SeanValen

SKY Releases Top Show Details and Talks About 'Angel'

Sky has released its annual 'top shows' ratings for the year (drama shows). Sky has raked in more than 8 million new viewers this year, the most it has ever raked in in a year. Sky one, Skys leading entertainment channel, has been booming of late, with ratings going 'through the roof' for some shows. A SKY insider said: " Its been an unbelievable year for SKY one. Ratings have been up by over 3 million. We have also seen a rapid rise in viewers for certain shows, most notably Angel. The shows average viewers has gone up from 800,000 to over 2 million. The shows 100th episode, which screened earlier this year, drew in over 5.8 million viewers. No other drama show on Sky one has had ratings to beat it this year, not even the series finale of 'Nip/Tuck', which drew in 3 million viewers."

Ofcourse, much to SKY's disgust, Angel was staked for the last time by the WB network in America in February. Its a shame, because it has come out of the shadows from its mother show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as the sky insider went on:

" We were very saddened by the decision to cancel Angel. Its become a very successful show over here in the UK, and this season, has drawn in better ratings than its predacessor, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ever did on Sky One. Thats a testament to the shows actors. It is a shame, because I think a sleeping giant had just been woken. Its already one of Skys top 2 rated dramas, and if there had have been a sixth season, I think you would have seen it stride into top spot. It gains more viewers every week, and we dont even give the show as much advertising as shows such as 'Tru Calling', '24' or 'Las Vegas'."

SKY were so desperate to keep the show, that they offered to pay half the price for a sixth season, if any network offered to keep it going. There have even been rumours of a sixth season going straight to DVD in the states, and SKY are warming to the idea:

" Yes we have been told about a sixth season going straight to DVD by FOX. They have said they are discussing it. We welcome the idea, we have said that we would be happy to pay some of the cost for the show to be produced, as long as we are allowed to screen it over here in the UK on Sky One."

So for the very vocal Angel fans out there, there is hope. And Sky are looking into every option to keep everybody's favourite vamp going:

"We constantly look at every possible option. It is one of Sky's executives favourite shows, and they have always said they would try their hardest to save the show. Every day we go to work, Angel is one of the topics of discussion!"

So there maybe some hope for the brooding vamp to bless our screens next year, in some shape or form.

Back to SKY's top drama shows. SKY released the details and average ratings for all its drama shows (in millions):

24:- 2.8/5
Angel:- 2.7/6
Cold Case:- 1.2/2
The Handler:- 0.8/1.2
Tru Calling:- 0.6/0.8
Las Vegas:- 1.5/4
Nip/Tuck:- 3/4
Scrubs:- 0.7/1.4
Dream Team:- 1.2/2
Jake 2.0:- 0.5/0.7
Tarzan:- 1.2/1.5

As you can see, Angel, Nip/Tuck and 24 have all been ratings winners for SKY this season. And they really dont want to lose one of them...

calhoun07

Sounds like Sky is the UK version of Neilsen? If so, it also sounds like they need to teach Neilsen a few things, because I don't believe Neilsen is basing their ratings on 8 million homes. I understand it is far, far lower than that, and I have always understood it's a minority and a minority with a certain number of people per house hold that determine Neilsen ratings. Neilsen does't give a crap about the average viewer unless you watch an X amount of hours per week and you have an X amount of kids in your home.

BDB

Sky is the uk's largest satellite provider.

calhoun07

So are they able to determine ratings based on a "big brother" approach to being able to tell who is watching what at any given time or how do they survey 8 million people that fast?

BDB

I am sure that they know how many homes have the boxes and who watches, and the only way to recieve Sky Programming is through the dish.

Gizmo

Still... all the sets of Angel have been destroyed. Its not coming back :-(

Breakfast with Girls

It will absolutely come back if the offer is right, if only for a miniseries or 13-episode season.

Adam Tyner

So they rebuild the sets or plop the characters in a new setting. No big deal, and it's not like this would be the first time (or the second, or the third).

Achtung

I'm not sure how ratings are measured in the UK, but I doubt they use a "big brother" approach since they also have privacy laws.

Sky is not just a satellite provider, but they also provide all sorts of programming on their cable networks. I think they had been a smaller network until they secured rights to all the top-level soccer matches (English Premier League) in Britain. Its somewhat similar to how FOX was a relatively small player until they started showing NFL and baseball games. In fact, the owner of Sky is none other than Rupert Murdoch.

mookiemeister

One of the networks can't pass up on this offer of 50% discount, right?

Y2K Falcon

Jake 2.0

SeanValen

Well I've read reaction to this on other sites, and there's seems uncertainity that this news is real, maybe a hoax, I fall for it because I like Angel s , it makes me wanna believe, but this probabley isn't true, sorry for raising hopes.

But I look forward to someday in the future, where some official Angel production of somesort gets greenlit.



JOSS RECENT ARTICLE:http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunh...nt/8653564.htm

********THE LINK CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS FOR FINALE*******

"Keep on fighting" also applies, Whedon added, to the thousands of fervent fans who, in a desperate bid to keep "Angel" around for one more season, protested, petitioned, wrote letters and even mailed out free chocolate bars to anyone remotely associated with the fate of the program.

They want more, more, more and are bitterly angry at the WB for dropping the show, which lagged in repeats. The WB, which in the meantime is exploring a different vampire drama with a remake of the supernatural soap opera "Dark Shadows," has responded to "Angel" fan lobbying by proposing a return to the show with occasional TV movies or a miniseries.

Nothing is on the slate yet, according to Whedon. It's up to fans to maintain the pressure.

"Part of me is still thinking about TV movies," he said. "The WB did propose the idea of doing something... but it was kind of offhand. There was interest in that, but I haven't heard anybody really pursuing it."


James is up for playing Spike very soon though:

"I have no idea what's in the future - but what I do know is that I play a vampire and the clock is ticking on how long this face can be believably exactly the same as when we met him (seven years ago on 'Buffy')," Marsters said, laughing. "If they want to do something, let's not wait too long."