producer robert c. cooper was satisfied with "zero hour", claiming that richard dean anderson "is fantastic in this episode. it's new-yet-classic o'neill and fans of the character will be forever pleased with this." when "zero hour" first aired on the sci fi channel on july 30, 2004, it achieved a 2.2 household rating, equaling approximately 3 million viewers. tied with "icon", this marked the sixth-highest rating for any season 8 episode of "stargate sg-1".