Terminator-217 "Ourselves Alone" - Discuss/Grade <SPOILERS>

[Samuel T. Cogley]

If Jesse has a chip anywhere, it's in her lips.

Have you seen those things? They're huge!

 

[Ryan8bit]

The obvious joke was that the chip is on her shoulder.

Tsk tsk.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

The obvious joke was that the chip is on her shoulder.

Tsk tsk.

I don't do obvious.

 

[Sephiroth]

Ok, but even having a chip in her head just really seems beyond what's going on here. Jesse's reasoning and actions don't seem far-fetched enough to think that she has a chip in her head from Skynet. Since Skynet's mission has always been one of killing John, Jesse could have done that at any time. Or Riley could have done it for her. It's pretty clear that she is just psychologically manipulating people to try and make John less sympathetic to the machines. That way not as many of her friends and comrades would have died when a terminator malfunctioned. It seems like a pretty strange reason to travel through time for, but the writers don't really dwell on that kind of thing.

Perhaps SKYnet is trying something...different? by making John not trust that the machines are reliable when reprogramed his forces in the future are weakened, or perhaps SKYnet is targeting his protector, because Cameron helps him from the beginning of the war, I think her importance to the story is alot more than what has been revealed

 

[nx1701g]

Ok, but even having a chip in her head just really seems beyond what's going on here. Jesse's reasoning and actions don't seem far-fetched enough to think that she has a chip in her head from Skynet. Since Skynet's mission has always been one of killing John, Jesse could have done that at any time. Or Riley could have done it for her. It's pretty clear that she is just psychologically manipulating people to try and make John less sympathetic to the machines. That way not as many of her friends and comrades would have died when a terminator malfunctioned. It seems like a pretty strange reason to travel through time for, but the writers don't really dwell on that kind of thing.

We'll find out in a few days what it is. It could be what you said, it could be that she's been Skynet implanted, all kinds of possibilities are out there.

 

[nx1701g]

Ok, but even having a chip in her head just really seems beyond what's going on here. Jesse's reasoning and actions don't seem far-fetched enough to think that she has a chip in her head from Skynet. Since Skynet's mission has always been one of killing John, Jesse could have done that at any time. Or Riley could have done it for her. It's pretty clear that she is just psychologically manipulating people to try and make John less sympathetic to the machines. That way not as many of her friends and comrades would have died when a terminator malfunctioned. It seems like a pretty strange reason to travel through time for, but the writers don't really dwell on that kind of thing.

Perhaps SKYnet is trying something...different? by making John not trust that the machines are reliable when reprogramed his forces in the future are weakened, or perhaps SKYnet is targeting his protector, because Cameron helps him from the beginning of the war, I think her importance to the story is alot more than what has been revealed

If you had said this before I would have agreed with you, but something in this episode makes me think Cameron may become a threat again.

 

[Sephiroth]

Ok, but even having a chip in her head just really seems beyond what's going on here. Jesse's reasoning and actions don't seem far-fetched enough to think that she has a chip in her head from Skynet. Since Skynet's mission has always been one of killing John, Jesse could have done that at any time. Or Riley could have done it for her. It's pretty clear that she is just psychologically manipulating people to try and make John less sympathetic to the machines. That way not as many of her friends and comrades would have died when a terminator malfunctioned. It seems like a pretty strange reason to travel through time for, but the writers don't really dwell on that kind of thing.

Perhaps SKYnet is trying something...different? by making John not trust that the machines are reliable when reprogramed his forces in the future are weakened, or perhaps SKYnet is targeting his protector, because Cameron helps him from the beginning of the war, I think her importance to the story is alot more than what has been revealed

If you had said this before I would have agreed with you, but something in this episode makes me think Cameron may become a threat again.

theres too much left unrevealed to really specualte on, honestly, for all we know Cameron's part may be anything from truely loving John to undermining the resistance

 

[nx1701g]

^ True.

 

[Mr Light]

There's no way in hell this show is getting renewed, movie or no. This is the ratings trend for its Friday night showings: 3.71 - 3.84 - 3.42 - 3.00 Next week it looks like they'll dip under 3 million!

 

[Zod]

There's no way in hell this show is getting renewed, movie or no. This is the ratings trend for its Friday night showings: 3.71 - 3.84 - 3.42 - 3.00 Next week it looks like they'll dip under 3 million!

Because of the movie I guess we will get to at least finish the season at least. Shame because the show is not that bad. Certainly not to fall to ratings like that. Those ratings are getting close to Sci Fi channel ratings for BSG and Atlantis, and that's a cable network! Scary.

 

[Tim]

There's no way in hell this show is getting renewed, movie or no. This is the ratings trend for its Friday night showings: 3.71 - 3.84 - 3.42 - 3.00 Next week it looks like they'll dip under 3 million!

Because of the movie I guess we will get to at least finish the season at least. Shame because the show is not that bad. Certainly not to fall to ratings like that. Those ratings are getting close to Sci Fi channel ratings for BSG and Atlantis, and that's a cable network! Scary.

That's what a Friday 8pm time slot on a crappy network will do. However, we don't have the DVR and online viewing numbers, which are supposed to be quite good for this show.

Considering that the remaining episodes for this season are in the can, I think we'll definitely see them. It would be nice to get a third season, though. Terminator 4 may be weak in the plot department and the movie doesn't need the negative press of the show's cancellation. If the show gets canned, I probably would lose interest in seeing the movie.

 

[LutherSloan]

I'm afraid that this is it, and we're only going to get to finish this season. The ratings are just too weak, Friday or not.

 

[Sxottlan]

This show seems to have lost focus.

Agreed.

 

[Saul]

This show seems to have lost focus. The first season was much better.

Agreed.

I remember thinking, "There's no way Terminator will work as a t.v. series."

And yet season one was so tight, and it really felt like they nailed the Terminator tone.

Now, there's no urgency. Just a group of people taking their sweet time trailing people who seem to have little or nothing to do with Skynet.

They need to up the tension and increase the urgency. Quick.

But the problem is they have a full season order that they have to stretch the storyline across. Season 1 was tight because it was a shorter season.

 

[Sephiroth]

This show seems to have lost focus. The first season was much better.

Agreed.

I remember thinking, "There's no way Terminator will work as a t.v. series."

And yet season one was so tight, and it really felt like they nailed the Terminator tone.

Now, there's no urgency. Just a group of people taking their sweet time trailing people who seem to have little or nothing to do with Skynet.

They need to up the tension and increase the urgency. Quick.

But the problem is they have a full season order that they have to stretch the storyline across. Season 1 was tight because it was a shorter season.

which was cut down further i believe by the strike, I wish we would see more serial based stories,where a show plays out one coherent story from beginning to end instead of standalones

 

[Zod]

That's what a Friday 8pm time slot on a crappy network will do. However, we don't have the DVR and online viewing numbers, which are supposed to be quite good for this show.

I know it's not fair to compare shows, but X-files not only did well on Friday nights on Fox, it was for many episodes the highest rated show of the entire week on any network. Some of those ratings from season 5 were pretty freaking amazing from what I remember. One episode had 27,000,000 viewers that season.

So picking a show for Friday on Fox alone should not doom a show. This show certainly is not in the same league as X-files of course, but still-3 million viewers? Man....

 

[Tim]

That's what a Friday 8pm time slot on a crappy network will do. However, we don't have the DVR and online viewing numbers, which are supposed to be quite good for this show.

I know it's not fair to compare shows, but X-files not only did well on Friday nights on Fox, it was for many episodes the highest rated show of the entire week on any network. Some of those ratings from season 5 were pretty freaking amazing from what I remember. One episode had 27,000,000 viewers that season.

So picking a show for Friday on Fox alone should not doom a show. This show certainly is not in the same league as X-files of course, but still-3 million viewers? Man....

Well, the TV viewing landscape has changed radically over the last seven years, so it isn't a valid comparison to make. For starters, online viewership was nonexistent in the late 90s early 2000s.

 

[Zod]

Well, the TV viewing landscape has changed radically over the last seven years, so it isn't a valid comparison to make. For starters, online viewership was nonexistent in the late 90s early 2000s.

Well I agree and disagree. It's not a fair comparison, but I think its still a valid comparison to some degree. Things have changed, but not by that much. There's more DVR and there's online viewers but besides that the show still has a primary viewing time, and the DVR is now added to the ratings. Most people who watch are still sitting to watch in front of a TV, as opposed to on their laptops.

X-files started on Friday and never moved, so it built its audience at the same day, same time from the start. This show has had a first season impacted because of a strike and now a move to Friday's accompanied by poor ratings which weren't that much better beforehand. Again I stress the unfairness of the comparison because X-files was a phenomenon, not just a a show and so many non sci fi fans were tuning in. I realize this show is not even in the same league, but the ratings are so aweful even for mediocore Sci fi.


The DVR numbers for 2/13 have been released

Live+SD 18-49 Live+7
Date Viewers Rating Viewers
--------------------------------------------------------------
02/13/09 3.71 M 1.4/5 4.76 M
02/20/09 3.86 M 1.4/5
02/27/09 3.38 M 1.2/4

So 4.76M viewers with DVR for 2/13. That's terrible so what gives?

What I don't get is that even though the show has slowed down a little, and lost a little focus is it really that bad? How come it's getting such terrible ratings? Many of us on this forum have liked the show, though many also have started to sour on it.

I am wondering if its even worth it to keep watching because they won't wrap up the show in any satisfying manner.

 

[Mr Light]

^^ At a guess, I would imagine that people come to Terminator-TV looking for an action show fighting Terminators, and the majority of this season has been action-less character drama, with the last 5 eps or so all being about Sarah being crazy and hallucinating things, and our resident Terminator barely even appearing.

 

[Tim]

So 4.76M viewers with DVR for 2/13. That's terrible so what gives?

Is it, though, for a genre show?

I am wondering if its even worth it to keep watching because they won't wrap up the show in any satisfying manner.

The final episodes are in the can and were written to provide resolution, so I would say it's worth watching regardless of whether or not the show gets renewed.