GEOS History
 
  • 1994
    October ASTRA (the Australian Star Trek Ratings Analysis) was founded. It was compiled manually using Excel spreadsheets, with the results copied and pasted into newsgroup articles. Limited to Australian participants only, with votes submitted via email.
  • 1995
    January X-Rate - the Australian X-Files Ratings Analysis - is formed. It is based upon ASTRA.
    July The ASTRA and X-Rate web sites are launched, with the static results pages created manually and updated weekly.
  • 1996
    July Scott Barkla founds ABFAB - the Australian Babylon 5 Analysis Ballot. It is based upon the similar ASTRA and X-Rate surveys.
    September The X-Rate web site becomes fully automated, with static web pages generated each day. Ballot Forms allow automatic multiple submission and editing of scores.
    October The ASTRA web site becomes fully automated, with static web pages generated each day. Ballot Forms allow automatic multiple submission and editing of scores.
  • 1997
    February GEOS - the Global Episode Opinion Survey is founded. Dark Skies is the first series in GEOS. The web site is fully automated, like X-Rate and ASTRA, with automatic static page creation.
    March Scott Barkla's ABFAB is merged into GEOS. Millennium also joins GEOS, making GEOS the true "umbrella" survey as initially envisaged.
    April X-Rate is merged into GEOS.
    May ASTRA is merged into GEOS. The survey now consists of eight series - The X-Files, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5, Dark Skies and Millennium. The total number of participants is approximately 1600 voters.
    September Four new series are added to GEOS - Earth 2, Red Dwarf, Space: Above and Beyond, and The Visitor. Total series number now stands at 12.
    October The survey reaches 2000 participating voters.
    December The increasing number of GEOS series makes the generation of static pages time consuming and space-intensive. GEOS switches to a system of dynamic results and page generation, allowing up-to-the-second analysis of statistics.
  • 1998
    January GEOS 98 - the first revamp of the web site - is launched. The survey now totals over 3000 voters. Six new series are added - Battlestar Galactica, Blake's 7, Early Edition, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, The Outer Limits and Xena: Warrior Princess. GEOS 1998 Home Page
    GEOS 1998 Home Page
    May The GEOS web site is shut down for one week when its popularity causes a server overload. This prompts a rapid re-write of the scripts that run the site to reduce the load on the server, streamline the processes involved, and speed up the generation of pages.
    June A magazine-style home page is launched to popular acclaim. Work begins on the design and construction of GEOS 99.
    July The first New Series Nomination phase begins.
    August New Series Election phase begins.
    October New Series Election results announced. New series added are Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Highlander: The Series and Quantum Leap.
    November The survey reaches 5000 voters.
    December The survey reaches 300,000 votes.
  • 1999
    January GEOS 99 is launched - the most ambitious overhaul of the web site since its inception. Planning and development of GEOS 99.1 (a mainly behind-the-scenes upgrade) begins.
    February The number of GEOS participants voting for The X-Files passes 100,000 votes.

    The dynamic home page is launched, which includes the new Feature Polls and Now Showing sections.
    March The Feature Polls are relaunched, requiring participants to be registered GEOS voters and to log-in to vote. Voting is limited to once per poll following massive vote stacking in the initial test question.

    GEOS expands into Germany, allowing us to provide TV schedules and Call For Votes for German participants.
    April The GEOS Television Schedule Generator is restructured as GEOS TV! This new feature brings more comprehensive searching to the GEOS Broadcast Databases.

    The GEOS Frequently Asked Questions page goes online. This feature replaces the Voting Information page and will provide a more comprehensive help section dealing with all aspects of GEOS.
    May First Wave becomes the first new series to join GEOS in over six months.
    June The Outer Limits is removed due to lack of voter support, and inconsistent availability of episode and broadcast information.
    July Harsh Realm is added to GEOS.
    August The survey passes 6000 voters, and over 400,000 votes! Over 100,000 votes had been added in less than 8 months, compared to the three years it took to reach the previous milestone of 300,000 votes.
    September GEOS 99.8 is launched! A large number of subtle, mostly behind-the-scenes changes, are implemented. The most important of these being the exclusion of a voter's scores if they match certain parameters considered to be possible vote stacking, plus GEOS becomes Year 2000 compliant!
    October GEOS TV! now allows you to check which episodes in your forthcoming broadcast schedule you have voted on. The GEOS TV! Reminder Service is launched, and the CFV system retired.

    Harsh Realm is removed from GEOS following its rapid cancellation in the United States.
    November Both Farscape and Angel win the right to join the GEOS Survey following an almost dead heat in a Feature Poll.
  • 2000
    February GEOS 2000 launched! While mainly an extensive cosmetic overhaul of the site, GEOS 2000 also includes a host of behind-the scenes improvements and the use of advanced web technologies such as DHTML to produce a more efficient navigation architecture.
    March GEOS is disabled for a week by our ISP due to the scripts hogging the server's memory. A rapid assessment of the code and a quick re-write of some inefficient areas is undertaken to optimise the site's performance.

    Vincent Kouters joins the GEOS Team as the first Liaison for the Netherlands, while Alan Harris and Damien Ryan become the Liaisons for the UK. These additions significantly strengthen GEOS' range and ability to gather accurate broadcast information.
    April GEOS is again disabled by our ISP for almost two full weeks. A more extensive re-write of the scripts, plus some rethinking on how the scripts function, eventually returns the site to partial operation. The re-worked GEOS has an additional benefit of being slightly faster than the old one (believe us, it is!).
    October Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, one of the most successful new series of the year, is added to GEOS' stable of current and classic Sci Fi series.
    November The cult series Lexx joins GEOS.

    The GEOS TV! broadcast service is expanded to cover Ireland and Spain, bringing the total number of countries covered to nine. There are nearly 6,800 registered members, and close to 480,000 votes cast in the survey.
  • 2001
    February The X-Files spin-off series, The Lone Gunmen, is added to GEOS.
    May GEOS Membership reaches nearly 7,000 people and over half a million votes!
  • 2002
    January GEOS signs up with the PayPal service. This will allow those visitors who appreciate the effort involved in creating and maintaining GEOS to contribute a small donation to ensure its future.
    February GEOS 2002 is released. This revision is the most extensive redesign and reworking of the web site ever! Not only does GEOS 2002 include a completely new graphical design, it also extends the provision of GEOS in languages other than English to almost every part of the site. GEOS is now available in English, German, French, Dutch and Spanish. Potential future languages include Gaelic and Italian.

    The series Alias is added to the survey.
    March GEOS Groups are added to the site. This enables groups or teams of members to easily compare the scores they gave each episode.
    September Four new series are added to GEOS - Firefly, Odyssey 5, Jeremiah and fan favourite Charmed.
    October GEOS moves to a new server and gets it's own domain (http://www.geos.tv/)!

    Work begins on the PHP-mySQL version of the web site. This represents a major overhaul of the site's infrastructure.
    November The New Series Survey commences, offering GEOS Members the opportunity to rate nearly two dozen series as an indication of their preference for inclusion into the survey.
  • 2003
    January The New Series Survey closes. Five series were deemed popular enough to be added to GEOS. They are Smallville, The Simpsons, Futurama, 24 and The Dead Zone.

    France and Belgium are added to GEOS TV, ensuring comprehensive broadcast information will be collected for these two new regions.

    GEOS 2003 is launched. This revision is a major rebuilding of the site using PHP and mySQL a database, promising to make the site faster and more stable.     		GEOS 2003 Home Page
    GEOS 2003 Home Page
    July GEOS grows to nearly 8,650 members! The number of series included in the Survey now totals 44, covering approximately 3,750 episodes. Just under 655,000 votes have been cast by GEOS Members!
    August Enhanced the Production Credits pages to include a photo of each character an actor has played. This will more clearly show those actors that have played multiple roles in one or more series, and will allow quick recognition of them in their alternate roles.
    September Tarzan and Star Trek: The Animated Series are added to GEOS!
    October Created a range of discussion forums on Yahoo! Groups for Australia, United Kingdom and the United States to enable GEOS Members to discuss the survey results for their favourite series. Enhanced Production Credits
    Enhanced production credits
    December Reinstated the Member Demographics page. This page shows the breakdown of members according to series and gender, as well as the number of votes cast for each series. Which series has more female voters than male voters? Visit the Member Demographics page to find out!

    Members can now submit a brief comment for each episode of a series! So not only can you vote for an episode, you can also let other members know what you thought of it as well!

    There are a number of other small cosmetic tweaks here and there throughout the site...

    A total of nearly 3,830 episodes from 46 series now make up the survey, with over 100,000 airdates in the GEOS TV database. Nearly 8,700 members have submitted over 670,250 scores!
  • 2004
    January The Stargate SG-1 spin-off series, Stargate: Atlantis is added to GEOS. This brings the total number of series in GEOS to 47.
    February Due to the cancellation of the short-lived Tarzan TV series, coupled with a distinct lack of Liaison support and GEOS Member participation, the recently added series is removed from GEOS.
    March The first phase of the 2004 New Series Showdown commences! Fans can suggest series for inclusion in a new poll to determine which shows are next added to GEOS. A total of fifty four series are suggested.
    April The second phase of the 2004 New Series Showdown begins! GEOS Members can now submit scores out of ten, with one or more of the highest rating series at the end of the poll to be added to the survey. Wonderfalls takes an early lead due to the determined efforts of the Save Wonderfalls campaign.

    Discussion forums for each series are added to GEOS to allow fans to discuss their favourite episodes or seasons.
    May GEOS undergoes a massive boom in popularity and membership! The amount of unique visitors to the site increases by around 600%, with memberships passing the 9000 mark.

    The new Doctor Who series is split off into it's own series from the classic version.
    June The 2004 New Series Showdown closes, with four winning series announced! Wonderfalls, Tru Calling, Roswell and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation are added to the survey, bringing the total number of serires to 52.
    December The New Series Showdown returns as a permanent poll to determine what series will next be added to GEOS. Upon the completion of each round, the series with the highest average score will be added to the survey and removed from the Showdown. The New Series Showdown will continue until a new series is chosen.
  • 2005
    January The first winner of the New Series Showdown is announced! By an overwhelming margin, Lost proves to be the most popular series in the Showdown. Lost is therefore added to GEOS, removed from the Showdown, and the survey continues to find the next favourite show to be added to GEOS.
    March The second winner of the New Series Showdown is Carnivale! Carnivale is therefore removed from the Showdown, and the survey continues to find the next favourite show to be added to GEOS.
    June The third winner of the New Series Showdown is Six Feet Under! The survey continues to find the next favourite show to be added to GEOS.
    July GEOS quietly passes an important milestone with the registration of it's 10,000th Member!

    The advert banners are updated to a more pictoral style, rather than the wordy slogans previously.
    October GEOS turns eleven!

    New genre shows Threshold, Surface, Invasion, Night Stalker, Ghost Whisperer and Supernatural are added to the New Series Showdown. The Twilight Zone (1959) wins the latest round of the Showdown and becomes the 56th series in GEOS!
    November A major re-write of the GEOS Management System is undertaken to improve ease of use while increasing data integrity.
    December Work gets underway on a complete overhaul of the GEOS web site, the first for three years! A brand new design aims to improve readability, while allowing easier access to the huge amount of data contained within the web site. The new design is expected to be launched early in 2006.
  • 2006
    January Veronica Mars wins the latest round of the New Series Showdown and is added to the Survey.

    In a major addition to the Survey, the top five series in the Showdown (The Outer Limits (1995), The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, Supernatural and American Gothic) are added towards the end of January. This brings the total number of series in GEOS to 63!    		 February 2006 home page
    The home page as of February 2006
    February GEOS 2006 is launched!
    March Five more series are added to the GEOS survey: House, Nip/Tuck, The Prisoner, The Wire and Deadwood.
    April The "verified" cast information guarrantee is introduced. Wherever an episode's cast has been verified against a reliable source, such as official web site or DVD, the "verified" seal will be displayed.

    Ten more series are added in the largest expansion of GEOS ever! The new additions are: Alien Nation, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Dead Like Me, Desperate Housewives, Lost in Space, South Park, Star Wars: Clone Wars, The Shield, The West Wing and V.

    The GEOS home page is updated to take advantage of the huge database of information being accumulated. Panels now describe a series, episode, person and character chosen at random. Other panels also list the day's TV schedule for the Member's region, and we introduce the "Top Twenty" series as bookmarked by GEOS Members.
    August GEOS adds Rome  Cast verified
    September GEOS adds Eureka, Prison Break and later Knight Rider

    GEOS moves hosting provider.
    October GEOS turns twelve!

    GEOS adds Jericho and Family Guy.
    November Heroes is added to GEOS.
  • 2007
    February GEOS 2007 is launched! Many of the site improvements are behind-the-scenes changes. However, the GEOS Member Contributions system is expanded and refined, allowing members to submit more information than before.
    April 2007 home page
    The home page as of April 2007
    April Scrubs is added to GEOS due to it's popularity in the New Series Showdown, while SeaQuest DSV and Sex and the City are added in order to pursue GEOS' vision of being an archive of a broad range of TV shows. One of the hits of 2007, Brothers and Sisters, is also added.
    June GEOS adds The Outer Limits (1963), and Sanctuary, marking the entry of the first Web-only series
    July Twenty new series join GEOS in the largest expansion of the survey ever undertaken!

    The new additions include Arrested Development, Band of Brothers, Bones, Boston Legal, Dexter, Friends, Harsh Realm, Invasion, La Femme Nikita, Life on Mars, MacGyver, Monty Python's Flying Circus, My Name is Earl, Mystery Science Theatre 3000, Northern Exposure, Space 1999, Surface, The Avengers, The Pretender and Threshold.
    October Ten new series join GEOS: Bionic Woman, Chuck, Journeyman, Medium, Monk, Moonlight, Oz, Pushing Daises, Reaper and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
  • 2008
    January GEOS adds Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
    GEOS 2009 home page
    The GEOS 2009 Beta site home page as of August 2008
    August GEOS 2009 Beta site is launched to all members for testing and feedback.

    GEOS adds Fringe and Dollhouse.
    October GEOS adds True Blood.
    October GEOS adds Legend of the Seeker.
  • 2009
    January GEOS adds Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Mentalist and Survivors.


    GEOS 2009 is launched. This is one of the largest overhals of the site for a number of years. The aim of the new site design was to present the massive amount of information contained in the GEOS databases in a clear way, while also providing the opportunity for more interactive features (such as the new season graphs) and the further embedding of cutting edge web technologies such as Ajax.
    GEOS 2009 home page
    The GEOS 2009 home page as of January 2009