When Caprica premiered on the Syfy Channel, it premiered to 1.6 million sets of eyeballs.  The number wasn't as phenomenal as many would have thought that this Battlestar Galactica (BSG) prequel would have brought in.  But heck, they previewed the heck out the Caprica pilot in the year prior to when it aired.

I presumed the ratings of the premiere were low due to the over-saturation of the pilot.  But friends were saying how dull the show was and the ratings would seem to back that, as the 2nd episode brought in 1.4 million viewers & the 3rd episode, 1.1 million.  (It was beat out by Swamp Loggers on Discovery. Ouch!)

For me, I like the show because everything that happens are precursors to the end game of BSG.  That's how I get past that damn mournful dirge of a theme they keep playing.  Gads, that sound haunts me.  But I also get what people are saying about it being slow.  It's very slow.

What got me focused on the ratings recently were a few ads that Syfy had been playing.  They no longer are depending on the pitch of the name of Caprica by itself.  They're now calling it the "Battlestar Galactica Saga, Caprica."

When ratings drop and a network starts gesturing madly towards another namesake show to pitch the one on the air now, it feels like warning bells going off in my head.  But Syfy looks to be addressing the declining ratings of the show in a conversation with Michael Hinman of Airlock Alpha saying they're behind Caprica for the long haul.

In that conversation they also said things are  going to pick up starting in March.  We're going to see Vipers, go to Gemenon & Tauron and other issues will get exciting.

Syfy also will "most likely want to use Caprica as a jumping off point for a new series."  They say, that by doing this, it shows just how much faith they have in the show.  Is it faith, or lack of concern when they don't ramp up marketing?  Are they hoping the audience will grow organically, since they're not increasing their marketing of the show?

On top of that, nothing says a network doesn't care about a show, as much as playing original episodes up against the Olympics.

I loved the premiere episode of Caprica.  I thought it had incredible potential, but the plot is moving slowly as they develop each angle of the story.  There may be too many angles, too many details that are dragging down the ratings of Caprica.  Nielsen families have proven time and time again they don't want to come home and think too hard.  They want to become immersed in a simpler version of life that they can relate to in one fashion or another, or escape the tedious angles of life.  Convoluted story lines aren't that.

With things being promised to pick up, well, that's great but I'm wondering if I wasn't just fed some PR spin?

Sources:  TV By The Numers (1), (2), (3), (4), Airlock Alpha