Ratings Bounce

The Sunday Battlestar Galactica ratings went up over the debut the previous Sunday:

For the week ending Jan. 28, NBC Universal's USA and Sci Fi both had reason to celebrate. Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica and The Dresden Files saw ratings bumps in their second weeks on Sunday night (Jan. 28). Dresden averaged 1.89 million viewers (up from 1.73 million for its series premiere) and Battlestar averaged 2.05 million (up from 1.8 million last week). The shows' Jan. 21 premiere numbers may have been diluted by competition from the AFC Championship game on CBS, which drew nearly 50 million that night.

Cinema Blend, Entertainment Weekly, and TV Guide review Taking a Break From All Your Worries.

Andrew at the CIC reports that a trade paperback of the new BSG comics will be coming out in March.

The Sitrep

TV Squad has posted their take on "Taking a Break From All Your Worries".

Edward James Olmos talked about directing the episode with Wizard Entertainment.

Olmos was also recently in San Antonio, Texas and spoke to students at San Antonio College about his views on equality, education, border issues and social justice.

Bear McCreary updated his blog with info about the score to "Taking a Break..."

And BSG co-exec producer Mark Verheiden talked to Comic Book Resources.

By the way, if you have tried to download past episodes of the Galactica Sitrep podcast, and encounted some technical issues, it will be resolved by Thursday, and a new episode should be added to the feed by then, or shortly there after.

Taking a Break preview

From Maliboo00 on YouTube.

New Photography

New promotional photos from the upcoming episode, Dirty Hands.

Bear McCreary in his blog writes about scoring Rest Stop. The album is availible on Amazon.com and iTunes. (Bear's compositions for Jenni Scott are also on iTunes.) If you are into Bear's scores for Battlestar Galactica, you will like his music for Rest Stop.

And in the Huffington Post Chris Kelly impores people to watch Battlestar Galactica.

Ratings

Ratings info on the Sunday debut of season 3.5 has come in....

The not so-good news:

Battlestar Galactica’s jump to Sundays wasn’t all that smooth from a ratings standpoint.

The first of 10 episodes from the popular Sci Fi Channel series’ third season debuted Jan. 21 to a lukewarm 1.4 household rating/1.8 million viewers, according to an ABC Cable Networks Group analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

That’s below the 1.9 rating/2.1 million viewers the show averaged during the second half of its sophomore season from January-March 2006, when it aired on Friday nights, along with lead-in series Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1.

The first 10 episodes of the series’ third season averaged a 1.4 rating Friday nights without the strong lead-in from the two Stargate series. Battlestar’s current lead-in -- freshman supernatural crime dramedy The Dresden Files -- also drew a 1.4 rating.

Battlestar and Dresden faced stiff competition Sunday, particularly from CBS’ Indianapolis Colts-New England Patriots National Football League American Football Conference championship game, which drew 46.7 million viewers -- the best performance for the pigskin playoff game in 20 years.

But, here's the good news:

Despite the ratings falloff, the network said Battlestar was the No. 1 basic-cable entertainment program for the day among viewers 18-49 and 25-54. It also increased its viewership among those two demos by 60% and 18%, respectively, compared with its Dec. 15 finale.

In addition, Battlestar and Dresden Files combined were the top-rated shows in cable Sunday from 9 p.m.-11 p.m. among the network’s target 18-49 demo with a 1.3 household average. It was Sci Fi’s best performance among the 18-49 demo in the time period since May 2005 (Jurassic Park).

Canada Space

Here's an advert for the next BSG ep, "Taking A Break From All Your Worries" via Andrew at the CIC blog. (It seems the Canadian advertising, much like the U.K. ads, are more interesting than most of the Sci-Fi Channel's advertising style.)

Helfer Video

Tricia Helfer on Letterman


Sky One promos


Shorter version

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

U.K. Sky One promo


Scenes from Rapture




The Toledo Blade takes a look at season 3.5.

IGN talked to Tricia Helfer. Tricia has also signed to guest star on the CW's Supernatural.

SyFy Portal previews season 3.5 and posits that a season 4 is very likely.

Promotional photographs from episode 3.14, A Day in the Life.

More photos from Anthrax's set visit during the filming of Rapture.

Helfer on Letterman

Tricia Helfer will be a guest on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman Friday night:

Friday, January 19
Dan Rather (HDNet's "Dan Rather Reports")
Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica)
Andy Kindler

I'm sure her Playboy photo shoot and the debut of season 3.5 of BSG will be topics of discussion.

Helfer also talked to Sci-FI Wire at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena.

News briefs

A recent season 3.5 advert.


Tricia Helfer in a comical interview.


TV Squad has an early look at season 3.5.

Bear McCreary's Battlestar Galactica Season 2 soundtrack was named best soundtrack of the year by Visions in Sound.

Sean Elliot of If Magazine talked to Sci-Fi Channel exec V.P. Dave Howe about the prospects for season 4 and other matters.

Marathon

Today Sci-Fi channel is having a BSG marathon. Andrew at the CIC has the show times.

Check out a really cool audio interview with Aaron Douglas and Micheal Trucco at GoFy Radio. The interview lasts 25 minutes and does not reveal major spoilers.

The Guardian (U.K.) takes a look at season three of Galactica, which just got underway there last week.

Also, Edward James Olmos (star of SCI FI Channel's Battlestar Galactica) was among five nominees for a Directors Guild of America Award in the movies for television category for directing Time Warner Inc.'s HBO movie Walkout, the Associated Press reported.

#6 in Playboy

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune has a brief preview of Tricia Helfer on the cover of and inside February's Playboy. The issue goes on sale Friday, and can be bought online from the Playboy site if you also have the Zinio reader.

Richard Hatch talked to the Slice of Sci-Fi Podcast.

Battlestar Galactica is up for FX awards.

Spoilery photos from the upcoming episode, The Woman King.

The season 3 Gag Reel is also on Google Video.

Buddy TV outlines 5 well thought out reasons why Galactica will have 4th season.

Revelations & Spoilers

Entertainment Weekly previews season 3.5 and includes some spoilers.

And in a in-depth interview with Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune, Ron Moore and David Eick fan the flames of speculation, mystery, and promise jolts certain to cause controversy. In other words: much fun! Moore and Eick also confirm that a direct to DVD BSG film is in the works, but only if Sci-Fi grants a season 4.

The adventure continues, Sunday January 21st at 10:00 p.m.

The Gag Reel for Season 3

Season 3 Gag Reel (some spoilers, lots of humor)




An alternate opening credits and interesting approach by freelancerxo02.

Tuesday, in the United Kingdom

Battlestar Galactica season 3 gets underway, Tuesday the 9th in the U.K. on Sky One.


You might notice that Sky goes for a different use of music in their advertising than does the Sci-Fi Channel.

1000 Words

See some advance still photography from upcoming BSG episodes, "Rapture" and "Taking a Break From All Your Worries".

(Photos are spoilery.)

Numbers

The Sci-Fi Channel reports that their 4th quarter ratings are up over last year's numbers, in part due to Battlestar Galactica:

Fueled by strong performances from its original programming, the SCI FI Channel had its second-strongest fourth quarter ever among adults 18 to 49. It trailed the fourth quarter of 2002, when the blockbuster miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents Taken premiered. SCI FI ranked a strong number six in cable prime time for the last quarter of 2006 among adults 25 to 54.

Battlestar Galactica, which began its third season Oct. 6, showed growth among younger and female audiences, and outpaced the hit show's second half of season two by about 8 percent among adults 18 to 34. The series was up 15 percent among teens, 20 percent among women 18 to 34, 17 percent among women 18 to 49 and 14 percent among women 25 to 54. The average age of viewers was younger by more than a year compared to the previous season.

Jamie Bamber talked to If Magazine, here and here.

Music Video

Rumors, News & Awards

Rumors abound that BSG will be approved for a 4th season. (It's very likely true, since even if the ratings are not what they hoped for in season 3 thus far, the show is a huge hit on DVD. And Universal Home Video certainly needs further seasons to sell on DVD, plus NBC/Univesal will want to have enough episodes for future syndication.)

Another rumor also confirms the value on BSG to DVD sales, as there are indications NBC/Universal may soon have Ron Moore write and produce a direct to DVD Battlestar Galactica movie.

Also in the news....

Mary McDonnell answers fans questions in part ten of her video series on sci-fi.com.

BSG exec producer David Eick has been given approval to produce a pilot episode of his proposed Bionic Woman remake.

Jane Espenson, who wrote the recent episode, "The Passage" co-wrote an upcoming season 3 episode of BSG with Anne Coffell Saunders called, "Dirty Hands".

The two-part Battlestar Galactica episode "Occupation/Precipice," written by Ronald D. Moore, got a Writers Guild of America nomination for best episodic drama.

Tricia Helfer appears in an upcoming issue of Playboy Magazine.

Battlestar Galactica has once again made AFI's list of top ten series for the year. BSG also made several top ten lists for 2006. It's the number 3 series of 2006, says Entertainment Weekly.