Sorry, Twitter: 'Sharknado' Was an Enormous Ratings Bust

The Atlantic ^ | Derek ThompsonJul 12 2013, 1:58 PM ET

[Perdogg]

But a social media blockbuster of incredible proportions.

And so, when all the eyeballs and tweets were counted, the verdict was thus: Sharknado devoured Twitter but scared away viewers

[higgmeister]

Oh, I didn't realize your were thinking about reality on a thread concerning “Sharknado.”

[Robwin]

My wife loves those made for TV SyFy movies. We weren't able to watch this gem at first airing and when I told her it had bombed in the ratings she announced we will have to watch it and make up our own minds.

Help me.

[Tanniker Smith]

You have to take into account the repeat airing next week, and the word of mouth (or word of tweet) from now til then.

However, comparisons with HBO series are incredibly ridiculous, particularly the "Red Wedding" episode, when every fan who'd read the books knew what was going to happen.

[higgmeister]

That is to funny! I catch my wife watching them too!

She says with the U-verse U400 plan there is still never anything to watch.

[Tanniker Smith]

I have work to do on my Syfy movie title generator — Sharknado wouldn’t have come out of it (although “Tornado Shark” might have been a possibility).

[Alex Murphy]

My wife loves those made for TV SyFy movies. We weren't able to watch this gem at first airing and when I told her it had bombed in the ratings she announced we will have to watch it and make up our own minds. Help me.

Learn to have fun with the low-budget badness of these things. Case in point: pellet-shooting Airsoft rifles are always a staple in these films. For example, there was one film (I think it was Megashark vs Gatoroid) wherein I noticed that F-16 jet fighter joysticks were actually upturned stocks of Airsoft rifles. In Sharktopus, I noticed that the cameraman intentionally kept the muzzle of the hero's Airsoft rifle out of frame whenever the weapon was fired. I concluded that this was done intentionally, to avoid having to add a muzzle flash to an otherwise non-functional weapon.

[null and void]

Yer on yer own.

[null and void]

Did it get Piranhaconda?

Best line:

“It’s like a cross between a piranha and an anaconda.”
‘You mean it’s a piranhaconda?”

-dead silence
-everybody turns to look at blondie, the guy finally says:

“I can’t believe you said that.”

[Hot Tabasco]

I watched it...

Me too, this was the most incredible SyFy movie I have ever seen...........true dat!

[Billthedrill]

I think I can help. You might see if you can rent or download Birdemic. It made 34.7% of its audiences try to gouge their eyes out with a rusty melon scoop. A sample scene:

Birdemic. Yes, this is a real scene in the movie.

Glad I could help.

[RikaStrom]

"Fold in the middle!"

A Fan! Woo.

"I sleep now." ;-)

[wally_bert]

The previous film had a couple of really old captains/lieutenants.

[max americana]

Around $100,000. No budget for marketing whatsoever so I’m told and I’m not sure if he was joking, but my bud said one of the movies 2 years ago, the distribution deal was signed at In N Out burger.

[Robwin]

Thanks, Billthedrill. You’re a Prince. That movie truly looks...interesting.

[Lady Heron]

“Serenity” was awesome but then you needed to have been a fan of “Firefly” to get it.

[GeronL]

heh

[GeronL]

if is okay with foreign ones try the Korean “Sector 7”... why was there a motorcycle on the oil platform?

[ConservativeTeen]

Movies like Sharknado make me wish that MST3K was still around.

[Alex Murphy]

If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend his Trail Of The Screaming Forehead. It's not available on DVD, so you'll have to catch it on cable when it airs. Out of the entire Blamireverse, it's my absolute favorite.

"It's lacking in noise. Too lacking. I don't appreciate it. I don't appreciate it one bit!"

[Drew68]

he pointed out that B-movies are not only fun, but they’re a great training ground for raw talent.

Piranha II: The Spawning (1981) Check out who directed it. He's gone on to helm projects with slightly bigger budgets.