they think I really watch Mythbusters for the explosions?

Okay, okay... well I watch Mythbusters for the explosions and Grant Imihara.

 

[podbaydoors]

The show is SEXIST, just like Maureen Ryan said in her initial review of Stargate Universe. Why would a self-respecting confident woman watch this show? Even soap operas have stronger women characters. And from what I have read from the awesome women on THIS site , there isnt much for them to look at in terms of eye candy either. Chloe isnt exactly a paragon of decency on this show. She plays on Eli, sleeps with Scott, plots with Rush, but the fish aliens give her an STD?! Perhaps she went through the entire crew of the fish-ship and half the Icarus staff before ending up on Destiny?

Some people will say that's what it takes to sell scifi, but I disagree. Sigourney Weaver in Alien shattered the myth that there must be a male lead. But SGU can't even give us fairly even roles. One reason why I kept watching BSG was for Roslin and Starbuck- they might have been dysfunctional but they were still competent and kick-ass in their dysfunctionality. And, of course, the other scifi on right now seems to have very balanced roles- except V is arguably tilted toward having more and/ or better female characters than males, IMHO.

The women of SGU are not only dysfunctional, but weak as well.

Edit: I just wanted to add one more thing- IIRC SG-1 had really high numbers of female viewers for a scifi show. Does anyone recall what those were? I'm thinking 40-50%.

 

[Yllek]

The show is SEXIST, just like Maureen Ryan said in her initial review of Stargate Universe. Why would a self-respecting confident woman watch this show? Even soap operas have stronger women characters. And from what I have read from the awesome women on THIS site , there isnt much for them to look at in terms of eye candy either.

Well, that explains the puny SGU action on LJ, which is mostly female orientated. SGA fandom was huge in its time and is still fairly large.

And no, there is no eye candy. I don't know in what universe Lt Scott is considered attractive (how far from Earth are they? 4 billion lightyears?), but I'm sorry no, too immature, too baby faced to play a convincing marine or whatever the heck he is. Col. Young, married, cheats on his wife, depressed, manic, agressive, not a winner either. Rush? Let's not even go there - we have a thread.
That leaves Eli, the one guy they selected to be the unattractive geek. It's sort of pathetic if you have to root for the bad guys to take over the ship so there is at least something good to look at.

And there are tons of shows with strong female characters, NCIS, Burn Notice, Chuck, Nikita, The Closer. The female characters on SGU can't hold a candle to them. Funny thing is, Mallozzi mentioned in his blog they have a female (part time) writer on their staff for SGU. She looks about 19 and got blamed for the infamous stoneswap sex scene between lesbian Camile Wray and Rush - which later got cut after much objection from (mostly) SGA fans. How convenient.

 

[Aragon101]

Some people will say that's what it takes to sell scifi, but I disagree. Sigourney Weaver in Alien shattered the myth that there must be a male lead. But SGU can't even give us fairly even roles. One reason why I kept watching BSG was for Roslin and Starbuck- they might have been dysfunctional but they were still competent and kick-ass in their dysfunctionality. And, of course, the other scifi on right now seems to have very balanced roles- except V is arguably tilted toward having more and/ or better female characters than males, IMHO.

The women of SGU are not only dysfunctional, but weak as well.

Ahhh BSG... my love affair with awesome story began there Female leads/characters that actually have POWER and have to use it in plot relevant ways adds a dynamic which can be very difficult to write for a man in this american culture.

Sociologically speaking, there are many things which are nurtured into our ways of thinking before we can question it. Roslin was a g-damned school teacher with cancer. Most writers would have turned her into a blubbering weeping pot. RDM and his crew turned her into the Icy Madam Airlock! I'll NEVER forget how well acted "Blood on the Scales" was when Roslin screams "I'm coming for you!" after she thinks Adama has been killed. Brilliance.

Or Starbuck just continually fighting against everything including herself, but still kicking ass when needed.

 

[podbaydoors]

Ahhh BSG... my love affair with awesome story began there Female leads/characters that actually have POWER and have to use it in plot relevant ways adds a dynamic which can be very difficult to write for a man in this american culture.

Sociologically speaking, there are many things which are nurtured into our ways of thinking before we can question it. Roslin was a g-damned school teacher with cancer. Most writers would have turned her into a blubbering weeping pot. RDM and his crew turned her into the Icy Madam Airlock! I'll NEVER forget how well acted "Blood on the Scales" was when Roslin screams "I'm coming for you!" after she thinks Adama has been killed. Brilliance.

Another thing that is nurtured into our ways of thinking is that women over 50 can't be sexy. I think Roslin was, but never in ten million years would TPTB of SGU write a character like that! She didn't even have hair when they showed her in the sack with Adama. And of course, Ellen Tigh who turned out to be the mastermind behind the whole humanoid cylon "race", as well as her previous identity as an alcoholic cougar.

SGU is not half so cutting edge as TPTB imagines it to be. What they write is controversial to some, but that doesn't make it cutting edge. It's actually kind of juvenile and predictable- "Look! We showed people banging in the closet!"
"We have gays!"
"An airman was knocked up by her CO!"

But I'm still waiting for them to create a scene like this:

Admiral Cain, (upon seeing her former lover Gina with a gun pointing in Cain's face): "Oh.. fuck me."
Gina: "You're not my type."
KABOOM!

Now, that's writing!!

 

[circle square circle]

Put simply, women want to watch hot men and other women that they can admire and relate to. Men want to watch hot women and other men they can admire and relate to.*

The men on sgu rule the roost. They fight for power and get all the action scenes. The women on sgu are ineffectual whiners like Wray or get big eyes at a married man who knocked them up like TJ or are useless wastes of space like Chloe. What woman would admire or relate to that?

sgu has female eye candy. Chloe flaunts around in a towel. James gets big close ups of her big boobs. sgu has little male eye candy. Pudgy Eli? Dirty Rush? Wonky looking Young? No.

Compare sgu to sga or sg1. The two latter shows had strong(er) women like Carter, Fraiser, Weir, Teyla and hot men like Sheppard, Ronon, O'Neill, Jackson, Mitchell. Women flocked to that and turned up their noses at the paltry offerings of sgu.


*I realized after writing this comment that it was very heteronormal. Please adjust as needed for gay men and women.

 

[Illiterati]

Well, I'm one of three women I know who all watched the and SG1 and SGA. We still watch them in reruns as well.

SGU, on the other hand...can't even sniff at it, the show stinks so bad.

And ya, we do think the guys on the original shows were a big part of the attraction for us, though we'd also like to think that their brains may have had something to do with it, too.

 

[Aragon101]

Well, I'm one of three women I know who all watched the and SG1 and SGA. We still watch them in reruns as well.

SGU, on the other hand...can't even sniff at it, the show stinks so bad.

And ya, we do think the guys on the original shows were a big part of the attraction for us, though we'd also like to think that their brains may have had something to do with it, too.

At least you're admiring A head

 

[Illiterati]

At least you're admiring A head

Hey, I will freely admit to being a dirty old woman...

One of my friends has a soft spot for Ronon Dex. She's rather fond of his "if I see a problem, I'll shoot it" mentality. I tease her about it often.

 

[Nani]

Well, I'm one of three women I know who all watched the and SG1 and SGA. We still watch them in reruns as well.

SGU, on the other hand...can't even sniff at it, the show stinks so bad.

And ya, we do think the guys on the original shows were a big part of the attraction for us, though we'd also like to think that their brains may have had something to do with it, too.

As another woman who's also watched all of SG-1 and SGA, I couldn't agree more! SG-1 and SGA were pretty to look at. SGU, not so much. Not the only reason to watch a TV show, but it sure helps For example, The Mentalist and Castle are cop shows, they both have wonderful, endearing characters, who are friends and who bring a great amount of humour and humanity into plots that are not always logical or highly complex. But these shows are GREAT entertainment. And pretty to look at too.

 

[Illiterati]

They're more than eye candy?

Damn!

I guess I have to watch for content, then, eh?

LOL

 

[Night Fury]

Speaking as a woman there was Daniel, Cam and Teal'c (There are were other men that women thunk but most I have talked to fall into those three) in SG-1 and then SGA had Sheppard, Ronon, Carson and Lorne. SGU has um well Daniel was in a couple eps but that is it.

 

[Aragon101]

Speaking as a woman there was Daniel, Cam and Teal'c (There are were other men that women thunk but most I have talked to fall into those three) in SG-1 and then SGA had Sheppard, Ronon, Carson and Lorne. SGU has um well Daniel was in a couple eps but that is it.

I've heard women like Greer somewhat, but they play it much too heavy handedly.

There's something to be said about LEAVING IT TO THE IMAGINATION!

 

[Illiterati]

I always loved Jack the most. RDA has a delightful sense of humor.

It was so much fun seeing him at ComicCon a few years ago.

Only he could tell such a great story about having to take a dump while in frozen climes. It was all about "frozen poop".

Chris Judge told everyone that as he wasn't currently working (he'd been let go from 24 because he wasn't black enough -- his words), that RDA had taken him on as a cabana boy at his place in Malibu. Browder chimed in as secondary cabana boy.

LOL

 

[Night Fury]

RDA I love For me after he left SG-1 the shows were a bit boring

to me he is not thunk worthy I do love him to bits though

 

[Illiterati]

I know other's opinions may differ, but the humor wasn't the same after RDA left.

Sigh...

 

[podbaydoors]

I know other's opinions may differ, but the humor wasn't the same after RDA left.

Neither were the ratings!

 

[Night Fury]

Guess that means that I am not the only that thought something was missing after RDA left.

 

[ParagonPie]

Guess that means that I am not the only that thought something was missing after RDA left.

I'll get you a snuggle hump love pillow with RDA's face on it

For Christmas