Date: 3/24/2000
From: TemptressInfinity

Sliders Bboard,

Time and time again Executive has tried to convince this Bboard that everything he posts is true and that everything TemporalFlux posts is incorrect. He would also have us believe that TemporalFlux is a person that attacks a fellow poster without provocation. Only because TemporalFlux has the courage to point out untruths and misinformation. Last month this happened again when Nobuyuki asked for some information on the ratings given by Sci-Fi Channel. TemporalFlux asked for someone to do the Math and prove Executive wrong, but unfortunately none of us did. Recently, again Executive has lashed out against TemporalFlux. So I am doing the Math and more. To show everyone that in fact TemporalFlux has indeed given us the correct information. Sorry, TemporalFlux that this took so long.

Ultimate TV system as reported by Nielsen Media– 1,000,000 homes per 1 rating point
Sci-Fi Channels system – 490,000 homes per 1 rating point

Below you will find the examples given in the links provided by TemporalFlux in the reply to Nobuyuki’s post asking for ratings information.

http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/17635/2

I researched the Sc-Fi Wire and the examples given are the only ones provided by Sci-Fi Channel that I can find. The two are definitely NOT figured out the same. The math does not match. The facts are now laid out for you. Read it for yourself and check my math if you would like, but what Executive says about the ratings does not compute.

Below are the links and the actual articles.

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue72/news.html

**Sliders Makes Sci-Fi History
The new season of Sliders debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel on June 8 to record viewing numbers, becoming the channel's highest-rated series premiere of all time. The first of two back-to-back original Sliders episodes ran at 9 p.m. ET and earned a 2.2 household rating in the Nielsens, which represents 1,072,000 homes. The second original episode ran at 10 p.m. ET and garnered a 2.4 rating, or an estimated 1,168,000 homes.
Those numbers were enough to best the channel's former record-setting premiere, the two-hour pilot for Space: Above & Beyond, which aired in January and earned a 2.1 household rating. Sliders also set a new mark for the highest-rated series episode on the channel, a title formerly held by the second telecast of V: The Series, which earned a 1.8 rating in August 1996.
The new episodes of Sliders kicked off the show's fourth full season and its first on the Sci-Fi Channel. Sliders originally ran on Fox for three seasons before being pulled from that network's programming lineup.

*TRUE MATH – Sliders 2.2 rating @ 1,072,000 homes
2.2 into 1,072,000 = 487,272.72 or approximately 490,000 per ratings point
Sliders 2.4 rating @ 1,168,000 homes
2.4 into 1,168,000 = 486,666.66 or approximately 490,000 per ratings point

*What Executive would have us believe the math would be by the Ultimate TV system:
Sliders @ 1,072,000 homes by Ultimate TV system of 1,100,000 per 1 ratings point
1,0000,000 into 1,072,000 = 1.1 rating approximately half of Sci-Fi report above.
Sliders @ 1,168,000 homes by the same system
1,000,000 into 1,168,000 = 1.2 rating again approximately half of Sci-Fi report above.

Below you can see the actual shows, ratings and audience numbers, and they DO NOT equal the Sci-Fi system. Executive would like you to believe Ultimate TV is the only standard...but look at what a 2.2 equals on Ultimate TV as compared to the above article. You will also find that for Sliders to receive a 2.4, they should have appeared on that Ultimate TV cable rating list for that week. It did not. Why? Because the two are not figured the same, it is in fact a different system.

Unfortunately, the Table will not copy here to the bboard so I am providing just the necessary information. If you want to check that the information that I am providing has not been made up, either follow the link or email me and I will give you what I have already collected.

http://www.ultimatetv.com/news/nielsen/cable/980608cable.html

*Basic Cable Programs Ranked by Household for the Week of 6/8-6/14 by Nielsen Media Research
Updated on Thursdays
RANK--PROGRAM NAME---------------RATING---AUDIENCE

1-----WWF Wrestling-----------------3.3---3,279,000
2-----World Championship Wrestling--3.2---3,152,000
3-----Thunder-----------------------3.1---3,009,000
4-----WWF Wrestling-----------------3.1---2,990,000
5-----World Championship Wrestling--3.0---2,951,000
6-----World Championship Wrestling--3.0---2,946,000
7-----Rugrats-----------------------2.8---2,766,000
8-----South Park--------------------2.7---2,609,000
9-----Thunder-----------------------2.5---2,466,000
10----Rugrats-----------------------2.5---2,421,000
11----Rugrats-----------------------2.4---2,393,000
12----Blues Birthday----------------2.2---2,184,000
13----NHL Stanley Cup Finals--------2.2---2,179,000
14----Prime Movie-------------------2.2---2,176,000
15----Angry Beavers-----------------2.2---2,149,000

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue120/news.html

**SCI FI Renews Farscape
The SCI FI Channel has renewed its hit series Farscape for a second season of 22 episodes that will begin airing in March 2000. Farscape, the brainchild of Alien Nation and Seaquest DSV creator Rockne S. O'Bannon, has the largest audience of any SCI FI show, delivering an average of 576,000 households per episode.
"We are proud to renew our commitment to Farscape, the most ambitious original series on basic cable, and the top-rated series on SCI FI," said Stephen Chao, the president of programming and marketing for USA Networks, Inc. "SCI FI continues to attract new audiences with popular new originals and an innovative new on-air look. We're hitting our stride, and Farscape is an important part of that forward momentum."
Farscape tells the story of astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder), who has been catapulted across a thousand galaxies into an alien battlefield. His companions include an estranged military Peacekeeper named Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), a brutish warrior called D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), the mystical high priestess Zhaan (Virginia Hey), the alien Rygel XVI (John Eccleston), and a living starship called Moya.
In the second season, this motley band of renegades will be joined by a new ally, an impetuous young thief with a talent for trouble. Together they will confront a "venomous new alien enemy" who is stalking them through space, forcing them to travel deeper into the Uncharted Territories.

*MATH Farscape - @ 576,000 homes the rating should be 1.1 or 1.2
490,000 into 576,000 = 1.175
* Ultimate TV - @ 1,000,000 homes the rating should be .5 or .6
1,000,000 into 576,000 = 0.576

Now the Ultimate TV examples:

http://www.ultimatetv.com/news/nielsen/cable/000124cable.html

Again unfortunately, the Tables will not copy here to the bboard so I am providing just the necessary information. If you want to check that the information that I am providing has not been made up, either follow the link or email me and I will give you what I have already collected.

*Top 20 Household Network Primetime Report for Week of 1/24/00 - 1/30/00 as Ranked by Nielsen Media Research
RANK---PROGRAM NAME---------RATINGS---AUDIENCE

1-----SUPER BOWL XXXIV(S)-----43.3------43,618,000
2-----SUPER BOWL POST GUN(S)--35.9------36,145,000
3-----SUPER BOWL GAMES(S)-----25.6------25,773,000
4-----MILLIONAIRE-TUE---------22.0------22,152,000
5-----MILLIONAIRE-THU SP(S)---18.7------18,833,000

*Top 20 Basic Cable Programs Ranked for the Week of 01/24/00 - 01/30/00 as Ranked by Nielsen Media Research
RANK--PROGRAM NAME-------------RATING-----AUDIENCE
1-----WWF ENTRAINMENT------------5.3------5,374,000
2-----WWF ENTERTAINMENT----------5.1------5,159,000
3-----WWF SPECIAL(S)-01/30/2000--3.8------3,856,000
4-----WCW MONDAY NITRO LIVE!-----2.7------2,749,000
5-----PRIME MOVIE----------------2.7------2,678,000

As you can see by the above examples, Executive does not know what he is talking about. If he had done what I did, and do the math, HE would have found that what TemporalFlux has said is indeed true. Instead he wants us to believe that he knows more about the ratings system than TemporalFlux. As he writes below.

In the reply from Executive: http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/17635/3
**“No....
More Fluxian nonsense, written just to give me a hard time. He has pulled this same crap a couple of times before and everyone knows that a single rating point (which up until several months ago, once equalled approximately 980,000 viewers but is now over 1 million) is the same for ALL channels -- both on basic cable and broadcast TV. That includes the Sci-Fi Channel as well.

Whether you believe either Temporal Flux or the facts, it's evident that the Sci-Fi Channel's ratings are clearly much lower than other basic cable channels. Another factor that he left out is that Sci-Fi is not in as many cable homes as ratings winners such as USA, TNT, and Nickelodeon. – Executive” **

He wants us to believe that TemporalFlux is full of Hot Air. He says above, that you can either believe TemporalFlux or the facts, when actually they are one and the same. TemporalFlux has been speaking the facts as usual.

For those of you who choose to continue to believe Executive blindly …when there have been so many times that he has been proven wrong and TemporalFlux has been proven right. I feel sorry for you. I know that you will continue to say that TemporalFlux is wrong even when the facts are staring you in the face. For the ones with a little doubt but have minds of your own, use them. For the rest of you, I know you are saying to yourselves “we knew better already”. So, I for one shall continue to believe in a trusted and true friend.

Thank You,
Calla Der’rah
TemptressInfinity
temptressinfinity@hotmail.com

Wow.

Date: 3/24/2000
From: sleepingtiger

I'd like to take a moment to thank you for the time and effort you put into that. I'm quite impressed.

ktf
Tigs

Calla...

Date: 3/24/2000
From: QBall79

You go girl. Nice to know you're still around... Thanks for clearing things up.

Q-Ball79
http://www.slidersweb.net/

Cased closed. Thanks for the data...

Date: 3/24/2000
From: Sabre_Edge

Did you happen to come across the ratings for each S5 episode? I've been looking for this information, but haven't been able to track it down yet. If you don't have it on hand can you direct me to it. Thanks for your effort.

SE

Season Five Ratings

Date: 3/25/2000
From: TemporalFlux

These are still scattered throughout the old records on this Bboard. I went ahead and compiled them along with the page you can find the information on (following the numbers at the bottom of the main board page).

All of the below ratings are for the first airing of the episode only...ratings on any reruns is not listed.

The Unstuck Man	1.3	Page 85
Applied Physics	1.0	Page 85
Strangers and Comrades	1.4	Page 85
The Great Work	1.0	Page 106
New Gods for Old	1.1	Page 116
Please Press One	1.1	Page 125
A Curent Affair	1.1	Page 133
Java Jive	0.8	Page 140
The Return of Maggie Beckett	1.1	Page 151
Easy Slider	1.0	Page 159
Requiem	1.0	Page 183
Map of the Mind	1.0	Page 190
A Thousand Deaths	0.8	Page 197
Heavy Metal	?0.8	Page 206
To Catch A Slider	?0.7	Page 284
Dust	1.1	Page 294
Eye of the Storm	1.1	Page 300
The Seer	1.6	Page 306

Approximate average rating for Season Five - 1.1
(Ironically the same average Farscape held in that Sci-Fi Article TemptressInfinity listed...you remember, the one raving about what a success Farscape was?)

The reason for the question marks on the ratings for Heavy Metal and To Catch A Slider is because Sliders was not listed in the Top Ten list for both of those weeks. As you see when going back to look at the posts which listed that out, it is highly suspect that Sci-Fi was rigging the ratings list. By this, I'm saying that Sliders actually held the lowest listed rating for the week, but Sci-Fi Wire listed other shows who got the same rating instead of listing Sliders.

Unfortunately, there's no real way to know what the rating was...but it couldn't be that far off from what the rest of the series was making. The other piece of evidence is that Farscape and Lexx (the bookends for Sliders) were making the Top Ten list with ratings in the 1.0 range. It is unlikely that many people tuned out Sliders just to tune back in for Lexx. Obviously some did...but not an amount which would take the rating far off from what I put here...if off at all.

Tf
temporalflux@hotmail.com
http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com

One other note

Date: 3/25/2000
From: TemporalFlux

Sorry about the spacing on that list...it goes Episode Title/Rating/Bboard Page Number.

The thing I forgot to mention...if you want to convert those ratings into actual number of viewers, be sure to remember to convert. With that in mind, on average there were approximately 540,000 households tuned in to Sliders season five each week in the United States. And of course, that's out of households which actually have the ability to watch Sci-Fi Channel (which is not a very large percentage).

Tf
temporalflux@hotmail.com
http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com

That was awesome, Temptress!

Date: 3/25/2000
From: Brand_S

Finally, someone with some real intelligence besides me! (Yes, that was a joke... Aw, whip out the flamethrowers anyway. I don't really give a crap anymore.) You just earned yourself a kickass part in the Dominion War!

S

Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/19067
Nominated by TemporalFlux