SyFy Portal is reporting that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles may be close to termination:
With ratings far below even the network’s worst predictions, Fox could pull the plug on production for “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” as early as this week.
The network has been disappointed by “Sarah Connor’s” numbers so far this season, and some executives feel that the show is dragging down numbers for “Prison Break,” which airs as a lead-out.
“Audiences just aren’t responding to the show,” a Fox source tells SyFy Portal. “Our biggest surprise are the 18-to-49s [a key advertising demographic], those numbers are in the toilet.”
This would be bad news for “Sarah Connor,” which had a strong first season despite airing just nine episodes in light of the Writers Guild of America strike.
Last night was the first night of full competition on all networks. Last week it beat Dancing with the Stars and The Big Bang Theory among men 18-34, but lost to the Heroes “clip show” and How I Met Your Mother. Among the overall 18-49 demo it trailed everything but Gossip Girl last week and last night it only just barely beat Gossip Girl (2.0 vs 1.9). Thanks to commenter “Anthony” for tipping us off to the SyFy Portal story.
Plus, it was among the shows judged most likely to be cancelled based on our initial Renew/Cancel index.
September 30th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
It unlikely that Fox will keep the show on the air now that it has less than 6 million viewers. It’s a terrific show. I don’t know why the 18-34 audience isn’t there in bigger numbers. I will really miss it!
September 30th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
What are they going to put in its place? House reruns? Hole in the Wall? Unaired Do Not Disturb episodes?
I think TSCC is getting horrible ratings and deserves to be canceled (Sorry! I enjoy the show, but the numbers are just not there), but does FOX have anything that will get better ratings?
September 30th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Holly, I agree. It’s one thing to let it run through its 13 episodes this season, which I figured was likely, another thing to yank it early.
Fox doesn’t have a huge bench waiting to come into the game right now that I know of.
September 30th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
It would be a crying shame to cancel this show — it really seems to get better and more interesting with each new episode.
And the ratings may be down, but all ratings are down this season for just about every show — and need I mention that TSCC is constantly on the top downloads section of iTunes and one of the most watched shows on Hulu (and probably Fox.com as well). DVD sales were also good, and how can anyone say that one show’s ratings has a direct effect on the show that follows it (a show that’s already currently in it’s fourth season yet is still being beat out by TSCC).
There’s definitely an audience for this, hopefully Fox is smart enough to realize it… but given the now infamous Firefly fiasco, who knows?
September 30th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Ok, everyone is missing the obvious here!!! It has a horrible timeslot! Its core audience is divided between Chuck, and Monday Night Football!!!
I love Chuck too, and if TSCC is canned at least Chucks ratings will go up as those of us who watch one live and dvr the other will focus on the one. Of course I don’t have a Nielson box either, so I don’t matter. But for goodness sakes Fox, move it to another night before you cancel it! It proved it could get the numbers last spring, just put it up against another networks comedy block or something. Sigh. Maybe Sci-Fi will pick it up?
September 30th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Right…Sarah Connor is dragging down Prison Break. I think I’ve heard it all now. Gee where was FOX when Prison Break gave TSCC absolutely nothing as a lead-in last season? I never heard them saying “save Terminator”. You’d think they’d have learned by now that Prison Break fans don’t watch Terminator, nor SCC fans watch PB.
But you know what, shuffling around, or whatever they’re planning on doing to “save Prison Break!”, may be the best thing for Terminator. Getting it away from Mondays will at least give them a chance. And the later in the evening they air it the better. Not that FOX would realize this on their own or anything.
September 30th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
They ll “terminate” TSCC but keep ‘Till Death, that makes alot of sense
September 30th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
If i was FOX, I would change 2 things.
A. Switch timeslots between Prison Break and Terminator (air PB at 8 and terminator at 9)
B. Change the day to Wednesday
Someone get them to do it!
September 30th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
So, FOX is blaming Terminator for PB’s low ratings????? That is SUCH a load of B.S.
September 30th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
FOX is a joke. They’re probably hoping the show dies a slow death. Bringing down Prison Break? A show that is 4 years old and probably shouldn’t have been renewed for this year? Whatever. This is why it doesn’t pay to get involved in tv shows. The networks just rip them out from under you.
September 30th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Read the full article if you really want to get mad.
There’s something about FOX being afraid of losing Prison Break -_-
Terminator doesn’t belong on Monday, doesn’t belong with Prison Break and, really, shouldn’t've began airing until mid-season. FOX should be disappointed in itself for expecting that the show would be able to compete with Monday Night Football, Dancing with the Stars and the CBS comedies when Fringe and not Terminator got all the promotion.
September 30th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I know the nails might be in the coffin already but I want to wait for something official to show up from a “source” who has a name other than just “source”
September 30th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Assuming the speculation is true, it strikes me that the noises about Terminator “dragging down” Prison Break may come from Prison Break people trying to point fingers to justify their own jobs. Also, aren’t the creators/producers/somebody of Prison Break producing a new series for Fox? Seems to me you wouldn’t want a new series from a group that produced a sucky show, so that might give you some incentive to point the finger of blame at a show where you don’t have that problem…
In any event, I think it would be pretty dramatic if Fox took TSCC off the air before airing all 13 episodes. I mean, presumably they paid for the show whether they air it or not. And what is Fox going to air in its place?
September 30th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
If this story is true then the Fox execs have no clue on how to do their jobs. It is disheartening to see a good show being cancelled to protect a stale show that is at the end of its run. Futurama was cancelled before as well because they said it affected the ratings of Simpsons. It also affects consumer confidence when they do not even finish off a series properly. What gives me the incentive to invest my time in another show on Fox. Enough is enough I may even stop watching House even though I love the show.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
@Jackson, yes it does make sense to keep til death and cancel terminator. Terminator probably costs 5x as much to make as Til’ death. (that’s just a guess, no real fact behind it).
It’s obvious that an expensive show like TSCC with such low ratings would get cancelled, but pulling it early seems like a really bad move. They should air the episodes they’ve already completed, it doesn’t make sense not to. It’s not like they have anything to go in its place. (as everyone is saying).
As for accusations that TSCC is bringing down Prison Break, this is just totally unfounded. Fox should dump prison break too.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Actually, according to producer Josh Friedman, TSCC isn’t an expensive show to make, people only think it is. At least, that’s what he stated last season, and do you really think Fox decided to up the budget this season? Doubtful, since they didn’t have faith enough to order a full season.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
@ Johnthemon i was commenting that till death has bones as a lead in and doesnt retain half of those viewers; where as, TSCC is up agianst MNF n DWTS and now chuck, so the ratings are bad, but till death is worse cuz of the lead in and really nothing at the 9 pm slot to compete agianst
September 30th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
the sci-fi channel won’t continue it, they couldn’t afford stargate atlantis i dout they will be able to afford this. The show looks very expensive
September 30th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I agree with what alot of you are saying no matter where they put P.B it still doesn’t work.The show is bad and it’s dated and doesn’t work anymore imo.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Frankly, I’m not sure why anyone is surprised with this turn of events. The show only did well during season 1 because it aired during a period when it had no first run competition to speak of… The show that replaced it, New Amsterdam, did better against fresh content on other networks than TSCC is doing now.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:49 am
John T, New Amsterdam was utter garbage while the critics love TSCC. I’m surprised someone even remembers that drivel.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:31 am
Ryan: SCIFI could “afford” Stargate Atlantis, but MGM (the producer/owner of the show) decided that it was more profitable to do direct-to-dvd movies of Stargate Atlantis and to jump immediately into Stargate Universe, the third Stargate series, which will air beginning in I think early 2009.
I do think, however, that moving Terminator to SCIFI would be difficult for two reasons. First, legal issues: Firefly, for example, could not be moved because Fox held the rights to the show and wouldn’t allow it to be moved. (For the same reason, the Firefly movie had to be called “Serenity”). I don’t know whether Fox has the same sort of rights to TSCC. Second, economics: SCIFI shows tend to average around a 1.2-1.4 in the household ratings. I don’t know what their advertising looks like, but my guess is that the actors and producers would have to take a paycut to make the show work on SCIFI’s model.
This show is, I’ll say again, the first victim of the writer’s strike. The first season was incomplete (both in # of episodes and in editing quality, since I think the producers couldn’t produce/edit most of the series due to the writer’s strike) and aired at a turbulent time with no lead-in to speak of… So as Andrea and others have pointed out, it never was able to generate a “Buzz” beyond us Summer Glau fan club members…
October 1st, 2008 at 5:32 am
im glad.. the numbers for chuck should go up then.. and i can get a few more episodes out of Prison Break!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 5:37 am
What a joke removing T and having the nerve to blame that show for Prison Break’s failure.I guess the stupid people at fox forgot Prison Break did pretty bad in the ratings in season 3 not as bad as this season but still they didn’t do good either.T even got a bit higher ratings weekly last month in Sep than that mess of show called Prison Break fox blows big time!
October 1st, 2008 at 5:49 am
TSCC being “Terminated” thats about a big a suprise as the revelation that Clay Aiken really is gay.
Next on the chopping block? Prison Break.
The only FOX show Im watching these days with any enthusiasm is FRINGE. I will probably watch “24″ this winter, but if it goes all lefty – with evil sinister corporations and global warming as is rumored, Im outta there.
October 1st, 2008 at 6:43 am
Okay, for everyone saying that TSCC is expensive to produce, look it up, it’s been reported in interviews with Josh Friedman that the show is basically the same cost as an average hour long drama. Nothing expensive about it. And I doubt the actors are bringing down the big bucks like on some other shows. If anything the cost is in the fact that the show is owned by Warner Brothers, not FOX, so the cost to FOX is whatever Warner Brothers wants to charge and FOX is willing to pay. There has been a lot of speculation about whether Warner cut FOX a deal to keep the show cheap and on the air, and thus help out Warner with promotion for the new T4 movie next Spring.
All that said, I’m beginning to wonder exactly where SyFyportal got their info. FOX would have some nerve to blame all of this on the show, and their reason for doing something to try to save another show. It sounds more like a Prison Break insider trying to stir the pot and make themselves look good at the expense of another show. As TSCC proved last year though, the show can survive without a good lead-in, but what it does need is a good day and timeslot, not a spot where it’s viewers are being pulled between all their favorite shows. FOX has set it’s Monday night line-up up for failure, and if they don’t understand why, then I really have no faith in the network to handle scripted dramas.
October 1st, 2008 at 6:56 am
PB has done good for FOX 3 years so clearly it deserves a full season as a finale. SCC got all the help from FOX including a 40 million lead-in for the premiere and it has done nothing. It’s not FOX’s fault people don’t watch it
October 1st, 2008 at 6:58 am
24 is going “left”? Nice, i may watch this season after all
October 1st, 2008 at 7:28 am
Has Fox not even considered the fact that it is up against Monday Night Football? That’s probably where the 18-34 audience is at. They should at least move it to another night to give it a chance. I’d love to see how Fringe would do it TSCC’s timeslot. How this terrific show could be canceled and the joke that is Prison Break could stay on the air is just a mystery to me. I really like PB for the first two seasons, but now it is just plain silly.
October 1st, 2008 at 7:30 am
And let’s not forget SyFyPortal erroneously reported Jericho had a full second season order a few days before it got the axe (the first time around)
October 1st, 2008 at 7:34 am
@rich. What you think is terrific many more think is awful. Sorry
If it’s so terrific then why people chose MNF?
October 1st, 2008 at 7:38 am
“John T, New Amsterdam was utter garbage while the critics love TSCC. I’m surprised someone even remembers that drivel.”
Wrong, wrong and wrong.
October 1st, 2008 at 7:41 am
I trust none of this info at this point, and the comment about people from Prison Break sewing these seeds seems plausible, if you’re conspiracy theory minded. You can find people on the Internet saying Prison Break too is about to cancelled (but after 13 episodes). Calling a spade a spade, the numbers for Sarah Connor stink and I don’t see it going beyond 13 episodes this season (though I would be a little surprised if it didn’t get all 13 of those episodes).
Of course Fox knows that Monday Night Football is on. No matter what they put on Monday night at 8pm, now through December is going to go against MNF football. This is not to say they shouldn’t try to move things around so that ‘Til Death feels some of the Monday Night pain, but it’s not as simple as that as they are considering lead-in and lead-out, too.
October 1st, 2008 at 7:47 am
DVR numbers gave the Season 2 Premiere of TSCC a huge boost. Add into that equation the iTunes/Amazon downloads (paying $ for something you can get for free) and the show isn’t doing as bad as people think.
Do any of you even know someone with a Nielsen box? O.o
I think FOX should move it to Wednesday nights. Knight Rider would be the biggest (chuckle) competition..
October 1st, 2008 at 7:57 am
Andrea, I think what turned some people off to New Amsterdam is it seemed like a retread of Highlander.
Bob, pairing the premiere with a play-off game was the extent of FOX’s “help”. After that they stuck it behind Prison Break and game shows. TSCC gained viewers on Prison Break, and it’s fans do not watch reality shows. The only good thing was the competition was light during the strike, and that helped the show to cultivate it’s audience on it’s own. But even then the show had no creative help, as all the staff was on strike, FOX just had to air the episodes as they were. And even under that cloud the show still found it’s audience eventually.
Now FOX moved it earlier in the night, when people are less interested in serious shows, and has it competing against top rated shows on every network. It’s going to take a hit. You see FOX putting House or Fringe in that spot? I don’t think so, they won’t risk the slaughter. But yet they’re going to blame TSCC for Prison Break’s own problems? That’s pretty underhanded. Less people watch Prison Break these days because it’s just winding down. The show has run out of gas, but hey if they can give it 22 episodes to end it then more power to them. But the fact remains that all of FOX’s shows are down in the ratings. Yet nobody talks about how House is down 3 million viewers, or that Fringe is back to where it started in the ratings. I think the only show FOX has that’s doing okay is Bones, and I even read somewhere that FOX isn’t happy with the 18-49 demo they have either.
And people don’t necessarily choose MNF over other shows, they just choose to watch it live. Same with DWTS.
Robert, I agree that with bad numbers like this obviously FOX has to do something, cancel or move it, but I think the thing that’s getting a lot of fans upset is the idea that to “save Prison Break” they may just pull the show right now instead of trying to save both shows or at least let the 13 episodes run out to an ending.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:01 am
Arguing about Nielsen is meaningless. Every show thats being cancelled people say Nielsen is flawed. What they dont think about is that Nielsen could be over estimating the viewer levels of TSCC as well as under estimating it. In the end its the best system out there and the one advertisers use to determine how much to pay for a show.
DVRs dont mean nearly as much as live viewings since there are fewer ads and most people fast forward thru ads or zap them entirely. If TSCC was a bubble show (like it was last season), DVR viewing might make a difference, but with Season 2’s viewer levels falling off a cliff – its lights out for TSCC. TSCC cant be cheap to make either. Thats the same formula (declining viewers, high cost) that doomed CBS’s Jericho when it was on the bubble and brought back for a 2nd shot.
And when the network says things like ““Audiences just aren’t responding to the show,” a Fox source tells SyFy Portal. “Our biggest surprise are the 18-to-49s [a key advertising demographic], those numbers are in the toilet.”, you know its already been cancelled – just not officially.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:06 am
FrankJ:
No one was turned off from NA. Either you were into this type of fantasy show or you weren’t. Last spring, NA was in TSCC’s current timeslot, pulling in better numbers and always at the top of the DVR count. Plus, the final was the highest rated stream on FOX.com for a month. NA always had buzz that TSCC strangely lacked and it grew in buzz over the summer. It could have done what the X-Files did after season 1, become a steady “Bones”-like show for FOX. I think, like TSCC, it’s too genre-oriented to be a true hit.
Oh well. I don’t want to hijack the thread.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:07 am
I have to agree with Foo Man Chu pretty much down the line. I think the only thing that remains to be seen at this point is whether cancelled = “we won’t air more than 13 episodes” or = “We’re pulling it from the schedule immediately.” I think the former more likely than the latter, but it’s pure speculation.
Moving the show may help, but it seems unlikely it would help enough to get the back nine. Serial shows have difficulty adding new users mid-stream. I wouldn’t expect a significant enough bump by moving it to Wednesdays.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:12 am
It would be stupid of FOX to pull the show now. Let it run it’s course, like K-Ville, which had truly awful numbers. What else is FOX going to put its place? House reruns from last year? What’s done is done.
Kevin Reilly is off to a fantastic start at the network.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:25 am
Andrea, compare the average 18-49yr demo numbers in the cancellation index. TSCC had about two million more in the demo than New Amsterdam. In fact that’s what saved TSCC I think. And that’s what will kill it now, if moving to a new night and no net increase happens.
Robert, TSCC might not get a huge increase with a new night, but I think it would receive enough of a bump in the demo to raise some eyebrows. TSCC really doesn’t even need new viewers, just the old ones back. That said, who knows if that can save it, but FOX needs to be seen trying. In fact I think most fans would be happy with just letting the show reach some kind of conclusion.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:29 am
@Bob “Many more”? You shoot down my personal opinion with your own that speaks for the masses? Gimmme a break.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:29 am
The show is boring. I can’t keep waiting for something to happen
October 1st, 2008 at 8:32 am
Maybe not all is lost. Not all the press sees doom and gloom.
http://www.entertainmenttoday.net/content/view/705/29/
Terminator is Dominating
Stars of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Listen to Fans for Season Two on Fox
Season two of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has made the folks at Fox TV very happy, dominating the adults 18-49 key demos.”
October 1st, 2008 at 8:35 am
Joseph, sadly that story is just flat-out wrong. Now that there is a full slate of competition, not only is TSCC *not* dominating among 18-49 year olds, it’s getting crushed.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:40 am
Joseph, ditto Robert. That seemed like a typical entertainment “fan” story that included some very wrong ratings information. Fan sites should stick to entertainment.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:40 am
Let me say one more thing. The days were a network expects every show to pull in 10 million viewers or more are over. There is just way to much competition for that to be a reality. With TNT, A&E and FX among other now heavily into the first run programming game, there’s just not enough viewers to go around. The landscape has chanced dramatically and that’s here to stay! Six or Seven milion viewers is nothing to sneeze at anymore!
October 1st, 2008 at 8:47 am
Bill, the sad thing about that story was that the writer, Frank Barron, was a former editor with The Hollywood Reporter. I guffawed when I read the story earlier. He must have pulled a Nielsen’s report from last winter by accident :p
October 1st, 2008 at 8:49 am
Entertainment…
That’s not true. Net execs *do* still expect 10 mill + viewers. In fact, just 10 mill is considered average. Just look at “Bones”.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:00 am
@Bob “If it’s so terrific then why people chose MNF?”
Because no average American is going to choose a scripted TV show – no matter how good it is – over a LIVE Football game. I don’t think you can DVR MNF.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:22 am
TSCC is a difficult show to get into. It tried to be so dark and brooding that it forgot that it also had to be entertaining. The second season opener attempted to correct for that but ended up being mindless.
Possibly subconsciously, it also doesn’t help that the show doesn’t even try to explain itself. If they succeed in stopping the terminators, then there are no terminators to stop, thus John Connor will never be born thus no one will be around to stop the terminators. But if the terminators kill John, then there will be no one to come back and father John, so there will be no one to stop. Argh!!!!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 10:33 am
^ In that case, you would probably not find it easy to get into “Doctor Who”.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Keep in mind that TSCC is an SF show, so you have to expect the abstract and the contradictions. The obvious conclusion is that they aren’t going to stop judgment day…there would be no T4.
I doubt that Fox is going to move the show…even though it really couldn’t do any worse on a different night…or could it?? It would make sense to do that kind of thing, but let’s not give a major network credit for doing things that make sense. I still think the night is much too competitive, but, so do a lot of other people, too
They probably will let it run out its 13 episodes…if they are all in the can.
As far as TSCC hurting PB’s ratings, PB doesn’t need any help. It’s an aging show; ratings drop over time. Not sure why Fox NEEDS PB. It NEEDS AI; that is its biggest draw. That is probably the show to put on Monday nights. Could you imagine DWTS and AI going head to head??? Not going to happen, I know.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Just read the “Terminator is Dominating” article. What a strange statement to make about the demos. The rest of the article talks about the cast, and does not even mention the ratings again. Talk about not supporting his initial claim.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
“As TSCC proved last year though, the show can survive without a good lead-in, but what it does need is a good day and timeslot, not a spot where it’s viewers are being pulled between all their favorite shows. FOX has set it’s Monday night line-up up for failure, and if they don’t understand why, then I really have no faith in the network to handle scripted dramas.”
This is exactly right. The thing that is really killing TSCC is the timeslot. I think simply switching it with Prison Break would really benefit it a lot. But of course switching it to another day could prove to be even better. Imagine if Fox switched it with Fringe? I’m sure TSSC would get a LOT of viewers following House. As for Fringe on Monday at 8? Competing against the shows that Terminator is right now, I think Fringe’s ratings would definitely drop.
Fox needs to treat the show right. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be too in to it and of course viewership will be down because of that. If a network doesn’t have faith in its show, how will the viewers? It really saddens me that this show could be getting canned because of this. In the opinion of myself, and many others, it is truly a fantastic and creative show and deserves to shine. But being in the current unfitting timeslot it’s in, that can’t really be expected.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
The fact is that T:SCC is a show that contains alot of depth and creativity far more then alot of shows right now and with it’s current timeslot( not to mention that mondays are a complete mess!)it can’t reach the viewers it needs to stay afloat people are getting jerked around way to much that night, not to mention the HUGE! lack of promos and sponsorship(wich i think is another contributer to the declining rates)i do hope that fox execs see the light and change the timeslot another thing how is the WB handling this anyways does anyone know?, i wonder if fox does make the idiotic decision to cancel the show will the WB fetch it to another network?.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I DVR it every week. One of the few shows my wife and I will watch — along with Chuck, of course. Figures the two have to compete. Would love it if FOX moved TSCC to another night.
TSCC, then 24 — that would be sweet!
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
They should put TSCC in the Til’Death time slot on wednesdays. As Jackson seemed to be hinting at
October 8th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
TSCC is one of the few shows my wife and I make the time for to watch. Time travel and its associated permutations are irresistable to us. Never mind the contradictions, it’s just a TV show! We like it.
October 12th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
This is the only show I watch! honestly. I have to DVR it because I am in class. Please don’t cancel this show. PLEASE! Move it to 9 or Tuesday night. Come on FOX!